Full house for open lecture by Jose Moya on African slavery at UFRJ

July 15, 2015

José Moya, Director of the Barnard College Forum on Migration and Director of the Institue of Latin American Studies at Columbia University, came to Brazil on a research duty. He came to Rio de Janeiro to dig in on Instituto Moreira Salles's archives, the biggest private-owned archive in Brazil.

Professor Moya is interested in paintings, photographs, cartoons, literature, popular humor, or any other source that can illuminate the history of African and Portuguese migration to Rio de Janeiro between 1820 and 1920, such as Paul Harro-Harring’s sketches of tropical Brazil in 1840. His research topic is on “Migrants of Different Sorts: Africans and Portuguese in Rio de Janeiro, 1820-1920,” with a focus on the presence of African slaves and European migrants in Rio and their interactions, a relationship that goes back to the beginnings of the city but became more intense during the nineteenth century.

Whilst in Rio de Janeiro, Moya was asked to give an interview to O Globo, which you can read (in portuguese) here

Professor Moya was also invited to delivery a lecture on "The African Presence in the Americas as an History of Immigration", at the School of Communication from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The lecture attracted several scholars who are dedicated to the topic of African Slavery and Forced Migration, and culminated on a debate at the end.