Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies

🇧🇷🦫 Did you know Brazil is home to one of the largest capybara populations in the world?
These fascinating animals have adapted to life in both natural and urban environments, often seen relaxing in parks, rivers, and lakes across the country. The combination of abundant water resources, wetlands, and green spaces makes Brazil one of the most important habitats for this unique species.
✨ Capybaras are not only the largest rodents on Earth, but also highly social animals that live in groups and play a key role in the balance of local ecosystems.
🌊 From wildlife to city life, they have become an unexpected symbol of Brazil’s rich biodiversity.

Canavieiras, on Brazil’s southern coast, is a living territory where mangroves, rivers, and the ocean sustain fishing communities and traditional ways of life. Inside the RESEX, conservation means protecting both nature and the people who depend on it.
But this territory is also under pressure from shrimp farming, tourism, and land speculation. In response, local communities organize and resist, defending their rights and their future.
A different Brazil is being built from the mangroves up.
Learn more: https://emergentecologies.net

Behind every fish, crab, and shrimp is a story that often goes unnoticed.
In Canavieiras, women play a vital role in processing seafood—cleaning, preparing, and preserving the catch that sustains families and local economies. Their work carries generations of traditional knowledge, yet it remains one of the least visible and least valued parts of the artisanal fishing economy.
Supporting these communities means recognizing the people behind the food, investing in fair working conditions, and protecting the coastal ecosystems they have cared for for generations.
Discover another side of Brazil through the voices and knowledge of its traditional fishing communities.
Learn more at emergentecologies.net

Proposta de legenda:
Living from the mangrove is about much more than fishing. It means understanding the tides, respecting nature's cycles, and carrying forward knowledge passed down through generations.
In Canavieiras, artisanal fishers and shellfish gatherers have built a way of life rooted in the mangrove, where work, culture, and environmental stewardship are deeply connected. Their communities show that protecting nature also means protecting people, knowledge, and tradition.
Discover this story and explore another side of Brazil at: EmergentEcologies.net

On July 25, we celebrate the strength, history, and leadership of Afro-Latin American and Afro-Caribbean women.
✊🏿 Wherever Black women resist, a better future is being built.

Have you ever heard of cumulative environmental impacts?
This concept helps explain how multiple developments operating in the same territory can create environmental and social effects that are much greater than their individual impacts.
In Iguape Bay, Brazil, research shows how changes in water flow, mangrove ecosystems, and the spread of invasive species are affecting artisanal fishing and traditional ways of life.
Learn more: http://www.emergentecologies.net/pesca-artesanal
Brazil ClimateJustice CoastalCommunities Ecology EmergentEcologies

of a special moment at the XVIII BRASA () ✨
The opening ceremony, held at the historic Rectory of the Federal University of Bahia, marked the beginning of an experience of exchange, dialogue, and the collective construction of knowledge about Brazil.
In Salvador, researchers, students, and institutions from different parts of the world came together to strengthen connections, share perspectives, and celebrate the diversity of Brazilian Studies.
Once again, Bahia became a space for encounters that cross borders and reaffirm the importance of academic production as a pathway for collaboration and transformation.
Looking forward to the next gatherings and new networks of knowledge! 🌎📚

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.