Congratulations, Dr Ana Beraldo!

The Social Dynamics of Violence and Respect: State, Crime and Church in a Brazilian Favela has been awarded the JLAS Best Article Prize from the volume no. 55 of 2023. This exceptional paper was selected by the Editors of the Journal for its rigorous engagement with theory and primary evidence, and an outstanding and ample scholarly contribution to Latin American Studies as a sphere of inquiry.

Ana Beraldo holds a PhD in Sociology from the Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil (2016–2020), with a two-quarters visiting period at the Center for Latin American Studies of the University of Chicago, USA. She has also benefitted from a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) to work at the School of Interdisciplinary Advanced Social Studies, National University of San Martín (EIDAES/UNSAM), Argentina (2021–2024). She is a researcher at the Centre for Studies on Criminality and Public Safety, Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), and is presently undertaking a six-month Urban Studies Foundation International Fellowship hosted by the Urban School of Sciences Po in Paris, France (2025). Beraldo’s research focuses on the dynamics of violence, sociability, and the production of order and governance within urban poor communities in unequal Latin American cities.