Eudes Lopes is the Department of 's newest P.h.D. Lopes graduated with his Doctor of Philosophy and served as one of the Degree Marshals for the Graduate School Doctoral Candidates Banner during Commencement on May 29, 2021. This honor is awarded to the most academically distinguished student in each program. Degree Marshals have the honor of representing their College degree recipients and leading the procession with the Dean.
Eudes defended his dissertation, which was titled "The New World: The Life and Death of the Nation-State" in late April. His committee included Viranjini P. Munasinghe (Chairperson), Lourdes S. Casanova (Minor Member), and Pedro Rabelo Erber (Minor Member). His research interests focus on the cultural relevance of economic thought and its embeddedness in the financial markets. Eudes localizes his research in Brazil where the conflicting knowledge demands of powerful public and private financial institutions make visible (in distinctive ways) shifting geopolitical paradigms.
After celebrating graduation, Eudes shared these reflections on his experiences.
What inspired you to pursue a P.h.D. in ?
My attachment to anthropology centered around the absence I felt in my own life. I lived with tensions around my own deeply personal narratives and their irreconcilability with the comforts of the mainstream. didn’t fill the gap, but it invited me into a world where we could try – not so much to find the end, as to sustain the search.
Do you have any advice for students considering a P.h.D. at Cornell?
Cornell is unique because Ithaca is unique. You will always find other universities with somewhat analogous structures and protocols, but it is the convergence that sets it apart, that blend of institutionalized company and spiritualized isolation.
Do you have any favorite memories from your research or your time at Cornell?
The serendipity of the unlikely encounters. The peace of every last meditative escape.
What’s next?
On my way back home, to projects and collaborations in Latin America and the Caribbean.
What do you think you'll miss most about Cornell/Ithaca after graduation?
I’ll miss that sense of being afforded expansive horizons of time.
