HAR is pleased to announce one of the latest releases from Encyclopédie Bérose des histoires de l’anthropologie: an article (in English and Portuguese) on the trajectory—and the potentially global reach—of a key figure in the history of Brazilian anthropology.

Ribeiro Corossacz, Valeria, 2026. “Lélia Gonzalez’s Contribution to Decolonizing Anthropological Thought in Brazil and Beyond,” Encyclopédie Bérose des histoires de l’anthropologie.

Ribeiro Corossacz, Valeria, 2026. «A contribuição de Lélia Gonzalez para a decolonização do pensamento antropológico no Brasil e em outros países», Encyclopédie Bérose des histoires de l’anthropologie.

Lélia de Almeida Gonzalez (1935–1994), who identified as an anthropologist, stands as one of Brazil’s and Latin America’s most influential intellectuals and activists, shaping both the Black movement and Black feminist thought. Lélia Gonzalez was born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, in 1935. At age seven, she moved with her family to Rio de Janeiro, where she earned degrees in history, geography, and philosophy. She worked as a translator from French and held teaching positions, first in schools and then at universities, where she taught courses in cultural anthropology and Brazilian folklore. In the 1970s, during the military dictatorship, Gonzalez became intensely involved in Black and feminist activism, helping to found the Unified Black Movement and participating in Black women’s groups and the feminist movement. She also helped build transnational feminist and Black networks. She published several articles and one book on issues related to racism and sexism, as well as a book on Brazilian folklore.

In this pathbreaking article, Ribeiro Corossacz explores Gonzalez’s relationship to anthropology and, more specifically, the kind of anthropology she put into practice through her theoretical eclecticism. In her activism and writings, Gonzalez developed a decolonial approach, articulating a critique of the impact of Eurocentric and androcentric paradigms on the social sciences in Brazil. She used the term Amefricanity to acknowledge the colonial matrix that constantly negates the autonomy and creativity of African and Indigenous communities, and to highlight the dynamism of African and Indigenous experiences in the context of the colonization of the Americas. In her work, Gonzalez recognized the role played by white people’s ideological narratives, challenging white supremacy and carving out a space in which to focus on whiteness as a canon of knowledge production not recognized by white people themselves. Without using the word intersectionality, she was also a pioneer in analyzing how racism, sexism, and class inequality were imbricated in the formation of the Brazilian nation, and how this imbrication affected the social condition of Black, Indigenous, and poor women.

Still insufficiently known outside Latin America, Gonzalez has been emerging as an international point of reference; this bilingual publication, in English and Portuguese, is an important contribution in that regard. This article is published as part of the research theme “History of Anthropologies in Brazil,” directed by Stefania Capone and Fernanda Arêas Peixoto.