Course Format: 3 x 50 min lecture-discussion per week

Course Synopsis:  

Overview of the major events, people, ideas, processes in Brazilian history.  Topics will include:  indigenous societies, cannibalism, sugar and slavery, the Dutch settlements, independence, abolition, runaway slave colonies, gold fields and the cowboys, republicanism, millennial movements, dictatorship, Carnival, music, samba, the environment and soccer.

Methods of Evaluation and Weights:

In-class reading response #1 - 15%
In-class reading response #2 - 15%
Major research essay - 35%
Discussion and participation - 15%
Final exam - 20%

Texts Required:

Boris Fausto; A Concise History of Brazil  (Oxford University Press)
Jean de Léry; History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil   (California)
João José Reis; Slave Rebellion in Brazil: The Muslim Uprising of 1835  (Johns Hopkins University Press)
Chris Dunn; Brutality Garden: Tropicalia & the Emergence of Brazilian Counterculture  (University of North Carolina Press)  

*Please note:  This is a preliminary web course description only.  The department reserves the right to change without notice any information in this description.  The final, binding course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester.