Short bios:

Ana Garcia is associate professor of International Relations and of the Postgraduate

Program in Social Sciences at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, and of the
Postgraduate Program of the Institute of International Relations of the PUC-Rio. She
holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio
de Janeiro and an M.A. in Political Science from the Free University of Berlin. She is a
member of the Board of Directors of the Brazilian Association of International
Relations (ABRI) and coordinator (with Luciana Ghiotto) of the Working Group "New
Lex Mercatoria, Corporate Power and Humans Rights" of the Latin American Council
of Social Sciences (CLACSO). Ana is a former director of the BRICS Policy Center
(2021-2023). Her research interests include international political economy, critical
theory, Gramsci, hegemony, imperialism, multinational corporations, and South-South
relations. Recent publications are: Handbook on Critical Political Economy and Public
Policies. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023 (co-edited with C. Scherrer and J. Wullweber);
"Valeu a pena?" An assessment of Vale's operations in Mozambique through the prism
of the International Articulation of those Affected by Vale. The Extractive Industries
and Society, v. 14, p. 101235, 2023 (with Karina Kato); and Political economy of
South-South relations: an analysis of BRICS investment protection agreements in Latin
America and the Caribbean. Third World Quarterly, v. 43, p. 1-19, 2023 (with R. Curty)

Lisa Thompson is a political economist and full Professor in the School of Government
at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Since 1998 she has led
participatory, community orientated research aimed at amplifying the development
dynamics and contradictions between local and global in international development and
participatory democratic development initiatives. While located within international
global political economy and development debates and dynamics, the research focus
developed over past decades includes a strong action based component including both
mutual learning and advocacy work with grassroots community groups, civil society,
non-governmental organisations, social movements and ad hoc forms of community
activism and mobilization from below. Lisa was the Director of the African Centre for
Citizenship and Democracy from 2007 until 2022. Recent projects include a focus on
BRICS and Global South development dynamics, funded by the National Institute for
the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS); currently action based participatory
development research on Special Economic Zones in South Africa, funded by Friedrich
Ebert Stiftung (FES); and a comparetive analysis of Chinese investments in Brazil and
South Africa, funded by the Norwegan Karibu Foundation.

Cleiton Maciel Brito is assistant professor of Sociology at the Federal University of

Amazonas. He earned his PhD in Sociology from the Federal University of São Carlos.
For his research on the Chinese presence in the Amazon, he received an award for his
thesis from the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel
(CAPES), an agency of the Federal Government of Brazil. He has published several
articles and book chapter on globalization, the China-Brazil relationship and Amazonian
studies. His most recent publications include: China and Globalization in the Amazon:
Workers, Expatriates and the Chinese Production Model. 1. ed. London: Routledge,
2022. v. 1. 168p; Savage Factories of the Manaus Free Trade Zone: Chinese Investments
in the Amazon and Social Impacts on Workers. In: Paul Amar, Fernando Brancoli,
Maria Amelia Viteri, Consuelo Fernandez, Lisa Rofel. (Org.). The Tropical Silk Road:
The Future of China in South America. 1ed.: Stanford University Press, 2022. The
political economy of South-South relations: a comparative analysis of China´s
investments in Brazil and South Africa. BPC POLICY BRIEF, v. 13, p. 3-15, 2023
(wich A. Garcia and L. Thompson).