Luiz Rufino

Origin

Rio de Janeiro, RJ

Genres

education, popular culture, traditional knowledge, decolonization

Biography

Luiz Rufino is a Brazilian educator, writer, and researcher, born in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro. The son of parents from Ceará, his work is deeply marked by the experiences and knowledge of Brazilian popular cultures, with special attention to African and Northeastern influences. His academic background includes a PhD in Education from UERJ and a postdoctoral degree in Ethnic-Racial Relations, which is reflected in his work as a university professor and in his research on critiques of colonialism, languages, knowledge, and popular education.

As a writer, Rufino has a vast literary production, frequently in partnership with historian Luiz Antonio Simas. His books explore themes such as the pedagogy of crossroads, the enchanted science of macumbas, ancestry, and the decolonization of knowledge. Works such as "Fogo no Mato: A Ciência Encantada das Macumbas", "Pedagogia das Encruzilhadas", and "Vence-Demanda: Educação e Descolonização" are milestones in his career, proposing a critical rereading of Brazilian history and culture from Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous perspectives.

Rufino stands out for his ability to articulate academic knowledge with everyday cultural and spiritual practices, seeking his main sources of inspiration and interlocution in the streets, samba circles, terreiros, and forests. His work invites reflection on the need to decolonize the curriculum and ways of thinking, valuing ancestral knowledge and cultural diversity as tools for resistance and social transformation. He dialogues with figures such as Ailton Krenak and Paulo Freire, consolidating himself as an important voice in debates on education, culture, and identities in Brazil.