About
Luciana de Souza Leão is an Assistant Professor in the Sociology department. Before receiving her PhD from Columbia University in 2019, Luciana received a B.A. in Economics from Puc-Rio and a M.A. in Sociology and Anthropology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where she studied different dynamics associated to racial and political inequalities in Brazil.
Luciana is a political and comparative sociologist with broad interests in knowledge-making processes, racial inequalities, and the state. She is currently working on a book project, Manufacturing Legitimacy: The Politics of Giving Money to the Poor in Brazil and Mexico (under contract with Princeton University Press) which examines how politics, measurement practices, and expertise shape anti-poverty programs in Brazil and Mexico.
Recent Publications:
2023 Graizbord, Diana, and Luciana de Souza Leão. “The Political Work of ‘Culture’ in the Struggle to Reform the Mexican State.” Politics & Society, 51 (4): 567-596.
2023 de Souza Leão, Luciana. “The Devil Hides in the Details: Variations in Conditional Cash Transfer Programs in Latin America” in The Neoliberal State in Latin America, edited by Miguel Centeno and Agustin Ferraro. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p.267-288.
2022 de Souza Leão, Luciana. “Optics of the State: The Politics of Making Poverty Visible in Brazil and Mexico.” American Journal of Sociology 128 (1): 1-46. SocArXiv version here.
2021 Moraes Silva, Graziella, Luciana de Souza Leão, Christina Ciocca Eller, Flavio Carvalhaes and Thomas DiPrete. “Similar Gaps, Different Paths? Comparing Racial Inequalities among BA holders in Brazil and the US.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology, 62(5): 359-384.
2020 de Souza Leão, Luciana. “What’s on Trial? The Making of Field Experiments in International Development.” British Journal of Sociology 71 (3), 444-459 .
2020 Moraes Silva, Graziella, Luciana de Souza Leão, and Barbara Grillo. “Seeing Whites: Views of Black Brazilians in Rio de Janeiro.” Ethnic and Racial Studies, 43 (4), 632-651.
2019 de Souza Leão, Luciana and Gil Eyal. "The Rise of Randomized Controlled Trials in International Development in Historical Perspective." Theory and Society, 48(3), 383-418.
