Research output per year
Research output per year
History of Inequality; History of Racism; Civil Rights; European Expansion; Religious History and the Inquisition; Iberian World; Portuguese Identities
Francisco Bethencourt is a leading historian of the Portuguese-speaking world; he also contributes to world and global history. His book Racisms from the Crusades to the Twentieth Century, published by Princeton University Press, is a case in point. Racisms is largely based on primary sources and compares the Western world to Asia and Africa. His earlier comparative work focused on magic in Portugal and southern Europe, before studying the Inquisition in Italy, Spain, Portugal and the Iberian empires. A major theme in his research has been how individuals interact and shape patterns of behaviour. This led Bethencourt to experiment with socio-metrics when reconstituting networks of sorcerers in two Portuguese towns, or apply methods from the sociology of organisations to understand the ubiquity of inquisitorial bureaucracy and its rootedness in the social fabric. The issue of power in social exchanges has been at the core of his research on religion, first in relation to the competition between magicians and priests, then in relation to the role of the Inquisition within the Catholic Church and its impact on society. He enlarged his scope even further when working on the Portuguese and European expansion across continents. He co-edited with Kirti Chaudhuri the most comprehensive history of the Portuguese expansion in five volumes. The complex relations of power between European structures and native agency increasingly became the focus of his work. Comparative and long term history breaks through local, regional and national frameworks of academic research, highlighting social configurations and institutional behaviour across frontiers. Bethencourt keeps publishing on different aspects of the history of the Portuguese-speaking world, particularly on racism, utopia, cosmopolitanism, and inequality. He received a Major Leverhulme Fellowship to work on The New Christian Trading Elite, 1497-1773 (2017-2019). He is also committed to a long term project on the history of social inequality in the world. In 1993, the PhD on the Inquisition received the Salvador Madariaga prize and, in 2003, Bethencourt was honoured for his achievements as historian with the Order of Henry the Navigator.
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Research output: Book/Report › Book
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
1/09/2017 → 31/08/2019
Project: Research
AHRC Arts and Humanities Research Council
1/05/2016 → 31/08/2018
Project: Research
1/06/2013 → 31/05/2016
Project: Research
Francisco Bethencourt (Invited speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Francisco Bethencourt (Invited speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Francisco Bethencourt (Invited speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in workshop, seminar, course
Francisco Bethencourt (Keynote speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Francisco Bethencourt (Invited speaker)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participation in workshop, seminar, course