African & African American Studies
Dr. Valandra, Program Director
230 Memorial Hall
University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR 72701
P 479-575-2872
F 479-575-2972
E-mail: valandra@uark.edu
Affiliated Faculty
Edvan P. Brito
Assistant Professor of Portuguese
J. William Fulbright College of Arts & Sciences
(WLLC)-World Languages, Literatures & Cultures
Phone: 479-575-3359
Email: brito@uark.edu
Dr. Edvan Brito is Assistant Professor and Director of the Portuguese Program in the Department of World Languages Literatures and Cultures at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. He holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University, an M.A. in Mass Communication and Media Studies from Howard University, and a B.A. in Portuguese and Linguistics from the University de São Paulo (USP). His dissertation study focused on sociolinguistic variation, race/color, and stancetaking in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the area of Sociolinguistics, his research is centered around the question of how language use and power relations among people and institutions shape and are shaped by the identities they perform and negotiate in different interactional contexts. In the area of Applied Linguistics, Dr. Brito focuses primarily on the elements that influence the teaching and learning of Portuguese as a foreign language in the United States context. He has published several peer-reviewed articles in these two areas. His research interests include language, identity and power, language variation and change, language and race, discourse analysis, critical discourse analysis, media discourse, and Portuguese as a foreign or additional language.
Language, identity, and power
Language variation, and change
Language and race
Discourse analysis
Critical discourse analysis
Media discourse
Portuguese as a foreign or additional language.
Portuguese for Spanish Speakers I and II
Elemantary Portuguese I and II
Intermediate Portuguese I and II
Portuguese Conversation
Brazilian Cultural and Social Issues
Brazilian Cinema
Introduction to Luso-Afro-Brazilian Literature
Ph.D. in Linguistics. Georgetown University. 2016.
M.S. in Linguistics. Georgetown University. 2013.
M.A. in Mass Communications and Media Studies. Howard University. 2010.
Graduate Certificate in International Studies. Howard University. 2010.
B.A. Portuguese and Linguistics. Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. 2006.
Brito, Edvan P. and Rachel M. Hernández. (Forthcoming). Perspectives on reduced forms instruction in Portuguese as a foreign language. Journal of the National Council of Less Commonly Taught Languages.
Brito, Edvan P. 2019. A sociolinguistic analysis of word-final /s/ aspiration in a Rio de Janeiro favela. Journal of Portuguese Linguistics, 18(1). 1-20. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/jpl.205
Fernandes, Eugênia, Edvan P. Brito, and Célia Cordeiro (Eds.). 2018. Estratégias e materiais para o ensino de Português como língua estrangeira [Strategies and materials for the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language]. Roosevelt, New Jersey: Boa Vista Press.
Brito, Edvan P. The variation of obligatory preposition-article contractions in the interlanguage of adult learners of Portuguese. Revista do GEL, 15(3). 241-256. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21165/gel.v15i3.2390
Brito, Edvan P. 2017. “I love homosexuals like I love gangsters”: Epistemics and evidentiality in a Brazilian hybrid television news interview. Text & Talk, 37 (5). 561-585. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/text-2017-0019
Brito, Edvan P. 2016. The variation of post-vowel –s in the Portuguese dialect of Rio de Janeiro. Cadernos de Estudos Linguísticos, 58 (1). 139-151.
Brito, Edvan P. 2015. Grammatical gender in the interlanguage of English-speaking learners of Portuguese. Portuguese Language Journal, 9. Article 7.
Brito, Edvan P. 2013. Strategies of racial identity negotiation of Brazilian immigrants in the United States. Revista Multidisciplinar Acadêmica Vozes dos Vales, (Especial Issue “Brazil Abroad: Debates on Portuguese Language and Brazilian Culture for Foreigners”), 2(4). 1-13.
Brito, Edvan P. 2010. Estudo comparativo das palavras-chave do campo das ações afirmativas no português brasileiro e no inglês americano [Comparative study of affirmative action keywords in Brazilian Portuguese and American English]. Plurais: Revista Multidisciplinar da UNEB, 1(1). 44-60.
Brito, Edvan P. 2009. Comparative study of affirmative action keywords in Brazilian Portuguese and American English. In Vinícius R. Vieira and Jacquelyn Johnson (eds.), Pictures and Mirrors: Race and Ethnicity in Brazil and the United States, 265-289. São Paulo: FEA/USP.
Assistant Professor of Portuguese, Defense Language Institute (DLIFLC), 2015-2016.
Visiting Instructor of Spanish and Portuguese, Dickinson College, 2014-2015.
Portuguese Linguistics Consultant, IBM, January-August 2014.
Portuguese Lecturer, Howard University, 2010-2014.
New Faculty Commendation for Teaching Commitment. University of Arkansas Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center. 2019.
Travel Assistance Program for Faculty. University of Arkansas Provost's Office. 2019.
New Faculty Commendation for Teaching Commitment. University of Arkansas Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center. 2018.
Robert C. and Sandra Connor Endowed Faculty Fellowship Award, J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, University of Arkansas. 2018
Travel Assistance Program for Faculty. University of Arkansas Provost's Office. 2018.
New Faculty Commendation for Teaching Commitment. University of Arkansas Wally Cordes Teaching and Faculty Support Center. 2017.
Travel Assistance Program for Faculty. University of Arkansas Provost's Office. 2017.
Travel Assistance Program for Faculty. University of Arkansas Provost's Office. 2016.
Research Camp Fellowship. University of Arkansas. 2016
Startalk Portuguese Teacher Training Program Fellowship. US Department of Education. 2014.
Fulbright Program/ Luso-American Foundation Fellowship. Portuguese as a Foreign Language Teacher Training at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. 2012.
Race, Development and Social Inequality Exchange Program Fellowship. FIPSE-US/CAPES-Brazil. 2005.
