Maria Adelaide Correia Monteiro de Freitas
She earned her first two university degrees in America: a Bachelor’s in Portuguese (Bilingual Teaching) at Southeastern Massachusetts University (now UMass Dartmouth), and a Master’s in Comparative Literature at City College of New York (CUNY), where she would also complete her doctoral course work in the same field. In 1978, she returned to Portugal and was invited the next year to join the faculty of the University of the Azores, where she taught North American Literature, Society, and Culture until her retirement.
For two years she conducted research at the University of Coimbra library (on a fellowship from the Instituto de Alta Cultura). At the University of the Azores, she created the Center for English Speaking Cultures, and was the Chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures. She earned her Ph.D. in North American Literature at the University of the Azores in 1987 with a thesis on the work of Herman Melville, “Moby-Dick: A Ilha e o Mar, Metáforas do Carácter do Povo Americano” [Moby-Dick: The Island and the Sea, Metaphors on the Character of the American People].
Under the name of Adelaide Batista, she published several works, including, among others: De Emigração Tecido [Woven from Emigration] (prose poetry); João de Melo e a Literatura Açoriana [João de Melo and Azorean Literature] (essays); Viagem ao Centro do Mundo [Journey to the Center of the Earth] (poetry); Regresso a Casa: Uma Proposta de Intervenção Social [Homecoming: A Proposal for Social Intervention] (essays); Nordeste: E no Princípio Era a Ilha [Nordeste: And in the Beginning Was the Island] (prose poetry). Under the name of Adelaide Freitas, she published Nas Duas Margens: da Literatura Norte-Americana e Açoriana [On Two Shores: North American and Azorean Literature] (essays).
In collaboration with husband Vamberto Freitas, she prepared the study “Women’s literary contribution in the Portuguese region of the Azores.”
In 1989, Adelaide Freitas was appointed by the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores as representative of the Azores on the Conselho Nacional de Educação [National Council of Education]. Between 1991 and 1996, she also served on the city council of Nordeste, and was President of the Instituto de Ação Social dos Açores [Institute of Social Action of the Azores].
On May 21, 2018, she was awarded the Autonomous Insignia of Recognition from the Regional Government of the Azores as part of the annual celebrations of the Day of the Azores.
ISBN: 9789897352881
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