Andrea Roca

Andrea Roca is a Sessional Lecturer of Portuguese and Spanish at the University of British Columbia (UBC), affiliated with the Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies within the Faculty of Arts. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and has taught at institutions including the University of Coimbra (Portugal). Since 2006, she has been a researcher at LACED/MN/UFRJ, focusing on ethnographic museums, cultural memory, and indigenous representation.

Her research explores themes such as national identity construction, decolonization in museums, and the social life of cultural objects. Notable works include analyses of Kent Monkman’s art, Indigenous museum curation practices, and historical representations of Indigenous peoples in Brazil and Argentina. Roca has curated exhibitions such as 'Índios, os primeiros brasileiros' and contributed to over 30 publications, including books and translated works.

She has received awards for her doctoral thesis (2011) and FAPERJ publication (2013). Her work bridges anthropology, art history, and museum studies, emphasizing critical perspectives on colonial legacies and Indigenous agency.