Onésimo Teotónio de Almeida was born on December 18th 1946 on the island of São Miguel. He began his studies at the Seminary of Angra and obtained a Bachelor’s degree at the Portuguese Catholic University, before emigrating to the United States in 1972. At Brown University he completed his MA in 1977 and his PhD in 1980. The following year he was appointed Assistant Professor at the Center for Portuguese and Brazilian Studies at Brown. In 1987 he was promoted to Associate Professor and again in 1991 to Full Professor. With the transformation of the Centre into a Department, Onésimo is elected its Director from 1991 to 2003.
In addition to his works in book form, he has written hundreds of articles in magazines and collective books. He founded and runs the publisher Gávea-Brown, dedicated to publishing Portuguese literature and culture in English. He is co-editor of the e-Journal of Portuguese History and of Pessoa Plural, both electronic journals edited in international cooperation. He is co-editor of a collection of works of Lusophone Studies at Sussex Academic Press and co-directs the Bellis Azorica series of Azorean works in English translation.
Since 1979 he has kept a bimonthly programme on the Portuguese Channel in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and for two years he kept a weekly programme – “Onésimo à conversa com…”, broadcast on RTP Açores.
He was also vice-president of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities and of the International Association of Lusitanistas. He was elected a Member of the International Academy of Portuguese Culture, a correspondent partner of the Academy of the Navy and of the Academy of Sciences of Lisbon.
In 1997, he was awarded the rank of Commander of the Order of Infante D. Henrique, and in 2018, he received the Grand Cross of the same Order.
In 2019, the President of the Republic appointed him President of the Portugal Day Committee of Honour. In this capacity, he was an official speaker at the celebrations of June 10th.
In 2021, Doctor Onésimo de Almeida was elected President of the Committee of Honour for Ponta Delgada’s candidacy to the European Capital of Culture, in 2027.
For Onésimo de Almeida’s remarkable academic, professional, literary and cultural career, marked by an exemplary contribution to the preservation of the Portuguese legacy in the United States, the Azorean Emigrants Association, in July 2021, had the honour of decorating Onésimo with the Azores of a Thousand Islands Award.
Last modified: 10 de February, 2022
