MARIANA SABINO SALAZAR

Mariana Sabino Salazar is a postdoctoral researcher in the Romani Atlantic project at the Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences. Prior to joining the Academy, she directed the undergraduate Latin American Studies program at the University of New Mexico. She has also taught at the University of New Mexico and the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned her Ph.D. in 2023.

 

Her research focuses on early Romani history in the Americas and the representation of diasporic and immigrant populations in popular culture. In 2022, she was awarded a Fulbright to investigate Romani self-representation and the “Gypsy” stereotype in Brazilian literature, cinema, cordel, soap operas, and Umbanda religious practices. She is currently working on a book that analyzes how the recurring female “Gypsy” trope in Mexican horror films and Brazilian Westerns reflects broader societal anxieties about communism, authoritarianism, and female emancipation. She co-edited the Latin America-focused double issue of Romano Dzaniben and has published in peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes. 

 

Beyond her academic work, Mariana is interested in counter-archives, critical cartography, and community-based curatorial practices. She has collaborated with the United Nations on a crowd-sourced Romani Memory Map for the Americas, served as head archivist at the Romani Archives and Documentation Center for seven years, and curated or co-curated exhibitions for the UNM Art Museum, the Bullock Texas State History Museum, the Perry-Castañeda Library, and the Universidade Federal de São Carlos’ Biblioteca Comunitária.

 

As part of the Romani Atlantic project, Mariana will explore ethnic shifting, cultural appropriation, and the performance of “Gypsy” identity in Brazil, conducting both archival and ethnographic research.