15.08.2023 Welcome at the Center for Conflict Studies, Alvaro Okura!

Alvaro Okura de Almeida is a Sociology Ph.D. candidate at the State University of Londrina in Brazil. He is currently a guest researcher financed by CAPES international program scholarship at the Phillips-Universität Marburg's Center for Conflict Studies under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Susanne Buckley-Zistel.

Okura de Almeida has a master's degree in political science from the University of Campinas (UNICAMP, Brazil). Previously, he worked as a researcher for the Brazilian National Truth Commission (CNV) and the Truth Commission of the State of São Paulo "Rubens Paiva" under a United Nations Development Program partnership with the Brazilian federal government. He earned his bachelor’s degree in social sciences from the State University of Londrina (UEL) and is an associated researcher at GETEPOL/UEL (Group of Studies in Political Theory), GIRA Coletiva (Antiracist and Anticolonial Studies Intervention Collective), and the GDPH/IEA/USP (Group for Human Rights, Democracy, Politics, and Memory at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University of São Paulo) in Brazil.

“In my research, I am delving into the complex and contentious issue of sexual violence and its belated recognition as a gross violation of human rights during the Brazilian National Truth Commission. Specifically, my focus is on how international human rights standards and transitional justice theories were translated into this institutional effort, and the processes that enabled the inclusion of testimonies detailing sexual and gender-based violence in the State archive.”

We are very pleased to welcome Alvaro Okura to the Center for Conflict Studies.