Manuela Carneiro da Cunha studied mathematics at the Faculty of Sciences in Paris, before turning to anthropology in Claude Lévi-Strauss's seminar. Returning to Brazil, she was successively Professor of Anthropology at the University of Campinas and the University of São Paulo. In 1994, she was appointed Professor at the University of Chicago, where she taught until 2009. Her work focuses on Amazonian ethnology, ethnic identity, the history of Indians and the Brazilian state's laws towards Indian populations, and traditional knowledge and the intellectual rights associated with it. Since 1978, she has been actively involved in defending the rights of traditional populations. Since 2008, she has directed a program on the effects of heritage policies on indigenous knowledge at the Brazilian Research Center - CEBRAP - developed with the support of the Ford Foundation.
Manuela Carneiro da Cunha is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the Third World Academy of Science. She was awarded the Prix de la Francophonie by the Académie Française.
