Lemann Distinguished Visiting Professor, 2019-2020

Luís Cláudio Pereira Symanski is an Associate Professor of history, anthropology, and archaeology in the Faculdade de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). He also serves as the Vice-Director of the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology within that division of UFMG. Luís’ teaching and advising are addressed to undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students. He is one of the most influential and active scholars in collaborative, interdisciplinary research of African diaspora populations in Brazil. Luís combines the insights of historical and archaeological analysis to uncover the lives and legacies of African heritage people in a nation that received the largest influx of captive laborers during the period of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Luís’ scholarship focuses on the untold histories of Afro-Brazilians living with the challenges of enslavement on sugar and coffee plantations. His current field research projects also focus on “maroon” settlements of populations who rebelled against enslavement in Brazil. He has been tireless in working to convey the lessons of historical and archaeological research to broad audiences. For example, Luís has served as a member of the Editorial Board of the peer-reviewed Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage (Routledge), and Editor and Board member of Vestígios: Revista Latino-Americana de Arqueologia Histórica (the Latin American Journal of Historical Archaeology). He offered courses at UIUC designed with broad, interdisciplinary perspectives: the “History, Anthropology, and Archaeology of African Diasporas in Brazil” and the “History and Theory of Archaeology in Brazil.” Luís similarly plans a fascinating public lecture at UIUC, entitled “Historical Archaeology and the Material Expressions of Religiosity in African Diasporas in Brazil in the 18th and 19th Centuries.” Plans also include attendance at the ASWAD conference and the meetings of other professional organizations during his stay in the U.S. As the 2019-2020 Lemann Distinguished Visiting Professor in Brazilian Studies, his residency on campus will provide a unique opportunity for students, faculty, and the broader Urbana-Champaign community to engage in questions on a number of topics. This includes runaway maroon communities and the wider continuum of resistance to slavery in a comparative context, as well as the methods and models through which we commemorate African diasporic cultures. These courses and lecture will be of great interest to faculty, graduate, and undergraduate students on our campus from Brazilian studies, Latin American studies, African American studies, Center for African Studies, Global studies, Religion, Anthropology, Landscape Architecture, History, Agricultural and Consumer Economics, and Sociology, to name just a few.