Vidal Laurent

Laurent Vidal, born in 1967, is a graduate of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Grenoble and holds a doctorate in history (IHEAL – Paris III). He is a university professor in history at the University of La Rochelle and research director at the Institut des Hautes Etudes d’Amérique Latine (University of Paris III). He is also Deputy Director of the Centre de Recherches en Histoire Internationale et Atlantique. He has been a visiting professor at the Federal University of Goiás (Brazil – 2000), the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (2008, 2017), the State University of São Paulo (2011), and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (2018). Since 2013 he is a foreign correspondent member of the Institute of History and Geography of Brazil (a learned society founded in 1838). Since 2015 he has been a member of the Scientific Council of the Forum of the Sea (El Jadida – Morocco).

His work focuses on the history of Brazil, the foundations of cities, the relationship between cities and politics, and French-Brazilian migrations and, in general, the history of Atlantic American societies (cultural circulation, movements and rhythms: waiting, slowness). He has directed the ANR Terriat (Mobilités, sociétés, déplacements : Les territoires de l’attente dans les mondes américains), https://terriat.hypotheses.org/, and currently coordinates the Franco-Brazilian project BALNEOMAR: “The production of the seaside space in coastal cities: Circulation of models and experiences (the cases of the State of Rio de Janeiro and the Department of Charente Maritime, from the 19th century to the present day)” 2018-2021 – https://balneomar.com/.)