Dr. Thomaz Amâncio

Biography

Thomaz Amancio received his PhD in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of Chicago in 2024. His dissertation was awarded the Dissertation Prize by LASA Brazil in 2025. He specializes in the written archive of the countryside in Latin America, with a focus on Brazil. His research explores the intersection between aesthetics and the social sciences, defining a throughline in Brazilian intellectual and cultural history of the 20th century, particularly regarding racial and cultural identity, nature, landscape, and political economic organization. Amancio’s manuscript, entitled “Field Work: Labor Culture in Rural Brazil,” historicizes field research as an epistemic and aesthetic practice informed by class dynamics. The book traces emergent ways of engaging with rural realities borne out of plantation histories, shaped by scientific and cultural institutions in academia. His research interests further extend to the representation of animals, plants, and spirits, particularly as they pertain to contemporary environmental social concerns. His work has been published in various outlets, including Philia, Revista Porto Alegre, Topoi, and the Journal Lusophone Studies, with forthcoming contributions in the volume “Plants and Animals in Latin American Cultural Production” by University Press Florida in 2026.

Research Interests

Courses