Ruben Oliven

Ruben Oliven is the DRCLAS Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professor for the 2026–27 academic year. He is teaching seminars on “The Making of Modern Brazil: A Transnational Perspective” and “Brazilian Culture and National Identity” and is co-hosted by Harvard’s Department of Anthropology.

Oliven is Professor of Anthropology at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and Vice-President of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He earned his PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science and was a Fulbright Fellow.

He has held visiting appointments at the University of California, Berkeley; Dartmouth College; Brown University; the University of Illinois; Emory University; the University of Paris; and Leiden University. He has also served as president of both the Brazilian Anthropological Association and the Brazilian Association for Graduate Studies and Research in Social Sciences.

Oliven is the author of nine books and numerous articles in international journals. His book Tradition Matters: Modern Gaúcho Identity in Brazil, published in English by Columbia University Press, received the Best Book of the Year Award from the Brazilian Association for Graduate Studies and Research in Social Sciences. His latest book, Samba, Blues and Jazz: Love, Money and Race in Brazilian and American Music, will be published by Routledge in 2026.

His honors include the Erico Vannucci Mendes Prize for Distinguished Contribution to the Study of Brazilian Culture, the ANPOCS Prize for Academic Excellence in Anthropology, and the Grand Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil’s highest scientific distinction. His research focuses on urbanization, identity, popular culture, music, and the symbolic dimensions of money.