Prof. dr. M.P.J. (Mattijs) van de Port
Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences
Exploring Diversity
Area of expertise: Anthropology of Religion, Visual Anthropology
Visiting address
- Nieuwe Achtergracht 166
- Room number: C5.17
Postal address
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Postbus 15509
1001 NA Amsterdam
Contact details
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Profile
Mattijs van de Port is a visual anthropologist. He did research in Serbia and the Netherlands, and since 2001 in Brazil. He is the author of three books and made several films, including Saborear Frutas Brasileiras (2013) and the essay films The Possibility of Spirits (2016); Knots and Holes (2018); The Body Won’t Close (2021); and Where Can I Get Lost? (2024). His films won prestigious awards and were selected for many ethnographic film festivals around the world. All of his work centers around moments of transgression – in mysticism, spirit possession, eroticism, violence or experiences of sublime beauty – where people face the fact that the world does not comply with their narrations of it.
Research expertise
- Anthropology of Religion
- Visual Anthropology
Regional specialisations
- Brazil,
- Serbia
- Netherlands
Media appearances
- UvA ASK Visual Anthropology (YouTube)
- AISSR - Film making and messiness (YouTube)
- CFE - Mattijs van de Port pour le film "Où puis je me perdre ?" (YouTube)
- Sunny Side of Spirit (De Balie)
Other links
Mattijs is co-founder and member of the Research Hub CameraWise, a group of visual anthropologists based in Amsterdam.
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Research
Research methods
- Camera-based research
- Visual anthropology
- Essay films
Current research projects
- Words & Worlds: the said and the unsaid in human world-making
Research grants & honours
2026
- AISSR impulse scholarship
2021
- The Body Won’t Close: The Basil Wright Film Prize. Main competition: RAI Film Festival, Bristol UK
- The Body Won’t Close: The Excellence in Visual Anthropology Award. Main competition: Ethnocineca International Documentary Film Festival, Vienna, Austria
- The Body Won’t Close: Best Experimental Film, FICIMAD, Madrid, Spain
2018
- Knots and Holes: Honorary Mention. Main competition: Ethnocineca International Documentary Film Festival, Vienna, Austria
2013
- [with Birgit Meyer]. HERA project 'Currents of Faith, Places of History: Connections, moral circumscriptions and world-making in the Atlantic Space'
- [with Kostana Banovic, HKU]. Mondriaan fonds, Landelijk Stimuleringsfonds voor de Beeldend Kunst. Filmproject ‘the permeable boundary’
2012
- MaGW/NWO onderzoekstalent. Ph.d. grant, 3 years
2011
- MaGW/NWO mozaiek. Ph.d. grant, 4 years
2008
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(with B. Meyer & H. Roodenburg) Research Grant -- NWO subsidy for a multi-disciplinary research program called “Heritage Dynamics: the Politics of Authentication and the Aesthetics of Persuasion in Ghana, South Africa, Brazil and the Netherlands”. This program will cover a period of five years, and entails a co-operation between the universities of Accra, Capetown, Salvador (Bahia) and Amsterdam. (550.000 euro)
Current cooperation
- RHEAL: Religion and Healing: Collaborative and Participatory Methodologies: Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Education
BA
- Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
- Specialization Course Words
- Sounds, Images
- Visual Anthropology
- Filming as a Knowledge Practice
MA
- Designing Fieldwork for Visual Anthropologists
- Visual Thesis Seminar
PhD supervision
- Sharelly Emmanuelson
- Laura van der Brink
- Alexander Chaplin
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Publications
2025
- van de Port, M. P. J. (2025). My lustful eye: Filmmaking, 'empirical excess' and the limits of being in control of one's art. In A. Lawrence, & M. Dietrich (Eds.), Empirical art: Filmmaking for fieldwork in practice (pp. 145-161). Manchester University Press.
2024
- van de Port, M. P. J., & Mol, A. (2024). Chupar Frutas in Salvador da Bahia: A Case of Practice-Specific Alterities. In A. Mol (Ed.), Eating Is an English Word (pp. 61-77). Duke University Press. https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478059868-004, https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.19092163.6
2021
- van de Port, M. P. J. (2021). Faking Spirit Possession: Creating ‘Epistemic Murk’ in Bahian Candomblé. In S. Woolgar, E. Vogel, D. Moats, & C.-F. Helgesson (Eds.), The Imposter as Social Theory: Thinking with Gatecrashers, Cheats and Charlatans (pp. 219-236). Bristol University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1p6hphs.15
2020
- van de Port, M. (2020). Eight movements and a Coda on the Baroque Atlantic. In M. Balkenhol, R. Llera Blanes, & R. Sarró (Eds.), Atlantic Perspectives: Places, Spirits and Heritage (pp. 152-171). Berghahn. [details]
2018
- van de Port, M. (2018). Epilogue: Religion, Lived Religion, and the "Authenticity" of Failure. In D. Beekers, & D. Kloos (Eds.), Straying from the Straight Path: How Senses of Failure Invigorate Lived Religion (pp. 124-131). (Studies in social analysis ; Vol. 3). Berghahn. [details]
van de Port, M. (2018). In Love with My Footage: Desirous Undercurrents in the Making of an Essay Film on Candomblé. Visual Anthropology Review, 34(2), 136-146. https://doi.org/10.1111/var.12164 [details]- van de Port, M., & Meyer, B. (2018). Introduction: Heritage Dynamics: Politics of Authentication, Aesthetics of Persuasion and the Cultural Production of the Real. In B. Meyer, & M. van de Port (Eds.), Sense and Essence: Heritage and the Cultural Production of the Real (pp. 1-39). (Material mediations: people and things in a world of movement; Vol. 9). Berghahn. [details]
2017
- Van de Port, M. (2017). The Possibility of Spirits: An essay film. Journal of Anthropological Films, 1(1), Article e1316 . https://doi.org/10.15845/jaf.v1i1.1316 [details]
- van de Port, M. (2017). Tempestade Dourada: o êxtase da Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador da Bahia, Brasil. Áskesis, 6(1), 52-66. http://www.revistaaskesis.ufscar.br/index.php/askesis/article/view/253 [details]
- van de Port, M. (2017). The verification of ethnographic data: A response. Ethnography, 18(3), 295-299. https://doi.org/10.1177/1466138117722799 [details]
2016
- van de Port, M. (2016). Baroque as Tension: Introducing turbulence and turmoil into the academic text. In J. Law, & E. Ruppert (Eds.), Modes of Knowing: Resources from the Baroque (pp. 165-196). Mattering Press. https://www.matteringpress.org/books/modes-of-knowing/read/6-o-baroque-as-tension-introducing-turmoil-and-turbulence-in-the-academic-text [details]
- van de Port, M. (2016). Expondo Exu: algumas notas sobre práticas de exposição em religião, artes e ciências. In C. Fonseca, F. Rohden, P. S. Machado, & H. Salvatti Paim (Eds.), Antropologia da Ciência e da Tecnologia: dobras reflexivas (pp. 99-118). Porto Alegre: Editora Sulina. [details]
2015
- van de Port, M. (2015). Reading Bruno Latour in Bahia: or, how to approach the "Great, Blooming, Buzzing Confusion" of life and being without going mad. In M. Jackson, & A. Piette (Eds.), What is existential anthropology? (pp. 84-103). Berghahn Books. [details]
- van de Port, M., & Mol, A. (2015). Chupar frutas in Salvador da Bahia: a case of practice-specific alterities. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 21(1), 165-180. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12151 [details]
2013
- Adinolfi, M. P., & van de Port, M. (2013). Bed and throne: the 'museumification' of the living quarters of a Candomblé priestess. Material Religion, 9(3), 282-303. https://doi.org/10.2752/175183413X13730330868915 [details]
- Berliner, D., Legrain, L., & van de Port, M. (2013). Bruno Latour and the anthropology of the moderns. Social Anthropology, 21(4), 435-447. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.12051 [details]
- van de Port, M. (2013). Driven by desire: some notes on shopping, flirting and praying. In R. R. Ganzevoort, R. Brouwer, & B. Miller-McLemore (Eds.), City of desires - a place for God? : practical theological perspectives (pp. 19-27). (International practical theology; No. 16). LIT Verlag. [details]
- van de Port, M. (2013). Golden storm: the ecstasy of the Igreja de São Francisco, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. In O. Verkaaik (Ed.), Religious architecture: anthropological perspectives (pp. 63-82). Amsterdam University Press. https://doi.org/10.26530/OAPEN_456162 [details]
- van de Port, M. (2013). On the necessity of daydreaming: wartime lucidity and peacetime fantasies in Serbia. In F. Enns, & A. Mosher (Eds.), Just peace: ecumenical, intercultural, and interdisciplinary perspectives (pp. 92-113). Pickwick Publications. http://books.google.nl/books?id=dZBNAwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl=nl&source=gbs_ViewAPI&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false [details]
2012
- van de Port, M. (2012). Genuinely made up: camp, baroque, and other denaturalizing aesthetics in the cultural production of the real. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 18(4), 864-883. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9655.2012.01796.x [details]
2011
- van de Port, M. (2011). (Not) Made by the human hand: media consciousness and immediacy in the cultural production of the real. Social Anthropology, 19(1), 74-89. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8676.2010.00139.x [details]
- van de Port, M. (2011). Ecstatic encounters: Bahian Candomblé and the quest for the really real. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press. [details]
- van de Port, M. (2011). Inhabitants of the screen: celebrity and the production of religious authority in Bahian Candomblé. Australian religion studies review, 24(3), 254-274. https://doi.org/10.1558/arsr.v24i3.254 [details]
2010
- van de Port, M. (2010). Echt gemaakt: camp, barok en de culturele productie van het echte. Sociologie, 6(2), 71-87. http://www.boomlemmatijdschriften.nl/tijdschrift/sociologie/2010/2/TS_1574-3314_2010_006_002_005.pdf [details]
2009
- van de Port, M. (2009). 'Don’t ask questions, just observe!’ Boundary politics in Bahian Candomblé. In B. Meyer (Ed.), Aesthetic formations: media, religion, and the senses (pp. 31-51). (Religion/culture/critique). Palgrave Macmillan. [details]
- van de Port, M. (2009). 'Wat me nu toch is overkomen … dat verzin je niet!’ Gemaaktheid, geloof en spontaniteit in populaire religiositeit. In M. Aerts, & M. van den Haak (Eds.), Popvirus: popularisering van religie en cultuur (pp. 143-154). Aksant. [details]
- van de Port, M. (2009). 'Wij zijn geen folklore, wij zijn een religie!' Candomblé en de strijd om als Afrikaanse religie erkend te worden. Religie & Samenleving, 4(2), 91-109. [details]
- van de Port, M. (2009). Body trouble. Material Religion, 5(2), 232-233. https://doi.org/10.2752/174322009X12448040551800 [details]
2008
- van de Port, M. (2008). Candomblé in pink, green and black: re-scripting the Afro-Brazilian religious heritage in the public sphere of Salvador, Bahia. In M. Lambek (Ed.), A reader in the anthropology of religion. - 2nd ed. (pp. 573-589). (Blackwell anthologies in social & cultural anthropology; No. 2). Blackwell. [details]
- van de Port, M. (2008). Over de noodzaak van dagdromen: Oorlogsbewustzijn en vredesfantasieën. In de marge, 17(1), 4-16. http://www.bezinningscentrum.nl/indemarge/pdf_indemarge/Marge2008-1.pdf [details]
2025
- Harper, D., Guiking, T., & van de Port, M. (2025). Remembering Rob Boonzajer Flaes. Visual Studies, 40(2), 194-199. https://doi.org/10.1080/1472586X.2025.2480458 [details]
2024
- Van de Port, M. (2024). Knots and Holes: An Essay Film on the Life of Nets. Journal of Anthropological Films, 8(1). https://doi.org/10.15845/jaf.v8i01.4197 [details]
- van de Port, M. P. J. (2024). Where Can I Get Lost?. Digital or Visual Products
2023
- van de Port, M. (2023). I AM THEIR EVIL. Arts Cabinet - Encounters through Art, Ethnography and Pedagogy, 3. https://www.artscabinet.org/encounters-issue-3/i-am-their-evil [details]
2022
- van de Port, M. (Author). (2022). Video Essay: Geschiereana. Digital or Visual Products https://vimeo.com/714914738
- van de Port, M., & Zisimou, D. (2022). Kavafis on the streets of Athens. Arts Cabinet - Encounters through Art, Ethnography and Pedagogy, 2. https://www.artscabinet.org/encounters-issue-2/kavafis-on-the-streets-of-athens [details]
2021
- van de Port, M., Sacks, K., & Zisimou, D. (2021). Anatomy of an Encounter. Arts Cabinet - Encounters through Art, Ethnography and Pedagogy, 1. https://www.artscabinet.org/encounters-issue-1/anatomy-of-an-encounter [details]
2020
- van de Port, M. (2020). Moonlight. Material Religion, 16(1), 110-112. https://doi.org/10.1080/17432200.2019.1696566 [details]
- van de Port, M. P. J. (Author). (2020). The Body Won’t Close. Digital or Visual Products
2019
- van de Port, M. (2019). Baroque Proliferations [Review of: R. Desjarlais (2018) The Blind Man]. Web publication or website, Society for Cultural Anthropology. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/baroque-proliferations [details]
2018
- Meyer, B., & van de Port, M. (Eds.) (2018). Sense and Essence: Heritage and the Cultural Production of the Real. (Material meditations: people and things in a world of movement; Vol. 9). Berghahn. https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/MeyerSense [details]
2017
- Van de Port, M. (2017). Criatividade e tecnologias cósmicas nas religiões Afro-cubanas: [Review of: D. Espirito Santo, A. Panagiotopoulos (2015) Beyond tradition, beyond invention : cosmic technologies and creativity in contemporary Afro-Cuban religions]. Religião & Sociedade, 37(2), 265-267. https://doi.org/10.1590/0100-85872017v37n2res03 [details]
2016
- van de Port, M. P. J. (Producer). (2016). The Possibility of Spirits. Digital or Visual Products
2013
- van de Port, M. P. J., Berliner, D., & Legrain, L. (Eds.) (2013). Social Anthropology (vol. 21, issue 4). Social Anthropology, 21(4).
2019
- van de Port, M. (2019). Mondwind. De Gids, 182(4), 22-23, 25. https://www.de-gids.nl/artikelen/mondwind [details]
2018
- van de Port, M. P. J. (2018). Het hoge woord is er in. CUL, 24(3), 32. http://tijdschriftcul.nl/het-hoge-woord-is-erin/ [details]
2017
- van de Port, M. (2017). Woorden over seks. Beelden van seks. CUL, 24(4), 32-33. http://tijdschriftcul.nl/woorden-over-seks-beelden-van-seks/ [details]
2016
- van de Port, M. (2016). Coordinates, please! A post-election video essay. CUL, 24(2), 30. https://issuu.com/TijdschriftCul/docs/issuu_poltieke_cul [details]
- van de Port, M. (2016). Geld en Carrière, dáár ging het niet om in het ware leven. CUL, 24(0), 34-35. https://issuu.com/tijdschriftcul/docs/mini_cul_issuu [details]
- van de Port, M. (2016). Weten en niet-weten. CUL, 23(4), 30-31. https://issuu.com/tijdschriftcul/docs/nederlandcul-versieissuu [details]
2018
- van de Port, M. P. J. (Author). (2018). Knots and Holes. An Essay Film on the Life of Nets.. Digital or Visual Products
2017
- Vis, D., van Weelden, D., van de Port, M., & Mik, E. (Eds.) (2017). Tropen? De Tropen bestaan niet meer. De Gids, 180(1). https://de-gids.nl/2017/no1
- van de Port, M. (2017). Ik ging nooit naar de Tropen. De Gids, 180(1), 3-5. https://de-gids.nl/2017/no1/ik-ging-nooit-naar-de-tropen [details]
2016
- van de Port, M. (2016). Krullen en Rechte Lijnen. De Gids, 179(4), 10-11, 13. https://de-gids.nl/2016/no4/krullen-en-rechte-lijnen [details]
2013
2008
- van de Port, M. (2008). De echte wereld, daarbuiten. De Gids, 171(10), 769-782. [details]
- van de Port, M. P. J. (2008). Met harde jongens moet je niet sollen. Koud Bloed, 2. http://www.koudbloed.nl/archiefdetail.aspx?id=1232
Prize / grant
- van de Port, M. (2022). Best Experimental Film Award for "The Body Won't Close". https://ficimad.com/awards/
- van de Port, M. (2021). Excellence in Visual Anthropology Award (EVA) for "The Body Won't Close". https://www.ethnocineca.at/en/archive/ec2021-alt/awards-2021/
- van de Port, M. (2021). Basil Wright Film Prize for "The Body Won't Close". https://www.therai.org.uk/awards/past-awards/basil-wright-film-prize-past-recipients
- van de Port, M. P. J. (2017). Samodiva Award for "Best Film of the International Filmfestival of Ethnographic Films 2017" in Sofia (Bulgaria) for the documentary film "the Possibility of Spirits". http://ifefsofia.org/
- van de Port, M. P. J. (2011). Making sense of the war ridden past: violence, memory and the historical imagination in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Media appearance
- van de Port, M. (28-06-2022). UvA-antropoloog maakt prijswinnende film over onderzoek: ‘Ik trek me niets aan van stijlregels van de film’ [Web] Folia. UvA-antropoloog maakt prijswinnende film over onderzoek: ‘Ik trek me niets aan van stijlregels van de film’. https://www.folia.nl/actueel/152536/uva-antropoloog-maakt-prijswinnende-film-over-onderzoek-ik-trek-me-niets-aan-van-stijlregels-van-de-film
- van de Port, M. & Verbeke, K. (25-06-2020). Corona in de Stad [Web] Amsterdam Museum. Corona in de Stad. https://www.coronaindestad.nl/publieksprogramma/
Talk / presentation
- van de Port, M. P. J. (invited speaker) (4-12-2014). Keynote lecture: The Slaughtered Peacock and other tales of conspicuous consumption and ecstatic expenditure., Symposium on conspicuous consumption in Africa, Institute for Humanities in Africa (HUMA), Capetown, South Africa..
- van de Port, M. P. J. (invited speaker) (3-9-2013). Reading Bruno Latour in Bahia. Invited Keynote Lecture., CRESC conference, London.
- van de Port, M. P. J. (invited speaker) (17-10-2011). Heritage that Talks Back. Or: what Gradska Vijecnica, Elmina Castle and the Old Slave Spirit have to say on the presence of the past, Keynote lecture for the conference Heritage and History: the Past as Sensational Form (Patrimônio e história: o passado como forma sensível)., Salvador, Brasil.
- van de Port, M. P. J. (invited speaker) (21-7-2011). Driven by Desire. Shopping, Flirting and Praying in the City of Amsterdam., Keynote lecture for the Annual meeting of the International Academy of Practical Theology, Amsterdam.
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Ancillary activities
- No ancillary activities
van de Port, M. (2018). In Love with My Footage: Desirous Undercurrents in the Making of an Essay Film on Candomblé. Visual Anthropology Review, 34(2), 136-146.