Fernanda Vasconcelos Dias (She/Her/Hers)

Ph.D. Student, Anthropology and Education

Dissertation Advisor: Ellen Grey Gundaker

Fernanda Vasconcelos Dias is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. Her ethnographic research explores how race, immigration, culture, and learning shape the everyday lives of Black Brazilian immigrants in the New York area. She focuses on Afro-Brazilian cultural practices such as samba reggae and dance, examining how these spaces foster community, labor, and cross-cultural dialogue among racially diverse groups. Fernanda worked as an Adjunct Lecturer at Lehman College (CUNY) and has served as Educational Manager at SQA Education, where she led curriculum development for ESL programs. She holds master’s degrees from Teachers College, UMass Dartmouth, and the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). She is also a co-founder of Kilomba Collective, the first Black Brazilian women’s collective in the U.S., and a coordinating member of the Paulo Freire Initiative at Columbia University.

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