João Fusco Ribeiro holds an MA in European and African Historical Studies (2016) and a PhD in Contemporary History (2023), both from the University of Évora, Portugal. His doctoral research examined the armed guerrilla campaign waged by the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) against Portuguese colonial rule, as well as the origins of the movement’s anti-Soviet orientation. The dissertation received an Honourable Mention from the Mário Soares History Award and is currently being prepared for publication with Ohio University Press. In 2024 and 2025, he held visiting research positions at the German Historical Institute in Warsaw (GHIW) and the Leibniz Centre for Modern Oriental Studies (ZMO) in Berlin. Dr. Ribeiro’s research focuses on African liberation movements, the transnational networks of anti-colonial solidarity that connected them with Eastern Europe, and the non-liberal transitions to independence that shaped the emergence and consolidation of Afro-Communist regimes inspired by the Soviet model.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4202-0600

List of chief publications:

Articles

• "Unlocking Opportunities: Polish Economic Interactions in Angola in the Aftermath of Decolonisation (1975–1981)", in Journal of Cold War History, 2025.
• "Intra-Nationalist Fighting in the Angolan Liberation Struggle: Exploring the Case of the Eastern Front (1966-1974)" in Vienna Journal of African Studies, 2024.

Book Chapters

• (with Helder Adegar Fonseca), "Communists as Agents of Decolonization in Angola’s Transition to Independence (1974–1977)". In Communist Actors in African Decolonial Transitions: Comparative Perspectives, edited by Chris Saunders, Helder Adegar Fonseca and Lena Dallywater (Berlin, De Gruyter Brill, 2025).
• "UNITA, China, and the Soviet Bloc: Rivalries, Constraints, and Cooperation (1964–1974)". In Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, and Africa: New Perspectives on the Era of Decolonization, 1950's to 1990's edited by Chris Saunders,  Helder Adegar Fonseca and Lena Dallywater (Berlin, De Gruyter, 2023).

Book Reviews

• 'Global Histories of the the Portuguese Revolution', Edited by Luís Trindade, Rita Lucas Narra and Pedro Ramos Pinto, in Journal of Cold War History, 2026.
• 'Globalizing Independence Struggles of Lusophone Africa: Anticolonial and Postcolonial Politics', Edited by Rui Lopes & Natalia Telepneva, in Nordic Journal of African Studies, 2025.