Bianca Zacarias França

Bianca Zacarias França is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology, with a Master’s degree in Social Anthropology and a Bachelor’s and teaching degree in Social Sciences/Sociology from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). She also holds a teaching degree in Religious Studies from UniBF.

She is an International Specialist in Afro-Latin American and Caribbean Studies, awarded by the Brazilian Academic Headquarters of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (Flacso) and the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (Clacso). A member of LEAR/UFMG – Laboratory of Ethnography and Anthropology of Religions at UFMG, she is also the author of the book “Esotérica com S: multiplicidade religiosa, corpo e gênero em um terreiro de Umbanda” (Esoteric with an S: religious multiplicity, body, and gender in a Umbanda temple).

Bianca works as a teacher, researcher, and consultant in the areas of intangible cultural heritage identification and registration, traditional communities, anthropology of religion (with a focus on African-based religions), ethnic-racial issues, gender, and the impacts of large-scale development projects. She advocates for a science that takes responsibility and is done with its collaborators.