Has a PhD in Philosophy from Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA (1980), and between 1975 and 2024, he taught in the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at the same university (as Full Professor since 1990), having been its director between 1992 and 2003. He is currently Professor Emeritus.

Author and editor of dozens of books, winner of several awards. Author of more than two hundred essays published in collective books and academic journals, having founded and directed some of them. He was the founder and director of Gávea-Brown, dedicated to the Portuguese presence in North America. His most recent work is Diálogos Lusitanos (Quetzal, 2024). He was Vice-President of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities. His most recent awards include the Grã-Cruz da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique, by the President of the Republic (2019); the Honorary Chairs' Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Humanities, by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities (2021), among others.