Paper short abstract:

This presentation focuses on the creation of SPAE (1918) and the way it sought to deal with the study of Man in different dimensions. SPAE promoted partnerships, and also the exchange of works with schools and institutions, having developed efforts towards the internationalization of knowledge.

Paper long abstract:

This presentation aims at reflecting on the creation of SPAE (1918) and the way this organisation has sought to deal with the study of Man in different dimensions (biological and sociocultural). SPAE was born following the steps of other scientific societies created in Europe and the USA that gathered specialists with common interests. The dynamism of the people that brought it to the light of day allowed it to turn into a privileged space for scientific debate. One of its main goals was the struggle for Anthropology to be recognised as an university discipline and its institutionalization in the faculties of Sciences and Medicine, although some of its topics might also be taught in the faculties of Humanities.

SPAE has offered its cooperation in the organization of several initiatives, such as the creation of an International Institute of Anthropology, idealized by the Paris School of Anthropology. It promoted several partnerships, on a national and international level, besides the exchange of journals and works with several schools and institutions, partly abroad. The edition of its periodical (Trabalhos de Antropologia e Etnologia) reveals the broad nature of the topics it dealt with, as well as the diversity of the contexts reviewed and the diversity of methods used. SPAE, which helped creating the then future Porto School of Anthropology, perseveres even today and possesses a valuable estate of precious scientific journals from all-over the world, as a consequence of its exchanges and its efforts towards promoting the internationalization of scientific knowledge.