Thais Machado Borges

Thais Machado Borges is an Associate Professor in Latin American Studies at Stockholm University, holding a PhD in Social Anthropology. She is affiliated with the Institute of Latin American Studies within the Department of Romance Studies and Classics, and serves as Director of the Nordic Institute of Latin American Studies.

Her research focuses on extensive fieldwork in urban Brazil, examining topics including:

• Telenovelas and popular culture
• Consumption of media products
• Socio-cultural and physical aspects of body crafting
• Consumption practices and notions of citizenship
• Social inequality
• Socio-cultural perspectives on waste production, management, and recycling
• Everyday practices of social classification in unequal urban contexts

Professor Borges teaches Latin American Studies courses at all academic levels and supervises degree projects, master's dissertations, and PhD theses on topics related to her research areas. Her work demonstrates how social classification, waste management, and consumption practices intersect with social hierarchies and class belonging in Brazilian society.

Her publications reveal consistent thematic patterns across anthropology, sociology, and Latin American studies, with particular emphasis on how material culture and everyday practices reflect and reinforce social inequalities in urban Brazil. Her research shows how concerns about social hierarchies and class belonging often outweigh environmental concerns in waste management practices.

As Director of the Nordic Institute of Latin American Studies, she leads regional academic initiatives that promote interdisciplinary research on Latin America across the Nordic countries.