Butch Wright; Ph.D. in Anthropology; expected to graduate in Spring 2026

FLAS Fellow in Brazilian Portuguese 

Where do you work and what is your current position?

I'm a doctoral Candidate at the Department of Anthropology, the Ohio State University; I am graduating in May 2026. For my dissertation I conducted an empirical examination of food security in a predominantly Indigenous, multiethnic, peri-urban community in the Brazilian Amazon. My research involved three key parts: Evaluation of standardized survey metrics, analysis of the structure and effectiveness of food-sharing networks in the community, and, lastly, how interhousehold food sharing affects dietary quality. For the first part, I evaluated the appropriateness of standardized food security instruments in this setting. Much of the research done on these instruments among Indigenous groups examines their use in rural settings, where the influence of money-based markets is minimal; in per-urban settings, however, money-based markets are more accessible, yet that does not necessarily mean that Indigenous people will abandon traditional food sharing practices in favor of such markets. For the second part of my research, I studied the structure of food-sharing networks, to include the sharing of prepared meals and ingredients; giving money to buy food; helping to hunt, fish, or forage; and assisting with planting and keeping gardens and livestock. The central question was whether network measures (from social network theory) help predict improved perception of food security in this setting. The third part involved examining an alternative food security measure, that of dietary quality, as measured by Food Variety Scores (FVS), which sums the total number of unique foods consumed in a household over a period of time, and Household Dietary Diversity Scores (HDDS), which sums the total number of food categories (from a maximum of 12) consumed over a defined period, usually 24 hours. 

Tell us how you got there.

I was selected in 2018. I had been living in Brazil for nearly 20 years and worked for a prominent Brazilian university as Director of International Relations. However, the severe economic downturn in Brazil that occurred in 2016, together with the worsening crime situation, made us realize that we wanted to ensure our son had a better future than he stood to have in Brazil. To put it into perspective, my salary when I started my position at the university was around US$40,000 a year. When I left my position to come to Ohio State, my salary had dropped to the equivalent of US$15,000 a year due to the economic crisis in Brazil, which had severely weakened the Brazilian Real. Given that I had done my Master’s Degree in Ecology at the Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia, where I had worked with Indigenous populations in the Brazilian NW Amazon and missed being a researcher, we decided I would apply to graduate programs in anthropology  in the United States and Europe to pursue my PhD and eventually get a job doing something I love. As a citizen of both the United States and Brazil, however, I feel a very deep connection with both countries, and thus decided to do my research project “back home,” in order to help people there. 

How has FLAS and learning Portuguese helped you throughout your post-graduate life?

It was really interesting taking Portuguese literature classes at the highest level. I have long been fascinated by the influences that lead languages to their current forms. As a speaker of several languages, I see nuances in each one that must have explanations. Taking the literature classes in Portuguese with students from Brazil and the United States, it was incredibly interesting to discuss what we were reading and to interpret the authors’ intentions in their writing together, as well as to see the influences that crept into the writing. For example, in the famous Brazilian novel Macunaíma by Mário de Andrade, the language used represents the first example of literature written using Brazilian colloquialisms, with all previous Brazilian authors mirroring Lusitanian Portuguese. Seeing expressions such as “Ai! Que preguiça!” is interesting, given the Tupi word “Aý” (which means “sloth”) is a direct nod to the fact that much of Brazilian Portuguese contains loan words from Indigenous and African languages, words not necessarily used in Portugal (I once got yelled at in Lisbon because I asked “Tá quanto o abacaxi,” to which the vendor angrily replied “Isto não é ‘abacaxi’ – é ananas!”). Seeing how Portuguese changed from “Galhego-Português” to the modern Brazilian variety was a great capstone for my knowledge of the language. Prof. Dr. Pedro was an excellent instructor for that reason – he really encouraged me to undertake an anthropological approach to learning about the language.

If you are a traveler, what is one of your favorite trips you have taken?

In 2006 I travelled to Porto Alegre, Brazil, to watch my soccer club win the Copa Libertadores tournament for the first time in their history. For me it was a profound moment – not only was I witnessing the pinnacle of what a Brazilian club can achieve in sports by “conquering” the Americas, but also being a club member and being there with so many others like me made me really feel like I was not an outsider looking in – that I belonged there.

Who or what inspires you and why?

My family inspires me – they retain an optimism that occasionally evades me. Finding work these days is incredibly hard, and though my dissertation work makes me proud of everything I’ve done to try to make an impact in this field, I still doubt myself, particularly as I don’t know what comes next. My family helps me through this doubt, and I sincerely believe that good things are coming – I just have to work even harder to get there –  not for myself, but for them.