Renata de Castro Menezes

Antropóloga, professora associada IV do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Antropologia Social do Museu Nacional da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, que coordenou de 2009-2011 e do qual é, atualmente, vice-coordenadora de ensino (2021-2023). Formou-se como bacharel e licenciada em História, depois como mestra e doutora em Antropologia Social pela UFRJ, tendo feito estágio-sanduíche na Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales / Paris (2001-2002) e pós-doutorado na New York University (2015-2016). Suas pesquisas versam sobre religião, festas e rituais, com ênfase no estudo de devoções. E, mais recentemente, sobre objetos e coisas materiais e imateriais, arte popular, patrimônio e formas de conservação e produção de memória social. No Departamento de Antropologia do Museu Nacional, coordena o Laboratório de Antropologia do Lúdico e do Sagrado (Ludens) e integra o Núcleo de Estudos das Sociedades Complexas (Nescom). É pesquisadora do CNPq , Cientista do Nosso Estado da Faperj e pesquisadora associada ao CéSor - Centre detudes en sciences sociales du religieux, da EHESS/Paris. Preside a ONG Iser/Assessoria e faz parte do Conselho Fiscal da Associação dos Amigos do Museu Nacional (SAMN). Realizou a curadoria das experiências expositivas Doces Santos (2020) e Quem sabe, samba (2023). Foi pesquisadora visitante na Fondation Maison de Sciences de LHomme (2019). Editou as revistas Religião e Sociedade (2013-2016) e Mana (2016-2018).

Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology of the National Museum, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, working at the Graduate Program in Social Anthropology, of which she was coordinator in the biennium 2009-2011. She has a scholarship from CNPq Level2, and she was a Visiting Scholar at New York University's Center for Religion and Media (2015-2016). She coordinates the Research Group on Anthropology of Devotion - GPAD and Ludens - Laboratory of Anthropology of the Ludic and the Sacred. She has been conducting research on religion since the 1990s, focusing mainly on the study of Catholicism and, more recently, on umbanda, but in interaction with other themes such as popular festivals and forms of sociability; dynamics of transformation of the Brazilian religious field; relations between religion, state and citizenship; and the relationship between religion and national culture. In recent years, her work has also been dedicated to the study of materialities (including spatialities), at a crossroads between religion, art, heritage, and conservation institutions. She is a member of the Nucleus of Anthropology of Politics - NuAP and the Nucleus of Studies of the Complex Societies - Nescom, both of PPGAS / MN. She was editor of the Journals Mana (2016-2017) and Religion Society (2013-2016). Bachelor's degree in History by the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences / UFRJ (1987), Degree in History by the Faculty of Education / UFRJ (1988), Master's and Ph.D. in Social Anthropology by PPGAS / National Museum / UFRJ (1996 and 2004 respectively) with stage-sandwich at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris (2001-2002). Her master's dissertation on the Feast of Penha (RJ) was awarded the second place in the Sílvio Romero award, by Funarte, in 1996. Her PhD thesis, The Dynamics of the Sacred, was published in 2004 by Relume-Dumará. For many years she has also worked on the subject of citizenship and social participation, to which she eventually returns in specific activities.