Imadesc, Madrid
Given the accusations of malpractice and abuse in an institution of great international
prestige as the Center for Social Studies (CES) of Coimbra, which have circulated through social
networks and transpired to the written press, following the publication of the chapter: "The
walls spoke when no one else would" written by Lieselotte Viaene, Catarina Laranjeiro and
Miye Nadya (Routledge, 2023), the undersigned, researchers and members of the academia,
wish to state the following:
1. Some of us are familiar with the important research conducted by Boaventura de Sousa
Santos. Some others are familiar with CES through the important research conducted by its
researchers, including Boaventura de Sousa Santos, in a variety of areas. Some other know CES
and its leaders more directly by means of academic visits, research collaboration, seminars,
training courses, etc. We have observed an exemplary functioning of the institution and a
vocation for rigorous and committed scientific research. Likewise, we have noted at all times a
generous support of all those who are developing their training, research and professional
career, as well as to citizen movements, always from a perspective of equality and social
justice.
2. We encourage all people involved in academic work to express the ways in which
institutional violence has been exercised on them because of their sexual, gender,
psychomotor, ideological or any other type of difference. The transformation of society
requires the transformation of its institutions. However, any institution subjected to an
analysis based on parameters as lacking in rigor as those used in the aforementioned
publication could be accused of extractive and abusive strategies. The publication of texts with
such scant methodological rigor calls into question the processes of scientific evaluation and
objectivity and the institutionalization of scientific transfer as it is supposedly established to
guarantee the quality of the production of scientific knowledge.
3. Since its foundation, CES has been leading the development of a science committed to social
equality and expressing continuous denunciations and criticisms of social injustices. This makes
it the target of self-interested actions to discredit it, in order to curtail its transformative
potential with respect to academia itself and society in general, making its members especially
vulnerable, in particular those in positions of responsibility.
4. We, the undersigned, free and feminist men and women, who know the work of this center
and its objective actions for equality, express our deepest disagreement with those who have
built and/or disseminated an image of the institution completely opposite to our experience of
work and relationship with the institution.
5.- Finally, we wish to specifically express our support for Boaventura de Sousa Santos, who is
undergoing a smear campaign based on unproven accusations that are permitting, without
taking into account the presumption of innocence or even minimal verification, the use of his
image to champion a general cause against undesirable practices in academia. Abusive
practices based on gender inequality must be eradicated at all levels, but precisely because of
the seriousness of this type of reality that affects many women in the patriarchal system, we
must be rigorous in its treatment.
6.- Boaventura de Sousa and his team, who are the visible face of CES, have generously and
courageously dedicated their efforts to promote initiatives of protest and struggle against
social inequalities and, therefore, are now deserving of fair and democratic treatment within
the framework of the established legal guarantees. June, 2023
List of signatures
1 Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Professor of the University of Buenos Aires, Faculty of
Social Sciences, Nobel Peace Prize
2 Ali Salem Iselmu, Professor Tifariti University, Western Sahara
3 Alice Kessler-Harris. R. Gordon Hoxie Professor Emerita of American History at
Columbia University, and former president of the Organization of American
Historians
4 Ana Gómez, professor of the Department of Social Work and Social Services
Pablo de Olavide University
5 Ana Pinilla, professor at the Autonomous University
6 Ángeles Castaño Madroñal, professor of the Department of Social Anthropology,
University of Seville
7 Antonis Hadjikyriacou, Assistant Professor of Ottoman and Turkish History,
Panteion University, Athens
8 Bahia MH Awah, Profesor Universidad Tifariti, UTI
9 Carlos Antonio AGUIRRE ROJAS, National Autonomous University of Mexico
10 Carlos Giménez Romero, Professor Emeritus at the Autonomous University of
Madrid
11 Carlos Tapia martín, professor of the Department of Architectural History,
Theory and Composition of the ETS Arquitectura de Sevilla
12 Carmen Sabalete Gil, Director of Muy Interesante Magazine
13 Chantal Mouffe, Emeritus Professor of Political Theory, Unirsity of Westminster,
London
14 Doris Friedensohn, Professor Emeritus of Women Studies New Jersey City
University, USA
15 Dr Andrea English, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Education, University of
Edinburgh
16 E. Raúl Zaffaroni, Professor Emeritus, University of Buenos Aires
17 Edgar Ardila Amaya, PhD Profesor , Nacional University of Colombia
18 Elodia Hernández León, professor of the Department of Social Anthropology,
Pablo de Olavide University.
19 Else R. P. Vieira, Professor of Brazilian and Comparative Latin American Studies,
Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, Queen Mary University of
London
20 Esther Sánchez Botero, anthropologist Universidad de los Andes Bogotá and PhD
Faculty of Law University of Amsterdam.
21 Etienne Balibar, philosopher and leading exponent of French Marxist philosophy
22 Felix de la Iglesia Salgado, Professor at the Higher Technical School of
Architecture of the University of Seville
23 Fernanda Navarro S., PhD in Philosophy from the Autonomous University of
Mexico and with a degree from l'Ecole Normale Superieure de Paris
24 Firoze Manji, Publisher, Daraja Press, Adj Professor, Insitute of African Studies,
Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
25 Fotini TSIBIRIDOU, Professor of Social Anthropology, Department of Balkan,
Slavic and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia -GREECE
26 Frieder Otto Wolf, Professor Dr., Freie Universiät Berlin
27 Germán Jaraíz, professor of the Department of Social Work and Social Services
Pablo de Olavide University.
28 Germán Sandoval, Autonomous University of Madrid
29 Giuseppe De Marzo, coordinatore nazionale Rete dei Numeri Pari Italia, activist
and writer
30 Gladys Jimeno Santoyo, Psychologist and specialist in Human Rights
31 Göran Therborn, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Cambridge
32 Héctor Nuñez Amor, diplomat
33 Heikki Patomäki, Professor of World Politics and Global Political Economy,
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki
34 Helder Macedo, Ph.D., FKC, Emeritus Professor of Portuguese, King's College
London.
35 Hugh Lacey, Scheuer Family Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Swarth College,
Swarthmore, PA, USA
36 Iris Lykourioti, Architect, Associate Professor, University of Thessaly, Greece
37 Isabel Allegro de Magalhães, Professor of Comparative Literature at the
Universidad Nova de Lisboa
38 Isabel Victoria Lucena Cid. Teacher. Pablo de Olavide University, Seville
39 Iván Periáñez Bolaño, professor at the University of Seville
40 Jane Anna Gordon, University of Connecticut, former president of the Caribbean
Philosophical Association
41 Jatari Hamudi Andala, Rector of Tifariti University, Western Sahara
42 Joel Rogers, Noam Chomsky Professor of Law, Public Affairs, and
Sociology,University of Wisconsin- Madison
43 John Comaroff, Professor of African and African American Studies and of
Anthropology, Oppenheimer Fellow in African Studies, Harvard University
44 John Holmwood, Professor Emeritus, School of Sociology and Social Policy,
University of Nottingham
45 Jorge Riechmann, Department of Philosophy, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid,
Spain
46 Jose Maria Seco Martinez, professor of the Department of Philosophy of Law
Pablo de Olavide University.
47 Jose Ramon Bengoetxea Caballero,Director of the International Master's Degree
in Sociology of Law, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
48 Juan Carlos Gimeno Martín, Professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid
49 Juan Ignacio Robles Picón, PhD, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
50 Juan José Tamayo Acosta. Honorary Emeritus of the Carlos III University of
Madrid
51 Leon Tikly, Professor in Education, University of Bristol
52 Lewis R. Gordon, Philosopher and Public Intellectual, Jamaica and USA
53 Luís Llopis Arenas, Professor of the University of Valencia
54 Maria Isabel Osuna, professor of the Department of Philosophy of Law Pablo de
Olavide University.
55 Maria Teresa Alves, Professor of English, School of Arts, University of Lisbon,
Portugal (retired)
56 Marina von Harbach Ferencz, Doutorada pela Univ. de São Paulo (USP) e PhD
pela UniFe(Itália), com Doutorado-Sanduíche realizado no CES-Coimbra.
57 Martin Chanock, Emeritus Professor La Trobe University Melbourne
58 Mary N. Layoun, merita Professor of Comparative Literature, University of
Wisconsin, Madison
59 Michael Neocosmos (PhD). Emeritus Professor in Humanities, Rhodes University,
South Africa.Distinguished Visiting Scholar University of Connecticut Humanities
Institute, United States.
60 Mohamed Salem Abdelfatah, Profesor Universidad Tifariti
61 Mortimer Jackson Emeritus Professor of Law. University of Wisconsin
62 Nancy Armstrong Gilbert. Louis and Edward Lehrman Professor of Trinity
College, Professor of English Duke University, USA
63 Óscar González, Professor UACM University of Mexico
64 Pablo Ouziel, postdoctoral fellow Chaire de recherche du Canada en études
québécoises et canadiennes CRÉQC at Uqam, Montreal
65 Page duBois, Distinguished Professor of Classics and Comparative Literature,
University of California-San Diego, USA.
66 Paul Lauter, Professor Trinity College, USA
67 Peter Mayo, PhD (Toronto) FRSA Professor, UNESCO Chair in Global Adult
Education, Department of Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education, Faculty
of Education, University of Malta.
68 Prof Gurminder K Bhambra, School of Global Studies, University of Sussex
69 Professor Anuradha Chenoy – retired Professor, School of International Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
70 Professor Kamal Chenoy Retired, School of International Studies, Jawaharlal
Nehru University, New Delhi, India
71 Rajeev Bhargava, Professor of Political Theory, Former Director of Centre for the
Study of Developing Societies
72 Riccardo Petrella, Italian political scientist and economist, PhD in Political and
Social Sciences at the University of Florence.
73 Richard Falk, Professor of International Law, Princeton University & Chair, Global
Law, Queen Mary University London
74 Roberto Savio, chairman of Othernews
75 Ruy Braga, professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of São
Paulo
76 Susan George, PhD, Phi Beta Kappa. Author of 16 books. Age 89. Retired
77 Valeria Vegh Weis, Researcher and Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology,
Konstanz Universität, University of Buenos Aires, National University of Quilmes
78 William C Whitfird, Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin Law School,
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
79 Xosé Manuel Beiras Torrado, Professor of the Faculty of Economic Sciences of
the University of Santiago de Compostela (Galiza)