Fellow Focus: Lucas Koutsoukos-Chalhoub

2025-26 Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow Lucas Koutsoukos-Chalhoub received his PhD from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.

In this conversation with Communications & Outreach Coordinator Karl-Mary Akre, Lucas discusses how his research on the life of Gregório Fortunato— President Getúlio Vargas’s chief bodyguard— informs wider political narratives.

KARL-MARY AKRE: Thank you for taking the time, Lucas. Could you tell me more about your journey to the research that you're currently working on?

LUCAS KOUTSOUKOS-CHALHOUB: In my last year of college, I studied 1950s Brazil and I came across the Brazilian president’s bodyguard who was accused of ordering the assassination of a political opponent in 1954. When that political opponent didn't die and a crisis emerged, the president committed suicide. But this bodyguard only shows up in history doing this one thing. Because the president's suicide is the inflection point of 20th century Brazilian politics, all other kinds of considerations fall by the wayside.  

I read work by an NYU professor who wrote this incredible chapter on the death of the president with another professor. And in a little footnote, they stated that the race of the president’s bodyguard was very relevant to the way this story is told. Just a throwaway reflection with no citation. I read that and was like 'Yes, please tell me more.' But no one was telling me more. So, I decided 'Well, I'll have to do the telling.' Let's trace why this man's race was so important? Why did it matter? Why did he do the things he did? And why did people attribute the actions and traits they attributed to him?  

It's really exciting that a book can start from a footnote without a citation. And how would you say your research on this presidential bodyguard intersects with the Fox Center's 2025-26 research theme of Life/Story?

Being very literal, I'm working on a life story, from birth to death. But it's been very interesting, because this is a shared endeavor. All the fellows are doing life stories in some form or another. I'm seeing whether what we do, or I do, is place this story within the life or place or this life within the story. 

My subject is from a very rural area of Brazil that's not traditionally a place of power or where people of power come from. But he goes from being the son of a formerly enslaved man to becoming the president's bodyguard. In the process, he becomes rich and powerful with social connections and political capital. He does the nasty work of politics, cashing in favors, and backroom deals. The problem is he's doing it while Black in Brazil. So, I am trying to place the life story of a man who's doing exceptional things to understand more about how things worked in 20th century Brazil. 

How is it that this figure actually maneuvered? How could he navigate these spaces? What does this say about racial ideologies in modern Brazil? Those are the kinds of questions that guided my research and that my manuscript addresses, and the conversations within the context of the fellowship have been incredibly helpful in helping me refine how I think about these issues. 

What role does discipline play in your work? And how would you say the fellowship has changed or impacted or shifted the way you think about "discipline" in general?

The more I work and think about the monograph that's going to come out of this project and the next project I have in mind, I’ve been thinking more about language and the role of language. Everything we do is language. As a discipline, history gives me the tools to think about that point very concretely, do critical analysis and place language in context. However, because I’m fresh off the PhD path, I have been buried so deep in this very narrow field for the last year. So, it's been very refreshing to be able to emerge from that submarine by talking with my cohort of fellows.  

I get to breathe and think about things that I wasn't thinking about before. We have historians, anthropologists, literature and poetics scholars, Korean studies scholars, theater artists, but the fact that we're all talking about the same endeavor of thinking about life/stories always makes our conversations work. Otherwise, the cross-discipline talk would be so much more difficult. 

How would you say the fellowship has impacted your work and process so far?

I get to sit down, do my reading, do my thinking, and show up to a seminar for two hours a week, which is invariably interesting. I always look forward to going to the seminar. Every single time I go in thinking that I just read something really interesting and I'm going to meet with people who are doing terribly exciting projects. And learning how other people think is very refreshing after you've been forced to narrow everything down. I’ve loved reading what my colleagues have been writing about. I truly enjoy seeing how a text takes shape and how others think about narrative, which has encouraged me to be more creative and think outside the box about my own work. That has been thoroughly rewarding.  

I also get to plunder the excellent library. The Latin American librarian has done an excellent job curating that collection and the interlibrary loan team is heroic. Anything I need, they can figure out a way to get, which is magical. And I get to teach a class of my design, which is really cool. I haven't taught yet, so I'm excited to get that under my belt. I finally get to teach and see who I am as a professor. I’m also very happy to have gotten the chance to get to meet and collaborate with faculty and graduate students in the History department, particularly, who have been very generous with their time and been terrific interlocutors this year. 

Have you had a chance to explore Atlanta beyond Emory?

I am definitely eating my way through Atlanta. There's food here from all over the world. And I love that Atlanta has these little pockets that are walkable. This is one of the cities in the United States that I would be pretty happy to stay long-term.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.