6 de marzo de 2026

ISCTE, Lisboa – Portugal

On March 3 and 4, 2026, Dr. Elisangela da Silva Machieski, a Marie Curie researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid, participated in the International Congress “Correspondence(s): The Uses of Letters in the 19th and 20th Centuries,” held at the University Institute of Lisbon. The event brought together specialists from various countries to discuss the multiple uses of correspondence as a source of historical research, fostering an interdisciplinary dialogue on epistolary practices in the 19th and 20th centuries.

On March 4, she presented her paper entitled “Letters to Power: Children’s Epistolary Practices and Political Culture in the Iberian Dictatorships and the Brazilian Estado Novo.” The research analyzes letters written by children and addressed to political authorities during the authoritarian regimes of Portugal, Spain, and Brazil, examining how these epistolary practices allow us to understand the processes of political socialization, the construction of imaginaries about power, and the mechanisms of legitimation of these regimes.

Participation in the congress facilitated the dissemination of research advances in a leading international academic forum, as well as scientific exchange and the strengthening of collaborative networks with specialists in the history of correspondence, the history of childhood, and political culture.

20 de junio de 2026

UNESC, Criciúma – Brasil

At the invitation of the Interdisciplinary Center for Gender Studies (NIEGEN), affiliated with the Postgraduate Program in Socioeconomic Development (PPGDS) at the Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense (UNESC), Dr. Elisangela da Silva Machieski, a graduate of the History program at UNESC and currently a researcher at the Complutense University of Madrid, gave the lecture “Letters to Power: Children’s Epistolary Practices and Political Culture in the Iberian Dictatorships and the Brazilian Estado Novo.” The event brought together professors, researchers, students, and members of the academic community interested in the relationships between childhood, gender, political culture, and authoritarian regimes.

During the conference, the researcher presented the progress of her project on letters written by children and adolescents to political authorities in Portugal, Spain, and Brazil throughout the 20th century. The research examines this collection of documents as a privileged source for understanding the processes of political socialization, the appropriation of official discourses and national symbols, as well as the forms of children’s dialogue with power in authoritarian contexts. The study also analyzes how gender categories permeated these experiences and contributed to the construction of identities, citizenship, and national belonging from a comparative and transnational perspective.

The activity facilitated the dissemination of research advances and promoted scientific exchange on the history of childhood, political cultures and epistolary practices in the authoritarian regimes of Portugal, Spain and Brazil.