Liliana Gil specializes in postcolonial and feminist studies of science and technology with a focus on Brazil and its transnational connections. Her ongoing book project, Improvised Tech: Tactics for an Unequal World, examines improvisation across various sites of technological production in Brazil and beyond, from innovation hubs and repair shops in São Paulo to self-improved houses in the periphery of Lisbon. Based on long-term fieldwork, this work contributes to critical debates on skill, labor, creativity, innovation, and global tech inequalities. 

Dr. Gil’s scholarship has been supported by, among others, the Fulbright Program, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the US National Science Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies. Before joining OSU, she was a Lecturer at the National University of Singapore.

Selected publications:

Gil, L. 2023. “Becoming a repair entrepreneur: an ethnography of skills training in Brazil.” Third World Quarterly, 45(4): 640–657. 10.1080/01436597.2023.2207006

Gil, L. 2022. “A fablab at the periphery: decentering innovation from São Paulo.” American Anthropologist, 124: 721–733. 10.1111/aman.13769

Gil Sousa, L and F Queirós. 2016. “Method as responsibility in applied research.” Vis-à-vis: Explorations in Anthropology, 13 (1): 97-113. https://vav.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/vav/article/view/27058