Center for Brazil Studies

Founded in fall 2019, the Center for Brazil Studies serves as a hub for teaching, outreach and research on pressing topics related to contemporary Brazil. Since its inception, the center has strengthened cross-campus collaboration and partnership with policy makers and scholars in Brazil as well as scholars studying Brazil at other U.S. institutions.

In 2021-2022 the Center for Brazil Studies submitted major grant proposals and executed collaborative research projects, including the NSF-NRT grant proposal “Data-intensive and systems approaches to understanding and navigating the human-animal-environment systems,” which is under review with the NSF, and a VPRP SSHA grant to study the behavior of physicians in Brazil and the U.S. during COVID-19. These projects feature researchers from different departments at OU and in Brazil.

The center also expanded its network of collaborations in Brazil by working on Memoranda of Understanding with FGV Law School in São Paulo, the Federal University of Sao Paulo, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul.

The center maintains a Visiting Scholars Program, whereby it hosts Brazilian scholars for one to two semesters on OU's Norman campus. In 2021, the center resumed this program, which was suspended due to COVID-19. Three scholars were selected for 2021-2022: Fulbright Fellow Elizabete Pellegrini, State University of Campinas; Elaine Licio, Ph.D., Brazil Institute for Applied Economic Research; and Ana Claudia Farranha Santana, Ph.D., University of Brasilia. While at OU, these scholars give guest lectures, interact with Brazilian students and Portuguese language students, and add to diversity on the Norman campus.

This past year, co-director Michelle Morais became a member of the Executive Committee of the Brazilian Network of Women in Science, and co-director Fabio de Sa e Silva became a leading scholar of the Project on Autocratic Legalism (PAL), a transnational network of scholars studying how rising autocrats use law to consolidate power and how law is used to resist these moves. PAL now has 52 researchers based in the United States, Brazil, India, South Africa, the UK, France and Norway. de Sa e Silva also hosts PAL’s Podcast.

In spring 2022, affiliate faculty member Leticia Galizzi, Ricardo Souza and Paulo Moreira organized an event series for the 100th anniversary of the Brazilian Week of Modern Art, including an art exhibition at Bizzell Memorial Library, a musical performance/art exhibition at Mainsite Contemporary Art and a concert at Catlett Music Center. The 1922 Brazilian Week of Modern Art marked a major shift in the Brazilian art scene, breaking with colonial European traditions and valuing elements of Brazilian culture and society.

In fall 2021, co-director Michelle Morais offered a series of webinars with practitioners in the field of international human rights. These brought students perspectives of professionals engaged in human rights work in areas from civil society to government, academia or international organizations.

During spring 2022, the center hosted two important events: a lecture with Professor Ben Junge, SUNY Potsdam, who discussed anthropological research on family dynamics in politically polarized Brazil, and a keynote speech by Brazilian journalist Kennedy Alencar, who presented a comparative analysis of presidential elections in Brazil and the United States.

Photo: Co-directors Fabio de Sa e Silva, assistant professor of international studies and Wick Cary Professor of Brazilian Studies, and Michelle Morais de Sa e Silva, assistant professor of international studies