Bernardo O'Higgins Chair

On October 3, Martin Grossmann, director of the IEA, and Maria Helena Rolim Capelato, professor at USP’s Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences (FFLCH), will meet Sergio Escobar Bravo, rector of the Universidad de La Frontera (UFRO) in Temuco, Chile. The purpose of the encounter is to renew the agreement between USP and UFRO that gave rise to the Bernardo O'Higgins Chair, based in the IEA, for another five-year period. At the meeting, a new work plan for the next five years will be set.

Founded in 2008, the chair aims to provide the Brazilian public with more information on Chile, particularly its culture. The proposal is that the exchange between the two countries gets intensified by the coexistence between Chilean and Brazilian researchers from the two universities in São Paulo.

The chair was coordinated by biochemist Hernan Chaimovich, professor at USP’s Institute of Chemistry and former deputy director of the IEA, until 2009, when Andrés Eduardo Aguirre Antúnez, professor at USP’s Institute of Psychology, took over the coordination, in which he remained until March this year. The position is now in charge of Capelato, who will head the chair in the 2013-2017 period.

Master and PhD in Social History from USP, Capelato is a full professor of the History department at FFLCH. She has been president of the National Association of Researchers and Professors of History of the Americas (ANPHLAC). Her research focuses on American History, especially on Comparative History (‘Varguismo’ and ‘Peronism’), History of Latin American Intellectuals and Culture and Politics in Latin America.