Antonio J Bacelar da Silva

Interests

Teaching

Linguistic and sociocultural anthropology; language, culture, and power; race and language; social movements; ethnographic discourse analysis; critical race studies and antiracism; Latin America and Brazil

Research

Linguistic and sociocultural anthropology; language, culture, and power; race and language; social movements; ethnographic discourse analysis; critical race studies and antiracism; Latin America and Brazil

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Books

• Bacela da Silva, A. J. (2022). Between Brown and Black: Anti-Racist Activism in Brazil. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Chapters

• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2024).

  Brazilian Black Activists' Anthropophagous Manifesto: Reclaiming Blackness in Afro-Brazilian History and Culture
  
  

   

  . In Anthropology of Reading at Thirty(pp 109-123). Palgrave. doi:https://doi-org.ezproxy1.library.arizona.edu/10.1007/978-3-031-38226-0_7
• Roth-gordon, J., & Bacelar da Silva, A. J. (2013). Double-voicing in the everyday language of Brazilian black activism. In The Persistence of Language: Constructing and Confronting the Past and Present in the Voices of Jane H. Hill(pp 383-406). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins Publishing Company. doi:https://doi.org/10.1075/clu.8.14rot
  More info

  In this study of the daily linguistic practices of Brazilian black activists, we draw on Jane Hill’s well-known research on voice to interrogate how speakers metalinguistically invoke “competing” points of view. Bringing together research conducted at the height of politically conscious hip hop’s success in the late 1990s in Rio de Janeiro and fieldwork conducted with race-based community organizations in Salvador, Bahia in 2009–2010, we argue that speakers actively counterpose “racist” and “anti-racist” voices – often within a single translinguistic word – in their quest to display racial consciousness. Embracing similar linguistic processes, political opponents of race-based policies draw different battle lines within the same words, interpreting the struggle as one between North American and Brazilian understandings of race and racism.
• Roth-Gordon, J., & Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2013). Double-Voicing in the Everyday Language of Brazilian Black Activism. In The Persistence of Language: Constructing and Confronting the Past and Present in the Voices of Jane H. Hill(pp 365–388). Philadelphia, PA: John Benjamins.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2008). Rituais Lingüísticos como Fórum para Participação e Contextos para Transferência em um Grupo de Estudantes de Português como Língua Estrangeira (Ritualized Talk as a Forum for Participation and Context for Language Transfer: The Case of Learners of Portuguese as a Foreign Language). In Portuguese for Spanish Speakers: Teaching and Acquisition, Lyris Wiedemann and Matilde V. R. Scaramucci, ed.(pp 119-134). São Paulo: Pontes Editores.

Journals/Publications

• de Oliveira Leite, G., Tosta, A. L., & Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2023).

  200 Years of Plural Literary Baianities

  . Revista Tabuleiro de Letras, 17(1), 8-180. doi:https://doi.org/10.35499/tl.v17i1
• Bacelar, d. (2022). “Housemaids in Disney?”: Dissecting Racist Convivial Humour in Brazil. Anthropologica (Ottawa), 64(2).
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J., & Brito de Almeida, A. R. (2021). The subject, the other, and black political identities among Afro-Brazilians. Social Identities, 1-15. doi:10.1080/13504630.2021.1952861
• Silva, A. J., & Almeida, A. R. (2021). The subject, the other, and black political identities among Afro-Brazilians. Social Identities, 28(1), 4-18. doi:10.1080/13504630.2021.1952861
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2019). Português de Arremedo: Um Lado do Preconceito Linguístico no Brasil. Cadernos de Estudos Linguísticos, 1(61), 1-19. doi:https://doi.org/10.20396/cel.v61i1.8653608
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2020). Exu is not Satan: The Dialogics of Memory and Resistance among Afro-Brazilians. African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, 13(1), 54-67. doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/17528631.2019.1637143
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J., & Larkins, E. R. (2019). The Bolsonaro Election and Race Relations in Brazil and Beyond. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, 24(4), 893-913. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/jlca.12438
• Bacelar da Silva, A. J. (2019). Exu is not Satan – the dialogics of memory and resistance among Afro-Brazilians. African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal, 13(1), 54-67. doi:10.1080/17528631.2019.1637143
• Silva, A. J. (2019). Português de arremedo. Cadernos de Estudos Lingüísticos. doi:10.20396/cel.v61i1.8653608
• Silva, A. J., & Larkins, E. R. (2019). The Bolsonaro Election, Antiblackness, and Changing Race Relations in Brazil. The journal of Latin American and Caribbean anthropology, 24(4), 893-913. doi:10.1111/jlca.12438
• Silva, A. J. (2015). Voicing Race and Antiracism. Journal of Anthropological Research. doi:10.3998/jar.0521004.0071.103
• da, S. (2015). Voicing Race and Anti-Racism: Toward a Broader Understanding of Black Consciousness among Afro-Brazillians. Journal of Anthropological Research, 71(1), 49-68.
• Silva, A. J. (2014). Dialogism as Antiracist Education: Engaging with Competing Racial Ideologies in Brazil. Anthropology & Education Quarterly. doi:10.1111/aeq.12073
• da, S. (2014). Dialogism as Antiracist Education: Engaging with Competing Racial Ideologies in Brazil: Dialogism as Antiracist Education. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 45(4), 319-336.
• Carvalho, A. M., Freire, J. L., & Bacelar da Silva, A. J. (2010). Teaching Portuguese to Spanish Speakers: A Case for Trilingualism. Hispania, 93(1), 70-75.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2009). The Impeachment of the President: The Interdiscursive Construction of Social Memory. Arizona Anthropologist, 19, 39-50.
• Carvalho, A. M., & Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2008). O Papel do Conhecimento Metalinguístico nos Padrões de Transferência no Desenvolvimento da Interlíngua e suas Implicações Pedagógicas. Portuguese Language Journal.
• Carvalho, A. M., & Silva, A. B. (2006). Cross-linguistic influence in third language acquisition: The case of Spanish-English bilinguals' acquisition of portuguese. Foreign Language Annals, 39(2), 185-202.
• Carvalho, A. M., & Silva, A. J. (2006). Cross-Linguistic Influence in Third Language Acquisition: The Case of Spanish-English Bilinguals' Acquisition of Portuguese. Foreign Language Annals, 39, 185-202. doi:10.1111/j.1944-9720.2006.tb02261.x
  More info

  This study investigates typological distance and order of acquisition (i.e, the order in which languages were acquired) in the context in which Spanish-English bilingual students, whose first language is English or Spanish, are learning Portuguese as a third language (L3). Participants were asked to think aloud as they worked on pedagogical tasks involving the present and future subjunctive in Portuguese, followed by stimulated recalls. Findings indicate that both groups rely heavily on Spanish when performing both tasks, leading us to conclude that linguistic similarity between the languages overrides order of acquisition. Data derived from learners' reflections elucidated some dqferences in transfer patterns between the groups that would not be revealed otherwise, contributing to a better understanding of these variables in L3 acquisition in general and the acquisition of Portuguese by Spanish speakers in particular.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2003). The Effects of Instruction on Learners’ Interlanguage Pragmatics. Second Language Studies, 22, 55-106.

Presentations

• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2020, March). Backlash Against Affirmative Action in Brazil: What’s whiteness got to do with it?. Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA), March 28. Austin, TX: University of Texas, Austin.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2022, November).

  Brazilian Black Activists’ Anthropophagous Manifesto: Reclaiming Blackness in Afro-Brazilian History and Culture

  . American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. Seattle, WA.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2021, February). Between Brown and Black: Antiracist Activism among Afro-Brazilians. Maricopa Increasing Global Awareness Series. Zoom: Maricopa Community College, Phoenix (AZ).
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2021, February). How to Combat Anti-blackness in the Context of Mestizaje. Studies of the United States Institute (SUSI) Alumni Conference. Zoom: Institute for Training & Development, Amherst (MA).
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2021, January). The Language of Antiracism. Lecture Series. Zoom: Center for Latin American Studies, Ohio State University.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2021, March). Burning Issues: The Environment, Human Rights, and Democracy in Bolsonaro's Brazil. Webinar. Norman, OK: Center for Brazil Studies, University of Oklahoma.
  More info

  Discussant
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J., & Natera, K. A. (2021, February). Why Is Anti-Blackness Key to Understanding Oppression? A Report on Teaching Black Lives Matter across the Americas. Maricopa Increasing Global Awareness Series. Zoom: Maricopa Community Colleges, Phoenix (AZ).
• Bacelar da Silva, A. J. (2021, June 22). Race, Racism, and Antiracism in the U.S. & Brazil. Webinar. Columbus, OH: Columbus Council of World Affairs.
• Bacelar da Silva, A. J. (2021, June). Nós versus Eles: Discurso Discriminatório, Preconceito e Linguagem Agressiva na Comunicação Digital no Brazil. Webinar. Recife, PE, Brazil: Companhia Editora de Pernambuco.
  More info

  I was a discussant of the book "Nós versus Eles: Discurso Discriminatório, Preconceito e Linguagem Agressiva na Comunicação Digital no Brazil" by Mércia Regina Santana
• Bacelar da Silva, A. J. (2021, September 27). The Global Movement for Black Lives. Webinar. Philadelphia, PA: World Affairs Council of Philadelphia.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2020, November). Antiblackness, racial violence, and a report on teaching “Black Lives Matter across the Americas. Lecture Series. Zoom: Center for Latin American Studies, Ohio State University.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2020, Summer). ¿Por qué tener en cuenta la anti-negritud? (Why take Anti-Blackness into Consideration?). Study of the United States Institute (SUSI). Zoom: Center for Latin American Studies, University of New Mexico.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2019, May 25). Who can be Black for Affirmative Action Programs in Brazil?. Latin American Studies Association (LASA) Annual Meeting. Boston, MA: Latin American Studies Association (LASA)_.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2018, July 23). Racismo e Fenótipo: Quem são os Beneficiárixs das Cotas Raciais no Brasil?. NEPPOS Roundtable. Brasília, Brazil: NEPPOS/Universidade de Brasília.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2018, March 17). Português de Arremedo: Língua e Preconceito de Classe/Raça no Brasil. Foreign Language Teaching Assistance Annual Meeting. Tucson, AZ: The Fulbright Program and the U.S. Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2018, May 26). What are We Really: Black, White, Mixed?. Latin American Studies Association Conference. Barcelona, Spain: Latin American Studies Association.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2018, November 17). Brazil's Racial Divide and the Political Fight for Power. American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. San Jose, CA: American Anthropological Association.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2017, December 3). Anti-Racism without Multiculturalism: Winning the Afro-Brazilian Vote. American Anthropological Association Meetings. Washington DC.
• Bacelar Da Silva, A. J. (2017, Spring). Só Querem Ser Negro na Melhor Época do Ano: A Questão da Apropriação Cultural e da Reparação no Brazil. III Semana de Diversidade: Todos sob o Mesmo Céu. Campus Matão, São Paulo, Brasil: Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia (IFSP).