Jamie Lee Andreson, Ph.D.

Jamie Lee Andreson holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology and History from the University of Michigan. Her work engages topics of Africana religions, African cultural heritage in the Americas, and analyses of race, gender, and sexuality through historical and ethnographic methods. She completed an M.A. in Ethnic and African Studies from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and is the author of the book Ruth Landes e a Cidade das Mulheres: uma releitura da antropologia do candomblé (Editora UFBA, 2019). She has received support from the Fulbright-Hays program, the Ruth Landes Memorial Fund, and Rackham Graduate School to conduct ethnographic and historical research among Candomblé temples in Salvador, Brazil over the past ten years.

At Penn State she develops the Brazil Culture Connections Podcast, which features bilingual interviews with Brazilian cultural leaders and offers a mentorship opportunity for undergraduate interns in the Portuguese program. As a postdoctoral scholar she is further developing her book manuscript Divine Femininities: Matriarchy and African Heritage in Brazil. She was awarded Best Dissertation in the Humanities for “Mothers in the Family of Saints: Gender and Race in the Making of Afro-Brazilian Heritage” by the Brazil Section of the Latin American Studies Association in 2021.