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I use this space to blog in English and Portuguese on a variety of topics: my research, academic life, the experience of living in the United States as a Brazilian, trivia, languages, guinea pigs.
I write some of these posts with an academic audience in mind; others are designed for the general reader curious about fun things.
Wildlife photography is one of my hobbies. I share some of it on Instagram:
Roger Maioli
Dec 9, 20247 min read
Quitting meat, for the already inclined: Part 2 of 2
This is the second half of a two-part essay on quitting meat (and other animal products such as dairy and eggs). The first half is...
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Roger Maioli
Nov 19, 202412 min read
Quitting meat, for the already inclined: Part 1 of 2
(To be welcoming to all readers, this essay avoids graphic descriptions of violence against animals.) Â Quitting meat is easier for some...
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Roger Maioli
Aug 6, 202412 min read
A guide to statements of purpose: the humanities PhD
The statement of purpose (or SoP) is the most important document for applying to a PhD program in the humanities. Writing it is hard even...
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Roger Maioli
Feb 7, 20234 min read
Should you get a guinea pig?
A guide to help you decide My wife and I have had guinea pigs for eight years now. They have been the joy of our lives, and we...
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Roger Maioli
Jun 15, 20221 min read
Inheriting Longbourn: the entail in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
Modern readers of Pride and Prejudice often wonder why the Bennet sisters cannot inherit Longbourn, their father's estate. One common but...
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Roger Maioli
Jun 15, 20223 min read
Uma visita a William Shakespeare
Visitar a casa de William Shakespeare, em Stratford-upon-Avon, é diferente de visitar as casas de autores ingleses como Jane Austen ou...
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Roger Maioli
Nov 16, 20203 min read
One pleasure of reading Austen
Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors in any language. There are many reasons for loving her work, but one is her confidence that not...
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Roger Maioli
Nov 6, 20208 min read
Jane Austen e o leitor moderno: Uma entrevista com Roger Maioli
Hoje fui entrevistado por Raquel Sallaberry, conhecedora de Austen e autora do site Jane Austen em Português, que recomendo muito a todos...
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Roger Maioli
Sep 14, 20204 min read
As obras-primas da literatura universal: uma ótica brasileira
Todos conhecemos aquelas listas das obras-primas da literatura universal — os poemas, peças e romances que constituem leitura obrigatória...
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Roger Maioli
Aug 17, 20208 min read
A guide to research in English literary studies
This guide introduces you to basic resources for doing research in English literary studies. Some of these resources are geared towards...
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Roger Maioli
May 11, 20206 min read
Did Schrödinger think that a cat can be dead and alive at the same time?
Schrödinger’s cat is one of the most popular thought experiments in the history of science and philosophy. Proposed in 1935 by the...
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Roger Maioli
May 9, 20208 min read
Guinea pigs are neither pigs nor from Guinea. Then why are they called that in English?
The guinea pig’s name has a complex and enigmatic history. Guinea pigs are originally from South America, where they were locally known...
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Roger Maioli
May 6, 20202 min read
Does Locke say that secondary qualities are just ideas in the mind?
Like philosophers both before and after him, John Locke distinguishes between different qualities in objects. Those that account for...
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Roger Maioli
Apr 28, 202013 min read
In defense of the humanities
Contrary to denials, the attack on the humanities is real and has gone global. Last year, federal universities in my home country,...
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Roger Maioli
Apr 26, 202010 min read
Como fazer doutorado em humanas nos EUA
Última revisão: julho de 2024. Quando me mudei para os EUA para fazer doutorado em 2008, o maior obstáculo que enfrentei foi a falta de...
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