Heloisa Pait

Heloisa Pait, a Fulbright alumna, teaches at the São Paulo State University Julio de Mesquita Filho. She investigates the role of new means of communication in democratic life. In her doctoral dissertation at the New School for Social Research she analyzed how soap opera writers and viewers attempted to make mass communication a meaningful activity. She has written on the reception of international news, on media use by Brazilian youth, and on the meaning given to means of communication in Brazilian universities. Looking at the history of written culture in Brazil, she examined the roots of national development and democracy; she also edited the book Media, Development Democracy with international scholars. Her goal as a teacher is to help students develop autonomous thinking, learn how to work in groups, and express their ideas in public forums; her courses blend classical sociological texts and the examination of contemporary phenomena. She writes extensively for the general public on media, culture and politics for Brazilian and American venues; she also writes fiction. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)