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About
Fall Open House
Join us for one of our Fall Open Houses and experience our beautiful, riverfront campus firsthand. Learn more about Marist’s academic experience, the admissions process, and get an inside look at life as a Red Fox! You'll have the opportunity to hear directly from students, faculty, and staff about what makes the Marist Community so special. Register Below:
About
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Academics
Fall Open House
Join us for one of our Fall Open Houses and experience our beautiful, riverfront campus firsthand. Learn more about Marist’s academic experience, the admissions process, and get an inside look at life as a Red Fox! You'll have the opportunity to hear directly from students, faculty, and staff about what makes the Marist Community so special. Register Below:
Academics
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Admission & Financial Aid
Fall Open House
Join us for one of our Fall Open Houses and experience our beautiful, riverfront campus firsthand. Learn more about Marist’s academic experience, the admissions process, and get an inside look at life as a Red Fox! You'll have the opportunity to hear directly from students, faculty, and staff about what makes the Marist Community so special. Register Below:
Admission & Financial Aid
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Student Life
Fall Open House
Join us for one of our Fall Open Houses and experience our beautiful, riverfront campus firsthand. Learn more about Marist’s academic experience, the admissions process, and get an inside look at life as a Red Fox! You'll have the opportunity to hear directly from students, faculty, and staff about what makes the Marist Community so special. Register Below:
Student Life
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Dr. Gabriel Chagas
Assistant Professor of English
Bio
Gabriel Chagas P. Souza (also known as Gabriel Chagas) holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and a second PhD in Literary, Cultural, and Linguistic Studies from the University of Miami. His research lies at the intersection of Cultural Studies and Comparative Literature, with a particular emphasis on the literatures of the African diaspora. Gabriel investigates 20th century cultural movements across the Americas, including the Harlem Renaissance, Négritude, and Brazilian Modernism. His teaching interests span World Literature, U.S. Fiction and Poetry, African American Literature, Latin American Cultures, Art History, and Critical Theory. In his scholarly work, Gabriel engages with texts in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and French to develop a transnational approach to issues of race, class, gender, and disability. His first book, Pérolas negras na periferia (2023), received the Antônio Candido National Prize for Literary Studies in Brazil.
Education
PhD, Linguistic, Cultural, and Literary Studies, University of Miami, 2025
PhD, Comparative Literature, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 2023
MA Comparative Literature, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 2019.
BA, Portuguese and English, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), 2017.
Research Interests / Areas of Focus
Comparative Literature, Literatures of the African Diaspora, Brazilian and Latin American Studies, American Studies, Africana Studies, Critical Theory, Intersectionality (gender, race, and disability), and Decoloniality.
Selected Publications
Articles and Book Chapters
“Um novo sistema literário se consolida: uma análise das obras de escritoras negras entre 2003 e 2023.” Revista Palimpsesto (UERJ), vol. 24, n. 48, 2025, pp. 440 – 464. https://doi.org/10.12957/palimpsesto.2025.89446. With Virgínea Novack.
Chagas et al, "For the Children: Brazilian Portuguese and the Rainbow Scare." Inclusiveness Beyond the (Non)binary in Romance Languages: Research and Classroom Implementation, edited by Gláucia V. Silva and Cristiane Soares, Routledge, 2024, pp. 33 - 49.
Chagas et al, "'Que degenerados, uma vergonha': a reação conservadora contra a linguagem não binária no discurso de posse da acadêmica Heloísa Teixeira", Revista ex aequo (Revista da Associação Portuguesa de Estudos sobre as Mulheres), no. 49, 2024, pp. 87 - 102. https://doi.org/10.22355/exaequo.2024.49.07
"Um século após, ainda é preciso narrar o espanto: Melancolia e interpelação no conto "Dentes negros e cabelos azuis", de Lima Barreto." Revista Outra Travessia (UFSC), vol. 2, no. 36, 2023, pp. 100 - 122. https://doi.org/10.5007/2176-8552.2023.e94390
"A língua dos anjos caídos não se ouve no Brasil: Uma leitura decolonial do conto 'O moleque', de Lima Barreto." REVELL - Revista de Estudos Literários da UEMS, vol. 2, no. 32, 2022, pp. 53-78. https://periodicosonline.uems.br/index.php/REV/article/view/7047.
"Langston Hughes, Lima Barreto e a inalcançável modernidade: A segregação racial nos Estados Unidos e a eugenia no Brasil no início do século XX." Fólio – Revista de Letras, vol. 14, no. 2, 2022, pp. 89-108. https://doi.org/10.22481/folio.v14i2.11330
"No avesso da seca, as feridas de uma linguagem impossível: Uma análise comparativa de Vidas Secas, de Graciliano Ramos, e O avesso da pele, de Jeferson Tenório." Santa Barbara Portuguese Studies (UC Santa Barbara), 2nd Ser., vol. 12, 2022, pp. 100-113. https://sbps.spanport.ucsb.edu/volume/12
"Triste fim de Clarice Lispector ou A paixão segundo Lima Barreto: a linguagem precária de Macabéa e Clara dos Anjos." O Eixo e a Roda: Revista de Literatura Brasileira, v. 30, no. 2, 2021, pp. 194-208. http://dx.doi.org/10.17851/2358-9787.30.2.194-208
"Voltando para casa, não consigo respirar: pensando os linchamentos racistas no sul dos Estados Unidos a partir da Literatura de Langston Hughes." Revista Ipotesi (UFJF), v. 24, no. 2, 2020, pp. 65-74. https://periodicos.ufjf.br/index.php/ipotesi/article/view/33077
Books
Pérolas negras na periferia: Personagens femininas de Langston Hughes e Lima Barreto. Campinas, Brazil. Pontes Editores. 2023.
Selected Presentations
“Variação linguística, decolonialidade e o ensino de PLE/PLH: uma perspectiva” XIV Encontro Mundial de Ensino de Português. Duke University – Durham, NC. August 1, 2025.
"The United States in a Transnational Context: Literature, Whiteness, and the Nation." Race, Racialization, and Resistance: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Humanities. Seattle University – Seattle, WA. April 27, 2025.
"Refusing Whiteness, Embracing Queerness: A Close Reading of Langston Hughes's The Big Sea." University of Miami 2025 Graduate Conference. University of Miami – Coral Gables, FL. February 21, 2025.
"Paris é uma festa? James Baldwin e os múltiplos sentidos da negritude." I Conferência James Baldwin. Rio de Janeiro State University – Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. December 3, 2024.
"'Blacknesses' in Brazil, Colombia, and the United States." Center for Global Black Studies Colloquium. University of Miami – Coral Gables, FL November 15, 2024.
"Candelario Obeso y la poesía negra en Colombia". Spanish Program. Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. University of Miami – Coral Gables, FL. October 29, 2024.
"Cars, Televisions, and the Promise of a Brilliant Future: Black Counterdiscourses of Lima Barreto and Carolina Maria de Jesus." American Portuguese Studies Association Conference (APSA). Brown University – Providence, RI. October 3, 2024.
"Movendo-se em preto e branco na estacidade: a performance fotográfica de Jonathas Andrade." Biennal Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA XVII). San Diego State University - San Diego, CA. April 3, 2024.
"Las múltiples fronteras de Manuel Zapata Olivella." Critical Ecologies and Speculative Future (Graduate Conference). University of Miami – Coral Gables, FL. March 1, 2024.
"Several Forms of Hunger: An Analysis of He visto la noche, by Manuel Zapata Olivella." LASA/AFRICA 2023 Continental Congress (online). University of Ghana — Accra, Ghana. November 18, 2023.
"Between the Islands: Blackness, Masculinity, and Homelessness in Jamaica and Manhattan." 41st Annual West Indian Literature Conference. Department of Literatures in English. University of West Indies – Kingston, Jamaica. October 12, 2023.
"How Queer was the Harlem Renaissance?" Gender and Sexuality Studies Program. University of Miami – Coral Gables, FL. September 25, 2023.
"The Strange Force of a Queer Pietà: Decolonizing Gender in Pixote: a lei do mais fraco (1980)." Modern Languages and Literatures Lecture Series: Research and Teaching. University of Miami – Coral Gables, FL. September 8, 2023.
"A urgente brasilidade de Lima Barreto." Luso-brasilidades Conference (online). Real Gabinete Português – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. August 17, 2023.
"Em defesa da língua portuguesa e das crianças brasileiras: O uso da legislação contra a linguagem neutra." World Conference of the Teaching of Portuguese. Northwestern University – Evanston, IL. August 5, 2023.
"The Violence of a Costume: A Decolonial Approach to the Short Story 'Cló,' by Lima Barreto." Diálogos XX Conference. Department of Spanish and Portuguese (online). Indiana University – Bloomington, IN. February 25, 2023.
"Race and Gender in Brazil: The Colonial Wound in Lima Barreto’s Fiction." Symposium on Gender, History, and Sexuality. History Department (online). University of Texas – Austin, TX. November 28, 2022.
"An Invisible City of Invisible People: Reading Power and Place in Bacurau." American Portuguese Studies Association Conference. Brigham Young University – Provo, UT. October 7, 2022.
"Decolonialidade interseccional nos contos de Lima Barreto." 21st International Symposium of Women and Literature (online). Federal University of Sergipe – São Cristóvão, Brazil. August 12, 2022.
"In Our Narratives, Place Matters: How to Read the Museum as a Space of Power." 4th Annual Crossroads Humanities Student Conference (online). Nova Southeastern University – Fort Lauderdale, FL. March 26, 2022.
"The Absurdity of Thirteen Shots: Clarice Lispector and Social Justice in Brazil." 20th annual Tri-University Graduate Conference on Latin America and the Caribbean (online). University of Miami/Florida International University/Florida Atlantic University – Miami, FL. February 25, 2022.
“Me, Mestizo in Miami: The Geography of Meanings to Understand Brazil.” 31st Annual Graduate & Professional Symposium. Department of Portuguese and Spanish (online). University of Arizona – Tucson, AZ. February 18, 2022.
Awards and Honors
Recipient, 2nd place in the 23rd Annual Tri-University Conference. University of Miami. Spring 2025.
Recipient, 2024 Kriloff Student Travel Award. University of Miami. Fall 2024.
Nominee, CAPES National Award for Brazil’s Best Ph.D. Dissertation of 2023.
Recipient, Modern Languages and Literatures 2024 Outstanding Graduate Student Award. University of Miami.
Recipient, Center for Global Black Studies 2024 Summer Fellowship Grant. University of Miami.
Nominee, Graduate School 2023–2024 Outstanding Graduate Research Award. University of Miami.
Recipient, American Studies 2024–2025 Distinguished Graduate Teaching Fellowship. University of Miami.
Recipient, College of Arts and Sciences 2024 Dean’s Research Summer Fellowship. University of Miami.
Recipient, Institute for Advanced Study of the Americas 2024–2025 Distinguished Graduate Fellowship. University of Miami.
Recipient, Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latinx Studies, and the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries 2024 Summer Research Grant. Vanderbilt University.
Recipient, 1st place in the 5th Annual Graduate and Postdoctoral Research Symposium. University of Miami. Spring 2023.
Recipient, The University of Miami Fellowship. 2021-2026.
Recipient, 1st place in the Antônio Candido National Award for Best Master’s Thesis in Brazil. 2020.