Accenting Songs in an Afro-Brazilian Festival: Song Structures, Performance Styles, and Ludic Capital in the Bumba-meu-Boi of Maranhão Available to Purchase

Jelani Mahiri is currently Assistant Teaching Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Montana State University. He is an active musician, photographer, construction worker, salsa dance instructor, and parent. He is a former University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Fulbright-Hays DDRA recipient, and Ford Foundation Pre-Dissertation awardee. Jelani Mahiri earned his Master's and PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley, where he also studied folklore under Professor Alan Dundes. His dissertation research focused on sidewalk vendors and the politics of space and work in São Paulo, Brazil. His current research examines songs, singing, play, and religion in the bumba-meu-boi festival of Maranhão, Brazil.