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Department of History

Erika Vieira was born and raised in Porto Velho, the capital city of Rondônia, a state in the northwest of Brazil. She holds a bachelor’s degree in History from the Federal University of Rondônia, where she is currently completing her master’s degree in the History of the Amazon. Her academic work has been deeply rooted in exploring the racialized experiences of minority workers in the Amazon, as reflected in her first research project and undergraduate thesis.

Her master’s thesis investigates the penetration of the Brazilian legal system into the Brazilian north, with a focus on legal cases involving rubber plantations at the start of the twentieth century. One chapter of her thesis specifically examines legal cases involving women as workers, mothers, and owners on these plantations. For her doctoral research at the University of Illinois, supported by the Lemann Center, Erika plans to delve further into the histories of women’s experiences in the social and legal contexts of northern Brazil during the rubber boom at the turn of the twentieth century. She will employ a range of sources, including legal records, newspapers, governor reports, and more.

Erika’s unique perspective is shaped by her life experiences in a household of Black and mixed-race women, which has informed her focus on studying history through the lens of northern Brazilian women’s experiences. Her mother, a public health worker in Brazil, has been instrumental in connecting working-class women and families in their neighborhood with essential medical resources. With her father away on construction projects throughout northern and western Brazil, Erika, alongside her mother and twin sister, managed their household together, supporting themselves through her mother’s public health work and their roles as teachers and restaurant workers. These experiences have fueled her passion for specializing in the intersections of gender, justice, labor, and migration, particularly during the First Rubber Boom.