Marta Araújo


Biography

Marta Araújo (PhD, University of London, Institute of Education - Department of Policy Studies, 2003) is Principal Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra (CES). Her interdisciplinary research addresses two complementary lines of enquiry: i) public policy, political discourse, and ethnic-racial discrimination; ii) race, history education and knowledge production, focusing on the school and public history of colonialism and enslavement. Since 2007, Dr Araújo has lectured at the doctoral level (e.g. 'Democracy in the 21st Century' and 'Human Rights in Contemporary Societies'). She was an Invited Researcher at the Centre for Research on Ethnic Relations and Nationalism (CEREN) at the University of Helsinki (2018-2020). She has been on the Editorial Board of publications in the sociology of 'race' and education in Brazil, Britain, Portugal and the United States, she has published internationally in reputed peer-reviewed journals (e.g. British Journal of Sociology of Education, Ethnic and Racial Studies, Patterns of Prejudice, and 'Race', Ethnicity and Education). She has acted as a scientific advisor on ethnic and racial equality and participated in selected expert meetings at national and international levels (e.g. UNESCO, EU Parliament hearing, Secretary of State for Citizenship and Equality). She has been similarly engaged in outreach activities, particularly with schoolteachers and students, cultural mediators, social workers, and journalists. Her recent publications include: 'Hard Lessons on Racial Inequality? A Research Agenda on "Difficult Knowledge" in the Post-colonial Classroom in Europe', Cambridge Journal of Education (2026) and 'Crossings and Anchorages: The Circulation of the Painting The King's Fountain and the Negotiation of Post-Colonial Racial Imaginaries in Portugal', Social Identities: Journal of the Study of Race, Nation, and Culture (2025).


Latest Publications

Book Chapter

Araújo, Marta (2026), Slavery and Race in History Education in Post-2020 Europe, in Neto, S., Ribeiro, A.I., Gomes Ferreira, A., Mota, L., Serrano, C.I. (org.), National and Global Historical Perspectives on Textbooks: The Atlantic Connection. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 163-179

Article in Scientific journal

Araújo, Marta (2026), "Hard Lessons on Racial Inequality? A Research Agenda on 'Difficult Knowledge' in the Post-colonial Classroom in Europe", Cambridge Journal of Education, 1-19

Read more

Article in Scientific journal

Araújo, Marta (2025), "Crossings and Anchorages: The Circulation of the Painting The King's Fountain and the Negotiation of Post-Colonial Racial Imaginaries in Portugal", Social Identities: Journal of the Study of Race, Nation, and Culture, 31, 4, 440-458

Read more