JOSE OTAVIO CATAFESTO DE SOUZA

José Otávio Catafesto de Souza is a distinguished anthropologist and ethnoarchaeologist at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), where he completed his academic journey with a degree in history (1982), followed by master's (1987) and doctorate (1999) in social anthropology. As coordinator of the Laboratory of Archaeology and Ethnology (LAE), he leads significant research initiatives focusing on Mbyá-Guarani Territoriality, Amerindian and Quilombola Ethnoarchaeology. His work is guided by Airton Krenak's principle of "Doing local, thinking global," as he advocates for indigenous rights and challenges academic productivism in social sciences. His research has contributed significantly to understanding Guarani migrations and territorial rights, particularly through his studies of Mbyá-Guarani perceptivism and ontocosmoecology. Beyond academia, he actively engages in extension projects supporting Amerindian and quilombola communities in land regularization processes and the implementation of health, sustainability, and cultural heritage policies.