Thiago Mattos Batista is a PhD student in the African and African American department at Harvard University, having History as his primary field. After working as a journalist for over ten years, his research focuses on the cultural contributions of the African diaspora in Brazil, examining popular festivities and street carnivals in the 1900s. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and another in Journalism (Cásper Líbero College). His academic interests include African spirituality and religions, ideas of race and the diasporic intellectual production.