Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Department Member, Faculdade de Ciencias Sociais e Humanas

Independent Researcher

CRIA Center for the Research in Anthropology; IELT Instituto de Estudos da Literatura Tradicional

Thesis Title: Moors and Christians. Identity (politics), community and heritage in a 'folk' performance in Portugal, Spain, and Brazil.

About

After completing my MA in Anthropology (1986), with minors in Philosophy, Art History and Theatre Anthropology, at the University of Amsterdam, I worked for 10 years as a corporate journalist and communications officer in various Dutch non-profit organizations (NGO's, Refugee Aid, etc.).

The move from  Amsterdam to the south of Portugal provided me with an opportunity to start afresh and get engaged once again with my 'first love', Anthropology.

I am a researcher at CRIA, the Center for the Research in Anthropology, and at IELT, the Institute for the Study of Traditional Literature, both affiliated to the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal).
My primary research interests are performance practices in contemporary folk cultures, sensory ethnography, and visual anthropology. My research focuses on performative and other expressive practices (such as (ritual) celebrations and festivals; space and place; expressions of personal and collective memory through forms of (im)material culture.
A secondary line of research interests lies in the field of the Anthropology of Nature, focusing on the interaction between man and environment, and between man and animal; and on sustainable development and 'green' living.

My current research, on identity politics, community and heritage in folk festivals in Portugal, Spain and Brasil, is funded by a scholarship from FCT, the Foundation for Science and Technology in Lisbon, Portugal.

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