Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies

Words have power. They can build bridges or fuel violence.
On June 18, we reaffirm the importance of combating racism, LGBTQIA+ discrimination, religious intolerance, and all forms of hatred and discrimination.
✊🏾 When respect takes up space, hate loses its power.

Health should not depend on geography.
In Brazil, the Sistema Único de Saúde proves that universal care is possible — even across vast inequalities. From river communities in the Amazonas to dense urban peripheries, access to healthcare and vaccines continues to save lives every day.
Vaccination campaigns have eliminated diseases like Poliomielite and reduced the impact of crises such as COVID-19. Yet challenges remain: outbreaks like Sarampo remind us that inequality still shapes who gets protected first.
This is more than public policy.
It is infrastructure, prevention, and dignity.
Strengthening public health systems means reducing inequalities — and protecting life across all territories.
GlobalHealth HumanRights HealthcareForAll SocialJustice

🌿 April 19 | Indigenous Peoples’ Day (Brazil)
Indigenous peoples are not part of the past — they are the present, resistance, and the future.
In Brazil, more than 300 Indigenous groups continue to fight for their territories, cultures, languages, and ways of life, while facing racism, violence, and ongoing violations of their rights.
To stand with Indigenous peoples is to defend life, diversity, and the balance of our planet.
✊🏾 Land demarcation now
🌱 Respect Indigenous territories
🔥 Against erasure and Indigenous genocide
Without Indigenous peoples, there is no Brazil.

Today was a day to take up space and showcase Brazil to the world ✨🇧🇷

At Explore SDSU, we, from the Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies, were present reaffirming our commitment to knowledge production, exchange, and international connections centered on Brazil.

We also celebrated the power of our culture with a performance by the Super Sonic Samba School, showing that art, body, and territory are also forms of knowledge and resistance 🥁🌍

We continue building bridges — bringing Brazil to the world and strengthening networks that cross borders.

🌿 TOMORROW!!! Join us for the online launch of Reflections from the Inside: New Indigenous Scholarship from Brazil in Translation 🌿
Edited by Kristal Bivona and Manuela Cordeiro, this volume brings together essays by Indigenous scholars from Brazil, now published in English for the first time.

✨ Featuring: Ana Manoela Primo dos Santos, Felipe Soto Maior Cruz, Eriki Aleixo Wapichana, Braulina Aurora Baniwa, and Edgar Kanaykõ Xacriabá

The book explores territorial struggles and Indigenous land demarcation, knowledge transmission, Indigenous women’s experiences, and the use of photography and ethnography as tools of resistance, centered on Indigenous perspectives.

✨ Indigenous author event
✨ Bilingual interpretation
✨ Open to the public

🗓 March 26
⏰ 11:30 AM–1:30 PM (San Diego / Pacific Time)
💻 Online
🔗 [https://SDSU.zoom.us/j/89194809896](https://sdsu.zoom.us/j/89194809896 “‌”)

—

É AMANHÃ !!! Junte-se a nós no lançamento de Reflections from the Inside: New Indigenous Scholarship from Brazil in Translation 🌿
Organizado por Kristal Bivona e Manuela Cordeiro, o livro reúne ensaios de intelectuais indígenas do Brasil, agora publicados em inglês pela primeira vez.

✨ Participação de: Ana Manoela Primo dos Santos, Felipe Soto Maior Cruz, Eriki Aleixo Wapichana, Braulina Aurora Baniwa e Edgar Kanaykõ Xacriabá

A obra aborda disputas territoriais e demarcação de terras indígenas, transmissão de conhecimentos, experiências de mulheres indígenas e o uso da fotografia e da etnografia como ferramentas de resistência, a partir de perspectivas indígenas.

✨ Evento com autores indígenas
✨ Interpretação bilíngue
✨ Aberto ao público

🗓 26 de março
⏰ 3h30–5h30 PM (Brasília)
💻 Online
🔗 [https://SDSU.zoom.us/j/89194809896](https://sdsu.zoom.us/j/89194809896 “‌”)

🌿 Join us for the online launch of Reflections from the Inside: New Indigenous Scholarship from Brazil in Translation 🌿
Edited by Kristal Bivona and Manuela Cordeiro, this volume brings together essays by Indigenous scholars from Brazil, now published in English for the first time.

✨ Featuring: Ana Manoela Primo dos Santos, Felipe Soto Maior Cruz, Eriki Aleixo Wapichana, Braulina Aurora Baniwa, and Edgar Kanaykõ Xacriabá

The book explores territorial struggles and Indigenous land demarcation, knowledge transmission, Indigenous women’s experiences, and the use of photography and ethnography as tools of resistance, centered on Indigenous perspectives.

✨ Indigenous author event
✨ Bilingual interpretation
✨ Open to the public

🗓 March 26
⏰ 11:30 AM–1:30 PM (San Diego / Pacific Time)
💻 Online
🔗 [https://SDSU.zoom.us/j/89194809896]

—

Junte-se a nós no lançamento de Reflections from the Inside: New Indigenous Scholarship from Brazil in Translation 🌿
Organizado por Kristal Bivona e Manuela Cordeiro, o livro reúne ensaios de intelectuais indígenas do Brasil, agora publicados em inglês pela primeira vez.

✨ Participação de: Ana Manoela Primo dos Santos, Felipe Soto Maior Cruz, Eriki Aleixo Wapichana, Braulina Aurora Baniwa e Edgar Kanaykõ Xacriabá

A obra aborda disputas territoriais e demarcação de terras indígenas, transmissão de conhecimentos, experiências de mulheres indígenas e o uso da fotografia e da etnografia como ferramentas de resistência, a partir de perspectivas indígenas.

✨ Evento com autores indígenas
✨ Interpretação bilíngue
✨ Aberto ao público

🗓 26 de março
⏰ 3h30–5h30 PM (Brasília)
💻 Online
🔗 [https://SDSU.zoom.us/j/89194809896]

Public health, sanitation, and international cooperation!!!
On March 17, experts from Brazil and the United States will come together to discuss current challenges in public health and sanitation while strengthening international academic exchange.
A space to share research, experiences, and solutions that impact millions of lives.
📅 March 17, 2026
⏰ 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
📍 Gold Auditorium – Shirley Bioscience Center

In 1900, in Rio de Janeiro, Zaira de Oliveira was born — a Black opera singer recognized by the Black Calendar.
In a Brazil still shaped by the legacy of slavery, she entered a space nearly closed to Black women: classical music.
Remembering Zaira means breaking erasure and honoring the Black voices that helped shape Brazil’s history and culture. 🎶✊🏾