Boaventura de Sousa Santos is a sociologist, Professor emeritus at the Department of Sociology of the School of Economics of the University of Coimbra (FEUC), Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, and Director Emeritus of the Centre for Social Studies at the University of Coimbra. An outspoken sympathizer and avowed supporter of the Bloco de Esquerda party, he is regarded as one of the most prominent Portuguese living left-wing intellectuals.