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Luciana Martins

Positions held:
  • Professor of Latin American Visual Cultures, School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication
  • Programme Director, BA/Grad Cert Spanish and Latin American Studies; School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication
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  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Originally trained in architecture and urban planning, Luciana Martins specialises in visual and material culture, historical geography, and environmental humanities. She joined 糖心logo入口 in 2003. A founding Director of the Centre for Iberian and Latin American Visual Studies - CILAVS (2007-16),听and is currently听CILAVS' Co-Director. Since 2017 she has been a Visiting Researcher at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and was awarded the title of Honorary Research Associate (HRA) at Kew in 2026.

    Highlights

    • On 14 July, I presented, together with Sara Albuquerque (University of 脡vora), the Lorimer Society Annual Lecture on 'British Guiana Through Her Eyes: Hannah im Thurn, the Naturalist鈥檚 wife' at Kellie Castle, Fife, Scotland

    • In June, I co-presented the paper 'Crossing cultures, plants and methodologies: reworking Spruce collections in the Northwest Amazon (Brazil)' at Undisciplined Ethnobotany: Society for Ethnobotany Annual Congress 2026 in Montpellier, France

    • In February 2026 I was听awarded the title of Honorary Research Associate (HRA) at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew听

    • Just published: 'Reactivating Richard Spruce's Amazonian Biocultural Archive', in , edited by N. Campisi and L. Mertehikian

    • New publication: 'Os Bororo em preto e branco: o arquivo visual do casal L茅vi-Strauss e de Aloha Baker em Mato Grosso', in , edited by F. Gama,D. Woberto and L.G. Pitanga

    Office hours

    Please contact me by email to arrange an appointment.

    Administrative responsibilities

    • Programme Director for BA/Grad Cert Spanish and Latin American Studies and Chair of the Sub-Board of Examiners
    • Co-Director, Centre for Iberian and Latin American Visual Studies (CILAVS)

    Professional memberships

    • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

    • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)

    • Member of the听Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America (SALSA)

    • Member of the Association of British and Irish Lusitanists

    • Member of the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland

    • Member of the Society for Latin American Studies

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • The visual and material culture of travel and exploration
    • Biocultural collections
    • History of photography and film
    • Environmental humanities
    • Decolonising research methodologies

    Research overview

    I am currently completing a book entitled Drawing together: the visual archive of expeditionary travel, supported by a Leverhulme Research Fellowship. The book听explores the practice and experience of image-making as deployed on听European expeditions to South America from the 1850s to the 1950s.

    Since 2015, I have been working with colleagues from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and other Brazilian institutions on a research programme on the biocultural collections of nineteenth-century botanist and explorer Richard Spruce.听Drawing upon my previous AHRC-funded research project on Andean textiles, Weaving Communities of Practice, which developed a pioneering digital knowledge base, this collaborative project aims to reanimate the artefacts that Spruce sent to Kew Gardens and other British institutions. Details of a British Academy Knowledge Frontier project on this research programme can be found at . In 2025, we were awarded a NERC Amazonia + 10 Initiative research grant to develop the project Voices of Indigenous Amazonia: historical processes of sociobiodiversity in the face of the challenges of the Anthropocene.

    Research Centres and Institutes

    Research projects

    Voices of Indigenous Amazonia: historical processes of sociobiodiversity in the face of the challenges of the Anthropocene .

    Forging & Belonging: Researching Children's Social Relations & Imagined Futures through Crafting in Rural West Africa (FABRIC)

    Digital repatriation of biocultural collections: connecting scientific and indigenous communities of knowledge in Amazonia.

    Abstract

    Sustainable use of plant resources within the Amazon rainforest is a key priority both for human livelihoods and the maintenance of forest biodiversity. Indigenous peoples of Northwest Amazonia practice effective and sophisticated forms of land management, but these practices are under threat from migration, increasing mobility and loss of inter-generational knowledge transmission. Valuable information relevant to this challenge is contained in biocultural collections held both within and outside Brazil. Unlocking this potential requires an integrated, equitable approach to collections research and the capacity to share information with a wide range of end users. This project brings together an international and interdisciplinary team of indigenous and non-indigenous researchers to develop a digital portal of biocultural collections. Advancing methods of co-curatorship, including the making of new objects, the project will develop protocols for access of these biocultural heritage materials, which will be documented in a targeted policy report.

    Drawing together: the visual archive of expeditionary fieldwork

    Abstract

    This project investigates practices of visual observation by European travellers in South America, including the British botanist-explorer Richard Spruce (1817-1893), the Italian artist-ethnographer Guido Boggiani (1861鈥揷. 1902), the French anthropologist Claude L茅vi-Strauss (1908鈥2009), and his wife Dina Dreyfus (1911-1999). Ranging widely across a variety of different media, including drawing, photography and film, the project explores the role of image-making in cross-cultural exchange and encounter.

  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions external to 糖心logo入口:
    2
    Supervisions within 糖心logo入口:
    9

    I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students who are interested in undertaking research in any of my areas of research interest.

    In addition to the 糖心logo入口 PhD students listed below, I'm also the second supervisor of Luisa Karman's PhD thesis on 'Harvesting sounds: African Brazilian musical instruments in UK museums' (working title) at SOAS and the advisor of Lindsay's Sekulowicz's PhD thesis on 'Drawing on stone and clay: practice-based approaches to Indigenous knowledge and materials in the Upper Rio Negro' at the University of Brighton & Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

    Current doctoral researchers

    • ROSA DYER
      Nature of supervision:
      JOINT PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
    • MARIANA MILLECCO RIBEIRO
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,
      Title of thesis:
      Costume Design and Women's Narrative in Adaptations of The Maias 鈥 A Journey from Nineteenth-Century Literature to the Twenty-First-Century Audiovisual

    Doctoral alumni since 2013-14

    • BEA CABALLERO
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor
      Title of thesis:
      The spectacle of appropriation: 'the uses of Latin American cultural heritage in the construction of indigenous identities'
      Awarded:
      2018
    • PATRICIA BONCHRISTIANO
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Awarded:
      2024
    • FREDERICO DUARTE
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor
      Awarded:
      2021
    • CATARINA GANCHO FONTOURA
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor
      Awarded:
      2023
    • RAUL VALDIVIA MURGUEYTIO
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor
      Awarded:
      2019
    • CHRISTINA BAUM
      Nature of supervision:
      Joint Principal Supervisor,
      Title of thesis:
      Creative Component: The Lost Mother / Critical Component: On Writing 'The Lost Mother' and Researching the Life and Tales of Luzia Teresa dos Santos
      Description:

      Research Project Description
      Christina Baum

      My PhD is a practice-based research project in Creative Writing, consisting of two components: a full-length novel, The Lost Mother (approximately 65,000 words), and a critical study, On Writing The Lost Mother and Researching the Life and Tales of Luzia Teresa dos Santos (approximately 20,000 words).

      The project explores themes of personal and political memory, oral storytelling, translation, and cultural identity, with a particular focus on the Northeast of Brazil and its tradition of orally transmitted folk narratives. Central to the research is the figure of Luzia Teresa dos Santos (1909鈥1983), an illiterate rural storyteller from Para铆ba, whose repertoire of 242 fairy tales was recorded and transcribed by local folklorists between 1977 and 1983.

      The creative component draws on both historical and fictional elements to trace the journey of a Brazilian-born, London-raised woman returning to post-dictatorship Brazil in search of her origins. Woven into the novel are newly translated selections of Luzia Teresa dos Santos鈥檚 fairy tales, adapted for an English-speaking readership.

      The critical component reflects on the process of writing the novel and translating Luzia鈥檚 stories. It examines the challenges of preserving oral narratives in written form, the translator鈥檚 responsibility in negotiating voice and authenticity, and the blurred boundaries between fiction and historical research. Methodologies include creative writing practice, archival research (conducted at the Federal University of Para铆ba鈥檚 Centre for Popular Culture Research and Documentation), oral history interviews, and close reading of Luzia鈥檚 tales alongside other versions from the Portuguese and Brazilian folk traditions. The work also reflects on how storytelling shapes cultural identity and offers a means of reclaiming lost histories and homes.

      This research contributes to current discussions on memory, translation, and narrative ethics in creative writing, folklore studies, and cultural history, while also helping to disseminate the little-known legacy of Luzia Teresa dos Santos to a broader, international audience.

      听

      听

      Awarded:
      2026
    • AGATA LULKOWSKA
      Nature of supervision:
      Principal Supervisor
      Title of thesis:
      Visual representations of Native Americans in film, photography and new media, in relation to their sense of identity.
      Awarded:
      2018

    Teaching

    Teaching modules

    • Memory and History
    • Museum Cultures - Approaches, Issues, Skills
    • Culture and Image
    • Visual Cultures of Travel and Exploration in Latin America (Level 5)
    • The Humanities and Social Sciences: Global Issues in Historical Perspective
    • Film and Politics (Level 5)
    • Dissertation MA Comparative Literary and Cultural Studies (Modern Languages)
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Martins, Luciana and Sekulowicz, L. (2021) . TEA: The Ethnobotanical Assembly (8),
    • Ratzel, F. and Martins, Luciana and Reis, F. (2021) . Terra Brasilis (Nova S茅rie). Revista Brasileira de Hist贸ria da Geografia e Geografia Hist贸rica 15, ISSN 2316-7793.
    • Martins, Luciana and Cabalzar, A. (2019) . Aru: revista de pesquisa intercultural da bacia do rio negro, amaz么nia (3), pp. 132-147. ISSN 1983-8298.
    • Albuquerque, S. and Martins, Luciana (2018) . Journal of Historical Geography 62, pp. 1-14. ISSN 0305-7488.
    • Martins, Luciana (2018) . Journal of Material Culture 23 (3), pp. 344-367. ISSN 1359-1835.
    • Fonseca-Kruel, V.S. and Martins, Luciana and Nesbitt, M. and Milliken, W. and Coelho-Ferreira, M. (2018) . Ethnoscientia 3 (2), ISSN 2448-1998.
    • Martins, Luciana (2017) . Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies 26 (2), pp. 187-219. ISSN 1356-9325.
    • Martins, Luciana (2015) . Journal of Historical Geography 48, pp. 84-85. ISSN 0305-7488.
    • Brownlow, Richard and Capuzzi, Stefano and Helmer, Sven and Martins, Luciana and Normann, Immanuel and Poulovassilis, Alexandra (2015) . Journal on Computing and Cultural Heritage 8 (2), ISSN 1556-4673.
    • Martins, Luciana and Helmer, S. and Arnold, D.Y. (2013) . Visual Resources: An International Journal of Documentation (Special issue on Digital Art History) 29 (1/2), pp. 59-71. ISSN 0197-3762.
    • Martins, Luciana (2012) . Geographical Review 102 (2), pp. 225. ISSN 0016-7428.
    • Martins, Luciana (2009) . Cultural Geographies 16 (1), pp. 21-22. ISSN 1474-4740.
    • Martins, Luciana (2007) . Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies 16 (3), pp. 285-307. ISSN 1356-9325.
    • Lambert, D. and Martins, Luciana and Ogborn, M. (2006) . Journal of Historical Geography 32 (3), pp. 479-493. ISSN 0305-7488.
    • Driver, F. and Martins, Luciana (2006) . Journal of Historical Geography 32 (3), pp. 539-562. ISSN 0305-7488.
    • Martins, Luciana (2006) . Portuguese Studies 22 (1), pp. 19-38. ISSN 0267-5315.
    • Driver, F. and Martins, Luciana (2002) . History Workshop Journal 54 (1), pp. 144-161. ISSN 1363-3554.
    • Martins, Luciana and Abreu, M.A. (2001) . Geoforum 32 (4), pp. 533-550. ISSN 0016-7185.
    • Cosgrove, D. and Martins, Luciana (2000) . Annals of the Association of American Geographers 90 (1), pp. 97-113. ISSN 0004-5608.
    • Martins, Luciana (2000) . Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography 21 (1), pp. 19-33. ISSN 0129-7619.
    • Martins, Luciana (1998) . Imago Mundi 50 (1), pp. 141-155. ISSN 0308-5694.

    Book

    • Cabalzar, A. and da Fonseca-Kruel, V.S. and Martins, Luciana and Milliken, W. and Nesbitt, M. (2017) . S茫o Paulo / S茫o Gabriel da Cachoeira: Instituto Socioambiental / FOIRN.
    • Martins, Luciana (2013) . Rethinking Art's Histories. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719089916.
    • Martins, Luciana (2001) . Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Jorge Zahar. ISBN 9788571105829.

    Book section

    • Martins, Luciana (2021) . In: Driver, F. and Nesbitt, M. and Cornish, C. (eds.) Mobile Museums: Collections in circulation. London, UK: UCL Press. pp. 21-43. ISBN 9781787355088.
    • Martins, Luciana (2021) . In: Sunnucks, L.O. and Cooper, J. (eds.) Mapping a New Museum: Politics and Practice of Latin American Research with the British Museum. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. pp. 227-234. ISBN 9780367754983.
    • da Fonseca-Kruel, V.S. and Martins, Luciana and Cabalzar, A. and L贸pez-Garc茅s, C.L. and Coelho-Ferreira, M. and van der Veld, P.-J. and Milliken, W. and Nesbitt, M. (2019) . In: Albuquerque, U.P. and Lucena, R.F.P. and da Cunha, L.V.F.C. and Alves, R.R.N. (eds.) Methods and Techniques in Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology. Springer Protocols Handbooks. New York: Humana Press. pp. 215-228. ISBN 9781493989195.
    • Martins, Luciana (2018) . In: Kury, L. (ed.) Cadernos de Viagens. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Andrea Jakobsson Est煤dio Editorial. pp. 122-127. ISBN 9788588742956.
    • Martins, Luciana (2018) . In: Kury, Lorelai (ed.) Cadernos de Viagens. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Andrea Jakobsson Est煤dio Editorial. pp. 136-141. ISBN 9788588742956.
    • Martins, Luciana (2018) . In: Kury, L. (ed.) Cadernos de Viagens. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Andrea Jakobsson Est煤dio Editorial. pp. 142-147. ISBN 9788588742956.
    • Martins, Luciana (2018) . In: Kury, L. (ed.) Cadernos de Viagens. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Andrea Jakobsson Est煤dio Editorial. pp. 148-153. ISBN 9788588742956.
    • Martins, Luciana (2013) . In: Brandellero, S. (ed.) The Brazilian Road Movie: Journeys of (Self) Discovery. Cardiff, Wales: University of Wales Press. ISBN 9780708325988.
    • Martins, Luciana (2013) . In: Jobs, S. and Mackenthun, G. (eds.) Agents of Transculturation: Border-Crossers, Mediators, Go-Betweens. Munster, Germany: Waxmann. pp. 281-310. ISBN 9783830930020.
    • Martins, Luciana (2013) . In: Photography and Documentary Film in the Making of Modern Brazil: Rethinking Art's Histories. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9780719089916.
    • Martins, Luciana (2013) . In: Pinazza, Natalia and Bayman, L. (eds.) Directory of World Cinema: Brazil. Directory of World Cinema. Bristol, UK: Intellect. ISBN 9781783200092.
    • Driver, F. and Martins, Luciana (2007) . In: Barringer, T. and Quilley, G. and Fordham, D. (eds.) Art and the British Empire. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. pp. 53-66. ISSN 1363-3554. ISBN 9780719073922.
    • Martins, Luciana and Driver, F. (2005) . In: Driver, F. and Martins, Luciana (eds.) Tropical Visions in an Age of Empire. Chicago, U.S.: University of Chicago Press. pp. 59-77. ISBN 9780226164717.
    • Martins, Luciana (2004) . In: Harrison, S. and Pile, S. and Thrift, N. (eds.) Patterned Ground: Entanglements of Nature and Culture. London, UK: Reaktion Books. pp. 94-96. ISBN 9781861891815.
    • Martins, Luciana (2004) . In: Ogborn, M. and Withers, C.W.J. (eds.) Georgian Geographies. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press. pp. 72-91. ISBN 9780719065101.
    • Martins, Luciana (2004) . In: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
    • Martins, Luciana (2004) . In: The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
    • Martins, Luciana (2004) . In: Fernandes, E. and Abreu, M.A. (eds.) Brasil Urbano. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Mauad. ISBN 9788574781471.
    • Martins, Luciana (1999) . In: Cosgrove, D. (ed.) Mappings. London, UK: Reaktion Books. pp. 148-168. ISBN 9781861890214.
    • Martins, Luciana (1999) . In: Cosgrove, D. (ed.) Mappings. London, UK: Reaktion Books. pp. 148-168. ISBN 9781861890214.

    Conference item

    • Martins, Luciana (2014) . Visualising Latin American Antiquities Workshop, 2014, Royal Anthropological Institute
    • Martins, Luciana (2014) . Anthropology and Photography, 2014, British Museum
    • Martins, Luciana (2014) . Cambridge Hispanic and Lusophone Research Seminars, 2014, University of Cambridge
    • Martins, Luciana (2014) . Symposium and book launch: Picturing Latin America: Rethinking Film and Photographic Archives, 2014, 糖心logo入口, University of London, UK
    • Martins, Luciana (2014) . Human Rights & Latin America: Films in Dialogue, 2014, Institute of Latin American Studies & Institute of Modern Languages Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London, UK
    • Martins, Luciana (2014) . The British in Brazil Symposium, 2014, Institute of Latin American Studies
    • Martins, Luciana (2014) . Programa de P贸s-Gradua莽茫o em Geografia, 2014, The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro
    • Martins, Luciana (2014) . ECO-UFRJ, 2014, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
    • Martins, Luciana (2014) . Brazilian Contemporary, 2014, V&A Museum
    • Martins, Luciana (2013) . 顿辞尘茅蝉迟颈肠补, 2013, London School of Economics, London, UK
    • Martins, Luciana (2012) . 2nd Impact Workshop, 2012, IGRS, Senate House, London
    • Martins, Luciana (2012) . Estates: two evenings of films and discussion at RADA, 2012, RADA, London, UK
    • Martins, Luciana (2012) . AHGBI Annual Conference, 2012, Stirling, UK
    • Martins, Luciana (2011) . Agents of Transculturation: Border-Crossers, Mediators, Go-Betweens, 2011, Rostock, Germany
    • Martins, Luciana (2011) . Claude L茅vi-Strauss and Aloha Baker in Mato Grosso: framing the bororo, 2011, Centre for Latin American Studies, Cambridge, UK
    • Martins, Luciana (2011) . Claude L茅vi-Strauss and Aloha Baker in Mato Grosso: framing the bororo, 2011, Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, University of Manchester
    • Martins, Luciana (2011) . Claude L茅vi-Strauss and Aloha Baker in Mato Grosso: framing the bororo, 2011, Latin America Research Group (LARG), Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
    • Martins, Luciana (2010) . Order鈥檚 other histories: revisiting South America, 2010, 糖心logo入口, University of London, UK
    • Martins, Luciana (2010) . Meadows School鈥檚 Comini Art History Lecture Series, 2010, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, USA
    • Martins, Luciana (2010) . ECA - USP, 2010, S茫o Paulo, Brazil
    • Martins, Luciana (2010) . College Art Association 98th Annual Meeting, 2010, Chicago
    • Martins, Luciana (2009) . Alexander von Humboldt and America Workshop, 2009, The British Academy, London, UK
    • Martins, Luciana (2009) . Hidden Histories of Exploration, 2009, Royal Geographical Society
    • Martins, Luciana (2009) . Historical Geography Research Group Conference, 2009, Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
    • Martins, Luciana (2009) . American Tropics: Towards a Literary Geography, 2009, University of Essex
    • Martins, Luciana (2009) . Bittersweet images: coffee, landscape and modernity in Brazil, 2009, Centre for Latin American Studies, Cambridge, UK
  • Business and community

    Business and community

    I have media training.

    Outreach

    The Many Lives of a Shield, a video essay of a biography of a biocultural object from the Economic Botany Collection at Kew (8鈥57鈥), ; with Portuguese subtitles,

    Digital repatriation of biocultural collections: connecting scientific and Indigenous communities of knowledge in Amazonia, video showing project workshops July 2019 (6'04"),

    Workshop in S茫o Gabriel da Cachoeira, audio-visual report of the workshop activities (3鈥12鈥),

    , exhibition of artwork by Kew artist in residence Lindsay Sekulowicz, co-curator [with W. Milliken and M. Nesbitt], funded by Arts Council England, Shirley Sherwood Gallery, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, October 2017-March 2018.

    , exhibition of artwork by 糖心logo入口 artist in residence Freddy Dewe Mathews, funded by Arts Council England, Peltz Gallery, April-May 2017.

    鈥樷, BBC2, interview with Faris Kermani on the cultural history of Brazil, broadcast June 2014.

    鈥, BBC-Radio 4, interview with Misha Glenny on the cultural history of Brazil, broadcast May 2014.

    鈥樷, BBC4, interview on documentary film and the exploration of the Amazon, broadcast April 2011.