Mecila: Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality Latin America

06/07/2026

We have open calls for our 2027 Fellows cohort!

The fellowships are available in the following modalities and durations:
> Postdoctoral Fellow: 18 months, from January 2027 until July 2028
> Senior Fully Funded Fellow: 6 months, to take place between February and November 2027
> Senior Sabbatical Fellow: 6 months, to take place between February and November 2027

📅 Applications will be accepted until 12 July 2026
👉 The calls are available on our website (https://buff.ly/InVe9ET)

30/06/2026

🔎 Por que repensar a segurança pública é relevante para a democracia?

Essa é a pergunta do artigo de Marcial A. G. Suarez, publicado na seção Políticas Públicas do Nexo Jornal.

O argumento central: o populismo penal não f**a só no discurso. Ele se traduz em padrões concretos de letalidade policial e em outras formas de repressão estatal — com efeitos diretos sobre a democracia.

Marcial foi Senior Fellow do Mecila em 2024, quando pesquisou crime organizado transnacional e governança híbrida no Brasil e no México. Esse trabalho também rendeu uma conversa no nosso podcast Diálogos Mecila.

📖 Artigo completo: https://buff.ly/DssCQOW

🎧 Episódio do podcast: https://buff.ly/3bdOAR7

24/06/2026

🐶 Exciting news from one of our 2022 Senior Fellows!

Jörg Dünne (Professor of Romance Literatures at HU Berlin) has just published his book on street dogs in Latin America — a direct outcome of his research stay at Mecila in 2022.

Titled "Quiltrologie" (after the Chilean term quiltros for street dogs), the book traces their surprisingly rich presence in literature, film, art, and popular culture, moving beyond the domestic space to explore what Dünne calls "contact scenes" — fleeting encounters, shared play, shared food, cross-species packs, and mourning for departed companions.

Building on his Mecila project "Interspecific Convivialities: Street Dogs in Latin America," the book argues for the political urgency of street dogs to any contemporary understanding of Latin American culture, and even proposes transforming philology itself into a "quiltrology" that brings literary studies out onto the street.

Published Open Access by Konstanz University Press, it follows Dünne's earlier KUP titles "Die katastrophische Feerie" (2016) and "Weltspiele – Weltnetzwerke" (2013). A Spanish translation is expected in Chile next year with Metales Pesados.

Read the Open Access version here:

In lateinamerikanischen Städten sind sie allgegenwärtig und bleiben dennoch meist unbeachtet: Straßenhunde, die in Chile auch als quiltros bekannt sind. »Quiltrologie« stellt ihre überraschend reiche Geschichte in Literatur, Film, Kunst und Populärkultur vor. Wenn Menschen und Hunde als compa...

15/06/2026

Today!

We're happy to host the guest lecture "Social Capital and Inequalities in Contemporary Argentina" by Prof. Dr. Juan Piovani (Universidad Nacional de La Plata / Mecila).

From 2:00–4:00 PM he will be at the Room LAI 201 – Rüdesheimer Str. 54-56, 14197 Berlin.

27/05/2026

No início desse ano a Folha de S.Paulo convidou 100 especialistas de diversos campos para eleger os 100 livros de não ficção mais importantes publicados no século 21 no Brasil. O objetivo foi o de expandir uma primeira lista que já havia sido selecionada em 2025.

Dessa vez, entre os especialistas selecionados também estavam dois pesquisadores do Mecila, Bianca Tavolari – Professora da FGV Direito, colunista da revista Quatro Cinco Um e pesquisadora do Cebrap e Principal Investigator do Mecila; e Mário Medeiros – Sociólogo, professor da Unicamp, Principal Investigator do Mecila e autor de ‘Caquinhos Vermelhos’ e ‘A Descoberta do Insólito’.

A seleção apresenta obras essenciais para entender o Brasil e o mundo contemporâneo, reunindo múltiplos olhares para analisar o presente e projetar o futuro.

Para acessar a lista completa, veja a matéria aqui (com paywall):

Cem especialistas elegeram obras nacionais lançadas desde 2001

25/05/2026

Mecila was proud to participate in the opening event of the new framework programme for the Humanities and Social Sciences hosted by the German Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) in Berlin on 18–19 May 2026.

Under the theme “Orientation for a Changing World – New Programme. New Impulses. New Perspectives.”, the event brought together leading voices from academia, policy and funding organisations to discuss the role of the humanities and social sciences in times of profound societal, political, and technological transformation.

At the “Marktplatz für Ideen” (Marketplace of Ideas), all Merian Centres were jointly represented at a shared stand — a strong sign of collaboration and international exchange across the network.

In case you didn´t know, there are currently five Merian Centres in the world:
- Here in Brazil, we have Mecila
- Also in Latin America, but in Mexico, we have CALAS - Center for Advanced Latin American Studies
- In India, there is the International Centre of Advanced Studies ‘Metamorphoses of the Political'
- In Ghana, there is MIASA
- And there is also the MECAM - Merian Centre for Advanced Studies in the Maghreb

As highlighted in the photos we are sharing of the “Marktplatz für Ideen”, Mecila was represented by our Scientific Manager Juliana Lugão, as well as Principal Investigators Barbara Göbel, Christoph Müller and our project leader Sérgio Costa, alongside colleagues from the other Merian Centres.

📷️ by Sukriti Manocha.

19/05/2026

👉 O Mecila está com 1 vaga de estágio aberta!

O Mecila está com uma oportunidade aberta para estudantes das áreas de Humanidades, Ciências Sociais ou Comunicação que desejam atuar em um ambiente acadêmico internacional e interdisciplinar. 🌎📚

A/o estagiária/o irá apoiar atividades nas áreas de comunicação, publicações, eventos acadêmicos e coordenação institucional do Centro.

📍 Local: São Paulo (presencial – Cebrap/USP)
🕒 Carga horária: 20h semanais
📅 Início previsto: julho de 2026

Benefícios do Estágio:
💰 Bolsa-estágio
🍽️ Vale-refeição
🚊 Vale-transporte
🛡️ Seguro de vida

📅 Inscrições abertas até 29 de maio.
👀 Saiba mais: https://buff.ly/FDb4f2D

13/05/2026

📅 Next week!!!
Join us on Wednesday, 20 May 2026, at 18:00 CET for a lecture by Maristella Svampa (CeDInCI, Universidad Nacional de San Martín / Conicet, Argentina):
“Policrisis, conflictos y narrativas sobre la transición ecosocial. Perspectivas desde América Latina”.

In this lecture, Maristella Svampa will analyze the polycrisis from four different perspectives. First, she wil present some aspects of the civilizational polycrisis and the asymmetries of the Anthropocene era. Secondly, she'll address the connection between the technocratic narrative, the energy transition, and green colonialism. Thirdly, she'll characterize the role of the radical right in establishing a new scenario of asymmetric polarization. Finally, she'll highlight the importance of promoting relational narratives and their association with the new economy of affect, in contrast to the affective economy mobilized by the far right.

📍 Location: Conference Room, Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut (IAI), Potsdamer Str. 37, Berlin
🎥 Streaming: https://buff.ly/82YkT4I
This event is part of the Mecila Lecture Series Diversity / Medialities.

More information: https://buff.ly/2wadIhc

07/05/2026

No dia 29 de abril, Marcial Suárez (Universidade Federal Fluminense/ Ex- Fellow Mecila) e Juliana Lugão (Mecila Scientific Manager) participaram do “Fórum sobre democracia, soberania e participação: perspectivas da diversidade social”, promovido pela Clacso - Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales em parceria com a PUC Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo.

Marcial e Juliana, juntamente com Gloria Amézquita (Diretora Acadêmica do CLACSO), apresentaram o livro “Violência e Cuidado: Abordagens para uma Relação Ambivalente”, que faz parte da coleção de livros Mecila-CLACSO. A obra organizada por Raquel Rojas, Marcial Suarez e Izadora Xavier do Monte foi publicada em dezembro de 2025 e está acessível em formado aberto por meio deste link: https://buff.ly/wD7QJSb

Assista à Apresentação do Livro por este link (02:09 – 02:31): https://buff.ly/32SNVwz

O Fórum faz parte da agenda estratégica da CLACSO para 2025-2028, que visa fortalecer a democracia a partir do pensamento crítico e transformador da América Latina e do Caribe, promovendo articulações multissetoriais que incorporem e reconheçam diversas perspectivas do Sul Global.

06/05/2026

📅 Next week!!!
Join us on Tuesday, 12 May at 18:00 CET for a lecture by Miguel A. García (Universidad de Buenos Aires, Conicet, Argentina / Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung):
“Un archivo en el que todo confluye. Sobre los procesos de datif**ación, plataformización y virtualización del sonido”.

This lecture by Miguel A. García will explore how sound archives and digital platforms increasingly intersect through processes like dataf**ation, platformization, and AI.
It critically examines how sound recordings circulate between institutional collections and global platforms, reshaping access, control, and meaning.

📍 Location: Conference Room, Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut (IAI), Potsdamer Str. 37, Berlin
🎥 Streaming: https://buff.ly/fzCBh3y
This event is part of the Mecila Lecture Series Diversity / Medialities.

More information: https://buff.ly/aZRZlUC

Los registros sonoros habitan dos mundos diferentes. Uno es el de las instituciones, la conservación, las donaciones, las bodegas, los estantes. El otro es el de las redes, las grandes empresas tecnológicas, las plataformas, la Big Data, la mercancía. Aunque son mundos archivísticos divergentes ...