Colonial intelligence and diplomatic relations between empires, or how to survive in a vast Indo-Persian world. Interview with Jorge Flores

Abstract

Jorge Manuel da Costa Silva Flores is one of the leading names for anyone who wants to study Portuguese Asia in the early modern period, not only because of his long academic career, but especially because of the international impact of his scientific work. Professor Jorge Flores has a high level of academic experience. He holds a Degree in History from the University of Lisbon and a MA and a PhD from the New University of Lisbon. Prior to his current position at the University of Lisbon, he held Assistant and Lecturer Professorships at the University of Macau, the Lusíada University (Lisbon), and the University of Aveiro. He has been Associate Professor (with tenure) of Portuguese & Brazilian Studies and History at Brown University (Providence, RI) before moving to the European University Institute, in Florence, where he was Vasco da Gama Professor on European Colonial and Post-Colonial Systems, and Professor of Early Modern Global History. Currently he is senior Researcher at the Interuniversity Centre for the History of Science and Technology (CIUHCT), University of Lisbon. Over the course of his career, Professor Flores has been a visiting scholar at several international scientific institutions, such as the International Open University of Asia; École Pratique des Hautes Études – IVe Section, Sorbonne; Leiden University; École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales; the University of Oxford (Torch International Fellow); and the University of Konstanz (Dr. K. H. Eberle Research Fellow).