Catarina Laranjeiro, former PhD student at the Centre for Social Studies (CES) and the Faculty of Economics of the University of Coimbra (FEUC), was awarded an Honourable Mention under the 1st edition of the Virginia Quaresma International Prize in Cultural Studies, with the thesis «Entre as Imagens e os Espíritos: encontros com a memória da guerra de libertação na Guiné-Bissau».

«Entre as Imagens e os Espíritos: encontros com a memória da guerra de libertação na Guiné-Bissau» is the result of a PhD project elaborated in the scope of the Post-Colonialisms and Global Citizenship programme (CES/FEUC), having been co-supervised by António Sousa Ribeiro and Bruno Sena Martins.

In this work, the researcher sought «to assume the role of image as an instrument of memory, an object capable of fixing the past in the present, but also of making one imagine future alternatives». In this sense, she analysed the filmography produced during the Liberation Struggle in Guinea-Bissau. Anchored in post-colonial approaches, she sought to draw as these inform, methodologically, the analysis of the images, having subsequently reflected on the representation created on one of the most celebrated anti-colonial struggles in the African continent.

The award was given to Sara Vidal Maia, with the thesis «Relações de Poder e Identidade(s) de Género: A sociedade ‘matriarcal’ de Ílhavo na década de 1950». Lélian Silveira and Walter Chile also received honourable mentions. Eduardo Lourenço received the Career Prize (posthumous).

Promoted by the University of Aveiro (UA), this International Award has the support of the International Network in Cultural Studies (RIEC) and the National Network in Cultural Studies (RNEC) and, in this edition, was sponsored by the Centre Regional Directorate of Culture.

There were 27 PhD theses from several national and international universities in contest. The panel was composed by Paulo Jorge Ferreira, Rector of the UA, as President; a representative of the RIEC; a representative of the RNEC; a researcher/teacher of the highest academic category in the area of Cultural Studies of the UA and member of the Centre for Literary Languages and Cultures of this university; an international expert in the field of Cultural Studies and a representative of the Centre Regional Directorate of Culture.