Literature and cinema of Portuguese-speaking African countries; Brazilian literature and cinema; migration and transnationalism; Indian Ocean Studies.

In my research, I address the question of how (postcolonial) cultural identities are negotiated and represented in the contemporary, globalized Portuguese-speaking world, with a special focus on African and Afrodescendant communities. Through analysis of different media (written and oral literatures, cinema and audio-visual production), I try to offer a better understanding of the ideas of (un)rootedness, belonging, migration and displacement, as narrated by canonical and upcoming Lusophone writers, filmmakers and performers.

Awards:
Fernão Mendes Pinto Prize 2015
Prize for the best dissertation in all academic disciplines which contributes to the rapprochement of the Portuguese-speaking countries awarded by Associação das Universidades de Língua Portuguesa (AULP) and Comunidade dos Países de Língua Portuguesa (CPLP).

Individual grants:
November 2020 - February 2021
Faculty of Humanities Impact Fund grant
Grant awarded for increasing the social impact of research conducted within the NITE project. Collaboration with Marjan Beijering (Geschidenislab) and Davidson Rodrigues (DRM) and student assistant Maxime Schut (BA International Studies) to archive stories of first-generation Cape Verdean migrants to Rotterdam in Rotterdam Stadsarchief and disseminate the collection via a launching event and a podcast.

August 2020 - January 2021
Johanna Nijland grant  
Research grant for female academics at LUCAS funded by Dr. Susanna de Beer and Dr. Nadine Akkerman out of their NWO Aspasia grants.

Collaborative projects:
May 2019-January 2023
Co-investigator in the research project NITE
Title – Night Spaces: Migration, Culture and Integration in Europe
Project Leader – Dr. Sara Brandellero
Host Institution – LUCAS, Leiden Universiteit
Funding – Hera.2.060
https://www.universiteitleiden.nl/en/research/research-projects/humanities/nite#tab-1 

August 2016 - November 2020
Member of the research project NILUS
Title – Narratives of the Indian Ocean in the Lusophone World
Principal Investigator – Dr. Ana Mafalda Leite
Host Institution – CESA/ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa
Funding – FCT PTDC/CPCELT/4868/2014
https://cesa.rc.iseg.ulisboa.pt/nilus/

July 2013 – September 2015
Member of the research project NEVIS
Title – Written and Visual Narratives of the Postcolonial Nation
Principal Investigator – Dr. Ana Mafalda Leite
Host Institution – CESA/ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa
Funding – FCT PTDC/CPC-ELT/4939/2012
https://cesa.rc.iseg.ulisboa.pt/nilus/projetos-anteriores/nevis/

March 2009 – November 2011
Member of the research project NNPC
Title – Postcolonial Nation and Narrative
Principal Investigator – Dr. Ana Mafalda Leite
Host Institution – CESA/ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa
Funding – FCT PTDC/AFR/68941/2006
https://cesa.rc.iseg.ulisboa.pt/nilus/projetos-anteriores/nnpc/

Krakowska, Kamila. Na Demanda da Ideia de Nação: as viagens pós-coloniais na obra de Mário de Andrade e Mia Couto. Lisboa: Instituto Camões, Fernão Mendes Pinto Prize Series, 2019.

Leite, Ana Mafalda, Jessica Falconi, Kamila Krakowska, Carmen Tindó Secco, and Sheila
Khan. Voices, Languages, Discourses. Interpreting the Present and the Memory of Nation in Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau and São Tomé and Prı́ncipe. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2019.

Leite, Ana Mafalda, Sheila Khan, Jessica Falconi and Kamila Krakowska (eds.). Speaking the Postcolonial Nation: Interviews from Angola and Mozambique. Oxford: Peter Lang, 2014.