Research Interests

Cultural Anthropology; Science and Technology Studies; Alternative Intellectual Property; Sound Studies; Brazil

Biography 

My primary research explores how globalizing alternative intellectual property practices impact creativity, access to knowledge, digital media, and music in Brazil. Since 2008, I have conducted fieldwork primarily in Rio de Janeiro. My interest in multisensory ethnography, sound, and methodological innovation and experimentation led to my forming the research collaboration, the Sound Ethnography Project. One of my new research projects includes a study of the relationships between social activism, the cultura livre (free culture) movement, and Open Access publishing in Brazil and Latin America more broadly.

Selected Work

In progress. Piracy, Publics, and Payola: Contested Soundscapes in Brazil. Book-length manuscript based on dissertation.

2014 ‘Cannibalizing Copyright? The Brazilianization of Open Intellectual Property.’ Anthropology Today 30(5): 11-14.

2012 'From Funkification to Pacification: The Emerging Socio-Sonic Landscape of Funk'

Carioca. With Gregory Scruggs. Norient Academic Online Journal.