An outspoken sympathizer and avowed supporter [2][3][4] of the Bloco de Esquerda party,[5] he is regarded as one of the most prominent Portuguese living left-wing intellectuals.

[9] His paternal grandparents lived in a small village of São Pedro de Alva, in the municipality of Penacova, 30 km away from Coimbra.

Boaventura de Sousa Santos used to spend his school holidays in his grandparents estate helping them on several agricultural tasks and playing with neighbours.

[citation needed] The main idea underlying ALICE is to create a decentered conception of the anti-imperial South, in which Africa and Asia also find their place in a broader and more liberating conversation of humankind.

His fieldwork was based on participant observation, lasting several months, in a Rio de Janeiro slum where he experienced the struggle of the excluded populations against oppression first hand.

The researchers, Lieselotte Viaene, who is Belgian; Catarina Laranjeiro, who is Portuguese; and Miye Nadya Tom, who is an enrolled member of the Native American Walker River Paiute Tribe and third-generation Russian-American, did not name the "Star Professor" at the center of their publication, but it was through this publication—a chapter in an edited volume titled “Sexual Misconduct in Academia: Informing an Ethics of Care in the University”[30]—that the allegations began to be publicly associated with Boaventura de Sousa Santos.

The complainants describe a modus operandi in which the Star Professor would touch a knee of a female researcher under his supervision, asking her to deepen their mutual relationship in exchange of academic support.

After those declarations became public, the Brazilian congresswoman, and member of the Municipal Chamber of Belo Horizonte, Bella Gonçalves, a politician of Brazil's Socialism and Liberty Party (PSOL),[44] former student at the research centre CES in Coimbra, announced she had been sexually assaulted by Boaventura de Sousa Santos in the exact same way described in the article.

[49] Right after the publication of the article as well as the statements of Bella Gonzalvez and Moira Millan, Boaventura de Sousa Santos decided to suspend all his activities at CES [50] and made himself available to any investigation,[51][52][53] urging for an independent commission to be created to clarify the facts.

In June 2023, Sousa Santos wrote an opinion piece in which he shows some self-criticism regarding the events described in the accusations, arguing he belongs to a generation with a sexist culture, although he continues to reject the allegations, highlighting his fight for equality.

In September 2023, Taylor & Francis, owner of Routledge, made a statement[66] arguing they had received "legal threats from various parties" and thus decided for the withdrawal.

As a reaction, beyond the social media uproar,[67][68] an open letter to Routledge received the support of 1,200 academics, asking the publisher to "state why they have removed" the book, and to "reinstate [it]" and "stand up to legal threats".

[70][71] On 13 March 2024, the 114-page report by the Independent Commission of the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra confirmed the existence of evidence of abuse of power and sexual harassment at CES.

[73][74] In addition to this report,[75] the CES apologised "to people who consider themselves victims of harassing or abusive behaviour" and promised to take action and provide reparations.

[78][60] In the report, the Independent Commission states it gathered testimonies of 32 people presenting allegations, 78% women, where around half were victims and the rest witnesses.

[79] The report speaks of perpetrators systematic blurring of professional and private life, situations of non-consensual touching, encouraging alcohol drinking, and offers of academic benefits in exchange of sexual favours.

[81] A year after the first accusations of sexual harassment, and as soon as the report by the independent commission was made public, Boaventura de Sousa Santos was removed from his position as a judge at the International Rights of Nature Tribunal.