Fieldwork
A selection of ethnographic research projects
The Noke Kuin people
Amazon Rainforest, Brazil
In this participant-observation research, Vítor explores the relationship between ritual and resistance among the Noke Kuin people. He studied the different ways in which sacred rituals provide value to their lives, and analysed how the invocation of ritual codes relate to their capacity to resist against external threats.
The Changpa people
Western Himalayas, India
As the Himalayan ice caps melt into one big river, indigenous voices like those of the Changpa people, are being dissolved into a larger, but lonelier, whisper. As the glaciers continue to shrink, so too are our cultural, social and spiritual possibilities being narrowed into a monochromatic way of being.
The Yukuna people
Amazon Rainforest, Colombia
In this ethnographic research Vítor journeys into the Colombian Amazon to live with one of the last Yukuna shamans. While many indigenous communities have been 'disintegrated' into the margins of nearby towns, Don Fermin and his family chose to stay back and live by the laws of the jungle and the will of the river.
The Caretos
Podence, Portugal
In a remote Portuguese village, a community unites for the revival of a mask ritual, rooted in Pagan traditions from a few tribes that inhabited the Iberian Peninsula.