Thiago Mattos-Batista is a doctoral student in the Department of African and African American Studies with a primary field in History. His research interests include popular festivities in Latin America, ideas of race and the African diasporic intellectual production. He has a degree in Social Sciences from the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, and another degree in Journalism from Faculdade Cásper Líbero, both in Brazil. Prior to his PhD studies at Harvard, Thiago worked as a reporter and video producer, both in Brazil and in the United States.