Obituary of Dr. Mariana Ferreira

Author: Department of Liberal Studies
August 4, 2025

The School of Liberal Studies faculty and staff are heartbroken to announce the passing of Professor Mariana Kawall Leal Ferreira, a beloved teacher, scholar, human rights advocate, and friend. She passed away on July 9th, 2025, leaving behind a legacy of intellectual breadth and a profound commitment to justice. 

Born in 1959 in São Paulo, Brazil, Mariana’s journey as an engaged scholar and activist began early, when at the age of 19, in 1978, at the height of the Brazilian military dictatorship, she taught mathematics at a Xavante Indigenous village in the Brazilian Cerrado. Teaching underprivileged communities at this time, primarily through the lens of Paulo Freire’s liberation pedagogy, was an act of defiance against an oppressive regime, requiring considerable courage (she concealed Freire’s banned books behind the covers of romance novels). This experience shaped her intellectual work at the intersection of Indigenous knowledge, ethnomathematics, medical anthropology, and human rights. 

Dr. Ferreira earned her Ph.D. in 1996 in the prestigious Medical Anthropology joint program at UC Berkeley and UCSF, focusing on Indigenous health. She joined SFSU in 2003, initially teaching at the Department of Anthropology, before coming to the School of Liberal Studies in 2014, where she served as Associate Director for the School of Humanities and Liberal Studies. Her interdisciplinary courses, such as Human Rights Education for Future Educators, Social Science and Medicine, and Performance and Pedagogy of the Oppressed, were transformative experiences for students, combining theoretical perspectives, activism, active engagement, critical pedagogy, and community engagement. Phil Davis, an educator and author of Guerrilla Visions: Wild Tales of Teaching Human Rights at an Alternative High School, while reviewing her Theatre of the Oppressed-based pedagogy, called her teaching “transformative,” emphasizing how she brought critical theories to life.

Professor Ferreira was a powerful voice for equity and justice. She was the main organizer of SF State’s annual Human Rights Summit for over a decade. Through this experience, she led students in developing and performing plays exploring topics such as colonialism, racism, migration, health disparities, and Indigenous rights. Following Freire’s pedagogy, such topics were always selected by the participants and reflected their own personal interests. She also guided students in creating public murals across the Bay Area, using art as a tool for learning, healing, and resisting oppression. 

In 2017, Professor Ferreira was awarded the Edward O’Brien Award for Human Rights Education by Human Rights Educators USA, a prestigious recognition of her decades-long work in integrating human rights into higher education. As an O’Brien Award nominator praised her work: “If you don’t know your rights, you don’t have any!”, was one of Professor Ferreira’s mantras.  

Professor Ferreira was a prolific scholar, who wrote more than a hundred articles and plays. Her scholarship blended serious academic rigour with community collaboration. Her research focused on participatory methods, especially among Indigenous peoples. She was committed to valuing non-traditional ways of knowing, especially Indigenous ones. Among her most influential works are:

Books

  • Mapping Time, Space and the Body: Indigenous Knowledge and Mathematical Thinking in Brazil. Rotterdam, Boston, Taipei: Sense Publishers. (2015)

  • Acting for Indigenous Rights: Theatre to Change the World. University of Minnesota Human Rights Center. (2013).

  • Cultural Integrity, Social Inequality, and Community Health. Arcata, CA: United Indian Health Services (2002).

Articles

  • When 1+1≠2: Making Mathematics in Central Brasil. American Ethnologist, 24(1), 132-147. (1997)

  • A educação escolar indígena: um diagnóstico crítico da situação no Brasil. Antropologia, história e educação: a questão indígena e a escola. São Paulo: Global, 71-111. (2001). 

Edited works

  • Indigenous Peoples and Diabetes : Community Empowerment and Wellness. Durham, N.C: Carolina Academic Press. (2006).

  • Human Rights in Global Light : Selected Papers, Poems, and Prayers, SFSU Annual Human Rights Summits, 2004-2007. Treganza Museum Anthropology Papers, 24-25. (2007).

  • Práticas pedagógicas na escola indígena. São Paulo: Global Editora. (2001).

In addition to her scholarly work, she developed health curricula with Bay Area clinics, including the Mission Neighborhood Health Center, reaching underserved patients through culturally sensitive education. 

Professor Ferreira’s teaching and scholarship were truly interdisciplinary. Her research was guided by a deep respect for the communities she studied and collaborated with, resulting in transformative work through the power of education, art, and collaboration. She inspired generations of students to become educators, activists, researchers, and storytellers who were guided by their commitment to approach their work with justice and humanity. 

Professor Ferreira will be remembered not only for her groundbreaking research and brilliance but also for her warmth and unwavering commitment to marginalized peoples. Her voice will continue to echo through her students, her scholarship, and the communities she helped. She is survived by her husband, Nathan, son Mairum, daughter Djuni, son Pedro, daughter Amanda, and five grandchildren, Naia, Lua, Yali, Andre, and Thomas. She will be profoundly missed.