Alexandre Camera Varella

Has a degree in History from the Federal University of Paraná (1994). M.A. and PhD in Social History from the University of São Paulo (2005-2012) with involvement in the CEMAA/USP. During his Ph.D. (2010) has taken courses, did research and presented works in Lima with institutional support of the Pontifícia Universidad Católica del Perú, and also did an internship in Mexico City at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Varella is currently assistant professor at the Universidade Federal da Integração Latino-Americana at Foz do Iguaçu. His main focus of investigation is Cultural History and Ethnic History of Central Andes, Mesoamerica and the Prata/Paraná rivers area; Iberian Empire and Catholic missions in subjects such as Christianity and idolatry, medicine and diet, vices and virtues. Varella also published his revised M.A. thesis A embriaguez na conquista da América; medicina, idolatria e vício, séculos XVI e XVII. 

Currículo Lattes – Scientific Production. 

Aristóteles Barcelos Neto

Lecturer in the Arts and Anthropology of the Americas at the Sainsbury Research Unit for the Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas, University of East Anglia (UK), and research fellow at the Laboratory of Image and Sound in Anthropology and the Centre for Mesoamerican and Andean Studies both at the Universidade de São Paulo. He carried out Postdoctoral researches at the Laboratoire d’Anthropologie Sociale (College de France/CNRS) and at the Laboratorio de Imagem e Som em Antropologia at USP. Since 1994 he conducts researches about ritual, art, material culture and cosmogony in the Amazon and Peruvian Andes, where he also produced and directed ethnographic films. In 2005 Barcelos Neto was awarded the CNPq/ANPOCS prize for best Ph.D. dissertation in the Social Sciences. He conceived and coordinated projects on Amazonian ethnographic collections for museums in France, Brazil, Portugal and Germany. Barcelos Neto curated museums exhibitions in Brazil, Portugal and the U.K. He is the author of A arte dos sonhos: uma iconografia ameríndia (Lisboa: Assírio & Alvim, 2002), Visiting the Wauja Indians: Masks and Other Living Objects from an Amazonian Collection (Lisboa: Museu Nacional de Etnologia, 2004) e Apapaatai: rituais de máscaras no Alto Xingu (São Paulo: Edusp, 2008). He also concluded in 2012 a trilogy of ethnographic films about Andean rituals in Ancash, Peru.

Currículo Lattes – Scientific Production.

Eduardo Góes Neves

Graduated in History from the University of São Paulo, Master and Doctor in Anthropology from Indiana University, and Livre-Docente from the University of São Paulo. Full Professor and Director of the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at the University of São Paulo, where he teaches at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Productivity Fellow 1A of CNPq. Researcher at the Center for Amerindian Studies (CESTA) of USP and coordinator of the Laboratory of Archaeology of the Tropics at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. Professor in the Graduate Program in Sociocultural Diversity at the Emilio Goeldi Museum, Belém, in the Master’s Program in Neotropical Archaeology at the Polytechnic School of the Coast (ESPOL), Guayaquil, Ecuador, and in the Graduate Program in Archaeology at the University of the Central Province of Buenos Aires, Olavarría, Argentina. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard University (CAPES-Harvard Senior Visiting Professor), the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, and the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Lima. He is the coordinator of the research group “Historical Ecology of the Neotropics” at CNPq and a member of the Editorial Commission of the Annual Review of Anthropology (2022-2025). Winner of the Research Award from the Shanghai Archaeological Forum in 2019.

Curriculum Lattes – Scientific Production.

Federico Navarrete Linares

Navarrete Linares is a researcher in the Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and a professor at the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras in the same institution, from where he also received his Ph.D. in Mesoamerican Studies. He is a specialist in historical and anthropological studies of the indigenous groups of pre-hispanic, colonial and contemporary Mexico. Navarrete Linares have been analyzing many aspects of these societies, from the everyday life to mythology and native historical narratives, especially those from Mesoamerica but also from other regions of Native America. Among his major books and articles are estão La vida cotidiana de los mayas (1996), Huesos de lagartija (1998), Las relaciones interétnicas en México (2004), Los pueblos indígenas de México (2008) e Beheadings and massacres: andean and mesoamerican representations of the spanish conquest (2009). More information: Curriculum – Scientific Production.

Fernanda Aires Bombardi 
PhD candidate of the Graduate Program in Social History at University of São Paulo. Master of Science in Social History from University of São Paulo (2014). Holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from the Federal University of Pará (2010). She has experience in History, focusing on History of America, History of Colonial Brazil and History of Native Americans. Conducted research internships at University of Évora (Portugal – 2016), and at Pablo de Olavide University, (Spain – 2018/2019), visiting collections of various archives and libraries in Portugal, Spain and Italy.

Curriculum Lattes – Scientific Production.

Indira Nahomi Viana Caballero 

Ph.D. (2013) and Master’s degree (2008) at the National Museum Postgraduate Program in Social Anthropology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (MN/UFRJ), and Bachelor’s degree (2003) in Social Sciences at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Conducted doctoral research in Ayacucho, in the Peruvian Andes, which resulted in the thesis entitled “Rucana inheritance, cradle of danzantes, land of andenería: labor and politics in Andamarca”. Works mainly with themes related to the Andean landscape, ecology, rituals, heritage, festivities and dances. Since 2012, participates in activities promoted by the Mesoamerican and Andean Studies Center (CEMAA/USP). Since 2013, along with other colleagues, has coordinated Work Groups at the Mercosur Anthropology Meeting based on a comparative proposal among different ethnographic regions: the Andes, the Amazon rainforest, Mesoamerica, the Gran Chaco plain, among others. In 2016, joined the Postgraduate Program in Social Anthropology at the Federal University of Roraima (UFRR) as visiting professor. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Postgraduate Program in Social Anthropology at the Federal University of Goiás (UFG).

Currículum Lattes – Scientific Production.

Salvador Andrés Schavelzon

Anthropologist, professor and researcher at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP), Osasco Campus (Multidisciplinary Department), he is also a professor at the Postgraduate Programme in Latin American Integration (PROLAM) at the University of São Paulo (USP). Ph. D. in Social Anthropology from the National Museum of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ-National Museum) with the thesis ‘The Constituent Assembly of Bolivia: Ethnography of a Plurinational State’. His current research project deals with constituent processes in the Andean region and Chile. She has published on Indigenous Cosmopolitics, Anthropology of the State, Constituent Processes, Plurinationality, Buen Vivir and Latin American political processes.

E-mail: schavelzon@unifesp.br – Currículum Lattes – Scientific Producción.

Former collaborators

Carla de Jesus Carbone

She is Master’s in Social History by the Universidade de São Paulo (2014) with the thesis title Chicomoztoc, o Lugar das Sete Cavernas, nas histórias nahuas do início do período colonial (1540-1630). She is a bachelor and licensed in History by the USP also (2009). Participates, since 2006, in the activities of the Centro de Estudos Mesoamericanos e Andinos from the USP (CEMA/USP), and she was coordinator of the Grupo de Estudos de Língua Nahuatl until 2012. 

Curriculum Lattes – Scientific Production.

Daniela La Chioma Silvestre Villalva

Has concluded a Ph.D. (2016) and Masters (2012) in the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, University of São Paulo, and a bachelor In History (2007) in the same University. Her main academic interests are cross disciplinary perspectives on sound, music and performance in the Pre-Columbian Americas, as well as the symbolic value of sound instruments in Amerindian ontologies. Her latest publications have been focusing on the social and cosmological roles of musicians in the Ancient Andes. She has coordinated the Cema’s Quechua Studies Group from 2008 to 2014. In 2016 she held a Pre-Doctoral Residency at Dumbarton Oaks (Washington D.C), and is currently an active member of the Institute of Andean Studies of Berkeley, California.

Curriculum Lattes –Scientific Production.                                                                               

Eduardo Henrique Gorobets Martins

Currently is student in Social History Master’s Degree Program at Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas from the Universidade de São Paulo (FFLCH-USP) with the project “As histórias mexicas no período colonial inicial: Tempo, espaço e agentes nos códices mexicas (1530-1608)”, started in 2014 and expected to end in 2017. Bachelor and licensed in History by the USP (2014), he developed a undergraduate research entitled “Concepções de história dos mexicas no período colonial inicial: códices Aubin, Boturini e Mendoza” between 2011 and 2012. Worked with with consulting in Indigenous History for courseware projects. He participates since 2009 in the activities at Centro de Estudos Mesoamericanos e Andinos (CEMAA/USP). Currículo Lattes – Scientific Production.

Fernando Dantas Marques Pesce

Master’s in Art History (in progress) from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), with a dissertation entitle “A Cidade dos Deuses nas Colinas dos Mortos”, which seeks to better understand the consequences of relations between Teotihuacan and Kaminaljuyú on the decorated and painted ceramic vessels of the Mayan site. Holds a B.A. Degree in History from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (2013). Fernando Pesce is dedicated to research Mesoamerican iconography, Mayan epigraphy and inter-regional relations between the Mesoamerican elites. Pesce is an associated researcher at the Center of Mesoamerican and Andean Studies at the University of São Paulo (CEMA-USP) and regularly takes part in activities and events organized by this center since 2013.

Currículo Lattes – Scientific Production.

Janice Theodoro da Silva

Is Full Professor of Colonial American History at the University of São Paulo since 1982. Has published, among other books, América Barroca. Tema e Variações. (São Paulo: Editora Nova Fronteira, 1992). Has received the Brazilian Union of Writers Award in 1994 in the category essay. Published dozens of articles in scientific journals and periodicals. Supervised numerous dissertations in American History area. She has carried out Postdoctoral researches in France and China, and was a visiting professor at Takushoku University (Japan). She is the author of plays that were presented in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Dr. Janice took part in the preparation of the matrix for the National High School Exam and was President of the Commission for the authorization and operation of History courses, at the Ministry of Education, Department of Higher Education and responsible for the selection of titles in the field of Philosophy and Humanities, for the formation of public libraries throughout Brazil.

Currículo Lattes – Scientific Production.

Marcia Maria Arcuri Suñer

Graduated in History from the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters, and Human Sciences at USP (1994), Master’s in Amerindian Studies from the Department of History and Theory of Art at the University of Essex, England (1996), and PhD in Archaeology from the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology / Faculty of Philosophy, Letters, and Human Sciences at USP (2003). She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at USP. She was a founding member and coordinator of the Mesoamerican and Andean Studies Center at the University of São Paulo (2001-2010), curator of the exhibition “Por Ti América” (Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil 2006-2008), and scientific advisor for the exhibitions Treasures of Sipán – “Splendor of Moche Culture” and “Golds of El Dorado: Pre-Hispanic Art of Colombia” (Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, 2006 and 2010). She was the coordinator of archaeological heritage dissemination at CNA/DEPAM – National Institute of Historical and Artistic Heritage (2011). She coordinates academic exchange in Brazil with the Ventarrón – Collud archaeological project and the Royal Tombs of Sipán Museum, linked to the Executive Unit 005 Naylamp Lambayeque/MinC Peru. She is a full professor at the Department of Museology at the School of Law, Tourism, and Museology at the Federal University of Ouro Preto (DEMUL/EDTM/UFOP); researcher at the Laboratory of Interdisciplinary Studies of Technology and Territory (LINTT) at MAE/USP; and serves as a collaborating professor in the Graduate Program at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at USP, supervising research in Pre-Columbian Archaeology. Since 2017, she has been the Associate Curator of Pre-Columbian Art at the São Paulo Museum of Art – MASP.

Currículo Lattes – Scientific Production.

Maria Beatriz Borba Florenzano

Graduated in History at the University of São Paulo (1973), Master of Social Sciences (Social Anthropology), University of São Paulo (1978) and a Ph.D. in Social Sciences (Social Anthropology), University of São Paulo (1986). Dr. Florenzano is currently Professor of Classical Archaeology and director of the Museum of Archaeology and ethnologist at the University of São Paulo. Has experience in archeology, with emphasis on Classical Archaeology, acting on the following topics: classical archeology, ancient coins, ancient monetary iconography, currency as a bargaining and value tool in ancient times, organization of space and society in ancient Greece. She is currently general coordinator of Labeca/MAE, Laboratory of Studies on the Ancient City, based at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at USP  (www.mae.usp.br/labeca) and Deputy Director of the same museum. 

Currículo Lattes – Scientific Production.

Tonne Teixeira de Andrade Nardi

Master’s Student in Social History in the University of São Paulo (FFLCH – USP). She develops research on the Aztec tributary system. Bachelor of History (2015), from the University of São Paulo. Researcher at the Center for Mesoamerican, Amazonian and Andean Studies (CEMAA – USP), where she takes parte in the Mesoamerican Codex Studies Group and the Náhuatl Studies Group. Experience in the area of Education, as a teacher of History in basic education.

Currículo Lattes – Scientific Production.

Wilbert Villca López

Bolivian, PhD sociology student at Institut des Hautes Etudes de l’Amérique latine (IHEAL), Université Sorbonne Paris, France. Master in Science, Integração da América Latina PROLAM of the University of São Paulo. Graduated in Sociology in Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno (UAGRM), Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Has a quechua origin. Trained young leaders. Directed agrarian politics of land distribution during Evo Morales government. Has proposed the concept of líderes ejemónicos in opposition to the concept of hegemony, insufficient to explain the quechua forms of leadership and peasants social movements in the valleys of Bolivia. Researcher of the rationality and the wisdom of the andean societies focusing the political philosophical and epistemological practice, contrary to the european modernizing perspectives. Coordinates the Quechua Study Group of CEMAA/USP. 

Currículo Lattes – Scientific Production.

In Memoriam  

Alfredo López Austin (1936-2021)

Alfredo López Austin was an Emeritus Investigator at the Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and a professor at Colegio de Historia within the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras in the same august institution, from where he also received his Bachelor’s, Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in History. He is considered one of the most distinguished scholars in the field of Mesoamerica and Ancient Mexico, with special emphasis in cosmovision, thought and religion of the native peoples. Among his many works and publications highlights  Hombre-dios. Religión y política en el mundo náhuatl (1973), Cuerpo humano e ideología. Las concepciones de los antiguos nahuas (1980), Los mitos del Tlacuache. Caminos de la mitología mesoamericana (1990), Tamoanchan y Tlalocan (1994),Mito y realidad de Zuyuá. Serpiente Emplumada y las transformaciones mesomericanas del Clásico al Posclásico (1999) e Monte sagrado. Templo Mayor(2009).  See his full Currículum here.

Ana Díaz (1977-2021)

Ana Díaz was a researcher at the Institute of Aesthetic Research at UNAM and a member of the National System of Researchers (level 1). She holds a PhD in Art History from the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at UNAM. Her thesis was awarded the prize for best doctoral thesis in the humanities by the Mexican Academy of Sciences and an honourable mention in the INAH’s Francisco Javier Clavijero Prize. She held the positions of academic coordinator and assistant director of the National Museum of Anthropology from 2010 to 2012. She was awarded the Fulbright-García Robles Research Scholarship for a stay in 2015 at Harvard University’s Department of Art. In 2018 she was awarded the Chair of Mesoamerican Studies by the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation and in 2019 she was awarded the Miguel León-Portilla Special Chair by the Institute of Historical Research. She has participated in various national and international research groups and her publications deal with art, cosmology and calendars in central Mexico.

Scientific Production (soon)

Gordon Brotherston (1939-1965)

Gordon Brotherston is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Essex and Honorary Professor at Manchester University. Brotherston also taught at Indiana and Stanford Universities. He is the author of countless books, including Book of the Fourth World: Reading the Native Americas through their Literature (1992) and he is the translator of the Popol Vuh (2007) to Portuguese. 

Click here to learn about his production

Leila Maria França (1965-2021)

Leila Maria França had a Bachelor’s degree in History (1993), and holds a Master’s degree (1999) and Ph.D. (2005) in Archaeology, all from the Universidade de São Paulo. She carried out two Postdoctoral researches – one at the Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, where she analyzed lapidary materials coming from various temples and architectural complexes in Teotihuacán, Mexico; and the other at the Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia at the Universidade de São Paulo, focus in the jade import by Teotihuacán in the context of their interactions with other Mesoamerican regions, specially the Maya area. In Mexico she developed researches in several institutions and known projects – which gives her great knowledge with the archaeological collections and researches carried out in that country. Leila has over twenty years of teaching experience both in Middle School and High School as in Higher Education (Postgraduate and Extension) in the areas of Archaeology, Pre-Columbian and Colonial American History, Historical Archaeology and Heritage, Offerings and Sacrifice. She also published several papers and other works spreading about Mesoamerica, Ancient Mexico, Teotihuacán, the Maya, Contextual Archaeology, offerings and sacrifice, symbolism and cosmovision, jade, lapidary materials and exchange. Leila is a collaborating researcher on the Laboratório de Arqueologia da Universidade Federal do Maranhão and on the CEstA – Centro de Estudos Ameríndios at the Universidade de São Paulo and she was also one of the founding members of CEMAA/USP.

Currículo Lattes – Scientific Production.