Admission requirements
This course is open to Master students of the MA International Relations and MA/MRes in Latin American Studies. Other Master students not enrolled in these programmes but who wish to follow the course, please contact the co-ordinator of studies.
Description
This course will consider the interconnections between politics and cultural production and representations in 20th and 21st-century Brazil and their impacts on and links with the wider Portuguese-speaking world. The starting point of the course is to consider culture as both reflection of key political moments in a country’s history and as well as an instigator of social and political mobilization.
The course will discuss important junctures that have contributed to the more expressive definition of Brazil’s place today on the world stage, in particular its relationship with other Portuguese speaking countries. Particular attention will be paid to Brazil’s political and cultural interactions in the international arena. Special regard will be given to Brazil’s recently amplified relationships with Portuguese-speaking Africa. Some of the topics we might discuss include: transatlantic relations and the (re)negotiation of the legacy of slavery; culture and soft power in Brazil, political repression, mobilization and cultural activism; mass media in Brazil and its global impacts; documentary filmmaking and the global influence of protest movements.
Teaching materials used: readings and lecture slides
Course Objectives
Gain a thorough understanding of the connection between culture and politics in Brazil and relations with the wider Portuguese-speaking world.
Academic skills that are developed include:
Oral presentation skills
- to explain clear and substantiated research results;
- to provide an answer to questions concerning (a subject) in the field covered by the course
a. in the form of a clear and well-structured oral presentation;
b. in agreement with the appropriate disciplinary criteria;
c. using up-to-date presentation techniques;
d. aimed at a specific audience; - to actively participate in a discussion following the presentation.
Collaboration skills:
- to be socio-communicative in collaborative situations;
- to provide and receive constructive criticism, and incorporate justified criticism by revising one’s own position;
- adhere to agreed schedules and priorities.
Basic research skills, including heuristic skills:
- to collect and select academic literature using traditional and digital methods and techniques;
- to analyze and assess this literature with regard to quality and reliability;
- to formulate on this basis a sound research question;
- to design under supervision a research plan/paper of limited scope, and implement it using the methods and techniques that are appropriate within the discipline involved;
- to formulate a substantiated conclusion.
Written presentation skills:
- to explain clear and substantiated research results;
- to provide an answer to questions concerning (a subject) in the field covered by the course
a. in the form of a clear and well-structured written presentation;
b. in agreement with the appropriate disciplinary criteria;
c. using relevant illustration or multimedia techniques;
d. aimed at a specific audience.
Timetable
Visit MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Assessment Method
Assessment
The papers for students taking this course as part of their LAS Research Master are expected to formulate a research question that is strongly theoretically embedded and related in their case study to a key debate on Latin American Modernities (discussed in the ResMA core courses). To this end, ResMA students can request one extra individual meeting focused on helping them develop their theoretical framework accordingly.
Class presentation 30%;
final paper (5000 words) 70%
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average.
Resit
- Paper 5000 words
inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
T.B.A.
Registration
Via uSis.
General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch.
Contact information
Remarks
70% compulsory attendance to complete the course.