Editorial: Looking toward the future

Abstract

Editorial Locus Revista de História. V. 31 n. 1

Looking toward the future

We are pleased to publish the first issue of volume 31 of Locus: Revista de História. In this issue, the dossier revisits the debates of the colloquium that marked the 20th anniversary celebrations of PPGH/UFJF and deepens the discussions presented therein on the methodology of microhistory, considered from a global perspective, based on the notions of coloniality and translocality. It also pays tribute to historian Giovanni Levi and his foundational role in this field. We publish the lecture he gave at the colloquium and an unpublished interview he gave to Mônica Ribeiro de Oliveira and Maíra Vendrame. The organizers of the dossier, Hevelly Ferreira Acruche and Robert Daibert Jr., introduce the richness of the discussion and the set of articles in their Presentation. Check it out.

Reflecting on the path we have traveled is an attitude that looks to the future. In this issue, we also celebrate the growing demand for the journal, with articles in close dialogue with the Program's area of concentration and lines of research. The open session is dense and thought-provoking.

Discussions on heritage and art are present, honoring our tradition. Heritage as unconscious historiography is the title of Rogério Mattos' inspiring article on the need to incorporate new constructions and experiences of black heritage into the construction of an innovative agenda in both the writing and teaching of history.  Next, Enrique Normando Cruz presents, in Spanish, the article Contexto y nuevos datos históricos acerca de un pintor al Noroeste del Río de la Plata (Jujuy, siglo XVIII) (Context and new historical data about a painter in the northwest of the Río de la Plata (Jujuy, 18th century)), based on new and original information about the work and career of the painter Diego de Aliaga.  Transtemporalidade e o anacronismo das imagens: uma leitura possível da obra A imperatriz antropófaga, de Fernando Lindote (Transtemporality and the anachronism of images: a possible reading of the work The Anthropophagous Empress, by Fernando Lindote), written by Rodolpho Bastos and Rafaela Barbieri, closes the set of reflections in this field, exploring George Didi-Huberman's concept of the anachronism of images and Reinhart Koselleck's contributions on temporal experiences, to explore, in the 2017 painting by Catarinense painter Fernando Lindote, "the marks of colonization, the resistance of colonized peoples, and ancient temporalities."

Politics and the political uses of the past could not be left out of the topics covered in this rich open session. Partidos para quê? Quatro questões sobre os partidos políticos na Primeira República (1889–1930) - Parties for what? Four questions about political parties in the First Republic (1889–1930) by Surama Conde Sa Pinto opens the sequence in grand style, revisiting the classic theme of elections and political parties in the First Brazilian Republic, in which the author is a recognized expert. Continuing with classic themes in Brazilian political historiography, Classe Militar no século XIX: A imprensa como campo de discussão - The Military Class in the 19th Century: The press as a field of discussion and definition of the military institution by Fenanda de Santos Nascimento analyzes the discourse of Brazilian military periodicals from 1850 to 1881, understanding the  military press of the period as a "channel for disseminating ideas about what it means to be a soldier" at a time when an effective institutional discourse had not yet been formed. We close the trilogy with  Paradoxos dos direitos humanos e a judicialização dos crimes da ditadura civil-militar brasileira (1973-2023) (The military-civilian dictatorship in Brazil: paradoxes of human rights and the judicialization of crimes of the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship (1973-2023)), by Camila Cristina Silva, which addresses the contradictory history of state terrorism in the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship as a legal problem.

That's not all. To conclude, we return to translocality as a problem and close with African and Latin American stories, fertile territories for collective reflection at PPGH/UFJF. Pastores africanos no horizonte da “ocupação” da Angola central: Ngulu, Keto e a expansão da missão congregacional (c. 1880-1900) - African pastors on the horizon of the "occupation" of central Angola: Ngulu, Keto, and the expansion of the congregational mission (c. 1880-1900), by Jéssica Evelyn Pereira dos Santos, addresses the first Protestant missions established in the region of Central Angola through the trajectory of two young men who became pastors, teachers, and community leaders. Finally, Milton Ferreira Santos reviews the book Historia mínima de las derechas latinoamericanas (A Brief History of the Latin American Right) by Ernesto Bohoslavsky and Priscila Emanoeli Rodrigues Cozer reviews the collection Os tempos da justiça: História, infâncias e direitos humanos na América Latina (Times of Justice: History, Childhood, and Human Rights in Latin America), organized by Silvia Maria Fávero Arend and Humberto da Silva Miranda, both books published in 2023.

Enjoy your reading!

Hebe Mattos, editor

Juiz de Fora, July 2025