Gabriela dos Reis Sampaio
Visiting Professor Spring 2007, CILAS and the Dept. of History
CILAS Visiting Scholar Winter 2006
Professor of History at Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Brazil

Area of Expertise: Gabriela Sampaio works with Social and Cultural History of the 19th century Brazil, and her research interests include social history of slavery and race relations and social history of medicine and religious practices.

Country of Expertise: Brazil

Academic Background: Ph.D. in History, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP, Brazil (UNICAMP), 2000

Courses Teaching Spring 2007:

LATI 220
History and Literature: Culture and Society in Brazil
Thursdays 1:00-3:50 PM in LAS 4
The purpose of this seminar is to discuss the use of literature as a source for the study of social history, focusing on cultural practices in modern Brazil and the transformation in Brazilian society from the end of the 19th Century to the first decades of the 20th Century. Through the reading of classical texts from literature, from authors such as Machado de Assis, Joaquim Manuel de Macedo and José de Alencar, the course will relate texts and authors to the social and political context in which they were written, searching the meanings of dramatic changes in society amongst different social groups. Click here to view flyer.

Project title: “The Inter-Provincial Traffic in Beliefs: Workers’ Religious Practices in Salvador and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1870-1910” (“O tráfico interprovincial da crença. Práticas religiosas de trabalhadores em Salvador e no Rio de Janeiro entre 1870 e 1910”).

Current Research Project: Prof. Sampaio’s current research is on cultural interchanges in the Atlantic World during the 19th century, especially focusing on the religions developed in Brazil by Africans and their descendents. Explores the internal migrations that happened in Brazil after the end of the African slave trade, in 1850, focusing on two major cities: Rio de Janeiro, the capital, and Salvador, the city with the largest black population outside of Africa. Investigates the multiple cultural influences and conflicts involving slaves, ex-slaves, free people of color and other workers with different cultural backgrounds, and the redefinition of their lives and religious practices.

Selected Publications:

Nas trincheiras da cura: as diferentes medicinas no Rio de Janeiro Imperial. Campinas: Editora da Unicamp/Cecult/Fapesp, Coleção Várias Histórias v.12, 2002/Second Edition 2005.

Artes e Ofícios de Curar no Brasil: capítulos de história social, Chalhoub, Galvão, Marques e Sampaio (orgs.). Campinas: Editora da Unicamp/Cecult, Fapesp, Coleção Várias Histórias v.15, 2003.

“JUCA ROSA, A Famous Black Spiritual Leader of Rio de Janeiro”, in Peter Beattie (org), The Human Tradition in Modern Brazil. Human Tradition Series, SR Books, 2004, p53-67.