Portuguese

This course introduces students to the critical study of global cross-cultural encounters in the early modern period. The course's main materials are Portuguese travel narratives, geographical and ethnographic texts produced between c.1450 and 1650. Students read a selection of translated primary texts narrating travels, encounters, and confrontations with extra-European cultures, accompanied by a selection of secondary literature highlighting the quandaries of the genre’s intertwinements with imperial expansion and the making of colonial societies in Brazil, Africa and Asia. To highlight the unique characteristics of Portuguese travel writing, the course covers the entire globe, but some emphasis is placed on early colonial Brazil, West and South Africa, and the so-called East Indies. 

The course introduces the Portuguese language and its global cultural context. Students develop basic communicative skills through the study of pronunciation, spelling, essential vocabulary, and core grammatical structures. The course also explores the presence of Portuguese in the world, fostering awareness of linguistic diversity, cultural practices, and fundamental pragmatic norms.

This course is a beginner level course taught in a bilingual environment of Spanish and Portuguese. The course covers basic vocabulary and grammar with the goal of building the capacity to talk about the learner´s daily activities and physical and psychological characteristics, while asking simple questions and conducting small conversations. The course also presents the general geography and cultural-historical information of Portuguese-speaking countries (Brasil, Portugal, Angola, etc.).

Two (week-long) sessions of intermediate Portuguese language instruction bookend the summer seminars. Instruction emphasizes the development of intermediate Portuguese language structures, as well as oral and written practice.