Contemporary Brazil

Literature and society

Introduction
 Course introduction
• Practical information
• Learning outcomes
• Course content
• Language of instruction
• Assessment criteria
• Understading Brazil?
• Course overview
 Practical information
Learning tools
• Adobe Connect (seminars)
• Learn (information, schedule, course plan, course
literature, forum, etc.)
Links
• Adobe Connect: http://www-old.du.se/connectmeeting
• Learn:
https://www.du.se/en/services-and-offices-for-students/le
arn-learning-platform/
• Webmail: https://webmail.du.se/
• Support:
https://www.du.se/en/services-and-offices-for-students/h
elp-desks-and-support/
 Contemporary Brazil
Learning Outcomes
On completion of the course, students shall be able to:
• explain the political and socio-economic events that have
shaped the development of Brazilian society from the late
1800s until the present day;
• reflect upon the development of Brazilian society from a
global perspective and analyse equality and sustainability
aspects;
• conduct literary analyses that problematise literary
content in relation to their historical and socio-cultural
context;
• search for, collect, interpret and compile relevant
information in their own oral and written work.
 Contemporary Brazil
Course Content
The course involves the study of works of fiction and non-
fiction, film adaptations and other contemporary material
that sheds light on developments in Brazilian society from
the late 1800s until the present day. Focus is on the close
study of a selection of representative works of fiction whose
content relates to important historical and socio-political
events, such as the abolition of slavery, the New Republic,
dictatorship, democracy and migration. In the course,
developments in society in relation to equality and
sustainability are also discussed.
 Contemporary Brazil
Language of instruction
Portuguese is no longer a requirement for the course, nor is
Swedish, so students aren’t expected to know Portuguese or
Swedish to attend the course. You may read the course literature
and write your assignment in Portuguese if you wish, but seminar
discussions will be conducted in English.

Prerequisites
General entrance requirements and English B/English 6 at upper
secondary school, or equivalent knowledge. No knowledge of
Swedish is required.

Grades
The Swedish grades U – VG.
 Contemporary Brazil
Schedule
8 online meetings, every other week, on Tuesdays, 19:00-20:30. The
schedule is available in our course room on Learn > Course materials.
Course Guide
After this course introduction, we’ll have 7 seminars online. We start with
Brazilian society and later move on to Brazilian literature. Prior to the
seminars, students shall post in the Forum in our course room on Learn, as a
preparation for the discussions in the seminar. In our course plan, you’ll find
the instructions on forum posts as well as what to read for each seminar. The
course guide is available in our course room on Learn > Course materials.
Seminars
In our online meetings, students are supposed to report on their reading,
based on their posts in the forum, presenting their understandings and views
on the topics studied.
 Contemporary Brazil
Assessment criteria
The assessment is based on the oral presentations (reports and
discussions) in the seminars as well as on the written assignment.
Please note that active participation in the forum does not replace
your participation in the seminars. Your forum posts won’t be
graded, they are supposed to initiate the conversation that we’ll
have in our seminars. The assessment criteria is available in our
course room on Learn > Course materials.

Written assignment
After our last seminar, the assignment will be published on Learn.
Students are expected to show an understanding of Brazilian
literature and society, based on the course literature and on
seminar discussions.
Understanding Brazil?
Regional variation and
social difference
 Seminário 1
The republic and the democratic experiment
(1889-1964)
 Seminário 2
Dictatorship and democratization
(1964-1985)
 Seminário 3
Machados de Assis’s realism and social satire
 Seminário 4
Nationalism in the work of Lima Barreto
 Filme baseado no livro
The Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma
 Seminário 5
Migration from the backlands in the work of Graciliano
Ramos
Filme baseado no livro
Barren lives
 Seminário 6
Urban poverty and existentialism in the work of Clarice Lispector
Filme baseado no livro
Hour of the Star

• Movie (1985) by Suzana

Amaral, based on the novel.
Available on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBxAMJvSip0

• Actress Marcélia Cartaxo won

the Silver Bear for best
actress for her role as
Macabéa (1986).
 Seminário 7
Contemporary themes and authors
Brazilian literature
(Who are the writers?)
Next meeting: Wednesday, Feb 19

We focus on the first part of the

republican period and get an
overview of the main events that
marked the transition to a
republican state, the Vargas
government and the political
polarization that preceded the
military regime in 1964.