Dr Cristina Rocha

Dr Cristina Rocha teaches at the School of Humanities and Languages and is a member of CCR. She is the editor of the Journal of Global Buddhism. Her research areas are: globalisation, religion, transnationalism and cross-cultural negotiations, with a particular interest in the cultural traffic between Japan, Brazil and Australia. She is currently researching Brazilian migrants in Australia and Australian followers of the Brazilian Spiritist healer John of God (João de Deus).

Qualifications

2003 PhD, Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, Australia

1998-1999 PhD Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of São Paulo, Brazil

1996 M.Phil. (by dissertation), School of Communication and Arts, University of São Paulo, Brazil

1986 BSocSc. School of Social Sciences, University of São Paulo, Brazil.

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Honours and Awards

2007, Top forty researchers by publications (2004-2006) triennium, UWS.

1995, First prize at the National Contest of Essays - celebrating the 100th Year Friendship Treaty Brazil-Japan (1895-1995) promoted by the University of São Paulo and Association for the Exchange Brazil-Japan. Prize consisted of publication of essay in Japanese and Portuguese, and trip to Japan to speak at Sophia University, Tokyo.

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Selected Publications

Books

Rocha, C. & Barker, M. Forthcoming, Buddhism in Australia: Traditions in Change, London: Routledge Critical Studies in Buddhism series.

Rocha, C. In Preparation, Seeking Healing in Brazil: John of God and the Globalisation of Spiritism.

Rocha, C, 2006, Zen in Brazil: The Quest for Cosmopolitan Modernity, Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Book Chapters

Rocha, C. 2009, ‘Conexiones Sur-Sur: Vivir entre Australia y Brasil’, in, Solé, C., Parella, S. & Cavalcantin, L. (eds), Nuevos Retos del Transnacionalismo en el Estudio de las Migraciones, Barcelona: Ministerio de Trabajo e Inmigración.

Rocha, C. 2008, excerpts from ‘Zen Buddhism in Brazil: Japanese or Brazilian?’, in, Peterson, A. & Vasquez, M. (eds), Latin American Religions: Histories and Documents in Context, New York: NYU Press. (Formerly in: 2000, Journal of Global Buddhism, 1: 31-60).

Rocha, C. 2007, ‘The Brazilian Imaginaire of Zen: Global Influences, Rhizomatic Forms’, in, Pereira, R. & Matsuoka, H. (eds), Japanese Religions in and Beyond the Japanese Diaspora, Berkeley: University of California, Berkeley, pp 146-169.

Rocha, C. 2006, ‘Spiritual Tourism: Brazilian Faith Healing Goes Global’, in, Swatos, W. H. (ed.), On the Road to Being There: Studies in Pilgrimage and Tourism, Leiden: Brill, pp. 105-123.

Rocha, C. 2006, ‘Two Faces of God: Religion and Social Class in the Brazilian Diaspora in Sydney’, in, Kumar, P. P. (ed.), Religious Pluralism in the Diaspora, Leiden: Brill, pp 147-160.

Rocha, C. 2002, ‘“Se Você se Deparar com Buda, Mate Buda!” – Reflexões sobre a reapropriação do Zen-budismo no Brasil’, in, Usarski, F. (ed.), O Budismo no Brasil – Uma religião entre tradição e adoção, São Paulo: Lorosae, pp 221-251.

Rocha, C. 2001, ‘Catholicism and Zen Buddhism: A Vision of the Religious Field in Brazil’, in, Cusack, C. & Oldmeadow, P. (eds), The End of Religion? Religion in an Age of Globalisation, Sydney Studies in Religion Series, Sydney: University of Sydney, pp 249-265.

Rocha, C. 2000, ‘Tea Ceremony in Japan and its Appropriation in Brazil: A Metaphor of the Japanese Spirit’, in, Dekker, T., Helsloot, J. & Wijers, C. (eds), Roots and Rituals: The Construction of Ethnic Identities, Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis, pp 527-537.

Journal Articles

Rocha C. Forthcoming. ‘A Globalização do Espiritismo: o Movimento Religioso de João de Deus na Austrália’, Revista de Antropologia.

Rocha, C. forthcoming, ‘Global Power Relations at Play in Fieldwork: Researching Spiritism in Brazil’, in, Religion and Fieldwork in Latin America [Fieldwork in Religion special issue]

Rocha, C. 2009, ‘Seeking Healing Transnationally: Australians and Brazilian Spiritism’, The Anthropology Journal of Australia, 20(2): 229-246.

Rocha, C. 2008, ‘All Roads Come from Zen: Busshinji as a Reference to Buddhism in Brazil’, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies [Special Issue Japanese Religions in Brazil], 35(1): 81-94.

Rocha, C. 2008, ‘The Brazilians in Sydney’, in, The Dictionary of Sydney/ Sydney Journal, 1(2).

Rocha, C. 2007, ‘Quêtes transnationales de médecines «traditionnelles»: la guérison spirituelle brésilienne en Océanie’ [‘Seeking “Traditional” Medicine Transnationally: Brazilian Faith Healing in Oceania’], Socio-Anthropologie, 21: 37-50.

Morgan, G., Rocha, C. & Poynting, S. 2005, ‘Grafting Cultures: Longing and Belonging in Immigrants’ Gardens and Backyards in Fairfield’, Journal of Intercultural Studies, 26(1-2): 93-105.

Rocha, C. 2004, ‘Zazen or not Zazen: The Predicament of Sôtôshû's Kaikyôshi in Brazil’, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, 31(1): 163-184.

Rocha, C. 2000, ‘Zen Buddhism in Brazil: Japanese or Brazilian?’, Journal of Global Buddhism, 1: 31-60.

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