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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:

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...
Roger Maioli
Aug 6, 202412 min read
606 views
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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...
Roger Maioli
Feb 7, 20234 min read
134 views
1 comment


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...
Roger Maioli
Jun 15, 20221 min read
482 views
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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...
Roger Maioli
Jun 15, 20223 min read
66 views
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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...
Roger Maioli
Nov 16, 20203 min read
121 views
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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...
Roger Maioli
Nov 6, 20208 min read
105 views
0 comments


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...
Roger Maioli
Sep 14, 20204 min read
2,950 views
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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...
Roger Maioli
Aug 17, 20208 min read
552 views
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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...
Roger Maioli
May 11, 20206 min read
321 views
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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...
Roger Maioli
May 9, 20208 min read
1,455 views
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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...
Roger Maioli
May 6, 20202 min read
297 views
0 comments


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...
Roger Maioli
Apr 26, 202010 min read
1,227 views
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