Carolina Sá Carvalho recognized by Latin American Studies Association, Brazilian Studies Association for new book

Published: June 19, 2024

Carolina Sá Carvalho, an assistant professor in the department of Spanish and Portuguese in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has received four prestigious awards for her book Traces of the Unseen: Photography, Violence, and Modernization in Early Twentieth-Century Latin America.

The Latin American Studies Association recognized Sá Carvalho’s book with an environment best book prize, best book in Amazonian studies and best book in Latin American visual culture studies. Additionally, the Roberto Reis Brazilian Studies Association recognized Sá Carvalho with the first book award, which recognizes books published in English that contribute to promoting an understanding of Brazil.

Published by Northwestern University Press in 2023, Traces of the Unseen examines the role of photography as visual evidence of the destructive processes of infrastructure development and extractive capitalist expansion in the Amazon and outside Brazil’s urban centres.

“I was so surprised, and of course honoured, to receive these awards,” says Sá Carvalho. “The process of writing and publishing a book is so long that, when it is completed, it feels like it belongs to the past. It is gratifying to see the book taking on its own life, being read and resonating with colleagues in different disciplines.

“I hope that these awards reaffirm the value of working across disciplines to examine how we respond to political and environmental violence and how images help shape our political imagination.”