A (Adriana) Ressiore Campodonio

My Ph.D. research investigates more-than-human care in local, regional, and national case studies in Brazil, my home country. When investigating more-than-human care, I aim to answer: what is more-than-human care in theory and in practice? Does more-than-human care transform through different scales and case studies in Brazil? What is more-than-human care's potential to bring non-humans into discussion and decision-making processes?

My first case study is the Siribinha artisanal fishing village in Brazil. This study allowed me to explore the conceptual potential of more-than-human care by synthesizing and situating it with local knowledge, practices, and relations of care. Adding to the debate on care and more-than-human care from a Global South perspective.

My second case study is the Interstate Movement of Babaçu Coconut Breakers (MIQCB). A study that provides insights and reflections on care and social movements, care and conflict, and care between women's daughters and palm tree mothers.

The third case study is the Brazilian Platform of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BPBES). This allows us to reflect on more-than-human care's presence or absence in policy-making and influence in Brazil. 

I am interested in developing research that has space for poetic, embodied, and transformative approaches. My research is strongly influenced by participatory action research and feminist methods and approaches.

To explore the methods that bring non-humans into the decision-making process, Gabriela De La Rosa and I have been experimenting with what we call the Council of Care, inspired by the Council of All Beings. 

My research is part of the Global Epistemologies and Ontologies (GEOS) research project (NWO Vidi).

Previous experience

My Bachelor's degree is in International Relations, from Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Brazil. Subsequently, I worked at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Brazil with the Montreal Protocol Monitoring and Implementing Unit. After that, I did a Master of Social Sciences in Arctic Studies at Université Paris-Saclay (2018–2019). My thesis work discussed Indigenous and Local Knowledge's (ILK) role in the preservation of Arctic Biodiversity. Focusing on the IPBES, I investigated and learned that the Arctic region, biodiversity, and people were still underrepresented in the Assessments for Policy-Makers.

My second master's thesis critically looked at economic and sustainable development discourses. I followed the program on International Development Studies: Sustainability, Participation, and Innovation at the Institut d'Urbanisme et de Géographie Alpine (IUGA), Université Grenoble Alpes, France. During this Master's, I did an internship at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and my final thesis poses the question of IUCN’s position inside (sustainable) development contradictions and the human-nature dichotomy.