The History of the Americas Study Lab (LEHA – Laboratório de Estudos de História das Américas) was created in 2009 and brings together professors and researchers from the Undergraduate and Graduate Studies in History of the Americas from the Department of History at University of São Paulo (USP). LEHA was created amid the growth of other labs in the Department of History in USP. At the time, researchers that studied the Americas were focused on the Thematic Project Culture and Politics in the Americas: Circulation of Ideas and Configuration of Identities (19th and 20th Centuries), coordinated by Professor Maria Ligia Coelho Prado and financed by São Paulo State Research Support Foundation (FAPESP – Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo), whose work extended from 2006 to 2011. During that period, several Research Seminars (national and international) took place, and three publications (dated from 2009, 2010 and 2011) were edited, to which another collection was added in 2015. All of them are available on this website.
Thus, in the first years of its operation, LEHA’s activities were linked to the Thematic Project that brought together researchers that studied History of the Americas at USP, UNESP (São Paulo State University) (campuses in Assis and Franca), UNIFESP (Federal University of the State of São Paulo) and UEL (Londrina State University). With the end of Thematic activities, LEHA, which was then coordinated by Professor Mary Anne Junqueira, started to concentrate the development and dissemination of the knowledge production of History of the Americas, within the scope of USP, particularly in the promotion of Research Seminars. These meetings are articulated in two directions: in the first one, experts (USP and non-USP professors) are invited to give lectures, whose content supports research that are promoted within the scope of the Lab; in the second one, graduate researchers discuss their work in the midst of a fertile debate environment. Since 2012, LEHA has been promoting an average of four annual Research Seminars, usually with theoretical / methodological lectures during morning period, and Master and Doctorate presentations on History of the Americas during the afternoon. In addition to the Research Seminars, the Lab also receives professors from Brazilian and foreign universities for individual lectures in their fields of study, encouraging exchanges between national and international professors that teach History of the Americas.
In April 2017, LEHA Study Group was created for undergraduate students, under the coordination of professors Angela Meirelles de Oliveira and Maria Antonia Dias Martins. Focused on theoretical / methodological aspects, it aims to bring students closer to themes related to the History of the Americas. The group meets four times per semester, selecting texts to be discussed with invited specialists, doctors, or doctoral students in History.
Thematic Project/FAPESP – Cultura e Política nas Américas: Circulação de Ideias e Configuração de Identidades (séculos XIX e XX) (Culture and Politics in the Americas: Circulation of Ideas and Configuration of Identities (19th and 20th Centuries)).
Coordinated by
Professor Maria Ligia Coelho Prado (2007–2011).
Monitored by
Valdir Donizete dos Santos Júnior (2007–2010).
History of the Americas Study Lab
Coordinated by
Professor Maria Ligia Coelho Prado (2009–2012).
Professor Mary Anne Junqueira (2012–2016).
Professor Gabriela Pellegrino Soares (2016–2018).
Professor Mariana Martins Villaça (2020–2022).
Professor Stella Maris Scatena Franco (2018–2020 and 2022-current).
Secretary
Caio de Souza Gomes (2009–2018).
Ana Beatriz Mauá Nunes (2018–2020).
Eustáquio Ornelas Cota Júnior (2018–2020).
Rafael Dias Scarelli (2020–2021).
LEHA Study Group
Coordinated by
Professor Angela Meirelles de Oliveira (2017–2018).
Professor Maria Antonia Dias Martins (2017–current).
Professor Camila Bueno Grejo (2018–2022).
Ana Carolina Gutierrez Pompeu (2020–current).