In his presentation, Rafael addressed key themes of the PhD thesis which he defended in 2024 at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) in Campinas (Brasil), titled "Fronteiras da fertilidade: criatividade, refúgio e autonomia na última fronteira interna de Angola, 1785-1919” (transl.: “Fertility frontiers: creativity, refuge and autonomy on Angola's last internal frontier, 1785-1919”).

Based on unexplored sources and an interdisciplinary dialogue with archaeology and anthropology, Rafael investigates the history of agropastoral zones and people in southern Angola from the late eighteenth into the twentieth century. He argues that the agropastoral communities in this area resulted from the expansion of the slavery frontier into southern Angola. The political system of these communities was hence organized around flexible kinship networks, capable of accommodating and incorporating refugees and allies of the most diverse kinds, as well as around large ritual systems for promoting fertility.