He holds a doctorate in Portuguese and Africana Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of The Golden Cage: Regeneration in Lusophone African Literature and Culture, editor of Marvels of the African World: African Cultural Patrimony, New World Connections and Identities, and co-editor of The Afro-Brazilian Mind / A Mente Afro-Brasileira: Contemporary Afro-Brazilian Literary and Cultural Criticism. His current research project focuses on the Brazilian manifestation of Yoruba identity.