Associate Professor
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Dissertations completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest dissertations.
This research examines a perspective of Baroque in the 20th and 21st century. The thesis is that Baroque is more than an artistic style in the 17th century, or that it simply appears in moments of crisis. It can be understood that the appearance of Baroque as an irregular pearl covers its true manifestation, which is formed by a group of minerals known as amphiboles and, hence, its ambiguous structure. Making an analogy between Baroque and theoretical physics, it seeks to find the modus operandi of Baroque as a system of mechanisms that operate as morbid phenomena within culture, politics, art, religion and society. Baroque exists as a series of expanded fields that allow the control and manipulation of the social ethos, and through an analysis of it, an attempt is made to find emancipatory solutions that seek the liberation from a neocolonial, tecno-feudal, and imperialist apparatus in our global era.
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Theses completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest theses.
This research was carried out in the Apiwtxa village of the Ashaninka people, located on the banks of the Amônia river, in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil, on the border with Peru. Living in one of the most biodiverse regions of the planet, this community stands out both for the strength and depth of its spirituality and for its commitment to stewardship of the environment; with a population of but 900, the Ashaninka of Apiwtxa have within the last twenty years planted more than two million trees. In this study, I analyze the connection between the traditional spiritual practices of the Ashaninka people, with the use of ayahuasca, and the propensity of this people to preserve nature, and to achieve a genuinely sustainable development, combining ancestral mandates inspired in part by mythology, with contemporary practices informed by a scientific understanding of forest ecology. As metaphysical convictions inform behavior, a space of reciprocal respect is created whereby indigenous principles mediate the connection between humans and the forest.Indigenous peoples may well be the best guardians of the world's forests and its biodiversity; where indigenous lands are legally demarcated and secured, carbon sequestration is greater and deforestation is demonstrably less. What do they know, and how do they manage their forests? How much of their worldview, which generates sustainability and conservation, comes from a particular cosmology? What does it mean to consider plants as teachers? What is the relationship between Ashaninka spirituality and their propensity to conserve and regenerate the environment around them? In this research, with the invaluable collaboration of Moisés Piyãko, a revered elder and shaman, I explore this relationship, its origins, precepts, and consequences. Analyzing cosmological aspects, ritualistic norms, and the application of this form of knowledge (not only linked to an ancestral past, but also pointing a way forward), I seek to show how this connection exists and is essential for the choices that this community made and makes. In this way, this study is also a tribute to the plurality of worldviews, the diversity of cultures and the richness they bring us, with its potential for exchanges and teachings.
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