Originally from Teresina, Brazil, I hold a BA in International Relations from the University of Brasilia (UnB) and an MSc in International Relations Theory (distinction) from LSE. Throughout my PhD at LSE, I have been Editor at Millennium: Journal of International Studies (Vol. 50) and have taught International Security (IR205). Currently, I work as an Associate Editor at Millennium: Journal of International Studies.
Research topic
Policing Humanity: Colonialism, Race, and Modernity at Europe’s borders
My research engages in conversation with Poststructural theory, new materialisms/posthumanism, race studies, and postcolonial literature so as to make sense of and critique some of the European reactions to what is often named ‘the European migrant crisis’. On a theoretical level, my research interrogates what I call the continuous presence of Cartesian Dualism in IR, that is, how critical literature within the discipline still leaves intact some Cartesian binaries, such as human/nonhuman, matter/language, body/mind, etc. On one hand, it demonstrates how this situation persists notwithstanding the recent critiques of anthropocentrism carried out by Poststructural and New Materialist/Posthumanist literature in IR. On the other, it illuminates the politics behind the production and maintenance of these Cartesian binaries and their links with colonial and racist practices of subjugation internationally.
On a more empirical level, my research engages with Critical Security Studies, Migration, and Border Studies. It analyses the European migrant crisis so as to unveil how racist and colonial ‘Cartesian demarcations’ have been undergirding some of the policies implemented by the EU and/or state governments in order to control and govern migration in Europe. In doing so, my work engages with themes such as ‘the human’, materiality, and race so as to unearth the complex ways through which these concepts are produced via migration regimes, and to expose what they enable politically in terms of subjugation and dehumanisation of the migrant. This is undertaken with the support of authors such as Sylvia Wynter, Alexander G. Weheliye, Zakiyyah Iman Jackson and Julietta Singh.
Teaching experience
- IREL – 185329 Contemporary International Relations Theories (University of Brasilia/UnB)
- IR205 - International Security (LSE)
Academic supervisors
Katharine Millar
Mark Hoffman