Courses
Semester I, Fall 2012
Primarily for Undergraduates
POBS 0100: ELEMENTARY PORTUGUESE
Section 01
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. Medeiros and Mr. Lira.
Meeting Times: MW 2:00-2:50 pm, TR 1:00-2:20 pm
POBS 0110: INTENSIVE PORTUGUESE (Double Credit)
Section 01
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. Offered every semester.
Ms. Sobral, Ms. Ashby and Ms. Kaplan
Meeting Times: MWF 10:00-10:50 am, MWF 1:00-1:50 pm, TR 10:30-11:50 am
POBS 0400: WRITING AND SPEAKING PORTUGUESE
Section 01
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. Offered every semester.
Ms. Gold and Mr. Wakefield
Meeting Times: MWF 11:00-11:50 am, MW 12:00-12:50 pm
POBS 0610: MAPPING PORTUGUESE-SPEAKING CULTURES: BRAZIL
Section 01
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. Grandecarvalho.
Meeting Times: TR 2:30-3:50 pm
POBS 0810: BELONGING AND DISPLACEMENT: CROSS-CULTURAL IDENTITIES
Section: 01
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.
Meeting Times: TR 9:00-10:20 am
POBS 0820: ‘COMING OUT’ JEWISH, GAY OR BLACK: MISTAKEN IDENTITY IN LITERATURE FROM THE USA AND BRAZIL
Section: 01
Understood as the opposite of passing or assimilating, "coming out" evokes socio-psychological and cultural tensions between public and private identities that are becoming increasingly blurred. Ambivalent identities incite concerns about belongingness, marginalization, citizenship, dislocation, and diaspora. Feeling unfamiliar or displaced as a manifestation of cultural alterity can also lead to situations of mistaken identity. Recognizing today's shift away from essentialisms, this seminar will read fiction from the USA and Brazil by applying the tropes of "coming out" and belonging to illustrate the complex formations and ambiguous practices of identity construction. Enrollment limited to 20 first year students. Conducted in English.
Mr. Vieira.
Meeting Times: W 3:00-5:20pm
POBS 0910: ON THE DAWN OF MODERNITY
Will analyze how a new mindset that would later be called modernity slowly emerged from the medieval world and how the trials and errors of the 15th and 16th century navigators helped shape that transformation. The seminar is interdisciplinary insofar as the readings will include developments in astronomy, geography, shipbuilding, mathematics, philosophy, as well as what could be called anthropology, as stepping stones to the first scientific revolution. Conducted in English.
Mr. Almeida
Meeting Times: W 3:00-5:20pm
For Undergraduates and Graduates
POBS 1030: PORTUGUESE STYLISTICS; ADVANCED LANGUAGE STUDY AND CREATIVE WRITING
Section 01
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
Meeting Times: T 12:00-2:20 pm
POBS 1210: AFRO-BRAZILIANS AND THE BRAZILIAN POLITY
(Interested Students should register for AFRI 1210)
Section 01
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.
Mr. Dzidzienyo.
Meeting Times: W 3:00-5:20 pm
POBS 1500B: AZOREAN LITERATURE
Section 01
A survey of the major works in prose and poetry of the Azorean writers of the 20th-century that reflect the açorianidade or the Weltanschauung of the Azoreans. Works by writers such as Nunes de Rosa, Vitorino Nemésio, Côrtes-Rodrigues as well as by the most representative authors of the "New Generation." Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Almeida.
Meeting Times: To be arranged.
POBS 1600W: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH
(Interested students should register for PPAI 1701G)
Section 01
Using theoretical ideas and empirical examples, this seminar explores from a variety of perspectives the relationships among science, technology, society and public policymaking in the Global South. Bridging public policy and science studies, this seminar introduces a more internationalized perspective on science and technology practice. Students will be graded on three writing assignments; participation in a web-based roundtable with counterparts in Brazil, South Africa and/or India; and class participation. Enrollment limited to 20 junior/senior Public Policy concentrators; others welcome with instructor’s permission. Conducted in English.
Ms. Augusto.
Meeting Times: T 9:00-11:20am
POBS 1601B: DEFYING THE WIND OF CHANGE: PORTUGAL, RHODESIA AND SOUTH AFRICA, 1961-1980.
Section 01
Examines the political, military, intelligence and economic ties between Portugal, Rhodesia (before and after its Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965) and apartheid-era South Africa as the three countries resisted calls for equal political representation for men and women of all races while exploiting their growing financial muscle as well as the circumstances of the Cold War. The bloc was undone by the Portuguese revolution of April 1974, which led to the independence of Angola and Mozambique, and left Rhodesia’s borders exposed. Extensive use of recently declassified material gathered in Lisbon and Pretoria. Conducted in English. Enrollment limited to 25.
Mr. Meneses.
Meeting Times: T 4:00-6:20pm
POBS 1670: HISTORY OF BRAZIL
(Interested students should register History 1670)
Section 01
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.
Meeting Times: TR 2:00-3:50am
POBS 1970: READING AND GUIDED STUDY
Section numbers vary by instructor. Please see the registration staff for the correct section number to use when registering for this course.
POBS 1990: RESEARCH AND PREPARATION OF HONORS PROJECTS
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 2010A: LANGUAGE THEORY AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT
Section 01
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.
Meeting Times: R 4:00-6:20 pm
POBS 2020D: THEORIES IN FIRST AND SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Section 01
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.
Meeting Times: T 4:00-6:20 pm
POBS 2500F:
TALES OF THE “SERTÃO”
Section 01
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 Sandra Kongut. Conducted in Portuguese.
Mr. Valente.
Meeting Times: W 3:00-5:20 pm
POBS 2500H:
THE CITY AND THE STREET: TRADITION, MODERNITY AND HUMAN SUBJECTIVITY IN BRAZILIAN URBAN LITERATURE
Section 01
From Machado de Asiss'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.
Meeting Times: M 3:00-5:20 pm
POBS 2600A: MEDEIVAL AND RENAISSANCE PORTUGUESE LITERATURE
Section 01
An analysis of Portuguese literature from the Middle Ages to the sixteenth century. Special attention given to the poetry of the Cancioneiros, Fernão Lopes, Gil Vicente, and Luís de Camões. Conducted in Portuguese.
Ms. Simas-Almeida.
Meeting Times: R 4:00-6:20 pm
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.
Mr. Vieira.
POBS 2980: READING AND GUIDED STUDY
See Reading and Guided Study for course description. Section numbers vary by instructor. Please see the registration staff for the correct section number 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.