Journal of History Bilros: History(s), Society(ies) and Culture(s)

Apresentação e Expediente

2025-09-30T18:52:52-03:00

Presentation and record of the dossier on Edward Palmer Thompson for his 2024 birth centennial: History as Craft and Struggle: The Insurgent Legacy of E. P. Thompson - Dossier in Honor of the Centennial of His Birth.

CHRISTOPHER CAUDWELL

2025-10-02T16:03:10-03:00

Collaborative translation by Saulo Artur Cordeiro Leite Julião and Rodrigo Cavalcante de Almeida of “Christopher Caudwell.” excerpt from THOMPSON, E. P. Making history: writings on history and culture. New York: The New Press, 1995. p. 78-140.

COMMITMENT IN POETRY

2025-10-02T12:41:41-03:00

Translation by Raul Victor Vieira Ávila de Agrela of “Commitment in Poetry.” excerpt from THOMPSON, E. P. Making History: Writings on History and Culture. New York: The New Press, 1995. p. 330-339.

INTRODUCTION - COMMITMENT TO THE COMMONS, TO OURSELVES, TO LIFE: E.P. THOMPSON BETWEEN THE END OF TIME AND OTHER STORIES

2025-10-02T10:44:53-03:00

Special introduction to the dossier, with evaluation and comments on all articles, translations and annotated bibliography.

THE COMMONS, THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

2025-10-02T11:31:01-03:00

This essay examines the relevance of Edward Palmer Thompson's thought (1924-2024) on his centenary, specifically focusing on his contribution to commons studies as a political alternative to contemporary dilemmas. In a context marked by the resurgence of "new faces of fascism" and the deepening of the global ecological crisis, we argue that Thompson offers unique methodological and political tools for understanding communalist struggles as both historical and contemporary phenomena. After briefly situating the panorama of common studies in Brazilian historiography, we analyze how Thompson developed an original perspective that rigorously articulates the local and global, the particular and universal, avoiding both abusive generalizations and extreme particularism. We demonstrate that his approach in Customs in Common is characterized by three fundamental aspects: historiographical rigor in dealing with partial and ambivalent evidence; the refusal of generalizations that subordinate Global South experiences to European struggles; and the capacity to suggest connections between historiography and politics without prescribing revolutionary scripts. Finally, we examine how Thompson maintained a realistic diagnosis of capitalism's exterminationist threats, understanding the struggle for the commons not as an idyllic dream, but as a vital necessity for human species survival. We conclude that Thompson offers us "utopian fuel" to think alternative forms of resistance and social creation that transcend classical dichotomies between reform and revolution.

CRITICAL REALISM AND HISTORY:

2025-10-02T11:40:23-03:00

Este ensaio investiga as convergências teóricas entre o historiador inglês Edward Palmer Thompson e o filósofo Roy Bhaskar, particularmente no desenvolvimento de epistemologias realistas alternativas. O texto argumenta que, apesar de Thompson não ser filósofo de formação, sua capacidade de engajar-se em debates teóricos de alto nível permite estabelecer diálogo produtivo com o "realismo crítico dialético" de Bhaskar. A análise concentra-se em três aspectos fundamentais: primeiro, a concepção ontológica de múltiplas camadas do real em interação, na qual ambos autores defendem uma realidade estratificada que inclui o passado, os futuros-possíveis, os valores morais e os sentimentos como forças materiais; segundo, a diferenciação necessária entre epistemologia e ontologia, rejeitando a redução do ser ao conhecimento; e terceiro, a tensão dialética entre totalidade provisória e singularidade no processo de conhecimento. Ambos os pensadores combatem as supostas antíteses entre materialidade/valores, particularidade/totalidade, subjetividade/objetividade e propõem ontologias abertas, relacionais e em movimento permanente. O ensaio conclui que Thompson e Bhaskar compartilham uma perspectiva realista alternativa que reconhece a autonomia da realidade em relação ao sujeito cognoscente, sem cair no realismo ingênuo, mantendo sempre a tensão produtiva entre conhecimento e realidade.

EXPERIENCE AND LIBERATING EDUCATION:

2025-10-02T11:59:35-03:00

This article connects E. P. Thompson’s concept of experience with Paulo Freire’s liberating education, reflecting on their contributions to History teaching. For Thompson, experience is historically built through the concrete lives of social classes. Freire values learners’ experiences as a starting point for constructing knowledge and transforming reality. Both advocate for a critical and active approach to the subject’s role in history. In this perspective, History teaching should recognize students’ lived experiences as central elements of the educational process. The discussion also engages with Brazil’s 2017 National Common Curricular Base (BNCC), which, despite proposing competencies and skills, shows limitations due to its standardizing nature. We argue that the BNCC can be reinterpreted in light of these authors to foster a critical and emancipatory education, making history and education instruments of awareness.

BROTHERS IN ARMS:

2025-10-02T12:19:26-03:00

This article explores the profound influence of William Frank Thompson on the intellectual and political trajectory of his younger brother, the historian E. P. Thompson. Through an analysis of Frank's personal writings—letters, poems, and diaries, primarily from the Second World War—the text reconstructs his anti-fascist values and worldview. Parallels are drawn between the brothers' experiences and texts, highlighting shared themes such as historical responsibility and hope. It is argued that Frank's capture and execution in 1944 was a formative event for E. P. Thompson, whose subsequent intellectual and militant legacy is seen as a continuation of his older brother's ideals.

STUDIES OF THE COMMON IN BRAZIL: INITIAL CONTRIBUTIONS

2025-10-02T13:32:18-03:00

This bibliographical survey, accompanied by brief commentaries, arose from the restlessness felt with the production and collective debate of the text The commons, the past and the future: an essay on the historiographical and political relevance of E. P. Thompson. Such restlessness was motivated by the limited bibliography on the common that we found in historiography. Driven by this absence, we endeavored to research and map how this production has been carried out in Brazil in various areas of knowledge, as well as to identify the main international productions translated into Portuguese. The following survey does not intend to be an exhaustive and complete list on the subject, but rather an introductory sketch that may assist in the elaboration of new research focused on the theme. Our concern in organizing the productions on the common by area of knowledge may, in part, harm the fundamentally transdisciplinary character of the object; however, not to do so would be, in our view, of great naivety in the face of knowledge as entrenched and segregated as that of the Brazilian intellectual milieu. Finally, it is important to emphasize that we have always chosen to highlight the most recent edition of the listed works.