All Courses in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies
Primarily for Undergraduates
Students who would like to start the study of the Portuguese language may choose between Elementary Portuguese (POBS 0100-0200), a two-semester sequence, or Intensive Portuguese (POBS 0110), a double credit course that covers the same amount of material in one semester. Students intending to participate in the Brown-in-Brazil Program who begin the study of Portuguese as sophomores should choose the Intensive Portuguese option so that they can complete POBS 0400 (a prerequisite for participation in that program) in the spring semester.
POBS 0100 & POBS 0200: ELEMENTARY PORTUGUESE
An introductory course designed for students with little or no preparation in the language. Stresses the fundamental language skills of understanding, speaking, reading, and writing. Aspects of Portuguese and Brazilian culture are also presented. Uses a situational/natural approach that emphasizes communication in Portuguese from the very first class. A year course; only in exceptional circumstances is credit given for one semester alone.
Ms. Sobral and Staff
POBS 0110: INTENSIVE PORTUGUESE (Double Credit)
A highly intensive course for students with little or no preparation in the language. Stresses the fundamental language skills of understanding, speaking, reading, and writing. Aspects of Portuguese and Brazilian culture will also be presented. Uses a situational/natural approach that emphasizes communication in Portuguese from the very first class. A two-semester sequence in one semester with ten contact hours each week. Carries double credit and covers the equivalent of two semesters. This course should be chosen by students beginning the study of Portuguese as sophomores who would like to participate in the Brown-in-Brazil Program as juniors.
Ms. Sobral and Staff
POBS 0400: WRITING AND SPEAKING PORTUGUESE
Designed to improve the student's ability in contemporary spoken and written Portuguese. Using such cultural items as short stories, plays, films, videos, newspaper and magazine articles, and popular music, students discuss a variety of topics with the aim of developing good communication skills. Attention also given to developing students' writing ability. A systematic review of Portuguese grammar is included. Prerequisite: POBS 0110, POBS 0200, or placement. Conducted in Portuguese. Completion of POBS 0400 is the minimum requirement for participation in the Brown-in-Brazil Program.
Ms. Sobral and Staff
POBS 0610: MAPPING PORTUGUESE-SPEAKING CULTURES: BRAZIL
Selected literary and cultural texts that serve as vehicles for a deeper understanding of Brazilian society. Literary materials will be taken from several genres and periods with special attention to contemporary writings. Other media such as film and music will also be included. Considerable emphasis on strengthening speaking and writing skills. Prerequisite: POBS 0400, placement or instructor’s permission. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Sobral and Staff
POBS 0620: MAPPING PORTUGUESE-SPEAKING CULTURES: PORTUGAL AND AFRICA
Selected literary and cultural texts that serve as vehicles for a deeper understanding of Portuguese and Luso-African societies. Literary materials will be taken from several genres and periods with special attention to contemporary writings. Other media such as film and music will also be included. Considerable emphasis on strengthening speaking and writings skills. Prerequisites: POBS 0400, placement or instructor’s permission. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Simas-Almeida
POBS 0710: MODERN BRAZIL GOES TO THE MOVIES
Looks at Brazil through the eye of the camera and focuses on topics such as migration, race relations, gender and family dynamics and social inequities in contemporary Brazilian culture and society. Students will read articles and critical essays relating to the themes of each film as they develop their oral and written language skills. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Sobral
AFRI 0710A: RACIAL POLITICS IN CONTEMPORARY BRAZIL
Brazil is commonly understood as an example of a “racially democratic” nation, but as scholars have recently shown, racism permeates all aspects of Brazilian society. This course traces the development of the theorization of race, racial identity and race relations in contemporary Brazil. The approach of the course will be interdisciplinary, drawing upon works from anthropology, literature, history, music, and film. Topics will include colonialism and enslavement, nationalism, social activism and popular culture. We will also consider how Brazilian social relations differ from or conform to other racialized patterns in other nation-states in the Americas. Particular attention will be placed on the interrelationship between race, gender, class, and nation. Conducted in English.
Ms. Perry
POBS 0810: BELONGING AND DISPLACEMENT: CROSS-CULTURAL IDENTITIES
Focuses on the representation of immigrants, migrants and other “border crossers” in contemporary literature from Brazil and other countries. How do people respond to the loss of home and the shift to a new culture? Is “going home” possible? How do individuals deal with their dual or triple identities? Piñon, Lispector, Scliar, Rushdie, Salih, Cristina Garcia, V. S. Naipaul and others. Conducted in English.
Ms. Sobral
For Undergraduates and Graduates
AFRI 1020C: THE AFRO-LUSO-BRAZILIAN TRIANGLE
Examines three historical components of the South Atlantic in terms of history, culture, and contemporary political and economic consequences. European colonialism in Africa and Brazil constitutes the baseline for this exploration, but the long and tardy nature of Portuguese colonialism in Africa in comparison with other European colonial powers, especially in its post-World War II manifestations, is our starting point. Conducted in English.
Mr. Dzidzienyo
POBS 1030: PORTUGUESE STYLISTICS; ADVANCED LANGUAGE STUDY AND CREATIVE WRITING
An intensive writing course covering basic genres: letter, short essay, diary, short story and poetry. Students will write five pages per week on five different preassigned topics. These range over a wide variety of subjects in order to expose the students to idiomatic and stylistic writing in a multitude of areas. In class, students read and comment on each other's writings. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Simas-Almeida
POBS 1070: PLUGGING INTO BRAZIL: PRINT, TELEVISION, AND THE INTERNET
We will investigate the many nuances of the Brazilian media in its various forms and discuss Brazil using newspapers, leading magazines, current television broadcasts and the Internet. What are the characteristics of the Brazilian media? How does the media shape the views of Brazilians living in Brazil and those abroad? What is the role of the Brazilian media in a globalized world? Prerequisite: One of the following: POBS 0610, 0620, 0710, or consent of the instructor. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Sobral
POBS 1080: PERFORMING BRAZIL: LANGUAGE, THEATER, CULTURE
Designed to deepen the students' understanding of Brazilian culture and society through the performing arts. Students will read a series of plays and respond to them in a variety of ways: in writing, verbally, and through performance. The course will include poetry and music as these can also be performed. Throughout the semester students will also be working on creating their own performance pieces. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Sobral
AFRI 1210: AFRO-BRAZILIANS AND THE BRAZILIAN POLITY
Explores the history and present-day conditions of Afro-Brazilians, looking specifically at the uses of Africana in contemporary Brazil, political and cultural movements among Afro-Brazilians, domestic politics and its external dimensions, and Brazilian race relations within a global comparative framework. Texts from a variety of disciplines. A reading knowledge of Portuguese is not required but students so advantaged should inform the instructor. Conducted in English.
Mr. Dzidzienyo
ANTH 1321: IMPACT OF COLONIALISM: GENDER AND NATIONALISM IN INDIA
This course is designed to look into colonial and postcolonial identities within the disciplines of anthropology, history, and literary studies. We will adopt an anthropological approach to address these subjects, considering the cultural construction of gender as the guideline for analysis. Topics will include: orientalism and gender; gender and nationalism; nationalism and fundamentalism; post-colonialism and diaspora; diaspora, nationalism and gender.
The seminar aims to compare British and Portuguese colonial systems in relation to caste, family, and gender, and to highlight cultural differences and specificity of each colonial structures and strategies. Through historical and ethnographic works, novels, and media representations the students will be able to understand present day communities in India and abroad. The ethnographic experience of the professors will be a reference for the understanding of the themes under discussion. Conducted in English.
Ms. Fruzetti and Ms. Perez
POBS 1500: TOPICS AND THEMES IN PORTUGUESE AND BRAZILIAN LITERATURES
POBS 1500A:
AFRICAN LITERATURES OF PORTUGUESE EXPRESSION
A survey of representative African narrative literature of Portuguese Expression (Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé e Príncipe, Angola and Mozambique). The selections will cover the periods before and after the independence of these former Portuguese colonies. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Simas-Almeida
POBS 1500B: AZOREAN LITERATURE
Survey of the major works in prose and poetry of the Azorean writers of the 20th-century that reflect more the açorianidade or the Weltanschauung of the Azoreans. Works by writers such as Nunes de Rosa, Vitorino Nemésio, Côrtes-Rodrigues and others will be analyzed as well as those most representative of the "New Generation." Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Almeida
POBS 1500C: BRAZILIAN LITERATURE IN TANSLATION: CLARICE LISPECTOR-A WOMAN OF SPIRIT
As Brazil's foremost woman writer of the twentieth century, Clarice Lispector has received critical attention from French, Brazilian and American feminists. With the aim of appreciating her work comparatively, this course will examine four novels and four story collections from the following theoretical perspectives: existentialist, feminist, poststructuralist and Jewish hermeneutics. Conducted in English.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 1500D: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: MODERNIST AND POSTMODERNIST BRAZILIAN SHORT FICTION
With Modernism and Postmodernism as the primary theoretical frames, we will examine the aesthetics of short fiction by discussing short stories and novellas from the 1920s to the 1990s that foreground the characteristics of these literary currents and their respective regional and urban expressions. As images of Brazil, this fiction will also be read within the context of feminist, hybrid, subaltern, and postcolonial stances. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 1500E: CONTEMPORARY BRAZILIAN FICTION: NEW PATHS AND PERSPECTIVES
Selected prose narratives from the 1970s to the present are read with the aim of identifying new paths and perspectives in contemporary Brazilian literature and culture that challenge traditional literary and cultural hierarchies as well as canonized aesthetics. Milton Hatoum, João Gilberto Noll, Caio Fernando Abreu, Marilene Felinto, Sônia Coutinho, Roberto Drummond, Sérgio Sant’Anna, Rubem Fonseca and others. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 1500F: CONTEMPORARY PORTUGUESE WOMEN WRITERS
Analyzes women's discourse and proposes an interpretation of female characters in the works of six contemporary Portuguese women writers: Maria Velho da Costa’s Maina Mendes, Maria Teresa Horta’s Ana, Agustina Bessa-Luís’s O Mosteiro, Teolinda Gersão’s Paisagem com Mulher ao Fundo, Lídia Jorge’s O Jardim sem Limites, and Ivette Centeno’s Os Jardins de Eva. By way of contrast, Mário Ventura's A Revolta dos Herdeiros is discussed as an example of how a male writer fictionalizes a woman as narrator. Conducted in Portuguese.
Staff
POBS 1500G:CULTURAL POLITICS OF HYBRIDITY IN MODERN BRAZILIAN FICTION
An exploration of Brazilian fiction that manifests intersections between erudite, popular and mass cultures. Readings will focus on the sociopolitical and cultural implications of hybridization in prose fiction by such authors as Caio Fernando Abreu, Ivan Ângelo, Ignácio de Loyola Brandão, Roberto Drummond, Rubem Fonseca, Clarice Lispector, José Agrippino de Paula, Adélia Prado, Sérgio Sant'Anna, and others. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 1500H: ESTHERS OF THE DIASPORA: JEWISH VOICES FROM LATIN AMERICAN
Fiction by and/or about Jewish women from Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Chile and Cuba. Evoking the image of the biblical Queen Esther who lived between two worlds, these Jewish voices will be discussed from the perspectives of feminist, hybrid, diasporic, and transcultural theories. Special attention to Brazil’s Clarice Lispector. The expression of the role of women vis-à-vis the immigrant experience will also be discussed. Conducted in English.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 1500J: MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE PORTUGUESE LITERATURE
An analysis of Portuguese literature from the Middle Ages to the 16th century. Special attention given to the poetry of the Cancioneiros, Fernão Lopes, Gil Vicente, and Luís de Camões. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Simas-Almeida
POBS 1500L: PROPHETS IN THE TROPICS: LATIN AMERICAN JEWISH WRITING
This course will compare the differences as well as the parallels between the narratives of the Jewish diaspora in Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, and Peru. As decentered dissenters in literature, these writers invariably address their diasporist situation vis-a-vis the larger society via such issues as immigration, cultural diversity, exile thinking, nationalism, discrimination, and postcolonialism. Prose by female and male writers, along with background materials in history, biography, memoirs, essay, and film. Conducted in English. Prerequisite: one 1000-level literature course.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 1500M: READING COLONIAL BRAZIL
In the first part of the course we will discuss major literary and artistic achievements in Brazilian society during the first three centuries after Brazil's "discovery." In the second part of the course we will consider how novelists, poets (including song writers), filmmakers, visual artists and social scientists since Independence have reassessed the colonial period from a post-colonial position. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Valente
POBS 1500N: SENSES AND SENSIBILITIES IN THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY PORTUGUESE NOVEL
The works to be read are representative of the main literary trends in 19th century Portuguese literature. They will be analyzed with a focus on literary aesthetics, but also on meanings (or senses), both culturally and personally, by exploring the textual construction of emotions, i.e., the engagement of sensibilities in the written word. Authors to be studied include Almeida Garrett, Camilo Castelo Branco and Eça de Queirós. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Simas-Almeida
POBS 1500O: THE “I” OF THE BEHOLDER: SELF-EXAMINATION AND SELF-DISPLAY IN MODERN BRAZILIAN FICTION
This course will address the first-person impulse in modern Brazilian fiction with the aim of analyzing the process of self-consciousness vis-a-vis national identity, individualism, memorialism, authoritarianism, and subjectivity. Discussion will center upon prose by Mário de Andrade, Rachel de Queiroz, Antônio Olavo Pereira, Clarice Lispector, Lygia Fagundes Telles, Nélida Piñon, Ivan Ângelo, Rubem Fonseca, and others. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 1500P: THE PERSONAL DYNAMICS OF WITNESSING: SELF-INTERPRETATION IN BRAZILIAN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL FICTION
Analyzes first-person narration and the ethics of self-examination, self-display, and self-invention. First-person narrators are read as self-chroniclers who become subject and object, or spectator and spectacle, of their own lives. Readings from such writers as Mário de Andrade, José Lins do Rego, Cyro dos Anjos, António Olavo Pereira, Clarice Lispector, Lygia Fagundes Telles, Nélida Piñon, Rubem Fonseca, and Sérgio Sant'Anna. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 1500Q: THE SAGE OF SUSPICION: THE SKEPTICISM OF MACHADO DE ASSIS
Focuses on the major novels and short stories of Brazil's foremost realist. Presentations and discussions address character and narrative distrust as well as skepticism related to unreliable narrators and ironic voices. Also explores the sociopolitical picture of Brazil in the second half of the 19th century in the context of Machado's Human Comedy. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 1500S: PORTUGUESE LITERATURE: FROM BIRTH TO MATURITY
Starting with the Cancioneiros, the course will travel from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance tracking down the evolution of Portuguese literature, while paying particular attention to the Portuguese-Galician troubadours, the crónicas of Fernão Lopes, the theater of Gil Vicente and the lyrical poetry of Camões. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Simas-Almeida
POBS 1500T: JOSÉ SARAMAGO AND HIS CONTEMPROARIES
The Nobel Prize winner José Saramago will enjoy a leading place in our critical analysis of contemporary Portuguese novels. Other writers to be included are Lídia Jorge, António Lobo Antunes, Helder Macedo, Vergílio Ferreira and Agustina Bessa-Luís. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Simas-Almeida
POBS 1500U: THE LEAPING CHAMELEON: RECONFIGURATION OF SELF-IDENTITY AND CULTURE IN CONTEMPORARY BRAZILIAN FICTION
Focuses on reconfigurations/redefinitions of concepts of identity -- personal and cultural in Brazilian prose fiction form the 1980s to the present. Protean forms and unstable subjectivities become apparent in fictional portrayals of aberrant and disfigured beings in liminal spaces, these serving as vehicles critical of urban strife, cultural instability, estrangement, and social segregation, written by authors such as André Sant'Anna, Bernardo Carvalho, Lilian Fontes, Marcelino Freire, Cíntia Moscovich, Ivana Arruda Leite, Luiz Ruffato, and others. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
UNIV 1520: THE SHAPING OF WORLD VIEWS
To many students an exclusive emphasis on specialized studies fragments the “world” in which they live. A widespread feeling of loss pervades the minds of students who often come to universities to learn right from wrong, to distinguish what is true from what is false, but who realize at the end of four years that they have deconstructed their freshman beliefs, values, and ideologies, but have created nothing to replace them. This course examines the diversity of worldviews both synchronically and diachronically, and surveys various explanations for such diversity. Conducted in English.
Mr. Almeida
POBS 1600: TOPICS AND THEMES IN PORTUGUESE AND BRAZILIAN CULTURES AND CIVILIZATIONS
POBS 1600B: COLONIALISM, NATIONALISM AND GENDER IN PORTUGUESE INDIA
This seminar focuses on Portuguese rule and discourse in India, from an anthropological and historical perspective. Colonialism and nationalism in India will be studied in relation to former Portuguese colonies in Africa as well as to other experiences in India under the British raj. Gender issues will also be addressed. Attention to the case of the devadasi (ritual dancers). Conducted in English.
Ms. Perez
POBS 1600C: CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON EDUCATION: EDUCATION AND THE PORTUGUESE-SPEAKING WORLD
A comparative education course focusing on schooling in Brazil, Portugal, Cape Verde, and these Portuguese-speaking populations in the U.S. The role of education in these diverse societies, as well as theories and methodologies for cross-cultural research and analysis, are explored from both historical and contemporary perspectives. Conducted in English.
Ms. Becker
POBS 1600F: EUROPEAN CITIZENSHIP
Focuses on the construction of equal citizenship in Europe. Examines relevant declarations of the rights of persons and citizens and compares the process of citizenship building in different countries (with particular attention to the case of Portugal). Emphasizes the ongoing formation of the European Union's citizenship and the recent Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. Conducted in English.
Staff
POBS 1600K:ON THE DAWN OF MODERNITY
A look at the emergence of modernity and its conflicts with the classical worldview as revealed in the writings of the Portuguese navigators (15th and 16th centuries) on their encounters with the non-European world. Readings will focus on fields such as astronomy, cartography, geography, shipbuilding, and anthropology, as stepping-stones to the first scientific revolution. This literature has been practically unknown to non-Portuguese readers. Conducted in English.
Mr. Almeida
POBS 1600L: PORTUGAL, SOUTHERN EUROPE AND EUROPEAN INTEGRATION
Focuses on the economic, political and public opinion dimensions of European unification and its impact on Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece. It also analyzes the effect on southern European countries of Eastern European enlargement, the new balance of power arising from the Treaty of Nice and the institutional reform being currently discussed at the ongoing European Convention. Conducted in English.
Staff
POBS 1600M: IMMIGRATION INTO SOUTHERN EUROPE
Focuses on new trends of international migration in Europe, particularly in Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy and Greece), since the mid-1970s. The following topics will be studied: phases of immigration and characteristics of flows; new geographies of migration (including Brazilian and Eastern European immigration); the economic and social framework explaining migrations; the demographic challenge; new channels for migration (including smuggling and trafficking); immigration policies; and modes of social incorporation of immigrants. Conducted in English.
Staff
POBS 1600N: PORTUGUESE-SPEAKING AFRICA AND ANTHROPOLOGY FROM COLONIALISM TO POSTCOLONIALISM
This course focuses on the anthropological knowledge of African sub-saharan societies, the conditions and limitations of these studies during the colonial period and their continuity in contemporary subjects. Stresses the Portuguese colonial experience and the evolution of social sciences in African Portuguese-speaking countries. Conducted in English.
Staff
POBS 1600O: POWER, SEGREGATION AND MOBILITY UNER LATE PORTUGUESE COLONIALISM AND ITS AFTERMATH
Portuguese colonialism in Africa and Asia and its aftermath in light of contemporary anthropological theory and colonial/postcolonial studies. Also addresses migration and diaspora, both the Portuguese colonies in the Americas and northern Europe, and the contemporary migrations into Portugal from the former colonies, China and South Asia. Documentaries and fiction broaden the presentation and discussion of main issues. Conducted in English.
Ms. Bastos
POBS 1600P: THE LAST EMPIRE: PORTUGUESE COLONIALISM AND DECOLONIZATION IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Adopting a comparative perspective, the course gives special emphasis to political, ideological and military dimensions of colonial rule in Africa. The first part deals with the evolution of Portuguese colonialism since World War II. The second part focuses on the process of decolonization after 1974, integrating the dissolution of the Portuguese Empire in the international context of the Cold War. Conducted in English.
Mr. Rodrigues
POBS 1600Q: PERCEPTIONS OF THE OTHER AND ETHNOGRAPHICAL WRITING IN EARLY MODERN PORTUGAL
Intends to study the privileged situation of Portugal where the knowledge of extra-European cultures in early modern Europe is concerned. The course will examine agents, instruments and mechanisms of information gathering and diffusion of the “Outer world” in Europe via Lisbon. The most important topoi of these Portuguese ethnographical representations will be discussed through a close analysis of a wide range of contemporary texts and visual records. Conducted in English.
Mr. Flores
POBS 1600R: THE LUSOPHONE BLACK ATLANTIC: CULTURES AND RELIGIONS ACROSS THE OCEAN
Addresses the cultural unity and differentiation within the Lusophone Black Atlantic, with a special focus on mobility, diaspora and transnationalism. After a general introduction on the historical and cultural construction of the triangular relations between Portugal, Brazil and Africa, including the consideration of such issues as luso-tropicalism, “creolization” and colonialism, we will move into the topic of Afro-Brazilian religions like Umbanda and Candomblé as way to analyse how a matrix civilization was transported across the Atlantic to Brazil and back to Portugal. The issue of the transnationalism and mobility of such religions, accompanying the diaspora of Africans and Brazilians to Portugal over the last 20 years, will provide the basis for further discussion of the notion of “lusophone black cultures”. The course bibliography includes anthropological texts as well as current Luso-African and Brazilian literature. Conducted in English.
Ms. Saraiva
HIST 1670: HISTORY OF BRAZIL
This course charts the history of Brazil from Portuguese contact with the indigenous population in 1500 to the present. It examines the country’s political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural development to understand the causes, interactions, and consequences of conflict, change, and continuity within Brazilian society. Conducted in English.
Mr. Green
POBS 1720: LITERACY, CULTURE AND SCHOOLING FOR THE LANGUAGE MINORITY STUDENT
This course focuses on increasing awareness of the intersection of language and literacy, the sociocultural influences on literacy development, and the application of diverse strategies that support the acquisition of second language literacy. The course combines a theoretical exploration of literacy processes and methodological implications with a clinical requirement of 4 hours weekly in a second language field teaching practicum. Conducted in English.
Ms. Becker
POBS 1750: LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND SOCIETY
Investigates the meanings of language, culture and society and the interrelationship among them. Examines the functional and dysfunctional uses they can play in public education, particularly from the public school administrators and teachers viewpoints. Explores concerns directly related to the nature, quality, and future of English-as-a-Second Language programs. Reflective activities, lectures, simulations, case studies, role-plays and small group discussions. Conducted in English.
Ms. Pacheco
POBS 1800: CONCENTRATION SEMINAR IN PORTUGUESE AND BRAZILIAN STUDIES
An interdisciplinary seminar intended primarily for junior and senior concentrators in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, but open to non-concentrators and graduate students with consent of the instructor. May be repeated for credit with content changed.
POBS 1800A: "QUE PAÍS É ESTE?" TWENTIETH-CENTURY DEFINITIONS OF BRAZIL AND BRAZILIANNESS
Focuses on three major areas: the portraits of Brazil from the late 1930s to the early 1960s, mainly by left-leaning intellectuals; the economic and political model of Brazil imposed by the military regime of 1964-1985; and the subversion of the official definitions of Brazil in the "anti-histories" of the Abertura period (1975-1985). Materials drawn from the social sciences, history, literature, and film. Authors include Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, Gilberto Freire, Vianna Moog, Paulo Freire, Golbery do Couto e Silva, Roberto daMatta, Caio Prado Jr., Richard Morse, and others. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Valente
POBS 1800B: LUSOFONIA: NATIONAL IDENTITIES AND TRANSNATIONAL CHALLENGES
The creation of the Commonwealth of Portuguese Speaking Countries has reignited the debate concerning the Portuguese-speaking world, its roots, history, contemporary developments, and future prospects. This seminar focuses on key issues regarding the identities of the Portuguese-speaking nations, their interrelations, as well as their interactions with the wider world. Authors include Antero de Quental, Teixeira de Pascoais, Fernando Pessoa, Gilberto Freyre, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, Vianna Moog, Antônio Sérgio, Eduardo Lourenço, Amílcar Cabral and Roberto daMatta. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Almeida
POBS 1800E: THE BRAZILIAN PUZZLE: CONFRONTING THE POST-COLONIAL LEGACY
Brazilian intellectuals have often attempted to understand and explain the challenges in modern Brazilian society (political, economic, racial, educational) by pondering Brazil’s Iberian roots and assessing the legacy of Portuguese colonialism. Manuel Bomfim, Oswald de Andrade, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, Gilberto Freyre, Vianna Moog, Caio Prado, Jr., Darcy Ribeiro, Paulo Freire, Roberto daMatta and José Murilo de Carvalho. Attention to film, music and the visual arts. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Valente
POBS 1800F: THE LUSOPHONE WORLD AND THE STRUGGLE FOR MODERNITY
A study of classical writings from the Portuguese-speaking world dealing with the issue of modernity, focusing primarily on the Counter-Reformation and Baroque paradigms versus the Enlightenment. Portuguese, Brazilian and African writers such as Antero de Quental, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, Vianna Moog, Amílcar Cabral and others will be read critically and in a comparative approach. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Almeida
COLT 1810G: FICTION AND HISTORY
How the historical fiction that has flourished over the past three decades challenges the notions of objectivity and totalization, while providing alternative viewpoints for the reconstruction and reinterpretation of the past. Authors considered include Grass, Doctorow, Delillo, Scliar, García-Márquez, Allende, and Jorge. Theoretical texts by White, LaCapra, Benjamin, Ricoeur, and Chartier. Films such as The Official Story and Europa, Europa will be viewed and incorporated into the discussions. Prerequisite: two previous courses in literature. Conducted in English.
Mr. Valente
HIST 1950: PORTUGUESE NAVIGATIONS AND ENCOUNTERS WITH CIVILIZATIONS
HIST 1950E: EUROPE AND THE INDIAN OCEAN, 1500-1800
Aims to characterize the Indian Ocean in the early modern period and examine the complex relationship between this lively world and a variety of European players. The classical topics related to the economic history of maritime Asia and how the trading world of the Indian Ocean was impacted by different Western powers (The Portuguese Estado da Índia, the European commercial companies) will be addressed. However, the course focuses on a set of relevant social and cultural phenomena, ranging from the interaction between European and Asian political, religious, scientific and artistic structures to the indigenization of individuals, groups and “micro-societies”, or the formation and circulation of mutual ethnographical images.
Mr. Flores
HIST 1950F: FROM MOROCCO TO CHINA: FRONTIER SOCIETIES, CULTURAL BROKERS, MULTIPLE IDENTITIES IN PORTUGUESE EMPIRE
Focuses on the study of social and cultural forms of hybridism within the Portuguese early modern empire. By exploring the interaction between Portuguese soldiers, merchants and missionaries and a variety of litoral societies stretching from Morocco and West Africa to Brazil and Asia, the course will discuss both profile and role of those go-betweens and cultural brokers that easily moved between distinct cultural worlds. The creation and development of multiple social, ethnic and “national” identities is also under consideration. Conducted in English.
Mr. Flores
POBS 1970: READING AND GUIDED STUDY
Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course.
HIST 1972M: PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES AND EARLY MODERN GLOBALIZATION
Explores the Portuguese presence in Africa, Asia and America, 1415-1808. Examines different phases in the context of geographical regions, subsequently integrating the different regions into a multi-continental, multi-oceanic, global system. Explores political, commercial, military, cultural and social dimensions. Emphasizes European/non-European contacts and interactions. No knowledge of Portuguese required. Conducted in English.
Mr. Flores
HIST 1972R:POLITICS AND CULTURE UNDER THE BRAZILIAN MILITARY DICTATORSHIP, 1964-1985
This course will focus on the political, social, economic, and cultural changes that took place in Brazil during the military dictatorship that ruled the country from 1964-85. We will examine why the generals took power, the role of the U.S. government in backing the new regime, cultural transformations during this period, and the process that led to re-democratization. Conducted in English.
Mr. Green
HIST 1974L: GENDER AND SEXUALITY IN BRAZIL
Utilizing historical sources about Brazil from the colonial period to the present, we will consider how the family, politics, culture, and economy have conditioned sexual and power relations between men and women, and how notions of honor, gender, and sexuality have structured class and ethnic relations within Brazilian society. Conducted in English.
Mr. Green
HIST 1974Q: BRAZIL AND AFRICA IN THE MAKING OF THE SOUTHERN ATLANTIC WORLD
The course discusses the making process of the Southern Atlantic World during the early modern period based on the interaction between the Portuguese, Africans, and Brazilians. Topics include slavery and African agency, the role of merchant communities, Indian and African answers to European encounters, colonial powers and forms of assistance, the conflict between the Crown, the settlers and the missionaries. Conducted in English.
Mr. Flores
HIST 1975A: HISTORY OF RIO DE JANEIRO
From colonial outpost to capital of the Portuguese Empire, from sleepy port to urban megalopolis, this seminar examines the history of Rio de Janeiro from the sixteenth century to the present. Using an interdisciplinary perspective rooted in historical analyses, we will analyze multiple representations of the city, its people, and geography in relationship to Brazilian history, culture, and society. Conducted in English.
Mr. Green
POBS 1990: RESEARCH AND PREPARATION OF HONORS PROJECTS
This independent study course is designed for students working on honors projects. Written permission of the concentration advisor (Ms. Sobral) is required. Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the correct section number and CRN to use when registering for this course.
PRIMARILY FOR GRADUATES
POBS 2010: FOUNDATIONS OF BILINGUAL EDUCATION
POBS 2010A: LANGUAGE THEORY AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPEMNT
Focuses on the application of language theory, methodology, and curriculum development procedure for classes enrolling English language learners. Participants focus on setting appropriate goals and objectives aligned with learning standards and develop appropriate curricula in several subject areas. Conducted in English.
Ms. Pacheco or Ms. Smith
POBS 2020: PROBLEMS AND CURRENT ISSUES IN BILINGUAL/ESL EDUCATION
POBS 2020A: APPLIED LINGUISTICS FOR ESL
Focuses on the linguistic development of bilingual children. The issues of cognitive, psycholinguistic, and sociolinguistic developmental stages as they affect the acquisition of a second will be explored. A 15-hour practicum is required. Part of the practicum involves observations of an ESL class as well as student interviews. Participants will maintain an interactive journal of their observations, an oral report of their experience, and develop a scholarly paper. Conducted in English.
Ms. Smith
POBS 2020B: CROSS-CULTURAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Explores physical, cognitive, social, and emotional human development from a cross-cultural perspective. Part one analyzes child-rearing practices in agrarian and industrialized societies. Part two is based on case studies involving the ethnolinguistic groups in the Providence area, which are studied and discussed with implications for teaching and learning. Conducted in English.
Ms. Pacheco
POBS 2020C:EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP IN DIVERSE SETTINGS: RESEARCH, POLICY AND PRACTICE
A series of lectures and discussions representing various perspectives and styles. Individual sessions focus on leadership issues surrounding standards, high stakes testing, and school reform initiatives. Most topics address leadership of low performing schools and for diverse student populations. Discussions led by prominent educational leaders. Some lectures may be open to the public. Conducted in English.
Ms. Becker
POBS 2020D: THEORIES IN FIRST AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Theory and current research relating to first and second language acquisition and learning are examined from a pedagogical perspective. Focuses both on learning and teaching a second language. Conducted in English.
Ms. Smith
POBS 2120: METHODS AND MATERIALS FOR PORTUGUESE-ENGLISH BILINGUAL PROGRAMS
POBS 2120A: ESL METHODOLOGY ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION
An overview of the current principles, practices and approaches that inform assessment and evaluation for English language learners. Participants engage in class activities that duplicate selected assessment approaches and identify strategies for integrating assessment with planning and instruction appropriate to the language proficiency of students. Participants explore assessment research and theoretical background for an understanding of the complexity of evaluating student achievement. Conducted in English.
Ms. Pacheco or Ms. Smith
POBS 2500: TOPICS AND THEMES
POBS 2500A: MODERN BRAZILIAN POETRY
An intensive reading of selected Brazilian poets of the 20th century including Carlos Drummond de Andrade, João Cabral de Melo Neto, the concretistas, Mário Faustino, Paulo Leminski and Adélia Prado. Each student will be responsible for an oral presentation about an additional poet, to be chosen in consultation with the instructor. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Valente
POBS 2500B: PORTUGUESE OVERSEAS ENCOUNTERS
A critical analysis of some classic Portuguese travel writings from the 15th to the 20th century. The readings include Zurara, Camões, Fernão Mendes Pinto, História Trágico-Marítima, Ramalho Ortigão, Raul Brandão, as well as the contemporary Pedro Rosa Mendes. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Almeida
POBS 2500E: PORTUGUESE CULTURAL AND NATIONAL IDENTITY
A critical reading of some key issues in Portuguese intellectual history regarding Portuguese national identity. Classical authors such as Verney, Antero de Quental, Teixeira de Pascoais, Fernando Pessoa, Antîonio Sérgio, and Eduardo Lourenço are read along with contemporary theoretical works on the issue of cultural and national identity. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Almeida
POBS 2500F: TALES OF THE “SERTÃO”
The reality and mythology of the "sertão" have long been a source of inspiration for Brazilian writers, visual artists and filmmakers. In this seminar we consider the transformations of the "sertão" motif since the second half of the century. Fiction by José de Alencar, Euclides da Cunha, Graciliano Ramos and João Guimarães Rosa. Films by Glauber Rocha and José Araújo. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Valente
POBS 2500G: NATION AND NARRATION
A seminar on the invention and transformation of the idea of Brazil as a nation in narrative texts since the middle of the 19th century. Authors to be considered include Manuel Antônio Almeida, José de Alencar, Adolfo Caminha, Machado de Assis, Monteiro Lobato, Mário de Andrade, Adalzira Bittencourt, Antônio Callado and João Ubaldo Ribeiro. Theoretical texts by Benedict Anderson, Homi Bhabha, Edward Said, Eric Hobsbawn, Frantz Fanon, Roberto Schwartz, and others. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Valente
POBS 2500H: THE CITY AND THE STREET: TRADITION, MODERNITY AND SUBJECTIVITY IN BRAZILIAN URBAN LITERATURE
From Machado de Assis’s streetcar chronicles, João do Rio’s belle époque flâneur crônicas, and modernists’ views of São Paulo down to the urban paranoia of Rubem Fonseca’s crime narratives and the destabilizing subjectivities of contemporary writers, this seminar examines diverse urban bodies and cartographies for understanding spatial and temporal relationships between the city and bodies, sexual cultures, gender roles, violence, peripheries, and metropolitan apocalyptic tensions. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 2500I: THE PORTUGUESE ESSAY
Focuses on key themes of Portuguese social, political and cultural life that have been dealt with in the essay form. In the 19th and 20th century such as Portugal’s decline, modernization, regeneration and national identity. Special attention to literature on the essay as a genre. Readings include Antero de Quental, Oliveira Martins, Sílvio Lima, Joaquim de Carvalho, Antonio José Saraiva, Eduardo Lourenço and others. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Almeida
COLT 2520D: THE LITERATURE OF THE AMERICAS
Forsaking the dominant Eurocentrism in comparative literary studies, this seminar will search for the common links between the diverse literatures of North and Latin America, approached in relation to one another rather than to "Old World" models. Authors to be considered include Margaret Atwood, Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, William Faulkner, Gabriel García-Márquez, Clarice Lispector, Machado de Assis, Toni Morrison and João Guimarães Rosa. Conducted in English.
Mr. Valente
POBS 2600: TOPICS AND THEMES
POBS 2600G: DECOLONIZING BRAZIL: THE POSTCOLONIAL DILEMA OF "NOT BEING AND BEING OTHER"
Considering the ambivalent construction of the Brazilian cultural existence as the basic stance for reexamining Brazil from a revised postcolonial approach, this seminar will contextualize the Brazilian postcolonial from the viewpoints of diversity, difference, hybridity, and heterogeneity. Authors to be read are Manuel Antônio de Almeida, Machado de Assis, Adolfo Caminha, Oswald de Andrade, Graciliano Ramos, Samuel Rawet, Silviano Santiago and Lygia Fagundes Telles. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 2600I – MODERN AND CONTEMPORARY BRAZILIAN POETRY
An intensive reading of selected Brazilian poets of the past eighty years, including Carlos Drummond de Andrade, João Cabral de Melo Neto, Mário Faustino, Paulo Leminski, the “marginal” poets, and Salgado Maranhão. Each student will be responsible for an oral presentation about an additional poet, to be chosen in consultation with the instructor. The course will conclude with a poetry festival. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Valente
POBS 2600J: THE “I” OF THE BEHOLDER: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL MODE IN MODERN BRAZILIAN FICTION
Analyzes first-person fictional narration and the ethics of self- examination, self-display and self-invention. Examines questions of truth in fiction, the self and the other, autobiographical theory, and the concept of witnessing and reporting in relation to self- representation. Mário de Andrade, Cyro dos Anjos, Antônio Olavo Pereira, Clarice Lispector, Lygia Fagundes Telles, Helena Parente Cunha, Rubem Fonseca, Sérgio Sant'Anna and Bernardo de Carvalho. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 2600M: THE WORD IN THE DARK: PASSION, QUEST AND IDENTITY IN THE UNIVERSE OF CLARICE LISPECTOR
This seminar examines the major novels, short story collections and crônicas by the Brazilian writer Clarice Lispector and analyzes the development of her literary voice and her unique use of language. Reading her work through and beyond the existential, feminist and poststructuralist views manifested in the best critical and theoretical analyses of her work, this seminar focuses especially upon her passionate struggle with language as well as her genre-breaking narratives, alongside her ontological quest for narrative subjectivity. Seminar presentations and papers explores these issues with the aim of understanding Clarice’s spiritual and philosophical impulses as well as her original linguistic contribution to Brazilian and World Literatures. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 2600N: TRANSGRESSING GENDER: FEMALE VOICING IN MODERN BRAZILIAN LITERATURE
This seminar looks at theoretical and critical essays on gender and beyond in relation to the fiction of three major Brazilian female writers: Rachel de Queiroz, Lygia Fagundes Telles, and Clarice Lispector. Discussion addresses issues of gender identity and ambiguity, female voicing, gender politics, alterity, feminist consciousness, as well as power and resistance. Readings include two or more works by each of the three writers. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 2600O: THE SAGE OF SUSPICION: MACHADO DE ASSIS AND THE AGENCIES OF NARRATIVE
Novels and short stories of Machado de Assis within the context of the socio-political reality of nineteenth-century Brazil. Attention to the ideologies of Brazil’s ruling class, its self-image and views on national identity, class and race; the issue of fiction vs. reality; and/or such topics as irony, symbolism, narratology, and point of view. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Vieira
POBS 2600P: FERNANDO PESSOA & CO
An analysis of key writings by the major Portuguese Modernist poet Fernando Pessoa, as well as by his more important heteronyms, particularly Álvaro de Campos, Alberto Caeiro, Ricardo Reis, and António Mora. The course will emphasize the recurrent themes of identity, divided self, meaning, disquietude, and displacement. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Almeida
POBS 2970: PRELIMINARY EXAMINATION PREPARATION
For graduate students who have met the tuition requirement and are paying the Registration Fee to continue active enrollment while preparing for a preliminary examination. No course credit.
POBS 2980: READING AND GUIDED STUDY
See Reading And Guided Study for course description. Section numbers vary by instructor. Please check Banner for the section number and CRN to use when registering for this course.
POBS 2990: THESIS PREPARATION
For graduate students who have met the tuition requirement and are paying the Registration Fee to continue active enrollment while preparing a thesis. No course credit.