The Center for Research on Culture and Economy
Founded in 2004, the Center for Research on Culture and Economy (NuCEC) is a space for collective production of knowledge and for student training that brings together researchers interested in the anthropological understanding of contemporary socio-economic life. Based at the Graduate Program in Social Anthropology at the National Museum and at the Graduate Program in Sociology and Anthropology at the Philosophy and Social Sciences Institute (IFCS), both at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the Center is composed of social scientists from various institutions from Brazil and abroad.
The projects developed by researchers linked to NuCEC comprise a wide variety of topics, unified by a common intellectual sensibility, which gives privilege to ethnographic approaches (long-term observation of situations and social processes and emphasis on native points of view in interpreting interactions, documents and images), to a comparative emphasis (through time, space and between levels of analysis) and to a historical perspective, based on the idea that social life is always situated in time. Apart from large collective projects (such as the "Project Haiti" and the project "Forms of government and ordinary economic practices" - in cooperation with the École Normal Supérieure and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris), NuCEC currently organizes study groups like GEAF (Anthropology of Finance Study Group - in partnership with the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission) and GENE (Nature and Economy Study Group), and is associated to other research centers such as Grupo Casa (Institute of Social and Political Studies, State University of Rio de Janeiro).
In the last few years, the center's research projects are mainly concentrated in some thematic areas such as: (i) the relationship between ordinary economic practices and contemporary forms of government; (ii) relations between the dynamics of the house, familiarity, intimacy and mobility; (iii) regulation of economic practices; (iv) transformation and constitution of markets with the participation of new agents and technologies; (v) the constitutive relations between informality, legalities and illegalities; (vi) relations between people, money and objects; (vii) associations between the notions of person, life, nature and the "real" economy; (viii) the emergency of "new economies" (solidary, ethnic and racial) and new technologies (new forms of money, of conception and management of debts, like new financial apps, etc.); and (ix) the relations between new forms of acting and thinking the economy in both ordinary and expert environments (in everyday life and in the context of so-called crises and emergencies). The studies developed by NuCEC discuss, in accord with the anthropological tradition, the specificity of the economy and of the economic as separate and autonomous spheres, being situated therefore in the frontier with other areas of the discipline, such as the anthropology of family and familiarity, politics, State, bureaucracy and public policies, social movements and rights, mobility, knowledge, STS, among others.
In order to develop individual and collective research projects, NuCEC maintains a permanent seminar in which are discussed ongoing projects, field reports, drafts of articles, preliminary chapters of thesis and dissertations. Apart from that, the center also organizes interdisciplinary scientific events, meetings, workshops and colloquiums, in Brazil or abroad. In 2008 the book series "Culture and Economy" was released, in partnership with the publisher Garamond Universitária, and in 2017 the collection became part of the publisher Papéis Selvagens.
A feature of NuCEC is its intense internationalization, participating in different networks and institutions, promoting research in various regions such as South America, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe. The Center's activities rely mainly on the financial support of CNPq (The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), FAPERJ (The Rio de Janeiro State Agency for Scientific Research), PPGAS (The Graduate Program in Social Anthropology at the National Museum, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and PPGSA (The Graduate Program in Sociology and Anthropology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro). The Center also establishes partnerships with other government bodies, international agencies and NGOs.
Contact: [email protected]
Researchers | Collective Publications
The projects developed by researchers linked to NuCEC comprise a wide variety of topics, unified by a common intellectual sensibility, which gives privilege to ethnographic approaches (long-term observation of situations and social processes and emphasis on native points of view in interpreting interactions, documents and images), to a comparative emphasis (through time, space and between levels of analysis) and to a historical perspective, based on the idea that social life is always situated in time. Apart from large collective projects (such as the "Project Haiti" and the project "Forms of government and ordinary economic practices" - in cooperation with the École Normal Supérieure and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris), NuCEC currently organizes study groups like GEAF (Anthropology of Finance Study Group - in partnership with the Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission) and GENE (Nature and Economy Study Group), and is associated to other research centers such as Grupo Casa (Institute of Social and Political Studies, State University of Rio de Janeiro).
In the last few years, the center's research projects are mainly concentrated in some thematic areas such as: (i) the relationship between ordinary economic practices and contemporary forms of government; (ii) relations between the dynamics of the house, familiarity, intimacy and mobility; (iii) regulation of economic practices; (iv) transformation and constitution of markets with the participation of new agents and technologies; (v) the constitutive relations between informality, legalities and illegalities; (vi) relations between people, money and objects; (vii) associations between the notions of person, life, nature and the "real" economy; (viii) the emergency of "new economies" (solidary, ethnic and racial) and new technologies (new forms of money, of conception and management of debts, like new financial apps, etc.); and (ix) the relations between new forms of acting and thinking the economy in both ordinary and expert environments (in everyday life and in the context of so-called crises and emergencies). The studies developed by NuCEC discuss, in accord with the anthropological tradition, the specificity of the economy and of the economic as separate and autonomous spheres, being situated therefore in the frontier with other areas of the discipline, such as the anthropology of family and familiarity, politics, State, bureaucracy and public policies, social movements and rights, mobility, knowledge, STS, among others.
In order to develop individual and collective research projects, NuCEC maintains a permanent seminar in which are discussed ongoing projects, field reports, drafts of articles, preliminary chapters of thesis and dissertations. Apart from that, the center also organizes interdisciplinary scientific events, meetings, workshops and colloquiums, in Brazil or abroad. In 2008 the book series "Culture and Economy" was released, in partnership with the publisher Garamond Universitária, and in 2017 the collection became part of the publisher Papéis Selvagens.
A feature of NuCEC is its intense internationalization, participating in different networks and institutions, promoting research in various regions such as South America, the Caribbean, Africa and Europe. The Center's activities rely mainly on the financial support of CNPq (The Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development), FAPERJ (The Rio de Janeiro State Agency for Scientific Research), PPGAS (The Graduate Program in Social Anthropology at the National Museum, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and PPGSA (The Graduate Program in Sociology and Anthropology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro). The Center also establishes partnerships with other government bodies, international agencies and NGOs.
Contact: [email protected]
Researchers | Collective Publications