Michael Amoruso is assistant professor of religion at Occidental College. His research examines race, memory, and urbanism in the Americas, with a focus on the United States and Brazil. His first book, Moved by the Dead: Haunting and Devotion in São Paulo, Brazil (University of North Carolina Press, 2025), explores these themes through an ethnography of a devotion to the souls of the suffering dead.
"The devotion to souls is largely an individual practice motivated by personal suffering, but the object of that devotion—the suffering souls of the dead—speaks to larger histories of state violence that continue to haunt the living. Amoruso's exciting book brings careful attention to the complex ways that social memory, trauma, and identity are bound up in this commonplace practice, revealing much about religion and about the politics of race and public memory in São Paulo."
—Kelly E. Hayes, Indiana University Indianapolis
"Amoruso perfectly blends ethnographic insights and theoretical reflections of the highest standard. The work contributes to a range of disciplines, from anthropology of religion and religious studies to Brazilian studies, oral history, and urban studies."
—Bettina E. Schmidt, University of Wales, Trinity Saint David