
People
Program Administration
Erika Robb Larkins
Director
Office: AL-626
Phone: (619) 594-5028
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Erika Robb Larkins is Associate Professor of Anthropology, Behner Stiefel Chair of Brazilian Studies, and Director of the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies at San Diego State University. She received her doctorate in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison and also holds a M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Chicago. Larkins’ research and teaching focuses on violence and inequality in urban settings. Her first book, The Spectacular Favela: Violence in Modern Brazil (U California Press 2015), explores the political economy of spectacular violence in one of Rio’s most famous favelas. Her second book, The Sensation of Security: Private Guards and the Social Order in Brazil, is forthcoming from Cornell University Press. She has also published on issues of race, gender, and politics in Brazil, with recent articles appearing in American Ethnologist, City and Society, and the Journal for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, and in public outlets including El País and Estadão (O Estado de São Paulo).
Also a writer of fiction, Larkins is a Pushcart nominee, and her 2021 short story, “Working for Nico” won an award from the Society for Humanistic Anthropology in the creative ethnographic prose category.
Larkins’ is currently working on a new National Science Foundation funded research project on the intersection of extreme heat, environmental racism,
and inequality in Rio de Janeiro. She was recently awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to co-teach the second iteration of the NEH Summer Institute, “Race, Modernity
and Urban Spaces in Brazil” for higher education faculty in 2022.
Kristal Bivona
Assistant Director
Office: AL-626
Phone: (619) 594-4771
Email: [email protected]

Viviane Kraieski de Assunção
Brazil-Sustainability Fellow, Spring 2023
Phone: (619) 594-4771
Email: [email protected]
Professor of the Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences (PPGCA) at the University
of the Catarinense Extreme South (UNESC) She holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology
from the Federal University of Santa Catarina (2011), and was a doctoral fellow at
the Institute of Latin American Studies at Columbia University. She holds a master's
degree in Social Anthropology (2007) and a B.A. in Journalism (2002) from the Federal
University of Santa Catarina. She did postdoctoral work in Social Anthropology at
the Free University of Amsterdam (2012-2013). She coordinates the Environment, Culture
and Society Research Group (GPMACS). Her research mainly focuses on the following
themes: environmental risks and disasters; environment and traditional knowledge;
food, consumption and disposal; urban environment and the social production of space.
Camila Pierobon
Research Fellow
Phone: (619) 594-4771
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Camila Pierobon is Research Fellow of the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian
Studies. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Science from the Rio de Janeiro State University.
Her research deals with the everyday problems that low-income families face in the
city of Rio de Janeiro, focusing on making-home in relation to access to potable water
and sewage. Dr. Pierobon is currently working to build the "Brazilian Urban Waters"
with the objective of understanding how the different waters act in the production
of urban space. The network operates on two work fronts. The first one focuses on
ethnographic research that seeks to understand the uses of different waters in the
urban space (rivers, seas, rains, floods, lakes, ponds and pools) in relation to scarcity,
excess, toxicity, environmental and climate change. The second front analyzes the
federal, state, and municipal regulatory frameworks related to water and sewage, and
surveys quantitatively and qualitatively the formal water and sewage distribution
network in metropolitan regions.

Email: [email protected]

Associated Faculty & Staff
Ryan Abman
Assistant Professor
Economics
Email: [email protected]
Stuart Aitken
Professor
Geography
Email: [email protected]
Cristina Alfaro
Professor
Dual Language and English Learner Education
Email: [email protected]
Adisa Alkebulan
Associate Professor and Chair
Africana Studies
Email: [email protected]
Thaís da C. L. Alves
Professor and Chair
Construction Engineering and Management
Email: [email protected]
Cristian Aquino-Sterling
Associate Professor
School of Teacher Education (STE) and Associate Dean for Diversity and International
Affairs, College of Education
Email: [email protected]
Jessica Baham
International Programs Coordinator
College of Arts and Letters
Email: [email protected]
Mark Ballam
Managing Director
CIBER, College of Business
Email: [email protected]
Rebecca Bartel
Assistant Director
Center for Latin American Studies
Email: [email protected]
Pablo Ben
Associate Professor
History
Email: [email protected]
Trent Biggs
Professor
Geography
Email: [email protected]
Fernando J. Bosco
Professor and Chair
Geography
Email: [email protected]
Amanda Bryant
Assistant Director
CIBER
Email: [email protected]
Grace Cheng
Director
Center for Human Rights
Email: [email protected]
Manuela Cordeiro
Lecturer
Brazilian Studies
Email: [email protected]
Cássia De Abreu
Lecturer
Portuguese
Email: [email protected]
Kevin Delgado
Associate Professor
Music
Email: [email protected]
Fernando De Sales
Associate Professor
Geography
Email: [email protected]
Robert Edwards
Professor
Biology & Computer Science
Email: [email protected]
Salvador Espinosa
Associate Professor
Public Administration
Email: [email protected]
Daniela Gomes
Assistant Professor
Africana Studies
Email: [email protected]
Gabriel Gonzalez
Assistant Professor
Marketing
Email: [email protected]
Allen Gontz
Professor and Chair
Geology
Email: [email protected]
Lawrence Herzog
Professor
City Planning
Email: [email protected]
José Carmelo Interlando
Professor
Mathematics
Email: [email protected]
Zoe Jarocki
Undergraduate Instruction Librarian
Library & Information Access
Email: [email protected]
Susan Kiene
Professor
School of Public Health
Email: [email protected]
Matthew Lauer
Professor
Anthropology and Sustainability
Email: [email protected]
Arielle Levin
Professor
Geography
Email: [email protected]
Enrico Marcelli
Associate Professor
Sociology
Email: [email protected]
Madhavi McCall
Interim Associate Vice President
Office of Curriculum, Assessment, and Accreditation
Email: [email protected]
Anta Merritt
Lecturer
Africana Studies
Email: [email protected]
Nadezda Novakovic
Program Specialist
LARC
Email: [email protected]
Thomas Novotny
Professor
School of Public Health
Email: [email protected]
Ramona Pérez
Director
Center for Latin American Studies
Email: [email protected]
John Putman
Director
International Business Program
Email: [email protected]
Amy Schmitz Weiss
Professor
School of Journalism and Media Studies
Email: [email protected]
Gillian Sneed
Assistant Professor
School of Art + Design
Email: [email protected]
Charles Toombs
Professor
Africana Studies
Email: [email protected]
Milton Torikachvili
Professor
Physics
Email: [email protected]
Patricia van Damme
Advisor
College of Business
Email: [email protected]Ricardo Vasconcelos
Professor
Portuguese
Email: [email protected]
Matthew Verbyla
Assistant Professor
Environmental Engineering
[email protected]
María Luisa Zúñiga
Associate Professor
School of Social Work
Email: [email protected]
Intercollegiate Advisory Board Members
Ryan Abman
Cássia de Abreu
Stuart Aitken
Thaís da C. L. Alves
Cristian Aquino-Sterling
Jessica Baham
Mark Ballam
Rebecca Bartel
Trent Biggs
Grace Cheng
Luciano Cruz
Thiago de Lucena Coelho
Fernando De Sales
Kevin Delgado
Salvador Espinosa
Daniela Gomes
Gabriel Gonzalez
Pam Lach
Paulo Lima
Gillian Sneed
Milton Torikachvili
Ricardo Vasconcelos
Matt Verbela
María Luisa Zúñiga
Visiting Scholars
Denise De Alcântara
Visiting Scholar
Email: [email protected]
Salvador Gullo Neto
Visiting Scholar
Email: [email protected]
Keila Pinezi
Visiting Scholar
Email: [email protected]
Lidiane Toledo
Visiting Scholar
Email: [email protected]