My principal area of research is Golden Age Portuguese and Spanish Literature. I am particularly interested in the representations of beauty and ugliness in the various literary genres of early modern Iberia: emblems, manuals of behavior, poetry, novel and theatre. Within the traditional concepts of beauty and ugliness, I am interested in the contradictions and intersections of literary and social discourses that focus on the construction of gender. Therefore, marginal and deviant characters that challenge traditional constructions are of upmost importance.

Other research interests include:

1. Questions of insularity, emigration and identity in Azorean culture and literature, with emphasis on the works of the Azorean writer José Dias de Melo.
2. Food and identity, with special interest in travel literature and the encounters with the other.
3. Women’s writing.
4. Disguise and performance