Izabel Barros and André Nicacio Lima presented on 20 July at the 32nd National Congress of History in São Luís, Brazil, the preliminary results of their joint research on Swiss-Brazilian relations during the period of slavery. Their presentation was entitled: “Switzerland and Brazil in the 19th century: historical connections and agencies in the study of colonialism in global perspective”. While Izabel spoke about the fate of enslaved men, women and children on a Swiss-owned plantation in Bahia, André examined how members of the Swiss mercantile elite pursued their economic interests through interaction with the political and economic elite in Brazil who, in turn, used the presence of Swiss and other continental European elites for their policies of ‘civilisation’ and ‘whitening’ of a predominantly black and indigenous Brazilian society.
