Elementary Portuguese I
In this course students are introduced to Portuguese through a linguistic, communicative, and cultural approach to language learning. Emphasis is placed on the development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills and on acquisition of the fundamentals of applied grammar. Cross-cultural understanding is fostered and real-life applications are emphasized throughout the course.
Elementary Portuguese II
In this course students expand their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills and cover more complex grammar topics. This course will foster intensive practice in reading and composition. After successfully completing this course, the student will engage in conversation and demonstrate understanding of written Portuguese; express knowledge in spoken and written Portuguese on a variety of Lusophone topics; and present information and ideas to an audience in Portuguese.
Intensive Portuguese for Spanish Speakers
This is an intense course that covers the same material from Elementary Portuguese I and II in one semester. Students begin to acquire proficiency in Portuguese through a linguistic, communicative, and cultural approach to language learning. Emphasis is placed on the development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills and on acquisition of the fundamentals of applied grammar. Cross-cultural understanding is fostered and real-life applications are emphasized throughout the course.
Intensive Intermediate Portuguese
This course reviews all the main grammatical topics and introduces new and more sophisticated vocabulary from different fields. There is a strong focus on oral proficiency but students will practice all skills. The student is introduced to a variety of cultural references and real life situations. Our discussions are contextualized with different articles from media from all Portuguese-Speaking countries. At the end of this course students are expected to engage, with some sophistication, Portuguese texts and be able to present their ideas to a Portuguese-Speaking public.
Conversations about the Portuguese-Speaking World
This conversation class will help students develop their oral proficiency in Portuguese. While gaining a deeper understanding of the culture from the Portuguese speaking countries, you will discuss current events, participate in challenging pronunciation exercises, improve your understanding of Portuguese idioms, develop your conversation strengths, confront your weaknesses, and increase your fluency in spoken Portuguese.
We read a variety of texts, from magazines and newspapers to poems, short stories and selections from novels, that we will than discuss in class. These materials will provide and insight into the Lusophone world and will be used to initiate conversation. We also see contemporary painting, graffiti and other productions from the visual arts, like documentaries and full featured movies that we comment in class and that will introduce you to particular cultural aspects.
Introduction to Lusophone Literature
Literature offers a unique perspective on cultural performances. Consequently, the study of major authors and literary movements will help students to understand better the cultural spaces they are studying. This course will focus on aesthetic and intellectual movements and issues of class, gender and national narrative. This course will give the students the opportunity to expand their listening and speaking skills in class and to develop close reading and research skills through the seminar paper. This course is an introduction to the works of the major Lusophone authors of the 20th century (Machado de Assis, Fernando Pessoa, Clarice Lispector, Luis Bernard Honwana, José Saramago, Mia Couto, Jorge Amado and others). Students will comment on the texts in general and consider different approaches to literary works from the 20th century. All readings are in Portuguese.
Introduction to Portuguese Cultural Studies
Portuguese Cultural Studies are a new way of engaging the study of culture in the Lusophone countries. Traditionally, the study of literature and literary theory has been the focus of Portuguese Studies. However, other disciplines have also studied the Portuguese-Speaking countries within their own fields, like Anthropology, History, Geography and Sociology. This class prepares students to research Lusophone Cultures from a multidisciplinary perspective. Students will acquire essential information and tools to research a variety of topics and cultural productions from the Portuguese-Speaking countries: literatures, film, art, architecture, popular culture etc. Students will also learn the fundamental vocabulary of Cultural Studies and cultural analyses.
Lusophone-Africa and African-Brazilian Cultures
This course focuses on the Cultures of Lusophone Africa and African Brazil and the relations, continuities, ruptures and influences between them. Brazil is the result of the miscegenation of Amerindians, Africans and Europeans, and this means that is also a cultural mélange of these three groups. The African cultural contribution to Brazilian culture and grand-narrative is the primary focus of this course, however, to understand Brazil ones needs to understand the cultural diversity found in the African Continent, and in particular in Lusophone Africa, with which Brazil has had a long relationship. The readings for this course include texts from different disciplines and genres. We will study texts, movies and other forms of visual arts from the following authors: José Eduardo Agualusa, Pepetela, Mia Couto, Jorge Amado, Achille, Mbembe, Hilton Costa, Jocélio Teles dos Santos, Livio Sansone, José Luis Cabaço, Benedita da Silva and Solano Trindade.
Cultural Resistance in the Portuguese-Speaking World
In this course we will consider cultural resistance as a form of political resistance. We will also consider how it has been used in the Portuguese-Speaking world to resist subjugation and change the dominant political, economic and social structures. Students will see how ordinary people, to protest oppression, have liberated the public space. We will examine cultural projects that aimed to retrieve the ordinary, engage in everyday acts of resistance, and inspire movements to reclaim and reassess national and international policies.
Brazilian Culture and Civilization
The course introduces students to Brazilian civilization by examining its historical development and by exploring various subjective cultural issues.
Each week, a historical period is presented in connection to a particular theme of ongoing cultural expression. While diverse elements of popular culture are included, literature (fiction) is privileged as a source of cultural commentary. Students are expected to assimilate the background information but are also encouraged to develop their own perspective and interests, whether in the social sciences, the humanities (including the fine arts), religious studies, or other area.