About
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 an established public humanities scholar. Dr Paula is a
Vital Voices Visionaries Fellow and received the 2024 GenCen Inspiration Award and the 2024-25 Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award in recognition of the public engagement work. She is a Campus Compact Engaged Scholar 25-26. Leonora is the co-founder of the Black Women Shaping AfroFutures, a global platform for Black Women Leadership and Innovation.
News Mentions
Selected Awards and Fellowships
- Campus Compact Engaged Scholar 2025-2026. 2025
- Research Institute for Structural Change Arts and Education Fellow. 2025
- Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award. 2025
- Strategic International Partnership Award. African Studies Center. International Studies and Programs. 2025
- Digital Humanities @MSU Award. 2025
- Strategic International Partnership Award. Center for Gender in Global Context. International Studies and Programs. 2024
- Vital Voices Visionaries Fellow. Vital Voices Global Partnership. 2024
- Inspiration Award in Community Engagement. Center for Gender in Global Context. International Studies and Programs. 2024
- Curriculum Development Award. International Studies and Programs. 2023
- Undergraduate Education Significant Impact. College of Arts and Letters. 2022
- Research Fellowship. American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS). 2021
Education
Ph.D., University of California San Diego
M.A. University of California San Diego
M.A. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
B.A. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais 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
“Encruzilhadas and Black Geographies in Eliana Alves Cruz’
O Crime do Cais do Valongo.”
Afro-Brazilian Literature Reader. Amherst College Press. 2025
“Black Feminist Spatial Imagination and Geographies of Liberation in
Indivisível.”
Meridians: feminism, race, transnationalism. Accepted.
“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
Upcoming Talks and Conferences
Comics Studies Conference
I am thrilled to moderate this conversation with Felipe Maldonado and Marcos Maciel at the Comics Studies Conference. We will talk about the remarkable Patrimônio Gráfico series, published by the Instituto Guimarães Rosa of Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in partnership with Editora Veneta. The series focuses on heritage preservation, and the books represent some of Brazil’s UNESCO-recognized World Heritage sites and expressions of intangible cultural heritage. The first volumes in the collection focus on Afro-Brazilian cultural heritage, and the inaugural book celebrates the history of capoeira. We will discuss the role of comics in memory recovery and preservation, as well as epistemic reparations.
4th Session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent
As we envision the future, it’s crucial to record our strategies for reparatory justice, human rights for Black women and girls, and transformative policymaking. Black women across the globe have been working towards more equitable futures, making the documentation of their efforts essential for understanding the present and shaping the future.
The
Black Women Shaping AfroFutures and
Musings Lab will host a workshop highlighting the importance of archiving our work now—serving as a roadmap for knowledge-sharing, resisting erasure, and redefining what constitutes an archive. Participants will explore what to document and how, as well as practical steps to build their own archives.
Memberships
Latin American Studies Association (LASA)
Brazilian Studies Association (BRASA)
Modern Language Association (MLA)
Associação Brasileira de Pesquisadores Negros (ABPN)
American Portuguese Studies Association (APSA)
