Joana Vaz Sousa

Contacts

joanasousa@ces.uc.pt
joanavazsousa@gmail.com

Biography

Working in different socioenvironmental contexts and at the intersection of ecology and anthropology, have influenced my approach and directed me towards interdisciplinary frameworks. I have a bachelor in Environmental Biology (University of Lisbon) and a PhD in Social Anthropology (Oxford Brookes University), which was followed by a post-doctoral year at the University of Geneva. My research experience was built from opportunities to work in Ecuador, Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya and Portugal. I have deepened my experience in ethnographic research between late 2009 and 2013 while collecting data in rural Guinea-Bissau for my PhD research. My dissertation is entitled "Shape-shifting nature in a contested landscape in Guinea-Bissau", and includes sections on local livelihoods, cosmologies and oral history, perceptions of risk, local understandings of nature and nature conservation, and non-humans in witchcraft and magic. More recently my research interests also include knowledge interfaces and climate change (Kenya and Guinea-Bissau), particularly regarding the tecnology of mangrove rice farming in Guinea-Bissau. I taught at universities in Guinea-Bissau and was involved in the production of a collaborative documentary with farmers in southern Guinea-Bissau, Maboan.

ORCID

Agenda

January 15, 2025, 14h30-16h00

MEETING IV | KITCHEN CONVERSATIONS II | Coffee with Watermelon: conversation about international solidarity and academic responsibility for defending the rights of the people of Palestine

February 19, 2025, 14h30-16h00

MEETING V | KITCHEN CONVERSATIONS II | Coffee around the city: conversation about projects that connect CES to institutions and spaces in Coimbra

March 19, 2025, 14h30-16h00

MEETING V | KITCHEN CONVERSATIONS II | Coffee in solidarity: conversation-presentation of research and comments circle

Projetos

MARGINS

People, rice and mangroves at the margins: A hybrid and contested interface in a changing world

JUST2CE

A Just Transition to the Circular Economy

BIOASSEMBLER

Integrating bio-inspired assembly into semiconductor manufacturing technology for biosensors

Latest Publications

Article in Scientific journal

Queiroz, Ana Isabel; Ágoas, Frederico; Portela, Joana Abranches; Sousa, Joana; Carmo, Miguel (2024), "Pyrostories: New Historical Insights into Portuguese Burning Landscapes", Geographies, 4, 4, 713-731

Book Chapter

Girei, Emanuela; Jimenez, Andrea; Doezema, Tess; Purvis, Ben; Ripa, Maddalena; Sousa, Joana Vaz; Veronese Passerella, Marco; Pansera, Mario; Genovese, Andrea (2024), Decolonizing CE: some reflections ontheory and praxis from the JUST2CE experience, in Renato Passaro, Patrizia Ghisellini, Mario Pansera, Stefania Barca, Martin Calisto Friant (org.), Circular Economy for Social Transformation: Multiple Paths to Achieve Circularity, 92-105

Article in Scientific journal

Sousa, Joana; Campos, Rita; Mendes, Orlando; Duarte Lopes, Paula; Matias, Madalena; Rosa, Ana Paula; Mendes Fernandes, Raul; Cruz, Cristina; Indjai, Bucar; Infande, Adilson; da Costa, Maira; Salvaterra, Gonçalo; Lourenço, Juelson; Tavares, Dionísio; Camala, Djone; Ainslie, Andrew; Catarino, Luís (2023), "The (dis)engagement of mangrove forests and mangrove rice in academic and non-academic literature on Guinea-Bissau", PLOS ONE, 18, 4, e0284266