Anthropologist. She graduated in Social-Economic Sciences and Politics at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in 1974. Completed a master’s degree in 1980 and a doctoral degree in 1988 in Social Anthropology from the University of São Paulo, with studies on the northern Brazilian indigenous people waiãpi. She has been a professor at the University of São Paulo since 1985, where she coordinates the Center for Amerindian Studies (CEstA). She coordinates and participates in research and assistance projects to indigenous communities in the states of Amapá and Pará. She is a visiting professor and supervisor at the Postgraduate Program on Tropical Biodiversity of the Federal University of São Paulo. She organized the book Redes de Relações nas Guianas (2005) and the author of Mairi Revisitada: A Reintegração da Fortaleza de Macapá Na Tradição Oral dos Waiãpi (1994). Lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil.