The name of the prize was not chosen coincidentaly. The initiative for this competition goes back to the activities of the Foundation and the person of Andrzej Dembicz (1939-2009), an important Latin Americanist and Polish geographer who dedicated his life for 50 years, with heart and mind, to the study and understanding of Latin America and the Caribbean. In 1988, he founded the Centre for Latin American Studies (CESLA) at the University of Warsaw and headed it until 2009, promoting the creation of centres for the study of the Americas in other latitudes, such as the Núcleo de Estudos das Américas (NUCLEAS) in Rio de Janeiro. He also participated in the management and organization of scientific events, was President of the International Federation for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (FIEALC) from 1993 to 1995 and organized its congress in 1993. He was President of the International Congress of Americanists (ICA) and organized its congress at the University of Warsaw (Poland) in 2000. From 2001 to 2007 he was President of the European Council for Social Research on Latin America (CEISAL), where he was responsible for three CEISAL congresses together with the organizing committee. This period is considered by many to be the time of greatest growth and consolidation of this organization, thanks to the dynamic of opening up to Latin Americanists from other regions of the world.
The competition aims to recognize the excellence of doctoral work among theses on Latin America and the Caribbean, with a disciplinary and interdisciplinary approach, in the field of social, human and earth sciences. It aims to raise awareness of the work done in different parts of the world on Latin America, encouraging young researchers to continue their scientific development and remain in the university environment.
- Only dissertations presented at an academic institution in Europe in the period indicated in the call will be considered for this competition.
- The dissertations submitted for the competition must be written in one of the four languages: Spanish, French, English or Portuguese.
- The version of the dissertation submitted for the competition must not differ from the version that was presented in the dissertation defense.
- At the time of submission to this competition, the work must not be the subject of an evaluation in other competitions.
- The author of the dissertation must not be older than 45 years of age at the time of the defense.
The Professor Andrzej Dembicz Foundation will award the prize-winning doctoral thesis with €1,000.00 (one thousand euros), a medal as a distinction and a corresponding diploma. CEISAL guarantees transport to the award ceremony venue and accommodation during the Congress).
The history of the competition
The competition is organized every 3 years, which corresponds to the cycle of the CEISAL congresses, and are based on the theme of the respective event. Two contests have been organized so far; the 1st prize was awarded during the IX CEISAL Congress in Bucharest, the 2nd at the X Congress in Helsinki. The 3rd competition will be finalized in 2025 with the award ceremony at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University during the XII CEISAL Congress. The previous winners were:
2019 (12 theses were submitted for the competition):
-Prize winner : Dario Arce Asenjo (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - PARIS III) “L'Uruguay ou le rêve d'un Extrême-Occident: mémoires et histoire du malencontre indien”.
-Thesis recognized with a diploma "El racismo en los discursos historiográficos y literarios en el proceso de formación del Estado nacional peruano", by Luis Escobedo (University of Warsaw).
2022 (17 theses were submitted):
-Prize winner: Agata Bloch (Tadeus Manteuffel Institute of History. Polish Academy of Sciences) “Os grupos subalternos no império colonial português na perspectiva de redes”
-Thesis recognised with diploma "Evolution of Foreign Policy of Mexico in the Period 2000–2018", by Oxana Katysheva Vladimirovna (Saint Petersburg State University, Russia).
For more information:
WWW: dembicz.org
e-mail : premiodoctoraldembiczceisal@gmail.com
