Advanced Portuguese Seminar (Level 6)

• Credit value: 30 credits at Level 6
• Convenor: Professor Luciana Martins
• Lecturers: Professor Luciana Martins/Dr Luis Trindade
• Assessment: a 1000-word literature review (20%), 15-minute presentation and 200-word project summary (20%) and 2500-word essay (60%)

This module is intended for students with a high level of Portuguese; to take it you must have reached a level equivalent to post-A-level, or higher. The course approaches the theme of ‘Vanguardas’ through the study and close reading of a number of core texts. This year, the focus will be on Mário de Andrade (1893-1945), one of the leading intellectuals of his generation in Brazil. We will focus on Paulicéia Desvairada (1922), O Turista Aprendiz (1926; 1928) and Macunaíma (1928), as well as personal correspondence, newspaper articles and other texts. We will analyse Mário de Andrade’s views on urban modernity, visual arts, photography, cinema, architecture, ethnography, music, folklore and cultural heritage, including his project of critical nationalism. In particular, we will consider his complex relationship with the European avant-garde, as well as his legacy to Brazilian culture and society.

The course is also intended to help you to develop your Portuguese language skills, and to this end is entirely taught and assessed in Portuguese.

Indicative module syllabus

• A Semana de Arte Moderna de 22; Paulicéia Desvairada (1922)
• Conhecendo o Brasi/Knowing Brazil
• O Turista Aprendiz: Viagens pelo Amazonas até o Peru, pelo Madeira até a Bolivia e por Marajó até dizer chega (1927)
• O Turista Aprendiz: Dois fragmentos do diário (1928)
• Câmara Cascudo e Mário de Andrade. Cartas (1924-1944)
• Sociedade de Etnografia e Folclore (1937-1938): ‘O Samba Rural Paulista’ (1936); Missão de Pesquisas Folclóricas (1938)
• Repensando o Brasil/Rethinking Brazil
• Macunaíma: O herói sem nenhum caráter (1928)
• Film: Macunaíma (Joaquim Pedro de Andrade, 1969)
• ‘Anteprojeto para a criação do Serviço do Patrimônio Artístico Nacional’ (1936)
• Mário de Andrade: cartas de trabalho. Correspondência com Rodrigo Mello Franco de Andrade (1936-1945)

By the end of this module, you will:

• have in-depth knowledge of aspects of Brazilian and/or Portuguese literature, culture, history, politics, and social and economic structures
• be able to identify and understand current debates and critical themes relevant to the study of twentieth-century Brazil and/or Portugal
• have analysed and compared concepts and phenomena across topics, locations and time periods to observe the structural and historical interrelation between questions of nationality, inequality, race, gender and the environment in Brazil
• have critically analysed cultural texts, and situated them within their historical and social context, and circuits of production and reception, in Brazil and/or Portugal and internationally
• have consolidated your fluency and accuracy in Portuguese language use, both in speaking and writing
• have improved your Portuguese language oral-aural skills.