Project team
Professor Lúcia Sá (PI), The University of Manchester
Lúcia Sá is Professor of Brazilian Studies at the University of Manchester. She has worked extensively on indigenous literature and culture from Brazil, being the author of Rain Forest Literatures: Amazonian Texts and Latin American Cultures (2004) and of various articles of the topic of native narratives.
She joined the University of Manchester in 2006 after having worked at Stanford University (1999-2006). She holds a PhD from Indiana University (USA) and an MA in Brazilian Literature and a BA in English and Portuguese by Universidade de São Paulo
Dr Felipe Milanez Pereira (Co-I), Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia
Felipe Milanez is Lecturer (Adjunct Professor) of Decolonisation of Knowledge at the Centre for Culture, Languages and Applied Technologies (CECULT) at Universidade do Recôncavo da Bahia, Brazil. Before obtaining his PhD in Social Sciences by the Political Ecology Programme of Coimbra University (Portugal), he worked several years as a journalist, covering environmental conflict and violence, being also an editor for National Geographic in Brasil.
He is the author of Memórias Sertanistas: Cem Anos de Indigenismo no Brasil (Sertanista Memories: 100 years of Indigenism in Brazil, 2015). He writes regularly for the magazine Carta Capital and is the author of numerous journalistic and academic articles about violence and environmental struggle in the Amazon. He produced and directed the Vice channel documentary Toxic Amazon, about the killing of environmentalists (2011), for which he was nominated Forest Hero by the UN (2012).
Dr Ailton Krenak (non-academic partner), Núcleo de Cultura Indígena
Dr Ailton Krenak is a native from the Krenak group from Rio Doce Valley, in Minas Gerais. In1987, within the context of the debates surrounding the new Constitution Assembly, he was the author of an unforgettable gesture which, captured by the press, captivated public opinion: he painted his face black while giving a speech in the National Congress.
He is the founding-director of Núcleo de Cultura Indígena (Centre for Indigenous Cultures), which organised the historic Festival of Indigenous Dances and Cultures in Serra do Cipó (MG). He was awarded the prestigious Onassis Prize – Man and Society, from the Aristotle Onassis Foundation (Greece, 1990); the Human Rights National Prize (Brazil, 2005); the Cultural Merit Order Medal (Brazil, 2008); He was presenter of the series ‘Indians in Brazil’, for Education Television (1998), and “Tarú Andé”, for Futura TV channel.
He is the author of several articles and interviews published in anthologies and academic journals in Brazil and abroad. In 2015 he published the book Encontros com Ailton Krenak (Azougue Editorial). In January 2016 he received an honorary doctor degree by Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora.).
Laura Wilke Gomez (Research Assistant), The University of Manchester
Laura Wilke Gomez joined the project in March 2018. Before moving to Manchester, she worked as a journalist in her native Porto Alegre, Brazil.
