Marcela Magalhães de Paula is an Italian-Brazilian lecturer, researcher, and scholar working in the fields of Lusophone studies, Iberian studies, comparative and postcolonial literatures,Critical Theory, and the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language.
She holds a PhD in Iberian Studies from the University of Bologna, where her research focused on the cultural and literary formations of the Lusophone South Atlantic, with particular attention to Brazil and São Tomé and Príncipe. She also holds a Master’s degree in Human Rights and Conflict Management from the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa and a Master’s degree in Brazilian Literature from the Federal University of Ceará.
She spent two years in advanced study and research at the Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra, focusing in particular on postcolonial and decolonial studies, colonial memory, processes of identity formation, and the historical and cultural dynamics of the Lusophone world.
She was a postdoctoral researcher at the University for International Integration of the Afro-Brazilian Lusophony (UNILAB), where she carried out research in sociolinguistics, postcolonial and Afro-Brazilian studies, with particular attention to quilombola communities, linguistic variation, race, memory, identity, and social sustainability.
She has extensive university teaching experience in Brazil. At the State University of Ceará (UECE), she taught at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including courses related to semiotics, Portuguese literature, children’s and young adult literature, and research methodology. At the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), she taught in the field of Brazilian literature.
Since 2013, she has collaborated with the Instituto Guimarães Rosa / Embassy of Brazil in Rome in the teaching of Portuguese language, Brazilian literature, and Brazilian culture, as well as in the organization of cultural and educational activities. She also has extensive experience in language assessment and is an accredited examiner for both CELPE-Bras and CAPLE.
Her teaching and research focus primarily on the Portuguese language, Brazilian literature, African literatures in Portuguese, postcolonial and decolonial studies, colonial memory, migration, race and gender, sociolinguistics, and the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language. Her academic and cultural output includes books, journal articles, book chapters, translations, and numerous contributions to international conferences and academic events.
