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I’m honored to join the Lemann Center as a Werner Baer Postdoctoral Fellow for the 2025–2026 academic year. During this time, I will expand my doctoral research into a book titled Life Is a Whirlpool: Retelling, Music, and Identity along the São Francisco River. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in riverine communities of Minas Gerais, Brazil, the book explores how Afro-Indigenous residents use batuque—an Afro-Brazilian percussive and dance-based performance tradition—and storytelling to navigate the transition from a sacred river governed by reciprocity to an increasingly commodified and environmentally degraded landscape — a pressing issue in contemporary Brazil.
At the University of Illinois, I will collaborate with Professor Marc Hertzman and engage with scholars at the Lemann Center, as well as with faculty from the Departments of Anthropology and the School of Music, to foster interdisciplinary dialogue in environmental humanities, musicology, history, and cultural studies. I plan to present my work at academic events, participate in workshops and conferences, and explore archival collections on Afro-Brazilian performance. I also intend to screen a documentary I co-produced in partnership with quilombola communities. My goal is to develop a strong publishing strategy and establish future research collaborations in Brazilian Studies, environmental humanities, and performance theory.