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I received my PhD and MA in Anthropology from York University in 2002 and 1995 respectively, and my Licenciatura in Anthropology from the University of Buenos Aires in 1994.
Prior to joining Laurier, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Five College Women’s Studies Research Center at Mount Holyoke College (2002). I have also taught in the departments of Anthropology at Trent and York Universities, and in the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
The main focus of my research is on the performative production of social identities, with a focus on the racialization of gender and on intercultural exchange in the context of Latin American popular culture. In particular, I have analyzed the social figure of the Brazilian mulata and its role in upholding Brazil’s twin myths of “racial democracy” and mestiçagem in nationalist discourses. Through participant-observation in Toronto's samba scene, I have also studied the role of music in migrant adaptation, the production of hybrid cultures, and the pedagogical conflicts involved in the intercultural transmission of musical knowledge.
I am currently completing a manuscript on transnational samba and the role of the Rhythms of Resistance International Network in struggles for social and environmental justice in Turtle Island.
- SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant 2019-2023, Community Music and Social Justice
- My ethnographic documentary film, Sound of the Drum and the Maestro, premiered at BRAFFTV (Brazilian Film and TV Festival of Toronto) in 2014 and screened at the meetings of the Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) and the Canadian Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
- I have given guest lectures at Syracuse University, Hampshire College, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, York University, and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
I am willing to supervise graduate students in the areas of: gender and sexuality; theories of hybridity; anthropology of the body; ritual, performance and performativity; Latin American popular culture; global musics and social justice.
- "Torn: 'Allyship,' Indigeneity and Jewish Belonging from Abya Yala to Palestine-Israel," Charles Levkoe and WillowSamara Allen (eds.). Unsettling Jewish Relationship: Re-storying Entanglements to Zionism, Canada and Palestine. Athabasca University Press, forthcoming.
- “Transnational Samba and the Construction of Diasporic Musicscapes,” Simone Krüger and Ruxandra Trandafoiu (eds.). The Globalization of Musics in Transit: Music Migration and Tourism. New York: Routledge, 2014.
- "Tambor de Crioula in Strange Places: The Travels of an Afro-Brazilian Play Form." Anthropological Quarterly 86 (3): 795-820, 2013.
- “Performing Mulata-ness: The Politics of Cultural Authenticity and Sexuality among Carioca Samba Dancers.” Latin American Perspectives 39 (2): 113-133, 2012.
- “ ‘Na Cadência Bonita do Samba’: Accomplishing Suingue in Toronto.” Critical Studies in Improvisation 7 (1): 1-12, 2011.
- “The Well of Samba: On Playing Percussion and Feeling Good in Toronto.” Canadian Ethnic Studies 41 (3): 207-232, 2010.
- “Hybridity Brazilian Style: Samba, Carnaval and the Myth of ‘Racial Democracy’ in Rio de Janeiro.” Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power 15 (1): 80-102, 2008.
- AN200: Theories of Culture
- AN228: Celebrating/Contesting Culture
- AN326: Culture as Performance
- AN343: Culture and Society in Latin America
- CQ636: Global Musics and Social Justice
Contact Info:
Office location: DAWB 2-134
Office hours: By appointment.
Languages spoken: English, Spanish, Portuguese