Rodrigo Ayupe Bueno da Cruz is an Assistant Professor at the College of Education at the American University in the Emirates (AUE). He is a social anthropologist specializing in Middle Eastern studies, with expertise in religion, migration and diaspora, cultural identity, multiculturalism, and the social and political dynamics of the Middle East. His academic work has focused particularly on Arab Christian communities in Lebanon and Brazil, including Maronite, Melkite Greek Catholic, and Greek Orthodox communities, drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Lebanon and among Arab diasporic communities in Brazil.
His current research interests include religion and politics, transnational migration and diaspora, collective memory, religious identities, and the circulation of cultural and religious traditions between the Middle East and Latin America. He is the author of the book Primos em Minas: processos de construção identitária na comunidade árabe em Juiz de Fora (Cousins in Minas: Identity-Building Processes in the Arab Community of Juiz de Fora), which examines processes of identity construction within the Arab community in Brazil. His research has also appeared in academic journals including Anthropology of the Middle East, Antropolítica, Estudos Internacionais, and Exilium, and he has a forthcoming article in Mashriq & Mahjar: Journal of Middle East and North African Migration Studies. His broader research agenda also engages with multicultural education and the contribution of anthropology and the social sciences to understanding cultural diversity and global societies.
Dr. Cruz holds a Ph.D. and an M.A. in Anthropology and a Bachelor’s degree in History from Federal Fluminense University (UFF), Brazil, and completed postdoctoral research in Anthropology at the same institution with funding from the Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ). His academic experience includes teaching Sociology, Anthropology, Social Sciences, research methods, Middle Eastern studies, cultural diversity, and international affairs at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He has also worked as a policy consultant and has experience in research and educational projects related to cultural diversity, human rights, and refugee education. He is affiliated with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UFF and the Middle East and Muslim World Study Group at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (PUC Minas), and was elected an Associate Member of the Lebanese-Brazilian Academy of Letters, Arts and Sciences in 2025. He has received FAPERJ’s highly competitive Nota 10 research fellowships at both the master’s and postdoctoral levels.