Spanish and Portuguese
Mércia Regina Santana Flannery has a PhD in Linguistics, with a specialization in Sociolinguistics (Narrative Analysis, Discourse Analysis), from Georgetown University. She also has a degree in Letras (Literature, Portuguese and English), and a Master's in Linguistics, from Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil. She has conducted research on Brazilian narratives of racial discrimination, discriminatory discourse, narrative and identity, and the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language. Her book is entitled “Uma introdução à análise da narrativa oral”, and her current research focuses on discriminatory discourse in social media, including online news forums and Facebook in Brazil, and Portuguese as a foreign language. At Penn, she has taught a variety of courses at all levels of Portuguese, and advanced level courses on Luso-Brazilian Culture and Brazilian Cinema. In addition, she has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Midllebury College Portuguese Summer School, Middlebury, Vermont. She is ACTFL OPI/IRL and OPIc certified.
- Português como língua estrangeira – exigências, necessidades e modelos. 2016. In: Lacerda, Rubéns (org.). Português para falantes de outras línguas: interculturalidade, inclusão e políticas linguísticas. Vol.1. São Paulo: Pontes Editores.
- Uma introdução à análise da narrativa oral. 2015. São Paulo: Pontes Editores.
- “Reflexões sobre as abordagens linguísticas para o estudo da narrativa”. Revista de letras de hoje, 46:1, 112-119, jan/mar/2011. Porto Alegre, Brazil: UFRS.
- “De “grandes” a pequenas estórias: contribuições de uma nova perspectiva para a análise da narrativa.” Revista Investigações Linguísticas, 23(2): Julho/2010. UFPE: Recife Brazil.
- “Language, stigma and identity: an analysis of the narrative discourse of racial discrimination.” Luso-Brazilian Review, 45(2)/2008. pp. 154-176.
- “She discriminated against her own race: voicing and identity in a story of discrimination.” Narrative Inquiry, vol. 18 (1)/2008. pp. 111-130.