The LEHMT

The Labor History Studies Laboratory – LEHMT (Laboratório de Estudos de História dos Mundos do Trabalho) brings together professors and students from the Instituto de História da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IH-UFRJ) and other universities interested in the debates and research related to the labor history and social movements in an interdisciplinary perspective. Initially based in the Escola de Ciências Sociais of the Fundação Getulio Vargas (CPDOC / FGV) where it developed his activities between 2012 and 2017, LEMT was transferred to IH-UFRJ in 2018.

In addition to the history of formal and informal organizations of workers and social movements in general, a broad range of issues compiles the universe of researchers’ interests linked to this laboratory, including topics such as productive processes, migration, the connections between the labor and urban space, the importance of daily life, the multiple cultural dimensions of the universe of the popular classes, political disputes, the relations between capital and work, and the social movements in public space and their interaction with the various spheres of the State.

In addition, our debates have given attention to the processes of class formation and their articulation with different identity dimensions, such as gender, race, ethnicity, religion, regional and national origin, among others. There has also been growing interest in the deindustrialization processes and their impact on the construction of collective memories in workers’ communities and on the debates about the so-called industrial patrimony. Finally, LEMT has increasingly encouraged comparative and transnational approaches that dialogue with recent approaches that seek to emphasize the global dimensions of labor history and social movements.

Teachers and students linked to LEMT have established a profitable dialogue with researchers and academic institutions linked to this field of study in Brazil and abroad. We actively participate in the GT Mundos do Trabalho of the Associação Nacional de História (ANPUH) at both the national and state levels. We develop activities and partnerships with other laboratories and research groups interested in these themes, especially the Social Movements and Public Sphere Project Movimentos Sociais e Esfera Pública of Colégio Brasileiro de Altos Estudos (CBAE) of UFRJ, the Núcleo de Pesquisa Desenvolvimento, Trabalho e Ambiente (DTA) also from UFRJ; the Núcleo de Pesquisas e Estudos do Trabalho of IESP (UERJ); the Grupo de Pesquisa sobre História Global do Trabalho of the IM of UFRRJ and the Grupo de Estudos em História Social e Ditaduras of PUC-Rio. Internationally, LEMT has important connections with institutions such as the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, the Humboldt University Re-work Institute in Berlin, Germany, as well as with universities and academics in the United States, Argentina, India, South Africa, among other countries.

LEMT is involved in organizing and promoting various academic activities. In 2012, LEMT played a fundamental role in the organization of the II Seminário Internacional Mundos do Trabalho, held at FGV and promoted by the GT Mundos do Trabalho of the Associação Nacional de História (ANPUH) and a series of Brazilian universities and international institutions. In 2015, in partnership with the History Department of PUC-Rio and IM-UFRRJ, LEMT organized the I Seminário Internacional Mundos do Trabalho e Ditaduras no Cone Sul, with more than 100 researchers from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and the United States.

In 2017, the Laboratório de Estudos sobre Instituições, the Grupo de Estudos em História Social e Ditaduras of PUC-Rio and the Brazil Initiative of Brown University, United States promoted the 3º Simpósio Internacional Brasil, da Ditadura à Democracia: novos estudos, novas perspectivas, helded in the dependencies of PUC-Rio. In the same year, an extension project entitled Trabalhadoras e trabalhadores na história do Brasil was also carried out, in the form of a mini-course taught by the LEMT participants and aimed at students and high school students.

LEMT regularly organizes research seminars, lectures, round tables, workshops, short-term courses and maintains a regular study group involving postgraduate and undergraduate teachers and students.

LEMT is registered as CNPq Research Group.