Ana Luiza de Abreu Claudio
Ana Luiza de Abreu Claudio is a third-year doctoral candidate in the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV, Brazil) and a Master’s degree in Social Sciences from the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ, Brazil).
Her research explores the intersection of Amazonian visual arts, media, and geopolitical imaginaries in the Amazon. Through her analysis, she seeks to understand how these elements shape perceptions of the region's socio-environmental complexities. She develops the concept of Amazonian poetics and investigates the forest as a living archive, emphasizing the role of artistic practices in the defense of Amazonian territories.
The Ana Luiza’s academic journey is marked by fellowships relevant to her field, including the Public Humanities Graduate Fellowship from the SOF/Heyman Center, the IRCPL Grant from the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life, and FLAS Fellowships from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University. In addition to her doctoral research, Ana Luiza is a Teaching Fellow at Columbia University, instructing Portuguese language and Brazilian culture courses.
Her academic works include articles and book chapters, such as "Small Visual Ethnography on Contact Zones," published in the book Possibilidades da Câmera Obscura, awarded by Marc Ferrez Prize in Photography, and the article "O Turista que não sabia viajar," published in the journal Cadernos de Antropologia e Imagem (UERJ/RJ). Ana Luiza is also one of the founders of IDeas – Interfaces em Desenvolvimento, Agricultura e Sociedade, a graduate student journal from UFRRJ/RJ.
Her professional experience extends beyond academia:
In 2024, she worked as a fellow in Research Curatorship and Event Organizing at ISLAA (Institute for Studies on Latin American Art), where she developed the theme for the annual Latin American art symposium, organized the call for papers, selected speakers, and coordinated event logistics.
From 2022 to 2023, she served as Project Coordinator at the Center for the Study of Social Difference, managing interdisciplinary research on urban marginalization and decolonization, and conceiving and conducting academic events among universities in the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia.
Before joining Columbia, Ana Luiza accumulated over two decades of experience as a project manager in art museums, environmental consulting firms in the United States, and international organizations, including UNESCO, where she served as a senior consultant in visual culture. In the last decade, she has coordinated art curatorial projects at the Instituto Moreira Salles and managed initiatives in the Amazon, the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, and other countries in Europe and the Americas.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ana-luiza-de-abreu-claudio-3b267547/
Working Group affiliated: https://www.socialdifference.columbia.edu/