1950-2009

Perdemos a Maria, uma amiga solidária, uma investigadora sólida, uma companheira de lutas. A Maria era uma optimista, uma daquelas pessoas que empurra o mundo como se ele não tivesse peso. E sabia estar connosco com total abnegação, especialmente nos momentos em que tudo dependia dela. Abria portas como se fossem apenas sorrisos.

Todos nós e muito especialmente os investigadores que trabalhavam mais junto dela temos a responsabilidade de continuarmos o trabalho dela com o mesmo espírito de solidariedade.

Boaventura de Sousa Santos

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On Sunday morning June 28, 2009 Maria Baganha passed away. She had been ill for some time and has fought her illness with all her strength and optimism. That made her come back unexpectedly last year to the work that she saw as a mission, but regrettably only temporary.

Maria Baganha has been a leading figure in the field of migration studies: within the University of Coimbra where she established and headed a special unit in the field; in Portugal as a whole, where she played a crucial role in initiating coordinated action of researchers and policymakers in the field; and in Europe, particularly through her central role within IMISCOE, the Network of Excellence on Immigration, Integration and Social Cohesion in Europe.

Within IMISCOE Maria Baganha has had a crucial place and she has carried its development right from the beginning. She has been Chair of the Board of Directors from its beginning in April 2004 and was also the chosen Chair of the IMISCOE Research Network that carries the work through after the EU-funded Network of Excellence. She was also member of the Editorial Board of the IMISCOE Publication Series where she used her position to encourage researchers on the one hand, and to evaluate the quality of their work on the other. Apart from these official functions within IMISCOE, she was initiator of and participant in many joint research projects.

IMISCOE owes a lot to Maria Baganha. Firstly, because of her outstanding scientific and organisational contributions, but we will also miss her irreplaceable character and ways of doing things: energetic, cheerfully, with a good feeling for agreeable forms of irony including self-relativation, combined with sharp analysis of what quality is.

IMISCOE will miss her, and as the coordinator of IMISCOE, I personally will miss her dearly.

Rinus Penninx
Coordinator IMISCOE

Retirado do Site do IMISCOE
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Maria Baganha's death is a terrible loss for all those who have known her and worked with her. Maria has trained several generations of students and researchers and has done more than any other scholar to put Portugal on the map of European migration studies. I was proud and happy to have Maria as a partner in a project comparing citizenship regimes in Europe. She was not only an exemplary scholar with an open mind for different disciplines and perspectives. She was also a great organizer who put together successful research teams and networks. Finally, Maria was also a very warm person whom inspired trust in all those who worked with her. I will miss her very much.

Rainer Bauböck
Cluster Leader B3/ Member of the IMISCOE Board of Directors
European University Institute

Retirado do Site do IMISCOE
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I've known Maria Baganha personally since 1992. I met her for the first time in Lisbon at the Intercongress Meeting of the Research Committee 31 "Sociology of Migration" of the International Sociologicla Association. At the time, she was involved in European research activities dealing with the labour market position of immigrants in Southern Europe, one of her favourite topics. I was impressed by the sharpness of her analysis and comments as well as by her human qualities. Since then, our paths crossed many times all over Europe and my first impressions were always positively confirmed. We are loosing a tops quality colleague in our field but what is more important, we are above all loosing a unique personality that animated the IMISCOE network with a huge enthusiasm. And for many of us, we are loosing an excellent friend.

Marco Martiniello
Member of the Executive Board
Member of the Editorial Committee
Member of the Board of Directors

Retirado do Site do IMISCOE
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On behalf of all Sussex colleagues, I was very sorry to hear of the passing away of our colleague and friend, Maria Baganha. Maria was one of those rare people who was able to combine three things in her academic work: an international reputation in her field of migration studies, a great sense of duty and service to her profession and her colleagues, and a wonderful sense of fun and enjoyment in her work and academic social contacts. She will be sorely missed, and fondly remembered.

Russell King, Sussex Centre for Migration Research
Cluster Leader C8
Member of the IMISCOE Board of Directors

Retirado do Site do IMISCOE
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On behalf of the editorial team of the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS), I would like to extend sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Maria Ioannis Baganha. Her untimely death will be a great loss to all who knew and loved her, but she also leaves us with wonderful memories of a warm, funny, intelligent and caring person. Maria had been a member of the JEMS Editorial board since January 2000; always diligent in promoting the journal to colleagues and students alike, she was also always an enthusiastic and constructive referee. Gone she may be, but she is most certainly not forgotten!

Jenny Money
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies (JEMS)
Sussex Centre for Migration Research

Retirado do Site do IMISCOE
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Uma grande cientista que nos deixa. A imigração em Portugal deve-lhe muito.

Rui Marques
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I was astonished by your news.
I was working with Maria for many years and I had the opportunities of
knowign her abilities in social research and her deep humanity in personal
relations.
I will have a great memory of her.
I ask you for making the condolences of mine and of my wife to her family.

Emilio Reyneri
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I do not have words to express my sadness and sorrow, much as I was fearing it. Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the funeral, as I have to fly tomorrow morning to a summer course that I cannot cancel. I will dedicate it to her memory. And hope that there will be some memorial in which I will be able to participate. It is very bad news.

Regards,
Joaquín Arango
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I have just learned from my colleague, Rinus Penninx, about the untimely death of Maria Baganha. She was a good friend and a fellow migration scholar and I am profoundly saddened by this news. Please convey on my behalf my sincere condolences to Maria's family.

With best regards,
Ewa Morawska
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Cientista de referência e colega cordial na relação com todos os que, como ela, se dedicam ao estudo das migrações na sociologia portuguesa. Deixa saudades, mas fica o exemplo.

Fernando Luís Machado
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O sentimento de perda é grande. A Maria faz-nos falta, pelo seu enorme trabalho e energia, pela boa disposição, pela amizade.

Conheci a Maria há mais de 20 anos, na Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas da UNL e desde daí estabelecemos uma relação renovada em muitos contactos e sempre com a alegria do reencontro e da discussão profícua. Deixa-nos uma obra ímpar no campo das migrações, em cujos caminhos foi pioneira. Obrigada, Maria.

Maria Luís Rocha Pinto
SACSJP - Universidade de Aveiro
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Tive a oportunidade de ser seu aluno no âmbito da Licenciatura e do Mestrado e de com ela privar também enquanto funcionário da Faculdade, e foi com tristeza que recebi a notícia, infelizmente já esperada. Sem grandes delongas, recordo e destaco essencialmente o seu carácter forte e decidido, a honestidade intelectual e uma energia contagiante. Valores, para mim, suficientemente válidos e nem sempre presentes em muitos, e que me fazem admirar a pessoa e a professora.

José Miguel Nunes
Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra
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A Professora Maria Ionnis Baganha foi minha professora na FEUC em 1995 penso, e foi uma professora que nunca mais esqueci pela energia que demonstrava ter. Não posso deixar de dizer que fiquei chocada com a notícia.

Joana Almeida
Antiga aluna Sociologia FEUC
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Apresento a todos os colegas e amigos do CES e à família de Maria Ioannis Baganha um abraço fraterno, testemunhando, neste mesmo gesto, a solidariedade do Instituto de Sociologia da Faculdade de Letras da Universidade do Porto

João Teixeira Lopes
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A ciência, a Sociologia e o mundo académico ficaram, com certeza, mais pobres com a partida da extraordinária Professora Maria Baganha. Eu tive o privilégio de ser sua aluna e de partilhar com ela as últimas aulas que leccionou, pude então testemunhar, apesar da luta que travava contra a malfadada doença, a sua energia, o seu optimismo, a sua paixão pelo que fazia e como era fantástica na forma como nos transmitia a sua sabedoria… as suas últimas palavras, foram para referenciar o enorme gosto que tinha pelo que fazia e o quão importante era para ela, naquela altura, poder estar perante nós a dar-nos aulas e deixou os seus votos de nos voltarmos a encontrar nas mesmas circunstancias, o que infelizmente não vai acontecer. A Professora Baganha jamais será esquecida entre nós, não só pelo seu extraordinário trabalho, mas sobretudo pelo grande ser humano que foi, para mim será sempre a minha ídola das migrações.
Á família enlutada, aos seus amigos e colegas os meus mais sentidos pêsames.

Sheila de Sousa
Faculdade de Economia da Universidade de Coimbra
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There is not much to add to what has been said by Rinus, Rainer and the others. We, i.e. especially Holger Kolb and I, just want to stress that Maria has been a most wonderful project leader we had the privilege to work with. She combined scientific competence with her human mind and sense of humour in a way that opened the space for open discussions and dissent and allowed turning this into a productive mode of doing research.
Yes, she has been a great colleague and an outstanding scholar. We are sure that all our colleagues from IMIS subscribe to this.
I want to add personally: We should not forget that Maria has also been a human being who was not just wonderful but who has been hit during her last years by a number of personal catastrophes starting with the death of close relatives affecting her emotionally deeply and ending with her final disease which made her pass away. It makes me very sad that I may have missed to answer her friendship adequately during these difficult times.

Michael Bommes, Cluster Leader B4
Member of the Board of Directors
IMIS, University of Osnabrück

Retirado do Site do IMISCOE
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The first time I met with Maria Baganha was during an International Metropolis conference many years back. She then displayed a combination of scientific drive, an ability to put things in perspective, and a great sense of humor. That was Maria all over. When I got familiar with her academic work, I realized what an interesting scholar she was. The second time I met with her was also during an International Metropolis conference. She stood on an escalator with a cigarette in her hand and with the appearance of a diva. Maria always made a strong presence. It is sad that we will no longer be able to enjoy her presence. Maria was a good scholar, a pleasant colleague and wonderful company.

Jan Rath
Member of the Board of Directors
Director of the Institute for Migration and Ethnic Studies (IMES) of the University of Amsterdam
European Chair of International Metropolis

Retirado do Site do IMISCOE
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The Centre of Migration Research of University of Warsaw wants to expressdeepest sympathy to the family, friends and IMISCOE collaborators of professor Maria Baghanha who recently passed away. We feel great loss of her. We will miss her expertise in migration research, warmth, energy and frienship.
On behalf of the team of CMR,

Prof. Marek Okolski
Member of the Board of Directors
Member of the Executive Board

Retirado do Site do IMISCOE
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Maria Baganha was one of the pioneer of the Research Programme in Social Sciences and Humanities of the European Commission. She has actively participated to the programme since its beginning in 1994 with the 4th Framework Programme. Through the years, she has coordinated several European research projects and also acted as an evaluator. Maria has trained a whole generation of researchers in European comparative studies, she has been one of the creative engine of IMISCOE and an incredible support for Rinus Penninx in his endeaveur to set up the Network. With her energy, passion and optimisme she has created a fantastic working atmosphere throughout this adventure. We will all miss her comptence, her energy and her sense of humor.
On behalf of the European Commission we would like to express our sincere condoleances to the family and to all the members of IMISCOE. Her smile will remain in our mind.

Giulia Amaducci, Project Officer of IMISCOE, European Commission, DG Research
Fadila Boughanemi, European Commission, DG Research
Virginia Vitorino, European Commission, DG Research

Retirado do Site do IMISCOE
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I was sorry to learn that Maria Baganha passed away. Although I did not have research collaboration with Maria I appreciated her leadership as chair of a number of board of directors meetings and of plenary sessions at annual conferences. I have fond memories of the first annual conference in Coimbra which she hosted and which lay the ground for future work. I propose that the annual meeting in Stockholm this year will be dedicated to her memory.

Charles Westin
Member of the Board of Directors
Cluster Leader C7
CEIFO

Retirado do Site do IMISCOE
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Conheci a Profª Maria Baganha enquanto estudante da nas difíceis aulas de Métodos (ainda com o SPSS em ambiente DOS). Mais tarde, já no mestrado, tive o prazer de desfrutar do seu entusiasmo pelas questões das migrações, mas sobretudo a oportunidade de perceber melhor o seu compromisso, absoluto, permanente, honesto, com a investigação social aplicada sobre as causas e as coisas do mundo.
Estou, francamente, chocada. E estou, estamos, mais pobres todos.

Karina Carvalho CNO-CFPSA
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Professora,

Já tinha visto o Tributo, de passagem, mas sem imaginar que era póstumo. Correrias, passagens e pesquisas rápidas que a Internet impôs aos nossos dias... e agora, quando a curiosidade foi mais forte e resolvi espreitar, a triste surpresa.

Foram inúmeras as vezes que recordei as suas aulas de Migrações, enquanto estudante de RI, e recuperei os seus textos quando mais tarde percebi a minha paixão pela temática e decidi por um mestrado na área. Repeti leituras e estórias a colegas de trabalho e de mestrado; e agora mesmo, antes deste Tributo, voltei a lembrar as suas aulas e a repetir o que guardei de si: o conhecimento de anos de dedicação séria à investigação, o sentido humano e a simplicidade.

Recordar, e assim viver ainda Coimbra, é lembrar também dos professores que, como a Professora Maria Ioannis Baganha, marcaram e mudaram a nossa perspectiva sobre a realidade. Obrigada por isto Professora, e até sempre!

Antiga aluna da FEUC - Relações Internacionais