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Virtual Lectures

The Digital Brazil Project’s virtual lectures feature Brazilian and Brazilianist scholars as well as community leaders based in Brazil. While the halt to international travel presents challenges, it also creates opportunities for new long-distance collaborations that highlight pressing issues.

Featured Lecture

Davi Kopenawa Yanomami at the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies

In Fall 2022, the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies in collaboration with the Instituto Socioambiental, the Hutukara Associação Yanomami, the Environmental Defense Fund, and American Indian Studies at SDSU welcomed Davi Kopenawa Yanomami for a virtual lecture. Davi Kopenawa Yanomami is a shaman and spokesperson for the Yanomami people, one of the largest relatively isolated tribes living in the Amazon forest on the border of Brazil and Venezuela. Davi is today a global ambassador for his people and one of the most eloquent and powerful voices speaking out against the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and its peoples. For over 25 years, he has tirelessly led the national and international campaign to secure Yanomami land rights for which he gained recognition around the world and in Brazil. The contiguous Yanomami territories in Brazil and Venezuela are the largest area of tropical rainforest managed by an Indigenous people in the world.

Featured Virtual Speaker
Upcoming Events
Past Events

Past Events

Reparations in Brazil and the U.S., a lecture by Diva Moreira

October 10, 2023

 On October 10, 2023 the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies in partnership with SDSU's Department of Africana Studies and the Black Studies Project at UCSD hosted renown scholar and activist, Diva Moreira, for a conversation on reparations for slavery in Brazil and the U.S. Diva Moreira is one of the griots of the Black radical tradition in Brazil. She started her intellectual and political work fighting against the military dictatorship (1964-1985), organizing underground meetings for democracy as a member of the Communist Party. The military invaded her house, her husband was imprisoned for three years, and the government prohibited her from speaking publicly. Yet, she resisted political persecution until the democratization of the country. After the dictatorship, she dedicated herself to Black, feminist, and working-class movements.

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Religious Racism in Brazil, a lecture by Dr. Gustavo Cerqueira

November 15, 2022

Dr. Gustavo Melo Cerqueira is the Babalorixá of Ilê Axé Omi Ogun siwajú. Actor, director, and playwrite, Dr. Melo Cerqueira holds a Ph.D. in African and African Diaspora Studies and an MA in Arts from the University of Texas at Austin (United States). He is the author of articles published in national and international books and journals in theater, performance studies, and religious studies. This lecture is hosted by Dr. Daniela Gomes’s class, AFRAS 351: Black Religions and Spirituality

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Terreiro's Corporealities: Performance and the Body in Afro-Brazilian Religions//Dr. Agatha Oliveira

October 28 2022

Dr. Agatha Oliveira is Assistant Professor at the Corporeal Arts Department at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She holds a PhD in Performance as Public Practice from the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of Texas at Austin and M.A. in Arts from the African and African Diaspora Studies Department. Her research works in the interface of dance, performance, African diaspora connections and Black feminisms. Dr. Oliveira is also a dance artist who has worked with different professional dance companies in Brazil and performed in several places across the world, including the Joyce Theatre in NY, the Center of Arts in Melbourne, Australia and Teatro Colón in Bogotá.

Re-Inventing Paulo Freire: Experiencing a Child-Like Pedagogy of the Question with Dr. Walter Kohan

April 11, 2022

Walter Omar Kohan is Professor of Philosophy of Education at the State University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). He received his doctorate from Iberoamericana University in Mexico City and did post-doctoral studies in Philosophy at the University of Paris. Dr. Kohan was a research fellow at EPCD, at the University of British Columbia, 2017-8. He has also been visiting professor at different universities in Italy, France, Argentina, Mexico and Chile. Since 2000 he is a Senior Research member of the National Council of Scientific and Technologic Development (CNPQ, Brazil) and of the Foundation of Support of Research of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ, Brazil). Since 2003, he has been the Director of the Center of Studies in Philosophy and Childhood (State University of Rio de Janeiro, www.filoeduc.org). He also directs the Project “Philosophy at the Childhood of School Life” at CAPES, Brazilian Ministry of Education.

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Who Needs Climate Justice in Brazil? a lecture by Andréia Coutinho Louback

April 5, 2022

Andréia Coutinho Louback is a journalist from PUC-Rio, with a masters in Ethnic Racial Relations from CEFET/RJ and a specialist in climate justice in Brazil. She is currently a fellow of the Fulbright Humphrey Fellowship (2021-22) program at UC Davis. She has worked as communication coordinator at the Instituto Clima e Sociedade (iCS) and at the Instituto Alana Climatic and Socio-environmental Justice project. She then coordinated a study on climate justice, gender and inequalities, which is forthcoming by the Climate Observatory, and also actively participated in the translation of the book Climate Justice: Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future, by Mary Robinson, in Brazil.

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Religion, Healthcare and Politics in the Pandemic Context in Brazil part II

March 21, 2022

The second in a two part speaker series, "Religion, Healthcare, and Politics in the Pandemic Context in Brazil" features lectures by Dr. Sandra Duarte Souza and Dr. Clarissa de Franco as they reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on religion and politics in Brazil.

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Insurgent Voices in Brazil's Lethal Democracy with Débora Maria Silva, Rute Fiúza, and Mônica Cunha,

March 15, 2022

Insurgent Voices in Brazil's Lethal Democracy: Events in Honor Marielle Franco took place at San Diego State University on March 14-15, 2022. This panel, available here with simultaneous interpretation in English, brought together Débora Maria Silva, Rute Fiúza, and Mônica da Cunha into a discussion moderated by Gladys Mitchell-Walthour on human rights, state violence, and their struggles as activists and mothers whose children were murdered by the Brazilian state.

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The Paulo Freire Lecture on Education and Social Transformation // George Oliveira

December 6, 2021

The works of Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire (Recife, 1921–1997) have had significant world impact in education, community development, and even community health. As a critical scholar-activist deeply committed to the work of humanization through conscientização —the development of a critical consciousness— Freire not only decried the role educational institutions often play in reproducing inequalities, but emphasized how education could instead be a tool of liberation.

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Threatened Tapajós: Indigenous Perspectives on Infrastructural Mega-Projects

November 30, 2021

The region of the Tapajós River in the Brazilian Amazon is the site of several planned mega-projects, including railroads, dams, mining, and the expansion of agro-business. In this virtual event, we screen the short documentary, “Threatened Tapajós” (directed by Thomaz Pedro, 2021) and hear from researchers, Vinícius da Silva Machado and Telma Monteiro, who contributed to a report produced by the Society for Threatened Peoples documenting the Indigenous response to the planned infrastructure projects that will impact their communities’ health and territory.

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The Paulo Freire Lecture on Education and Social Transformation // Dr. Uju Anya

November 30, 2020

The works of Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire (Recife, 1921–1997) have had significant world impact in education, community development, and even community health. As a critical scholar-activist deeply committed to the work of humanization through conscientização —the development of a critical consciousness— Freire not only decried the role educational institutions often play in reproducing inequalities, but emphasized how education could instead be a tool of liberation.

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Negrafias in Downtown São Paulo: Presence and Representations of Blackness in Urban Art

November 17, 2021

"Negrafias in Downtown São Paulo: Presence and Representations of Blackness in Urban Art," a lecture by Marina Barbosa, was delivered on November 17, 2021 at the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University.

 

Marina Barbosa Marina is a Black Brazilian woman who researches art, musicalities, religion, and the Black body in dialogue with the city. She is a social scientist who holds a masters in art history. She is currently a PhD student in Social Anthropology at the University of São Paulo.

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Religion, Healthcare and Politics in the Pandemic Context in Brazil

November 9, 2021

The first in a two part speaker series, "Religion, Healthcare, and Politics in the Pandemic Context in Brazil" features lectures by Dr. Keila Pinezi and Dr. Rodrigo Toniol as they reflect on the social movements and actors who were part of the dispute in the political and religious realms and their impact on the public health realm.

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Land Rights in the Brazilian Amazon: Community-Based Economies

November 4, 2021

"Community-Based Economies" is the third in a three part series, Land Rights in the Brazilian Amazon. The series is sponsored by the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies, Nature and Culture International, Projeto Bem Viver, and the Department of American Indian Studies at San Diego State University.

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Precarious Democracy Book Launch and Panel Discussion

October 21, 2021

The Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies is pleased to host the launch of the new book, Precarious Democracy: Ethnographies of Hope, Despair, and Resistance in Brazil (Rutgers University Press), edited by Benjamin Junge, Sean T. Mitchell, Alvaro Jarrín and Lucia Cantero. Precarious Democracy brings together 15 evocative ethnographic accounts of how Brazilians from diverse walks of life have experienced and responded to economic precarity, political crisis, and diminishing hopes for the future from 2013 to 2019—a pivotal period in Brazilian history, bookended by the explosion of massive protests across the country in 2013 and the first year in office of hard-right president Jair Bolsonaro.

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​Sônia Guajajara Lecture: Indigenous Peoples' Day

October 11, 2021

Sônia Guajajara belongs to the Guajajara/Tentehar people, who live in the forests of the Araribóia in the state of Maranhão, Brazil. Her militancy began in her youth, in grassroots movements, but soon reached the National Congress – where she led the opposition against a series of projects that took away rights and threatened Indigenous peoples and the environment. In just a few years, she gained international prominence for her struggle waged on behalf of the rights of native peoples.  

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Afro-Brazilian Religions and Religious Racism - a lecture by Dr. Gustavo Melo Cerqueira

October 4, 2021

"Afro-Brazilian Religions and Religious Racism" is a lecture delivered by Dr. Gustavo Melo Cerqueira on October 7, 2021 to Dr. Daniela Gomes' course, AFRAS 300: Afro-Brazilian Community, Culture, and Identity. Gustavo Melo Cerqueira, Ph.D is babalorixá, actor and performer. Master of Arts and PhD in African Studies and the African Diaspora from the University of Texas at Austin, United States. Graduated in Law from the Federal University of Bahia. He worked with Cia. Teatro dos Novos and Bando de Teatro Olodum, in Salvador, and with Cia. dos Comuns in Rio de Janeiro. Develops research related to the black body in the performing arts and presence from the intersection of theories and methods of Black Studies, Performance Studies, Sociology and Theater. He is currently one of the coordinators of PELE NEGRA ESCOLA DE TEATRO(S) PRETO(S). In 2020, he was approved in first place in the contest for a postdoctoral scholarship in the Graduate Program in Performing Arts at UFBA. Unfortunately, CAPES suspended the registration of new scholarship holders, which prevents Gustavo from starting his postdoctoral research.

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Land Rights in the Brazilian Amazon

The Struggle for Indigenous Land Demarcation

October 4, 2021

The first discussion panel in the three part series, Land Rights in the Brazilian Amazon: The Struggle for Indigenous Land Demarcation, focuses on the historical context and recent action in the struggle to secure Indigenous rights to land in Brazil.

Ivo Cípio Aureliano (Macuxi) is one of the four Indigenous lawyers who defended Indigenous peoples rights on September 1, 2021 at the Brazilian Supreme Court (STF). He holds a graduate degree in Public Law, with emphasis on Constitutional Law. 

Ana Paula Souto Maior is a Brazilian lawyer who has worked with Indigenous peoples’ rights since 1986. She has experience with governmental, non-governmental, and Indigenous peoples organizations.

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Utopia of Freedom in the Americas: Quilombo and Marronage as Forms of Social Organization in the Diaspora

September 30, 2021

"Utopia of Freedom in the Americas: Quilombo and Marronage as Social Organization in the Diaspora" is a lecture delivered by Dr. Davi Pereira Junior on September 30, 2021 to Dr. Daniela Gomes's course, AFRAS 300: Afro-Brazilian Community, Culture and Identity. Davi Pereira Junior, Ph.D. was born in the quilombola community of Itamatatiua in the south of the Municipality of Alcântara - Maranhão, Northeast Brazil. He holds a BA in History from the State University of Maranhão UEMA, a Master’s degree in Social Anthropology from the Federal University of Bahia UFBA, and a PhD in Latin American Studies from University of Texas at Austin. Pereira Junior has been a researcher for New Social Cartography in Brazil since 2005. He has extensive experience in researching and producing cartographies with Peoples and Traditional Communities in Brazil.

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World Portuguese Language Day

May 5, 2021

On May 5, the date proclaimed by UNESCO, we pay homage to World Portuguese Language Day. Join to watch academic and diplomatic speeches, student and faculty participation, poetry, music, e muita alegria!

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Race, Racism and Resistance in Latin America Series

Art and Empowerment: Kadiwéu Women’s Pottery

March 24, 2021

The Kadiwéu are an indigenous people currently living between the Paraguay River and the Bodoquena Mountains in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil. Viviane Luiza Silva’s talk analyzes Kadiwéu pottery production in relation to the cultural, environmental, political, and economic contexts of Kadiwéu women’s labor. Kadiwéu artists and community leaders, Nayokolate and Edelson Fernandes, participated in the event and shared their perspectives of how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the Kadiwéu and the role of art-making in their community.

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Samba Brasil!

A lecture by Sérgio Mielniczenko

January 28, 2021

The Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University is pleased to present "Samba Brasil! A Lecture by Sérgio Mielniczenko."

Born in São Paulo, Brazil, Sérgio Mielniczenko moved to Los Angeles in 1974 to attend college. Since 1978, Mielniczenko has been the creator, host and producer of the Brazilian Hour, a weekly radio program that was one of the first radio programs in the U.S. dedicated to showcasing the best of Brazilian music. It is currently distributed to over 35 public radio stations across the United States, from Alaska to New York as well as world-wide in 5 languages and to over 150 embassies. 

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"The Chicken is a Being": Clarice Lispector's Echo-Poetics, a lecture by Dr. Marília Librandi- Rocha

January 28, 2021

"'The Chicken is a Being': Clarice Lispector's Echo-Poetics" is a lecture delivered by Dr. Marília Librandi-Rocha on January 28, 2020. The event was organized by the Portuguese Program of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese and sponsored by the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University.

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Race, Racism and Resistance in Latin America: Afro-Brazilians Struggle for Citizenship

November 18, 2020

Race, Racism and Resistance in Latin America is a three-part lecture series co-sponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies, the Department of Africana Studies, and the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University. In the third event, Abner Francisco Sótenos, Monique Paula, and Watufani Poe discuss the Afro-Brazilian struggle for citizenship, including the deadly challenges facing Black women in the political arena and how the Black LGBTQA+ movements in Brazil and the United States find possibilities for connecting through social media and activism.

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Indigenous Women and Sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: Climate Challenges and Territorial Protections

October 12, 2020

The second discussion panel in the three part series, Indigenous Women and Sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: Climate Challenges and Territorial Protection addresses the struggle for legal recognition of Indigenous lands and the impact of climate change the Amazon region in Brazil. The series is sponsored by the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies, Nature and Culture International, Projeto Bem Viver, and at San Diego State University the Department of American Indian Studies, and the Center for Latin American Studies.

Indigenous Women and Sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: COVID-19 in Indigenous Amazonia

October 12, 2020

The third discussion panel in the three part series, Indigenous Women and Sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: COVID-19 in Indigenous Amazonia addresses the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the communities that live in the Amazon region in Brazil. The series is sponsored by the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies, Nature and Culture International, Projeto Bem Viver, and at San Diego State University the Department of American Indian Studies, and the Center for Latin American Studies.

Indigenous Women and Sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: Sineia do Vale

October 12, 2020

Sineia do Vale belongs to the Wapichana people. Graduated in Environmental Management, she has worked for almost three decades in the Environmental Department of the Indigenous Council of Roraima (CIR). Since 2011, she has led projects that follow the impacts of climate change on the lives of the indigenous peoples of Roraima.

Indigenous Women and Sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: Marizete de Souza

October 12, 2020

Marizete de Souza Macuxi belongs to the Macuxi people and is the general coordinator of the indigenous women's movement in the Serras region, located in the Raposa Serra do Sol Indigenous Land, in Roraima. Daughter of Jaci de Souza, an important leader of the Macuxi people in the fight for the demarcation of Raposa Serra do Sol, she has a degree in Indigenous Territorial Management and today works with federal deputy Joênia Wapichana, the first indigenous woman elected to Brazil's national congress.

Indigenous Women and Sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: Telma Tuarepang

October 12, 2020

Telma Taurepang, of the Taurepang tribe, is the general coordinator of the União das Mulheres Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira (UMIAB). She was born in the Araça indigenous land and lives in the Mangueira Indigenous Community, located in the Amajarí region, in the Brazilian state of Roraima, where she maintains her ancestral roots and connections. Today she is also an Anthropology professor and academic.

Indigenous Women and Sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: Mariazinha Baré (COIAB)

October 12, 2020

Mariazinha Baré is from the Baré People. She is an MBA student in project management at the Universidade Estadual do Amazonas and holds a masters in social anthropology from the Universidade Federal do Amazonas. She served as the coordinating secretary in the organization of Indigenous women of Amazonia, the União das Mulheres Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira. Today she is among the most prominent indigenous leaders in the Amazon and is currently a project manager for the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations in the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB).

Indigenous Women and Sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: Policy and Politics for the Environment

October 5, 2020

The first discussion panel in the three part series, Indigenous Women and Sustainability in the Brazilian Amazon: Policy and Politics for the Environment addresses deforestation, fires, and the policies that impact the Amazon region in Brazil. The series is sponsored by the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies, Nature and Culture International, Projeto Bem Viver, and at San Diego State University the Department of American Indian Studies, and the Center for Latin American Studies.

Q&A with Teddy Collatos and Carolina Monnerat // SDSU Brazilian Film Series

October 1, 2020

The Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University interviewed Carolina Monnerat and Teddy Collatos in September 2020 to discuss their feature-length documentary, Queen of Lapa. Queen of Lapa was the October 2020 film of the SDSU Brazilian Film Series. To watch our virtual film series, visit the Film Series page.

The Semiotics of Covid-19 Through the Eyes of a Clinician: Perspectives on the Pandemic in Brazil and the United States

September 30, 2020

The Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies is pleased to present as part of our Health Lecture Series "The Semiotics of COVID-19 through the Eyes of a Clinician: Perspectives from Brazil and the United States" by Carlos Alberto von Mühlen, MD, PhD. Dr. von Mühlen completed his Masters Degree at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, Brazil, specializing in internal medicine and rheumatology and his PhD at the Rhineland-Westphalia Technical University in Aachen, Germany. Dr. von Mühlen has extensive experience in clinical medicine, focusing on rheumatology and autoimmune diseases.

Racism, Social Exclusion, and the Burden of Substance Use on Black Brazilians

September 28, 2020

This panel brought together three distinguished research scholars from Brazil’s Oswaldo Cruz Foundation - FIOCRUZ in Rio de Janeiro and Getúlio Vargas Foundation, São Paulo Brazil to discuss the historical and present day context of racism against persons of African heritage in Brazil, including the sociological construction of racism in Brazil and resulting social exclusion and inequalities; the use of the race/color indicators in epidemiological studies in Brazil; and the impact of substance use among socially-excluded communities in Brazil.

All Virtual Lectures

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