My research examines the political and economic processes through which places, populations, and forms of labour are rendered marginal while remaining essential to global order. Bringing critical security studies into conversation with political geography, anthropology, and political economy, I trace the infrastructures and circuits through which these forms of marginality are produced and sustained.
Empirically, my work follows three interconnected circuits: extractive economies in the Brazilian Amazon; the circulation of weapons, surveillance technologies, and security expertise between Latin America and the Middle East; and the transnational movement of authoritarian and religious political grammars. Across these projects, circulation is both an object of inquiry and a method for connecting sites that are usually studied separately. 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.
I also serve on the scientific committee of Futuros Democráticos en Tiempos Críticos: Persistencias del Autoritarismo en América Latina, an international research programme coordinated by Universidad Diego Portales, the Collège de France, and the Institute for Advanced Study.
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 2026, I received a Wenner-Gren Post PhD Research Grant for Peripheralization as Lived Experience: A Follow-up Ethnography of Work, Territory, and Resistance in the Brazilian Amazon.
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.
