[1] Sevcenko specialized in the history of Brazilian culture and the social development of the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
He was also a member of the Center for Latin American Cultural Studies at King's College of the University of London.
[5] He grew up in the city of São Paulo, in the working class district of Vila Prudente, which had a concentration of Slavs.
[9] He earned his doctorate in social history in 1981, also from USP, with a thesis entitled: "Literatura como Missão: tensões sociais e criação cultural na Primeira República" (Literature as Mission: social tensions and cultural creation in the First Republic).
[1] In 1999, he won the Prêmio Jabuti in the category of human sciences for his book The History of Private Life in Brazil (volumes 3 and 4), published by Companhia das Letras.