Women's and Gender Studies

Education

• PhD Candidate, Educational Studies/Urban Education, Eastern Michigan University, 2018-
• Graduate Certificate, Women’s and Gender Studies, Eastern Michigan University, 2022
• PhD, Education/Brazilian Educational Thought and Teacher Education, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Brazil, 2016
• MA, Education/Brazilian Educational Thought and Teacher Education, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Brazil, 2011
• BS, Psychology, University of the Extreme South of Santa Catarina, Brazil, 2007

Interests and Expertise

• Feminist Popular Education
• Paulo Freire and bell hooks Pedagogical Practices
• Place-Based Education
• Disability Justice
• Mad Studies
• Transnational Feminism
• The Intersections of Gender and Sexuality
• Autoethnographic Research

Courses

• WGST 200 Intro to Women’s Studies
• WGST 202 Intro to Gender and Sexuality
• WGST 202 Intro to Gender and Sexuality–College in Prison Program. Students: Michigan’s incarcerated women at Women's Huron Valley Correctional Facility (Winter 2024) 
• WGST 550 Feminist Thought (Winter 2024)

Publications and Presentations

Peer-Reviewed Articles

• Brighente, M. F. (2022). State welfare automation, working-class agency, and poverty. Poverty and Public Policy, 14, 1-3. https://doi.org/10.1002/pop4.339
• Gally, E., Brighente, M. F., Flanagan, C., & Lowenstein, E. (2022). Place-based civic science-collective environmental action and solidarity for eco-resilience. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 27), 39-46. https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/camh.12537
• https://doi.org/10.5212/OlharProfr.v.23.2020.16919.209209230242.0924
• Brighente, M. F., & Mesquida, P. (2016). Paulo Freire: da denúncia da educação bancária ao anúncio de uma pedagogia libertadora. [Paulo Freire: From the denunciation of banking education to the announcement of a liberating pedagogy.] Pró-Posições, 27, 155-177. https://doi.org/10.1590/0103-7307201607909

Invited Articles, Chapters, and Foreword:

• Brighente, M. F. (2021). Pedagogias da Liberdade em Rousseau e Freire. [Pedagogies of freedom in Rousseau and Freire.] In V. Borges & P. Mesquida (Org.). 1921- Paulo Freire-2021: 100 anos de ética, liberdade e educação (pp. 45-73). CRV.
• Barros, S., & Brighente, M. F. (2021). Dialogando com Freire e Foucault: a interdição do corpo na educação e os limites do ensino da linguagem. [Dialoguing with Freire and Foucault: the interdiction of the body in education and the limits of language teaching.] Ensino, Saúde e Ambiente, 14, 49-78. https://doi.org/10.22409/RESA2021.V14IESP..A51040

• Brighente, M. F. (2021). Prefácio. [Foreword]. In E. de A. Orlando, & P. Mesquida (Orgs.), Paulo Freire: (re)leituras e práticas, 9-12. CRV. https://www.editorafi.org/262paulofreire
• Brighente, M. F., & Barros, S. (2021). Do quintal frondoso de Casa Amarela para o mundo: Paulo Freire além de fronteiras. [From the leafy backyard of Casa Amarela to the world: Paulo Freire beyond borders]. Prefácio. [Foreword]. In V. Borges, A reconstrução de uma ética pedagógica libertadora à luz de Paulo Freire, 15-16. CRV.
• Brighente, M. F. (2020). Feminismo socialista e pedagogia das mulheres oprimidas: um caminho libertador em tempos deneoliberalismo [Socialist feminism and pedagogy of the oppressed women: a liberating path in times of neoliberalism]. Olhar de Professor, 23, 1-15. 

Conferences

• Brighente, M. F. (2023, October 26-29). Reimagining pedagogical practices through teaching to transgress in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality courses (based on the teaching philosophies of Paulo Freire and bell hooks) [Workshop facilitation]. NWSA Annual Conference, Baltimore, MD, United States. 
• Brighente, M. F. (2022, April 21-26). Reading the local, transforming the world: Paulo Freire at a community program in Michigan [Conference presentation]. AERA Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States. 
• Barros, S., & Brighente, M. F. (2022, April 21-26). Rethinking the body through Freire and Foucault: Notes for an emancipatory education [Conference presentation]. AERA Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States. 
• DeCamillis, J., & Brighente, M. F. (2022, April 9-12). The utopia that we strive for: Enriching place-based education through Disability studies [Conference presentation]. Society for Disability Studies Annual Conference. Virtual. 
• Brighente, M. F. (2021, November 3-7). Stories of popular education around southeastern Michigan: Praxis of coalition building [Conference presentation]. AESA / American Educational Studies Association Conference, Portland, OR, United States. 
• Brighente, M. F., & DeCamillis, J. (2021, October 1-3). Enriching place-based education through Disability studies [Workshop facilitation]. Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education, Ypsilanti, MI, United States. 
• Brighente, M. F. (2020, June 15-18). Listening to the silenced and interdicted voices of women through a feminist popular education [Conference presentation, Event canceled due to COVID-19]. Gender and Education Association International Conference, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. 
• Brighente, M. F. (2019, October 30–November 3). Paulo Freire's Liberatory Pedagogy and Feminist Movements in Education [Conference presentation]. AESA / American Educational Studies Association Conference, Baltimore, MD, United States. 
• Brighente, M. F. (2016, August 17-20). Michel Foucault and Paulo Freire: the history of docilization and interdiction of the body in Brazilian Education [Conference presentation]. 38th annual meeting of the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE), Chicago, IL, United States. 

Grants, Honors and Awards

• 2022 –Ecological Society of America Annual Meeting Diversity and Inclusion

Scholarship, Ecological Society of America (ESA).

• 2022 –Three-year fellowship, Department of Teacher Education, EMU, Ypsilanti, MI, United States. 

Professional Summary

Guest-Speaker

• Brighente, M. F. (2022, August 18). Creating a Place for Critical Pedagogy in Ecology Education [Workshop facilitator]. Ecology Society of America Conference, Montreal, Canada. Virtual.  
• Brighente, M. F. (2022, April 6). Vozes locais, histórias transnacionais: Rumo a uma solidariedade feminista em um mundo globalizado [Local Voices, Transnational Stories: Towards a feminist solidarity in a globalized world]. Guest speaker at the International Advanced Seminar and Academic Year Opening]. PUC-PR Graduate Schools of Education, Theology, and Human Rights and Public Policies, Curitiba, PR, Brazil, supported by Universidad Pedagógica Nacional (UPN, Hidalgo, México). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkZQ0WNEOUc&t=3228s
• Brighente, M. F. (2022, February 3). Disability and place-based education in and beyond the classroom [Moderator]. Michigan State University (MSU) Tollgate Farm Perspectives: Culturally Responsive Place-based Education Series 2021-2022, Michigan, United States. Virtual. 
• Brighente, M. F. (2022, February 3). Disability and place-based education in and beyond the classroom [Moderator]. Michigan State University (MSU) Tollgate Farm Perspectives: Culturally Responsive Place-based Education Series 2021-2022, Michigan, United States. Virtual. 
• Brighente, M. F. (2021, April 30). Seeking a Freirean and feminist praxis in Education. Curitiba, Brazil [Guest speaker]. International Advanced Seminar Centenary of Paulo Freire: 24 years of present absence. Curitiba, PR, Brazil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv47__qdM5A&t=4575s
• Brighente, M. F. (2021, March 8). Theory: Pedagogy of the oppressed [Guest speaker]. Washtenaw General Defense Committee, Washtenaw County, MI, United States. Virtual.