Maria Beatriz Rodriguez-Feo
Background:
I am a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology with a master's degree in Art History. I have conducted fieldwork in Cuba, western India (as part of a Ford Foundation Crossing Borders project) and Angola, where I spent over two and a half years. My main focus is on the relationship among syncretic (synthetic) religious/healing/witchcraft practices, nationalism and a sense of "Africanity." In Angola, I worked mostly with the Angolan Rastafari community, Cubans residing in Angola and the healers at São Paulo market. I also am interested in South-South (e.g., Cuba-Angola, Brazil-Angola) exchanges in the realm of expressive culture and in particular the expressions of African heritage and how they affect ideas about identity on both sides. My previous work in art history was on the visual image of the cimarrón or maroon in Cuba - the change in imagery over time as well as the contemporary political and religious uses of the images.
