James R. Welch

James R. Welch is an anthropologist and Senior Researcher (on leave) at the National School of Public Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His primary research focuses on Indigenous A'uwẽ (Xavante) communities in Central Brazil, addressing social organization, health and wellbeing, fire ecology, and digital sovereignty. He has authored, co-authored, and edited five books and published over fifty journal articles and book chapters. His most recent book is "Persistence of Good Living: A’uwẽ Life Cycles and Well-being in the Central Brazilian Cerrados" (University of Arizona Press, 2023). In 2004-2005, he was a Fulbright scholar in Brazil. he received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Anthropology from Tulane University, an M.A. in ethnobotany from Sonoma State University, and a B.A. in anthropology from Stanford University.