Scrutinizing the traumatic imprints of (post)colonial violence and global inequalities, as well as identifying creative ways to transform them is at the heart of Valerie V.V. Gruber’s research. She mediates processes of participatory action research and collective artistic creation in order to co-produce knowledge on the potentials and pitfalls of Afro-Latin American community art. As part of her PhD project in Human Geography, she coordinated an intercultural exchange program among young Afrodescendant artists from Brazil and Colombia, committed to stimulating social transformation in peripheralized neighborhoods. Her engagement to develop transdisciplinary research methods is exemplified by the multimedia book Todo Rio Resiste Mar: Cartografias de Memorias Afrolatinas (Andarilha Edições, 2023, co-edited with G.S. Ndi, https://djumbaiala.com/todo-rio-resiste-mar), and the documentary film MemoriAmefricana – Cartagena de Indias/Salvador da Bahia (2023, produced by G. Dias, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2lkk5aopw4). She co-edited the volume Patrimônios e Identidades em (Re)Construções: Tensões, Embates e Negociações (Telha/Terceiro Nome, 2020, with F. S. de Jesus, https://doi.org/10.15495/EPub_UBT_00008044), and co-authored the book chapter “Towards Transcultural Self-Writing: Mapping the Struggles of Minoritised Cultures in Colombia” (Springer, 2023, with G.S. Ndi and R. Banguero Velasco, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27454-1_9). Her articles have appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Interculture Journal, Revista Pacha, Outros Tempos and Entorno Geográfico.
Valerie V.V. Gruber holds a BA and MA degree in International Cultural and Business Studies from the University of Passau (Germany), with research stays and exchange semesters at the University of Valle (Colombia), the Federal University of Bahia (Brazil), and the University of La Laguna (Spain). She was awarded several grants and scholarships, including the First Prize in the Ideas Competition for Early Career Researchers at the 2022 Brazil Day of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), where she represented the DjumbaiALA team. Before carrying out her participatory PhD project at the Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence, she worked as a lecturer of the Chair of Social and Population Geography, and as a research associate of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Bayreuth (Germany).