Stephen Bocskay

Stephen Bocskay is a multilingual scholar who carries a PhD in Portuguese & Brazilian Studies from Brown University and a BA and MA in Hispanic Literatures from Cornell University. Titled Voices of Samba: Music and Afro-Politics in Authoritarian Brazil, his book project focuses on the emergence of a militant Afro-Brazilian political discourse in samba culture during the military regime (1964-1985). It investigates how mechanisms of institutional surveillance targeted black political cohesion at-large and perspectives on black history and culture. His articles are published in the Latin American Research Review, Afro-Ásia, Latin American Perspectives, Chasqui, the Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, and edited volumes published in Brazil.   

His research focus is on 20th and 21st century Latin American and Luso-Brazilian studies and literatures, popular music, media and film studies. He teaches courses on Latin American, Brazilian, Portuguese, and Lusophone African literatures and cultures. His teaching experience includes topics as varied as Indigenous Studies, Afro-Latin American Studies, Luso-Afro-Brazilian Literatures and Cultures, Caribbean Cultures, Latinx Studies, Iberian Studies, and Translation Studies. He has worked for private and public institutions such as Harvard University, Brown University, Cornell University, the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, and the University of Michigan. 

A believer in the importance of public education and engaged scholarship, Stephen has provided commentary and written for major publications and media outlets in Brazil, such as Correio Braziliense, O Globo, Sem Censura, Estúdio Móvel, the Instituto Moreira Salles, and Cultne. As guest and keynote speaker, he has delivered presentations in universities and institutions throughout Brazil and the United States. As a translator, he has subtitled feature films by internationally acclaimed Brazilian filmmakers such as Sergio Oliveira, Renata Pinheiro and Gabriela Amaral Almeida. 

Stephen also prioritizes exchange and collaboration with scholars in Latin America and has published an essay with Rafael Pinto Ferreira de Queiroz on the Brazilian singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Marku Ribas.