Manu Braganca

Manu Braganca is an Associate Professor in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at University College Dublin (UCD), where he has served since 2016. He is the Director of the BA Humanities Languages, Linguistics and Cultures Programme (since 2020) and has held leadership roles in Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) within his school. His academic background includes positions at Queen's University Belfast, Nottingham Trent University, and the University of Manchester.

Dr Braganca’s research lies at the intersection of cultural history, memory studies, and visual culture, with a focus on 20th- and 21st-century France. His work explores how historical trauma, particularly from World War II, is represented in literature, comics, and public discourse. He has published extensively on the representation of Hitler and Vichy in French fiction, the ethics of historical cover design, and the role of children in war narratives in graphic novels.

The recent articles and books reflect a strong trend in interdisciplinary scholarship combining literary analysis, visual culture, and memory studies. His research frequently investigates the ethical and paratextual challenges of representing traumatic historical figures and events, especially through visual media like comics and book covers.

• College of Arts and Humanities Teaching Excellence Award (2022)
• Digital Badge for Universal Design for Learning (2023)

Manu Braganca is an active mentor and welcomes inquiries from prospective MPhil and PhD students in memory studies, cultural history, and cultural studies. He has secured competitive research funding from the AHRC, British Academy, Leverhulme, and SSFH. He serves on the editorial boards of H-France and Review of European Studies, and has previously held editorial roles at Open Cultural Studies and Modern & Contemporary France. He regularly peer-reviews for major publishers and journals and has co-organized international conferences on WWII memory and Sartre.

He leads digital humanities initiatives, including the digitization of Sartre’s interviews and student-led exhibitions on Sartre and blindness. His public engagement includes contributions to The Conversation, widely republished, on topics such as the history of Mein Kampf in France.