We are delighted to share that former guest researcher Sandra Bomfim de Queiroz has successfully defended her PhD thesis, Female Protagonism in the Ancestral Indigenous Health System (SASI): Indigenous Rituals and the Katokinn People in the Alto Sertão of Northeastern Brazil (School of Public Health, University of São Paulo), on June 18th, 2025.
Sandra’s research is based on long-term ethnographic and participatory work with the Katokinn people of Alagoas. She highlights the central role of women in Indigenous health practices and explores the intersections between the Ancestral Indigenous Health System (SASI), Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS), and Afro-Indigenous ritual traditions.
Her analysis was enriched by engagement with the work of Denise Ferreira da Silva (former faculty member for the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice) and Ailton Krenak, renowned Brazilian Indigenous leader, environmentalist, philosopher, poet, and writer.
We warmly congratulate Sandra on this important achievement and wish her the very best in her future work.
