Derek Allen is a PhD student in Luso-Brazilian Literature and Culture. He received his MA in Portuguese from Indiana University in 2020, where he was also an Associate Instructor of Spanish and Portuguese. He received his BA in Portuguese from Brigham Young University in 2014, where he was awarded Outstanding Portuguese Major, and graduated with minors in English and Management, while also working as a research assistant for the Department of Plant Sciences. He first learned Portuguese while spending two years as a volunteer service representative in the Luso-African countries of Mozambique and Angola. He has studied abroad at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Universidade de Lisboa, and ISCTE – Instituto Universitário de Lisboa in Lisbon, Portugal, as well as at Pontifícia Universidade Católica in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Through the John L. Simpson Pre-Dissertation Research Fellowship, he has also conducted independent research in Ceará and Amazonas, Brazil.
