About me: My mixed British and Brazilian heritage led to an interest in anthropology from an early age, and in 2012 I was awarded a degree in Anthropology at UCL. I was particularly influenced by the department’s emphasis on material culture studies and theoretical approaches surrounding the ontological turn. I went on to conduct a Masters degree at the Museu Nacional in Rio de Janeiro, under the supervision of Eduardo Viveiros de Castro. My academic experience in Brazil allowed me not only to broaden my knowledge of the cultural diversity within my own heritage, but also the experience in a Brazilian anthropological institution highlighted the cultural diversity within the discipline itself. My research here allowed me to develop my theoretical framework, under the guidance of scholars who have been at the forefront of new approaches to anthropological thought.
My research: My current research is grounded in an ethnographic engagement with the Guarani Kaiowá, an indigenous population of Mato Grosso do Sul, in mid-western Brazil. In this context of severe ecological and humanitarian crisis, my project examines the ways in which concepts of ecology, territory, and history are locally articulated to make sense of the transformations that these people have experienced. My work engages with broader themes surrounding climate change and the anthropocene, and how these issues are experienced and understood on a local level. In 2017 I cofounded the UCL Multimedia Anthropology Lab, and am currently experimenting with film, projections, and VR as alternative methods for conducting and presenting anthropological research.
The difference my research makes: My research aims to contribute towards a broader understanding of the relations between people, territory, and their environments, particularly in context of ecological and humanitarian crisis. Amidst increasing global concerns surrounding the ways in which human beings engage with environments and manage resources, I examine how transformations in ecology, territory, and society are locally responded to and understood. I hope that by broadening our knowledge of the diverse ways in which people theorise and act in moments of crisis, we may develop a conceptual framework capable of theorising the social and environmental transformations that our species faces as we enter the Anthropocene.
Supervisors: Dr Allen Abramson, Dr Jerome Lewis and Professor Eduardo Viveiros de Castro
Pathway: Anthropology
Location: UCL Anthropology
Email: raffaella.fryer-moreira.09@ucl.ac.uk
Website: www.fryer-moreira.com
Academia.edu: UCL Raffaella Fryer-Moreira
LinkedIn: Raffaella Fryer-Moreira
Twitter: @fryer_moreira
