Humanities
Tais Xavier Carvalho!
Portuguese and Comparative Literature
Indiana University
“We can use them to create a braid. And Dream of a Change”—Politics, Identity, and Culture in Ana Maria Machado and Ondjaki’s Children’s Literature.
Tais Xavier Carvalho
Tais Xavier Carvalho, born and raised in Brasília, Brazil, received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English Language and Literature from Universidade de Brasília (UnB) in 2016 and her M.A. in Lusophone Literature from Indiana University in 2018. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the Portuguese Program at Indiana University, pursuing a minor in comparative literature. During her studies at IU, she developed an interest in children’s literature and wrote her master’s thesis, “We Can Use Them to Create a Braid.” And Dream of a Change” – Politics, Identity, and Culture in Ana Maria Machado’s and Ondjaki’s Children’s Literature, under the supervision of Dr. Luciana Namorato. The work analyzes the connection between Brazilian and Angolan political issues and children’s books written by Ana Maria Machado and Ondjaki and was selected for the University Graduate School Distinguished Master’s Thesis Award. For her Ph.D., Taís intends to keep doing research related to children’s literature written in Brazil during the military dictatorship.