Visit to Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF)
On Thursday, May 12th, after a long morning at Aldeia Mata Verde Bonita, we traveled back into Rio de Janeiro where we had the opportunity to visit UFF–Universidade Federal Fluminense in Portugese, which translates to The Fluminense Federal University in English–a public university in Rio de Janeiro. The university is one of the top universities in Brazil, and we were excited to have the opportunity to visit!
When we arrived, we were greeted by the Office of International Affairs, but spent the majority of our time engaged in conversation with Dr. Ana Paula da Silva, a cultural anthropologist and adjunct professor at UFF. Her research interests include teaching, race relations, gender, and sexuality. Some of her most recent work focuses on sex work during COVID (Sex Work, Essential Work: A Historical and (Necro)Political Analysis of Sex Work in Times of COVID-19 in Brazil). With translation support from João, Dr. da Silva shared with us recent higher education affirmative action policies and practices in Brazilian universities as we explored the intersections of racism, discrimination, culture, and politics in higher education, with special attention paid to students’ experiences. She also shared more about access tof indigenous populations to education in Brazil, a strong connection to our morning at Aldeia Mata Verde Bonita. A group of Brazilian university students joined us for the conversation. They, along with UIC students, asked thoughtful questions to advance the conversation and compare the experiences across our two countries. Dr. da Silva responded with thoughtful questions of her own about Chicago schooling, students’ experiences at UIC, and discrimination, racism, and bias in Chicago.
I underestimated how emotional this program would be for everyone involved; tears were shed every single day as we reflected on our experiences, challenged our mindsets, and considered alternate points of view. Our visit to UFF was no exception–students immediately connected with Dr. da Silva, and were moved by her stories, experiences, and perspective as a cultural anthropologist and a Brazilian black woman. It was a powerful end to a long day in Rio.
More about Dr. Ana Paula da Silva: https://pesquisadores.uff.br/researcher/ana-paula-da-silva
Meeting with Ana Paula da Silva @ UFF
