Bio notes

Boaventura de Sousa Santos
Boaventura de Sousa Santos is Professor of Sociology, University of Coimbra (Portugal), and Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is Emiritus Director at the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra.

Jason Keith Fernandes, CRIA – Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia
Jason Keith Fernandes is a researcher at the Centre for Research in Anthropology (CRIA), ISCTE-IUL Lisbon. After graduating with a degree in law and a Master’s in the sociology of law, he was awarded a PhD in anthropology for his work studying the citizenship experiences of Catholics in Goa. Motivated by the larger challenge of social scientists taking theology seriously, his postdoctoral work focused on the way in which Catholicism in Goa has responded to Indian nationalism. He is also a member of The Al-Zulaij Collective.

Maria Paula Meneses - Centro de Estudos Sociais, University of Coimbra
Maria Paula Meneses is a Principal researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra. A Mozambican scholar, she obtained Master in History in Russia and her PhD in the USA, by Rutgers University. Her research focus is on the political history and socio-legal complexity of southern Africa. At the heart of her interests are the relations between knowledge, power and societies, paying special attention to people who experienced the violence of the colonial encounter. Her work has been published in journals, books and reports in several countries, including Mozambique, Spain, Portugal, Senegal, United States, England, Germany, Colombia, amid others.

Marta Araújo - Centro de Estudos Sociais, Universidade de Coimbra
Marta Araújo is a senior researcher at the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra, where she integrates the Research Group 'Democracy, Citizenship and Law' and lectures in the Doctoral Programs 'Democracy in the 21st Century' and 'Human Rights in Contemporary Societies'. She is Invited Researcher at the University of Helsinki (2018-2010) and Invited Lecturer at the Black Europe Summer School (International Institute for Research and Education - IIRE, Amsterdam). Marta has published internationally and is currently in the Editorial Board of publications on sociology, race and education in Brazil, Britain, Portugal and the United States. She has also been actively engaged in outreach activities, both with grassroots movements and with schools. 

Syed Farid Alatas is Professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore. He also headed the Department of Malay Studies at NUS from 2007 till 2013. He lectured at the University of Malaya in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies prior to joining NUS. In the early 1990s, he was a Research Associate at the Women and Human Resource Studies Unit, Universiti Sains Malaysia. Prof. Alatas has authored numerous books and articles, including Ibn Khaldun (Oxford University Press, 2013); Applying Ibn Khaldun: The Recovery of a Lost Tradition in Sociology (Routledge, 2014), and (with Vineeta Sinha) Sociological Theory Beyond the Canon (Palgrave, 2017) and "The State of Feminist Theory in Malaysia" in Maznah Mohamad & Wong Soak Koon, eds., Feminism: Malaysian Reflections and Experience (special issue of Kajian Malaysia: Journal of Malaysian Studies), 12, 1-2 (1994): 25-46. His areas of interest are the sociology of Islam, social theory, religion and reform, intra- and inter-religious dialogue, and the study of Orientalism.

Teresa Toldy, Centro de Estudos Sociais, Universidade de Coimbra; and Universidade Fernando Pessoa
Teresa Toldy, PhD in Theology (feminist theology) at the Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen (Frankfurt). Professor of Ethics at Fernando Pessoa University. Researcher at CES and co-coordinator of CES’ Observatory on Religion in Public Space. Publishes in the field of feminisms and religion.