I am a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of International Relations at LSE. Originally from Teresina, Brazil, I hold a BA in International Relations from the University of Brasilia (UnB), an MSc in International Relations Theory (distinction) from LSE, and a PhD in International Relations from LSE. I have served as Co-Editor and Associate Editor at Millennium: Journal of international Studies (vols. 50-51) and as Coordinator at Doing International Political Sociology PhD Series (2022-23). 

My fields of interest include — but are not limited to — International Relations Theory; Security Studies; Border and Migration Studies; and Theories and Histories of Colonialism, Race, and Empire.

Research

My current research is located at the intersection of international security; border and migration studies; and theories of race, colonialism, and empire. Based on my award-winning doctoral dissertation, my book project is entitled (Un)settling Whiteness: Race, Colonialism, and Violence at the European Borders. Challenging the dominant framing of border security as a manifestation of sovereignty anxieties, this book project traces the historical and contemporary intimacies between border security, race, and colonialism. Triangulating history, theory, and empirics, it contends that contemporary dynamics of border security at Global North borders can be better understood as afterlives of colonial-racial dynamics of violence, domination, and expropriation.

Specifically, (Un)settling Whiteness makes the original and counterintuitive move of using “settler colonialism” as an analytic to understand border dynamics of violence and security in Europe (the “metropole”). Tracing the historical evolution of border regimes of migration security from white settler colonies to the “metropoles,” it uncovers the central role of borders as (post)colonial tools designed to produce and secure longstanding and global racial lines. The monograph also provides the first systematic investigation of the colonial genealogies of contemporary border security methods, connecting such practices to past techniques and rationales of repression and policing deployed at the colonies. This research has been published in outlets like Review of International Studies and International Political Sociology.

My additional research projects advance my research agenda both theoretically and geographically. For instance, I have a forthcoming article in Security Dialogues that offers a constructive critique of contemporary new materialist works in Security Studies and IR Theory and pushes for more dialogue between postcolonialism, race studies, and new materialism. Additionally, I am working on two co-authored papers that geographically extend my research on border and migration security beyond Europe: 1) a co-authored article on the differences between migration securitization in the Global South and Global North (currently under review); and 2) a comparative analysis of migration and border security in Britain and Australia (intended for Political Geography).

Teaching experience

• IREL 185329 Contemporary International Relations Theories (University of Brasilia/UnB)
• IR205 International Security (LSE - BSc)
• IR4A1 International Relations: Core Theories and Debates (LSE - MSc)
• IR487 International Relations: Critical Perspectives (LSE - MSc)
• IR4A2 International Relations: Global Applications (LSE - MSc)
• IR305 Strategic Aspects of International Relations (LSE - BSc)

Research Cluster affiliation

Theory/Area/History Research Cluster