Yeda Pessoa de Castro facts for kids

Yeda Pessoa de Castro is a Brazilian expert who studies how language and culture are connected. This is called an ethnolinguist. She earned her PhD in African Languages in Zaire, which is now the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Today, she helps the Museu da Língua Portuguesa (Museum of the Portuguese Language) in São Paulo with African languages. She is also a member of the Academia de Letras da Bahia and works with a UNESCO project called "Slave Route." This project helps people learn about the history of slavery.

About Yeda Pessoa de Castro

Yeda Pessoa de Castro was born in Salvador, in the Brazilian state of Bahia. She used to be a teacher at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Now, she is a professor and advisor at the University of the State of Bahia (UNEB). There, she teaches about African languages and cultures in Brazil. She also started a group called GEAALC, which studies African and Afro-Brazilian languages and cultures.

Key Achievements

• She has been a special advisor on African languages for a project at the Estação da Luz da Nossa Língua in São Paulo since 2004.
• From 1986 to 1988, she worked as a Cultural Attache at the Brazilian Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago. This means she helped share Brazilian culture in that country.
• She was the first Brazilian to complete a postgraduate degree at an African university in her field.
• In Bahia, she led the Centro de Estudos Afro-Orientais (Center for Afro-Oriental Studies). She also helped create the Afro-Brazilian Museum in Salvador.
• Her research, which has lasted over 30 years, shows how much African languages, especially Bantu languages, influenced Brazilian Portuguese. Her work is very important for understanding Brazil's culture.
• She has written two very important books: Falares africanos na Bahia: um vocabulário afro-brasileiro (African Speech in Bahia: an Afro-Brazilian Vocabulary) and A língua mina-jeje no Brasil: um falar africano em Ouro Preto do século XVIII (The Mina-Jeje Language in Brazil: an African Speech in Ouro Preto of the 18th Century). These books are considered classics in her field.

Books She Wrote

• (2009) - Falares africanos na Bahia: um vocabulário afro-brasileiro. (2nd edition - new print)
• (2005) - Falares africanos na Bahia: um vocabulário afro-brasileiro. (2nd edition)
• (2002) - A língua mina-jeje no Brasil: um falar africano em Ouro Preto do século XVIII.
• (2001) - Falares africanos na Bahia - um vocabulário afro-brasileiro.

Awards and Special Recognitions

Yeda Pessoa de Castro has received many honors for her important work:

• In 1997, she was named a Comendadora of the Order of Rio Branco by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is a high honor given by the government.
• In 1989, she received the Comenda Maria Quitéria from the City Council of Salvador.
• She was honored by the Afro-Brazilian Cult Foundation of Bahia in 1994.
• In 2008, she was recognized as a great helper of the Afro-Brazilian Bantu Terreiros (places of worship) in São Paulo.
• She was honored by the Afoxé Filhos do Congo during Carnival in 2007 in Salvador.
• In 2008, the Cultural Group Afoxé Loni honored her in Berlin, Germany, for her dedication to studying Afro-Brazilian culture and language.

See also

In Spanish: Yeda Pessoa de Castro para niños