My work combines critical security studies, political geography, and anthropology to analyze contemporary forms of militarization, peripheralization, and governance. I have conducted extensive empirical research on urban policing, transnational arms circulation, environmental conflict, and criminal and religious governance in Brazil. This research informs ongoing book projects on the Amazon and on Israeli security technologies in Latin America, as well as articles published in leading international journals.
I am actively engaged in collaborative research networks in Latin America, Europe, and North America. I serve on the board of the Security in Context project and am an Associated Researcher at the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. I have held visiting and fellowship positions at institutions including Princeton, Amherst College, and other international research centers, and regularly collaborate with scholars, civil society organizations, and public institutions.
My current projects focus on the political ecology of extraction in the Amazon, the transnational circulation of security technologies, and the material, symbolic, and affective infrastructures that sustain authoritarian and punitive governance. I am also developing theoretical work on peripheralization, critical infrastructure, and new materialisms in global politics, connecting empirical research to broader debates in international theory and political economy.
My research has been supported by the Carnegie Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, CAPES, and the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), alongside other Brazilian and international funding agencies and foundations. I have received competitive fellowships for field-based and comparative research, and I am regularly invited to speak at universities and research institutes in Brazil and abroad, contributing to public debates on security, democracy, and environmental governance in the Global South.
In addition to my academic work, I am deeply involved in graduate training, mentoring, and extension programs, including initiatives aimed at widening access to international studies and strengthening dialogue between universities and public schools. Before entering academia, I collaborated with international organizations and development agencies on projects related to governance and social policy.
