Alexandre Pelegrino

Alexandre Pelegrino serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of History within the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto. His research centers on the interconnected histories of Indigenous and African enslavement in colonial Latin America, with particular focus on 18th-century northern Brazil and race formation processes.

His educational credentials include a PhD from Vanderbilt University, complemented by MA and BA degrees from Fluminense Federal University (UFF) in Brazil. Prior to his current position, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Rice University's SlaveVoyages project.

Pelegrino's scholarly work examines how Indigenous enslavement persisted alongside African slavery in colonial Amazonia, revealing complex systems of racial categorization and legal manipulation. His current book project Bonds of Belonging: Slaving, Indigeneity, and Race in Amazonia (1688-1798) investigates these dynamics through archival analysis of Portuguese colonial administration. His research spans Atlantic World history, colonial legal systems, and the social construction of race in frontier regions.

His publications demonstrate consistent focus on colonial Brazil's entanglement of slavery, epidemic disease, and governance structures. Both articles analyze Maranhão region case studies through interdisciplinary lenses combining legal history, medical history, and social analysis of enslaved populations, highlighting administrative responses to crises and racial reclassification processes.

His notable recognitions include:

• Honorable Mention for Jane Burbank Global Legal History Article Prize (2022)
• Honorable Mention for Surrency Prize (2022)
• Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Fellowship (2020)
• Luso-American Development Foundation Research Fellowship (2018)

Pelegrino has secured significant research funding from the Social Science Research Council, Luso-American Development Foundation, and Conference on Latin American History. His postdoctoral work with Rice University's SlaveVoyages project demonstrates engagement with large-scale collaborative historical databases. While no formal lab affiliation is documented, his participation in digital history initiatives indicates commitment to innovative research methodologies.

His academic trajectory reflects deep engagement with colonial Brazilian history through multiple institutional partnerships, with current work expanding understanding of slavery's regional variations and racial formation processes beyond conventional Caribbean/North American frameworks.