Marguerite Itamar Harrison

Marguerite Itamar Harrison is Professor of Spanish & Portuguese at Smith College, where she teaches interactive language and interdisciplinary courses in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies. She contributes to programs in Latin American and Latino/a Studies and the Study of Women and Gender, and is affiliated with the Concentration in Translation Studies.

Harrison's educational background includes a Ph.D. from Brown University, an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin, and a B.A. from Mary Baldwin College. Prior to Smith, she taught at Harvard University and was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Brown.

Professor Harrison's research focuses on contemporary Brazilian fiction and art, examining how literature and visual culture contribute to raising social consciousness regarding gender, class, and race. Her scholarship particularly addresses Brazilian filmmaking and its commentary on the dictatorship's effects on marginalized groups, with emphasis on women filmmakers' challenges to dominant cinematic codes. Raised in a Brazilian-American household, she is also a practitioner of literary translation and has guest-edited a special issue of the translation journal Metamorphoses devoted to contemporary Brazilian fiction.

Harrison's recent publications demonstrate consistent engagement with Brazilian cultural production, particularly examining intersections of gender, race, and class through literature and film. Her work increasingly incorporates visual arts and interdisciplinary approaches, with notable focus on women filmmakers, contemporary authors like Luiz Ruffato and Adriana Lisboa, and street artists like OSGEMEOS, showing how artistic expression challenges dominant social narratives in Brazil.

• Sherrerd teaching award

Professor Harrison has edited volumes including Uma Cidade em Camadas, a collection of transnational essays on contemporary Brazilian writer Luiz Ruffato. Her teaching portfolio includes innovative courses such as The Brazilian Body, Eco Brazil: Key Environmental Issues, Questions of Travel: Narratives of Journeys and Migrations, and Multiple Lenses of Marginality: New Brazilian Filmmaking by Women, reflecting her interdisciplinary approach to Brazilian studies. She maintains active office hours for Fall 2025, demonstrating ongoing commitment to student mentorship.

Her work bridges literary scholarship, film studies, and cultural analysis, with particular attention to marginalized perspectives in Brazilian society and the ways artistic expression challenges dominant narratives through multiple media forms.