CV

EDUCATION

Ph.D., History, York University, Toronto, 2009-2014
Dissertation title: “Of Outcasts and Ambassadors: the Making of Portuguese Diaspora in Postwar North America” – nominated by York University’s Dept. of History for the Canadian Historical Association’s 2015 John Bullen Prize. Supervisor: Dr. Roberto Perin

Master of Arts, History/ Ethnic, Migration, and Pluralism Studies, University of Toronto, 2008. Supervisor: Dr. Franca Iacovetta

Licenciatura (HBA equivalent), Early Modern and Contemporary History, Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa, Lisbon, 2000-2004. Certificate in Cultural and Heritage Management and Animation Management. Final project: “Documentary Centre and Archive of Graffiti”

PUBLICATIONS

Books

  • Pick and Shovel: Building the Labourers’ International Union of North America Local 183 (working title). Toronto: Lorimer (forthcoming, Fall 2022) – non refereed
  • This Pilgrim Nation: the Making of the Portuguese Diaspora in Postwar North America. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2019 – refereed

Refereed journal articles and book chapters

  • “Part of the Solution? Indigenous Apprentices and the Unionized Building Trades – The Way of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 793,” Labour / Le Travail (under peer review)
  • “Building a Semi-Skilled Immigrant Craft Union: The Labourers’ International Union of North America’s Local 183,” Labour / Le Travail (under peer review)
  • “Moving Earth and Minds: Modern Construction Machines and the Building of Canada’s Ways, 1860s-1910s,” (forthcoming)
  • with Roberto Perin, “Living Through Exciting Times: Portuguese Political Dissidents in Montreal During the Long Sixties” (forthcoming)
  • “Breaking the News: Portuguese Lusotropicalist Public Relations and Lobbying in the United States, 1961-4,” Portuguese Studies Review 29: 2 (Winter 2021): 197-232
  • “’Oh Famous Race!’ Imperial Heritage and Diasporic Memory in the Portuguese American Narrative of North America.” The Public Historian 38: 1 (February, 2016): 18-48
  • “Moving the ‘Less Desirable’: Portuguese Mass Migration to Canada, 1953-74.” Canadian Historical Review 96: 3 (September 2015): 339-74
  • Costa, R., Da Silva, E., Fernandes, G., Miranda, S., Onge, A. S. “Archiving from Below: Preserving, Problematizing and Democratizing the Collective Memory of Portuguese Canadians – The Portuguese Canadian History Project.” In Identity Palimpsests: Ethnic Archiving in the United States and Canada. Amalia S. Levi and Dominique Daniel, ed. Sacramento: Litwin Press, 2014
  • “Beyond the ‘Politics of Toil’. Collective Mobilization and Individual Activism in Toronto’s Portuguese Community, 1950s-1990s.” Urban History Review, 39: 1 (Fall 2010): 59-72

Other non-refereed publications

  • “(Re)discovering Portuguese Americans: A Very Brief History.” Constança Saraiva ed. A Little Country Across the Ocean (New York: Arte Institute, 2017)
  • “On Guard for Canadian Parochialism,” Part 1-3, ActiveHistory.ca, September 8, 15, 22, 2015
  • “Portuguese Politics in the City. Toronto’s Invisible Cities and Political Participation,” Living Toronto Online Journal, April 2014
  • “Os Imigrantes Portugueses Protestaram a Violência Policial: o caso da morte de Ângelo Nóbrega, Maio 1969,” Senso Magazine, Toronto, 13 (Fall/Winter), 2011
  • Gilberto Fernandes, Raphael Costa, and Susana Miranda, “Introdução ao Projecto de História Luso-Canadiana,” Senso Magazine, Toronto, n. 11 (Spring/Summer), 2011
  • Review of The Portuguese in Canada. Diasporic Challenges and Adjustment (2nd. ed.). Carlos Teixeira and Victor M. P. Rosa ed. In Canadian Historical Review, 91:2 (June 2010), 373-375

PUBLIC AND DIGITAL HISTORY

Project Manager, Curator, Lead Researcher, Graphic and Web Designer, “Movimento Perpétuo: The Portuguese Diaspora in Canada,” travelling exibition and website commemorating the 70th anniversary of Portugal-Canada diplomatic relations – collaboration with the Embassy of Portugal in Canada (September 2023)

Principal Investigator, “Laborem Ex Machina: The History of Operating Engineers and Heavy Machinery in Canada’s Construction Industry” – collaboration with the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 793 (2020-2022)

  • Conducted research and wrote journal articles, a monograph, and a policy report
  • Facilitated the transfer of the IUOE Local 793’s historical records to the care of the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections
  • Facilitated the creation of a Heritage Toronto Commemorative Plaque about the IUOE Local 793
  • Producing a podcast series with digital history companions
  • Co-supervised a paid research internship with the Toronto Community Benefits Network
  • Managed a team of university student researchers

Consultant, Arts Extension Service at University of Massachusetts – Amherst, May 2022

  • Offered information and recommendations on the creation of a Museum of the Portuguese Speaking World in New Bedford, MA

Consultant, Vhils’s mural in Toronto’s Little Portugal neighbourhood memorializing the Cleaners’ Action, October 2021

  • Recommended the Cleaner’s Action theme to the organizers
  • Provided Vhils’ team with historical information, archival photos and newspapers, and participated in the making of a short video about the mural
  • Connected the organizers with stakeholders in Toronto’s labour movement and heritage sector

Consultant, Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, October 2021

  • Offered information and recommendations on the past and future of the Gaspar Corte-Real statue in St. John’s, Newfoundland

Principal Investigator, Curator, Graphic and Web Designer, Producer, Director, Screenwriter, City Builders: A History of Immigrant Construction Workers in Postwar Toronto (2017-2019) – collaboration with the Labourers International Union of North America Local 183

  • Produced, wrote, and directed a four-part documentary film totalling about 3.5 hours
  • Produced an oral history series with 28 short (6-10 minutes) videos featuring retired construction workers, labour organizers and community advocates.
  • Developed a digital history website with interactive illustrated timelines (376 entries); arcGIS and story maps; extensive biographies; hundreds of photos; videos; and audio recordings.
  • Curated a travelling multimedia exhibition using augmented reality technology, including 80 QR code-activated digital labels.
  • Facilitated the digitization of 3,200 photos from the Toronto Telegram at the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections.
  • Managed a $225,000 budget resulting from fundraising with community stakeholders.
  • Led a team of 22 part-time and freelance professionals, including research assistants, digitization assistants, videographers, video editors, designers and a voice actor.

Researcher and Curator, Myseum of Toronto, 2018-2019

  • Conducted research for an exhibition on the history of riots, protests and (un)civil disobedience

Consultant, Canadian Immigration History Syllabus, 2018

  • Contributed scholarly and digital humanities references for an online, open-access syllabus on Canadian migration history, in collaboration with Dr. Daniel Ross, Dr. Laura Madokoro, Dr. Franca Iacovetta, Dr. Marlene Epp, Dr. Jordan Stanger-Ross, Dr. Sylvie Taschereau, Dr. Lisa Chilton, Paul-Étienne Rainville, and Michael Akladios

Committee Member and Jury, Heritage Toronto (2017-ongoing)

  • Plaques and Programming Committee.
  • Short Publications Awards (2017-2018)

Co-Founder and Board Member, Toronto Workers History Project (2016-2017)

  • Member of the interim steering committee that created and incorporated the organization
  • Chair of the Working Group on Archives, dedicated to locating and preserving documentation pertaining to workers’ history in the hands of unions and other groups

Curator, History Matters Lecture Series, Toronto Public Library and ActiveHistory.ca (2012-2015)

  • Selected speakers, organized and hosted presentations by academic historians

Curator, St. Christopher House: a Neighbourhood History, 2011

  • Led a team of volunteer researchers to examine and organize St. Christopher House’s in-house historical records
  • Curated travelling and online exhibition on the 100th anniversary of the organization

Co-Founder and Lead Director, Portuguese Canadian History Project (2008-ongoing)

  • Identified and facilitated the transfer of 10 records collections from private individuals and organizations into the care of the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections.
  • Developed and maintained a digital history website with 26,600+ views and 15,400+ visitors since December 2015.
  • Co-produced (i.e. researched and interviewed subjects, wrote scripts, translated, narrated, and edited) 95 short documentaries (3-8 minutes) for the daily television show “Hora dos Portugueses” on Portugal’s public international TV and radio broadcaster RTPi/RDP, including history vignettes and visual records from our archival collections (2015-2017).
  • Organized a York University Community Conversation at the Gallery of the Portuguese Pioneers titled “The Summer of ’77: How Emanuel Jaques’ Murder Changed Toronto,” featuring myself, Dr. Daniel Ross, Dr. Tom Hooper, and Valerie Scott (2017).
  • Co-organized and hosted a week-long summer camp for youth between the ages 14-18 with the Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian Studies Program at York University (2017).
  • Produced and led the “Portuguese Toronto: Early Decades” walking tour and digital (AR) companion with Heritage Toronto (2014-2015) and Jane’s Walks (2016-2017).
  • Curated “The Portuguese in Toronto, 1953-2013” travelling exhibition and digital (AR) guide, and showed it in eleven different locations (2013).
  • Curated online exhibitions using Omeka and Neatline platforms (2011).
  • Developed a documentation strategy for patron-driven acquisitions in Toronto’s Portuguese-Canadian community for the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections (2009-2010).
  • Supervised the experiential education placements of eight students from HIST4840 and other courses in the Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian Studies Program.
  • Raised $100,000 in private gifts with York University’s Advancement Office to cover operative costs

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Course director, “Living History: Creating History in the Greater Toronto Area,” Department of History, Glendon College, York University
4000-level, Fall, 2020, Fall-Winter 2021-2022, Fall 2022

Course director, “Public History,” Department of History, Keele Campus, York University
4000-level, Fall-Winter 2020-2021

Course director, “The Development of Toronto,” Department of History, York University
4000-level, Fall-Winter 2016-2017, 2017-2018, 2018-2019

Teaching assistant, “Life, Labour and Love: an Introduction to Social and Cultural History,” Department of History, York University
1000-level, Fall-Winter 2010-2011, 2011-2012
Course director: Prof. Nick Rogers

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

Visiting Professor, Department of History and Global Labour Research Centre, York University (2020-ongoing)

Post-Doctoral Visitor, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies & Department of History, York University (2015-2019)

SCHOLARSHIPS, GRANTS, AND AWARDS

  • Mitacs Accelerate Fellowship, December 2020 – May 2021
  • Nominated, Heritage Toronto’s Public History Award, 2019
  • Lieutenant Governor of Ontario’s Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation, 2019
  • Awards to Scholarly Publications Program’s Publication Grant, Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences, 2018
  • Susan Mann Dissertation Scholarship, Faculty of Graduate Studies, York University, 2013
  • Doctoral Fellowship, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, 2012
  • Ontario Graduate Scholarships, Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges, and Universities, 2011-2014
  • Scotiabank Community Involvement Award in Honour of Teresa Melo, Federation of Portuguese Canadian Business and Professionals, 2010
  • York Entrance Graduate Scholarship, York University, 2009

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

Academic conferences

  • Presenter, “After the Politics of Toil: An Introduction to Portuguese-Canadian Political History,” Social Movements & Civic Engagement in the Lusophone World, Centre for Portuguese Studies and Culture, University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth, April 9, 2022
  • Guest presenter, “Introducing the City Builders project,” Italian Canadian Archives Project 9th Annual Conference, Brock University, St. Catharines, October 26, 2019
  • Guest presenter, “Que Deus nos Ajude: Covetous Priests and Industrious Souls in the Portuguese Parishes of Montreal and Toronto,” Community and Diversity: A Conference in Honour of Roberto Perin, York University, September 27, 2019
  • Presenter, “Breaking the News: Portuguese Colonialist Lobbying and Propaganda in the United States in the 1960s,” Lusophone Studies Association International Conference – The Lusophone World: Global and Local Communities, University of Évora, Portugal, June 2019
  • Panel organizer and moderator, “Tipping the Iceberg – Lusophone Digital Holdings and Online Research in American and Canadian Archives, Libraries, and Museums,” Expressions of Lusofonia – International Conference, York University, October 26-28, 2018
  • Presenter, “‘Oh Famous Race! The Estado Novo‘s Imperial Propaganda and the Construction of Portuguese Diasporic Memory in North America,” Celebrating 25 Years of the Portuguese Studies Review, Trent University, October 27, 2017
  • Guest panelist, “Building Immigrant Community Archives from the Bottom Up: the Portuguese Canadian History Project’s case,” Canada India Symposium, York University, October 13, 2017
  • Guest panelist, “Archiving From Below: Preserving the Collective Memory of Canada’s Immigrant Communities,” Coptic Canadian History Project’s 1st Annual Conference, York University, April 6, 2017
  • Guest panelist, “Methodological Implications of ‘Borderless’ History” roundtable, New Frontiers in Graduate History Conference, York University, Toronto, February 19, 2015
  • Presenter, “Migration Studies and Public Engagement” & “‘As the battle raged outside’: Portuguese exiles, homeland politics, and the exercise of Canadian citizenship, 1959-1966,” Social Science History Association, Toronto, November 8, 2014
  • Presenter, “Archiving From Below – the Portuguese Canadian History Project,” Association of Canadian Archivists Annual Conference, Winnipeg, June 15, 2013
  • Guest panelist, “Historians Doing Public History,” Public History and the University: a Workshop, Dept. of History, York University & Avie Bennett Historica-Dominion Institute Chair in Canadian History, Toronto, November 1, 2012
  • Presenter, “A Multicultural Hegemony? Building Ethnic Consensus Among Toronto’s Portuguese Community, 1960s-1980s”, Engagement in Multiculturalism and Transnational Space: Portuguese-Canadian Identities in Canada and in Portugal, Universidade Aberta, Lisbon, July 10, 2012
  • Presenter, “The Age of Recoveries: Public Memory, Myth Making, and (Trans)national Propaganda in the Portuguese Immigrant Narrative of North America, 1950s-1970s”, Portugal in the Last Two Centuries, International Graduate Conference on Portuguese Modern and Contemporary History, ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon, June 21-23, 2012
  • Panelist, “Democratizing the Production and Access to Historical Knowledge: the Online Exhibits of the Portuguese Canadian History Project”, Crossroads: Scholarship in an Uncertain World, Annual Meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, May 28-30, 2012
  • Presenter, “Invisible Politics and the Measures of Participation: Toronto’s Portuguese constituency, 1950s-1990s,” Generations: Current Findings on the Acculturation and Integration of Portuguese Immigrants and their Descendants in North America, Institute for Portuguese and Lusophone World Studies, Rhode Island College, October 14-15, 2011
  • Presenter, “A Past for the Future: Archiving the Portuguese Canadian Experience – the Portuguese Canadian History Project,” Luso-Canadians and their Descendants in Canada and in Portugal: Questions of Civic Engagement and Diversity Management, Universidade Aberta, Lisbon, June 27, 2011
  • Presenter, “Anti-Fascist Pirates, Street Rioters, and Transnational Politics: Portuguese Political Exiles in Toronto – the Canadian Portuguese Democratic Committee (1959-1961),” New Frontiers in Graduate History Conference, York University, Toronto, February 2011

Guest lectures and roundtables

  • Guest lecturer, “The Diplomatic Corps and the Making of the Portuguese Diaspora in Postwar Canada,” Instituto Diplomático, Lisbon, September 21, 2022
  • Guest lecturer, “Breaking the News: Portuguese Lusotropicalist Public Relations and Lobbying in the United States, 1961-4,” Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, UMass Dartmouth, June 10, 2021
  • Guest panelist, “Publishing in Open Access,” Digital Scholarship Infrastructures, York University Libraries, October 23, 2019
  • Symposium co-organizer and presenter, “Diversity in the Archives,” 6th Annual Public History Symposium, York University, Toronto, September 28, 2018
  • Guest panelist, “Coffee and Conversation,” Workers Arts & Heritage Centre, Hamilton, July 21, 2018
  • Guest lecturer, “Passados com Futuro: Notas sobre a preservação e divulgação da história de imigração no Canadá,” Café & Cultura lecture series, Toronto, December 6, 2017
  • Panel organizer and speaker, “The Summer of ’77: How Emanuel Jaques’ Murder Changed Toronto” public roundtable, Community Conversation, in collaboration with York University’s Dept. of History, Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, ActiveHistory.ca, and the Gallery of Portuguese Pioneers, Toronto, June 22, 2017
  • Guest speaker, “Entre Margens e Memórias: Representações da Diáspora,” York University, Toronto, November 3, 2014
  • Guest speaker, “New Beginnings, Old Journeys: Multicultural, Generational and Revolutionary Transitions in Canada’s Portuguese Communities, 1970s,” Associação de Estudos da Mulher Migrante, Victoria College, University of Toronto, October 14, 2014
  • Guest speaker, “Invisible Politics and the Measures of Participation: Toronto’s Portuguese Constituency, 1950s-1990s,” MPP Jonah Schein’s riding office, February 26, 2014
  • Guest speaker, “Portuguese Canadian History Project – preserving the Collective Memory of Immigrants in Canada. Democratizing Access to Historical Knowledge,” History Speaker Series, Dept. of History, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, November 6, 2012

Workshops, Forums, and Symposiums

  • Guest participant, I Congresso Mundial das Redes da Diáspora Portuguesas (1st World Congress of the Portuguese Diasporic Networks), Government of Portugal, Porto, Portugal, July 13-14, 2019
  • Guest participant, Urban Transformations Symposium, Wychwood Barns Community Association, Toronto, June 20-22, 2014
  • Guest participant, Museum of Toronto Vision Workshop, Dialog Design, Toronto, June 2, 2014
  • Guest participant, I Fórum Internacional dos Luso Talentos (1st International Forum of Portuguese Talent), Observatório dos Luso-Descendentes and Government of Portugal, Porto, November 22-24, 2012
  • Guest participant, Borderlands and Transnationalism: New Perspectives on Immigration to Canada and the United States, Glendon College, York University, Toronto, October 19-20, 2012

UNIVERSITY SERVICE

  • Co-President. Graduate History Student Association, York University, 2011-2012
  • Co-Founder. Núcleo de Estudantes de História (Undergraduate History Student Association), ISCTE-IUL, Lisbon, Portugal, 2003

ACADEMIC AFFILIATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS

  • Member, Canadian Historical Association, 2012 to present
  • Member, Lusophone Studies Association, 2017 to present
  • Member, Association for Spanish and Portuguese Historical Studies, 2012

RELEVANT NON-ACADEMIC / NON-PUBLIC HISTORY EXPERIENCE

Jury member, Toronto Building Diversity Awards, Toronto Community Benefits Network, May 2022

Producer and Reporter, “Hora dos Portugueses” daily TV show, Rádio Televisão Portuguesa – Internacional (Portugal’s international public broadcaster), 2015-2017

Board member, St. Christopher House, 2009-2012

MEDIA COVERAGE OF RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HISTORY

I have been interviewed by print, online, radio, and television media on more than 50 different stories highlighting my research and public history work, ten of them in mainstream national and local Canadian outlets, ten in mainstream national and international Portuguese outlets, and over 30 in Toronto-based Portuguese-Canadian outlets. Of these I highlight the following:

  • June 12, 16, and 20, 2020: Interviewed for stories on CBC Radio’s On the Go (Newfoundland and Labrador), CBC.ca article, OMNI TV “Focus Portuguese,” Diário de Notícias (front-page), Público, and RDP “Câmara dos Representantes,” about the controversy surrounding the Gaspar Corte-Real statue in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
  • January 26, 2020: RTP TV 8-minute feature about my book launch
  • December 1, 2019: Guest on OMNI TV’s “Focus Portuguese” on my upcoming book This Pilgrim Nation.
  • March 23, 2019: CBC.ca/ CBC Radio story about the City Builders exhibition at the Columbus Centre.
  • November 12, 2018: RTP TV 8-minute feature about the City Builders project.
  • July 1, 2017: Diário de Notícias (Portugal) story about Canada’s 150 anniversary.
  • June 22, 2017: CBC.ca/ CBC Radio story about the murder of Emanuel Jaques and the public roundtable “Summer of ’77” (this story was the “editor’s pick” and was shared more than 8,500 times on social media).
  • May 13, 2013: Guest on CBC Radio’s Metro Morning with Matt Galloway on the PCHP’s exhibit at City Hall.
  • March 2, 2012: Interviewed by CityTV on the launch of the exhibit “St. Christopher House: a Neighbourhood History”

DIGITAL SKILLS

Knowledgeable in various digital history, course management, project management, web development, audio and video editing, graphic design, spreadsheet and word processor platforms, including:

  • Blender (3D modeling)**
  • MetashapePro (3D modeling)**
  • Audacity (audio editing)*
  • izi.Travel (augmented reality)***
  • Knight Lab Soundcite JS (audio text)***
  • Moodle (ourse management)***
  • Knight Lab Storyline JS (data visualization)***
  • Adobe Photoshop (design)**
  • Scalar (digital publishing)*
  • Machform (form builder)**
  • arcGIS (mapping)**
  • Knight Lab Juxtapose JS (mapping)***
  • Knight Lab StoryMap JS (mapping)***
  • Neatline (mapping)**
  • Carto (mapping)*
  • Omeke (online exhibitions/ digital collections)***
  • Trello (project management)***
  • Basecamdp (project management)***
  • Zotero (reference management)***
  • Knight Lab Timeline JS (timelines)***
  • Transcribe Wreally (transcribing)***
  • Aegisub (video production)**
  • DaVinci Resolve (video production)**
  • Knight Lab Scene VR (virtual reality creator)***
  • WordPress (website creator)***
  • Blogger (website creator)**

    * beginner, ** proficient, *** fluent

LANGUAGES

  • English: native speaker proficiency
  • Portuguese: native speaker
  • Spanish: intermediate level reading and speaking