Jhonni Carr is a Continuing Lecturer in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley. His research and teaching focus on Portuguese language, culture, and the Lusophone world, with particular attention to issues of language, identity, and power. Through his work, he is committed to fostering international academic exchange and strengthening institutional collaborations between UC Berkeley and Portuguese-speaking institutions.
In Spring 2026, Lecturer Carr will host Dr. Thais França through the Center for Portuguese Studies’ Portugal–Berkeley Visiting Professor Program. Dr. França is a distinguished scholar at CIES-Iscte, University Institute of Lisbon (Iscte), Portugal, and will be serving as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Brown University from January to May 2026. Her research lies at the intersection of sociolinguistics, race, migration, and postcolonial studies, with a particular focus on students from African Portuguese-speaking countries and Brazil in contemporary Portugal.
During her visit to UC Berkeley, Dr. França will deliver a public lecture co-sponsored by the Center for Portuguese Studies. Her work examines how colonialhierarchies continue to shape linguistic ideologies, in which European Portuguese is positioned as the normative standard while other Portuguese varieties are stigmatized, contributing to processes of racialization and discrimination. In addition to the lecture, Dr. França and Lecturer Carr will meet to explore future collaborations in research, publications, conferences, student mobility, and institutional partnerships, including potential initiatives with the Luso-American Foundation for Development. Her visit represents a valuable opportunity to deepen scholarly exchange, expand research networks, and advance the internationalization mission of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at UC Berkeley.