Ionara Silva is a Brazilian journalist, cultural producer, and independent researcher, nominated by Bruna Jaquetto Pereira for her rigorous scholarship and outstanding commitment to feminist, anti-racist and intersectional change within digital cultures, media, and cultural production.
She obtained a PhD in Communication Sciences at Lusófona University (2025) and her research focuses on the intersection of death, mourning, and digital technologies – reflecting a broader interest in how deeply human experiences are reshaped within digital environments. Her recent publication examines the affective intensities of dis/connection in mourning and emerging forms of posthumous communication.
She has been a Público Br (newspaper) columnist since 2024, and her writing has attracted public engagement among her readership. She has extensively consulted for companies, international organisations, and third sector entities in Brazil and other Latin American countries. In 2016 she delivered a TED Talk titled “Eu existo” (“I Exist”), exploring themes of identity and belonging.
In Portugal, she has been actively involved with social movements and in collaboration with Afrolis Associação Cultural and Alkantara – Festival Internacional de Artes Performativas, she has contributed to reshaping media and cultural narratives centered on Black and migrant women, LGBTQIA+ communities, and people with disabilities.
With a strong background in public policies, Ionara’s work as an independent researcher in emerging technologies spans across her areas of interest in digital surveillance and digital memory, always approached through an intersectional lens of gender, race, class, and migratory status. Her first book is anticipated to be published in 2027.
She received an honorable mention at the Mário Quartin Graça Scientific Award in 2025 and was awarded the Gender Equality in Culture Prize (Brazil), in addition to winning a Small Research Grant from the Surveillance Studies Network (SSN).
More information about her work can be found at: ionarasilva.com
