Assistant Professor Mauricio Acuña awarded 2025-26 Whiting Foundation Fellowship

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Mauricio Acuña, who has been awarded the 2025–26 Marion and Jasper Whiting Foundation Fellowship for Higher Education of Present and Prospective Teachers.

This prestigious fellowship will support Professor Acuña's archival research in Salvador, Brazil, where he will engage with key archives and cultural institutions to uncover the vibrant yet often overlooked legacy of capoeira as both a cultural and intellectual tradition. His work will center on the recovery and analysis of manuscripts, photographs, oral histories, and media artifacts that document the lives and contributions of capoeira writers, masters and practitioners across generations.

Drawing from this research, Professor Acuña will develop a new upper-level undergraduate course at Dartmouth College titled The World Upside Down: Capoeira and Afro-Brazilian Global Cultures. The course will invite students into the multifaceted world of capoeira—examining it not only as a martial art, but as a dynamic form of resistance, a vessel of embodied knowledge, and a living archive of Afro-Brazilian heritage.

Through deep engagement with archival materials and the integration of experiential learning, students will explore how capoeira has been used to confront colonial violence, articulate new forms of Afro-Brazilian identity, and shape global discourses on race, culture, and power. With support from the Whiting Foundation, this project will enrich his teaching and deepen students' engagement with Afro-diasporic histories and futures.