Prof. Dr. Ricardo Borrmann
Contact
University of Bremen, FB 8
Institute for Historical Studies
P.O. Box 330 440
28334 Bremen
Office hours: by appointment
Office: GW2 B2580
Phone: 0421/218 67201 (secretary's office, Mrs Claudia Haase)
E-mail: Prof. Dr Ricardo Bormann
Vita
In 2024, he conducted archival research in New York City for his second book as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the German Historical Institute Washington D.C. From October 2024 to March 2025, he will be substituting for Professor Delia González de Reufels at the Chair of Latin American History at the University of Bremen.
Ricardo Borrmann is currently affiliated with the Chair of Contemporary History at the Université de Neuchâtel and is working on the project " Neuchâtel face à la colonisation: circulations, intrications et mémoire," under the supervision of Professors Kristina Schulz and Matthieu Gillabert, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). The project aims to investigate Neuchâtel's involvement in slavery and the slave trade.
Ricardo Borrmann holds a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and a master’s degree in political theory and history from the Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF). He obtained a PhD in cultural history and history of science from Ludwig Maximilians University Munich (LMU). His doctoral thesis, published in 2018 by Franz Steiner Verlag (Beiträge zur Europäischen Überseegeschichte), is titled Tobias Barreto, Sílvio Romero und die Deutschen: Die Rezeption deutschsprachiger Autoren in der brasilianischen Rechtsgeschichte (1869-1889).
In 2018, he was a Research Fellow at the Center for Media, Communication, and Information Research (ZeMKI) at the University of Bremen and remains a member of the Lab for Audio-Visual Media and Historiography, led by Professor Delia González de Reufels (Chair of Latin American History). That same year, he also taught at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Cultural Sciences, where he offered courses on the history of eugenics and media in Latin America.
Until 2023, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher and lecturer at the Chair of Latin American History in the Department of History at the University of Bremen. His postdoctoral project focused on reconstructing the transnational and Latin American intellectual network of Brazilian film critic Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes (1916-1977), funded by the Central Research Development Fund (CRDF) at the University of Bremen for early-career researchers.
As an assistant to Professor Delia González de Reufels (Chair of Latin American History), he participated in the project "Win a Tutor: Didactic E-Learning Application Scenarios" at the Multimedia Teaching Center (ZMML), aimed at using new digital technologies and explanatory videos in the teaching of history. He also served as the Erasmus Program Coordinator in the Department of History at the University of Bremen.
In Brazil, he worked as a research assistant at the Laboratório Cidade e Poder (LCP/UFF), coordinated by Professors Gizlene Neder and Gisálio Cerqueira Filho, and as an editorial assistant for Passagens - Revue Internationale d'Histoire Politique et Culture Juridique (https://periodicos.uff.br/revistapassagens). He is currently a member of the Editorial Committee of this journal as well as of Direito em Movimento. He is also an associate researcher at the Laboratório Cidade e Poder (LCP/UFF) and has been a member of the National Association of University Research in History (ANPUH) since 2009, as well as of the Latin American Studies Association (LASA).
Research topics
His expertise encompasses the intellectual history of Brazil and Latin America (19th and 20th centuries). His research focuses on cultural studies, German-speaking intellectuals, the reception of ideas, intellectuals and cinema, racism and eugenics, with a particular emphasis on theoretical frameworks such as post-colonialism, decolonization practices, transatlantic intellectual networks, and the relationships between legal culture and religious culture. He has also studied the reception of German-speaking authors by Brazilian intellectuals from the Recife School, particularly Tobias Barreto and Sílvio Romero, at the end of the 19th century.
Seminars and Lectures
Winter term 2024 | Seminar: Human rights and Authoritarianism in Brazil: a historical introduction (German) Seminar: Colonization and Slavery in the 19th Century: Europe and the Black Atlantic (German) Seminar: The History of Eugenics and Racism in Latin America: Crossing(s) and Reception(s) (German) |
Winter term 2023 | Seminar: Human Rights, Gender and Racism in Brazil in Historical and Comparative Perspective (German and English) |
Spring term 2022 | Seminar: Racism Yesterday and Today: Media, Institutions and Eugenics (German and English) |
Winter term 2021 | Seminar: Basics of historical work (German) Seminar: Intellectuals and Film: Dictatorships, Institutions and Eugenics (German) |
Winter term 2020 | Seminar: Basics of historical work (German) Seminar: Postcolonialism, Canonic Texts and Interpretations of Brazil and its History (English) |
Spring term 2020 | Seminar: History, Eugenics and Film: Intellectual Networks in Latin America (German) |
Winter term 2019 | Seminar: The History of Racism and the Eugenic Movement in Brazil (German) Seminar: Authoritarianism, Media, and Cultures of Memory in Brazil through Movies (German) |
Winter term 2018 | Seminar: The Media Landscape in Brazil: History and Politics (German)* *at the Center for Media, Communication, and Information Research (ZeMKI) |
Spring term 2018 | Seminar: The History of Eugenics in Brazil (German) |
06/27/24 Keynote speaker “A Alemanha de Tobias Barreto: Direito, Evolucionismo e Antitomismo. Webinar: 65ª Reunião do Fórum Permanente de História do Direito e 9ª. Reunião do Fórum Permanente de Direito Comparado. Escola da Magistratura do Rio de Janeiro, EMERJ, Brazil, ZOOM/Youtube: youtu.be/--K8zFdQamg
06/13/24 Presentation “Tobias Barreto's Own Private Germany: Legal Thinking, Evolutionism, and Anti-Thomism”. Workshop: Perspectives for transatlantic research co-operation. Coordinated by Prof Christine Vogel. Universität Vechta, Vechta, Germany.
02/14/24 Presentation “Migrations et enchevêtrements économiques entre le Pays de Neuchâtel et l’Atlantique colonial (1800-1920)”. Public presentation: Project “Neuchâtel face à la colonisation : circulations, intrications et mémoire”. Coordinated by Profs. Kristina Schulz & Matthieu Gillaber. Université de Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
10/31/23 Presentation “Paulo Emílio e a cultura religiosa: Intelectuais, cinema e política” (Portuguese). Second Webinar “Por uma história nacional, transnacional e global: circulação de ideias e apropriações culturais”. Organized by Prof. Gizlene Neder. Universidade Federal Fluminense/Laboratório Cidade e Poder, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
10/31/23 Presentation “Paulo Emílio-Vlado: diferenças geracionais ou disputas religiosas?” (Portuguese). First Webinar “Por uma história nacional, transnacional e global: circulação de ideias e apropriações culturais”. Organized by Prof. Gizlene Neder. Universidade Federal Fluminense/Laboratório Cidade e Poder, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
08/04/23 Conference “Interpretations of the Schreber Case: Anxieties of a legal servant” (Portuguese). EMERJ, Rio de Janeiro (via ZOOM). Invitation from the Judges School Rio de Janeiro, Escola da Magistratura do Rio de Janeiro.
07/12/23 Conference “Transnationale Austausche hinter Film Archive: das Netzwerk des Filmkritikers Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes (1916-1977)”. Ihila, University of Cologne. Invitation from Prof. Dr. Debora Gerstenberger.
Publications
Most Recent Publication:
Borrmann, R. (2024) Paulo Emílio Salles Gomes, religious culture, and the teaching of cinema in Brazil. In Neder, G., Barcelos Ribeiro da Silva, A. P., Mendes Gomes, J. R. (eds.) Transnational and Global History: Circulation of Ideas and Cultural Appropriations. Rio de Janeiro: Mauad X, pp. 219-245. ISBN: 9786553771529. mauad.com.br/historia-transnacional-e-global-circulacao-de-ideias-e-apropriacoes-culturais
Other Publications: