DPhil, Social and Cultural Anthropology
St Antony's College
Bio
Angelo is a DPhil candidate in Social Anthropology whose research examines Christianity in Guinea-Bissau, with a particular focus on Brazilian Evangelical missions. Situated at the intersection of the anthropology of Christianity, ethics, and processes of self-fashioning, his project approaches conversion as part of broader dynamics of religious and social change, while engaging critically with South–South missionary encounters. He is especially concerned with how Christian practice and discourse reconfigure local forms of sociality in highly plural religious settings, paying particular attention to rituals such as funerals, weddings, initiation ceremonies, and wider processes of personhood-making.
Alongside his doctoral research, Angelo engages material culture and visual anthropology as methodological lenses for examining social and religious transformations and their impact on heritage-making. He has recently worked in a project funded by the British Museum’s Endangered Material Knowledge Programme (EMKP) documenting ceramic traditions among Diola (Baiote) communities in northern Guinea-Bissau. This project involved the creation of a digital archive of photographs, videos, maps, and other materials to document and safeguard endangered ceramic knowledge, with particular attention to the religious significance of pottery in Diola ritual life..
Research interests: Anthropology of Christianity; Anthropology of Ethics and Morality; West-African anthropology; Charismatic movements; Ritual and Personhood; Indigenous religions; Material culture and Material religion; Heritage and Endangered Knowledge Systems; Visual Anthropology.
Academia link: https://oxford.academia.edu/AngeloMarceloVasco
Email: angelo.vasco@anthro.ox.ac.uk
