III Atlantic Conference 2025| FEARS, BELIEFS and REPRESENTATIONS | 23-26 SEPTEMBER – Atlanticonference – Estudos da História e da Cultura de Portugal e dos Açores

Main Project Objectives

Fear is one of the most basic and powerful human emotions and has accompanied humanity’s long journey in its material and metaphysical dimensions. The perception of danger and the uncertainty of the unknown give rise to fears and anxieties that can sometimes be specific and objective, but can also turn into something irrational, very close to phobias. Inseparable from instincts such as survival, but also from prejudices, beliefs and religions, the study of fears provides a perspective for approaching, analyzing and understanding mentalities, behaviors
and cults in diCerent eras and societies, as well as the interpretations and representations they imply, both in the arts and in literature.

This is the main objective of the third edition of this biannual multidisciplinary congress in the
Humanities and Social Sciences, which will be held at the University of the Azores in September 2025, with the specific theme “Fears, beliefs and representations”.

This theme is in line with the concerns inherent in the current global context, which is facing great challenges, insecurities and fears in the face of increasing armed conflicts, acts of terrorism, climate and environmental changes, the emergence of new viruses and associated diseases, advances in technology and the anathema of deprivation.