Leonora Souza Paula

paulaleo@msu.edu

Assistant Professor

English

Biography

Leonora Souza Paula specializes in Literary Studies and Latin American Studies, with a focus on intersections of race, gender, urban culture, and memory in contemporary Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Diasporic culture. Her current research examines the role of Black spatial imagination in the process of claiming literature and culture as a form of heritage recovery and epistemic reparation. Leonora is an American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) fellow and a Campus Compact Engaged Scholar. Dr Paula is a John K. Hudzik Emerging Leader in Advancing International Studies and Program Award Winner and Vital Voices Visionaries Fellow. She is the co-founder of the Black Women Shaping AfroFutures, a global platform for Black Women Leadership and Innovation.

Works

Academic Publications

“Cultural Diplomacy through Heritage Preservation: The Role of Brazil’s Graphic Heritage Program.” The International Journal of Cultural Policy. Under Revision.

“Encruzilhadas and Black Geographies in Eliana Alves Cruz’ O Crime do Cais do Valongo.” Claiming Black Brazil: Literature, Culture, and the Politics of Diaspora. Amherst College Press. Forthcoming 2026.

“Black Feminist Spatial Imagination and Geographies of Liberation in Indivisível.” Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism. Forthcoming 2026

Quando arrebentam os Nós. Joice Oliveira. Critical Foreword. Ed Unicamp. 2026

“Um gesto de afronta.” Afterword in Quantas Tantas. Mel Adún. Salvador: Ogum’s Toques, p.137-146. 2021

“Afro-Ancestralidade and the Construction of Urban Memory in Conceição Evaristo’s Becos da Memória.” Brasil/Brazil Journal of Brazilian Literature. N. 63, Vol. 33, p.194-210. 2020

“Pixação and the Production of Spatial Justice by the Urban Excluded.” Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies. Vol. 22, p. 151-163. 2018

“Pixação in São Paulo: Subverting the Lettered City.” In: Tambling J. (ed.) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Urban Literary Studies. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 2018

“Literatura Periférica: Challenging São Paulo’s Cultural Segregation.” The International Journal of the Constructed Environment. Vol. 7 Issue 2:13-24. 2016

“Cultural Responses to Urban Violence in 21st Century Brazil: New Writers Speak from the Margins.” Hispanófila. 178.1: 67-79. 2016

“Crisis and Revolution: Activist Art in Neoliberal Buenos Aires.” Imprints of Revolution: Visual Representations of Resistance. Lisa Calvente and Guadalupe García (eds.) London: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2016

“eles eram muitos cavalos: Challenging the Regulating Fiction of the Global City.” Romance Notes. 54.1: 95-102. 2014

Public Humanities Publications

Brazil Office Alliance. “Abdias Nascimento Celebrated at African Studies Center’s 65th Anniversary – Honoring a Legacy of Black Activism and Thought.” 2025

Geledés Instituto da Mulher Negra. “O Brasil renova seu compromisso com a preservação da memória, por justiça epistêmica e pelo direito à memória.” 2025

Brazil Office Alliance. “Brazil Renews its Commitment to Memory Preservation.” 2025

Global Women Leaders Voices Guest Contributor. “Why Language Matters in the Global Agenda for Gender Equality” 2024

Selected Awards and Fellowships

John K. Hudzik Emerging Leader in Advancing International Studies and Program Award. 2026

Curriculum Development Award. International Studies and Programs. 2026

Launch Award Program. Office for Inclusive Excellence and Impact. 2025

Creating Inclusive Excellence Award. Office of Institutional Equity. 2025

Campus Compact Engaged Scholar 2025-2026. 2025