Alba Maria Zaluar (2 June 1942 – 19 December 2019) was a Brazilian anthropologist, with emphases in

urban anthropology Urban anthropology is a subset of anthropology concerned with issues of urbanization, poverty, urban space, social relations, and neoliberalism. The field has become consolidated in the 1960s and 1970s. Ulf Hannerz quotes a 1960s remark that t ...

and in anthropology of violence. In 1984, she obtained her PhD in social Anthropology at the

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro or University of Brazil (UFRJ; pt, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro or ') is a public research university located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in th ...

Biography

Daughter of Achilles Emílio Zaluar and of Biancolina Pinheiro Zaluar, Alba was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

, Brazil, where she studied to complete the degree in

Social Sciences Social science is one of the branches of science, devoted to the study of society, societies and the Social relation, relationships among individuals within those societies. The term was formerly used to refer to the field of sociology, the o ...

at the Faculdade National of Filosofia (FNFi). During this period, she became part of the Centre of Popular Culture of the National Union of the Students. Following the Coup d'état in Brazil of 1964, the opening of an investigation of the Military Police started a period of political persecution of the students of the FNFi. Zaluar was forced in 1965 to flee her country and to stay abroad until 1971. She stayed most of this time in England, where she studied Anthropology and urban sociology. After returning to Brazil, she focused her research on the popular culture, especially to the

samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havi ...

and the

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival ...

of Rio de Janeiro. Zaluar worked as invited professor in the

State University of Campinas The State University of Campinas ( pt, Universidade Estadual de Campinas), commonly called Unicamp, is a public university, public research university in the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil. Unicamp is consistently ranked among t ...

, and as professor in the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where she coordinated the "Núcleo de Pesquisas da Violência" (NUPEVI), located in the Institute of Social Medicine. Zaluar died on 19 December 2019, in Rio de Janeiro.

Honours

* Visiting scholar, Center for Latin American Studies,

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Fran ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaluar, Alba Maria 1942 births 2019 deaths Brazilian anthropologists Writers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian women anthropologists Recipients of the National Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil) Academic staff of the State University of Campinas Academic staff of the Rio de Janeiro State University 20th-century women scientists Brazilian women academics 21st-century women scientists 20th-century Brazilian women writers 20th-century Brazilian writers 21st-century Brazilian women writers 21st-century Brazilian writers Brazilian non-fiction writers