PRC 320E: SPECTACULAR BRAZIL Spring 2018; TTh 2pm-3:30pm, MEZ 1.202 Prof. Jason Borge Office hours TTh 1-2; 3:30-4pm
COURSE DESCRIPTION
In this course, students will be introduced to Brazil through an analysis of a wide array of cultural texts, primarily fiction film, but also literature, popular music, art & photography, history, and journalism. The reading/viewing and the course itself will focus on the global, historical, thematic, and performative aspects of Brazilian culture, challenging simplistic notions of naive exoticism, racial harmony, and pictoresque violence frequently associated with the nation. We will discuss how culture as spectacle—in the sense of performance, but also creative artiface, deceipt, resistance, and manipulation—has encompassed a large range of societal phenomena, from slavery to carnival, soccer to electoral politics, the sertão to the favela.
Grades will be based on
• Regular attendance and participation in class (15%) • Regular written participation on Canvas (15%) • One short, analytical paper (20%) • One mid-term exam (25%) • One final exam (25%)
Absences must be justified through communication with the instructor; otherwise, they will negatively impact your oral participation grade. Study questions will be made available on CANVAS two days prior to every class. Students must prepare typed answers to these questions, and have them at hand in class. Please bring notebooks and a pen or pencil for note- taking purposes. You may bring laptops and tablets to class. However, the use of such electronic devices may only be used with the permission of the instructor. Due to oral participation requirements, only light snacks and beverages are allowed in the classroom.
OTHER RULES AND POLICIES
1. The instructor will make himself available to discuss appropriate academic accommodations that a student with a disability may require. Before course accommodations will be made, students will be required to provide documentation prepared by the Services for Students with Disabilities Office (SSD). To ensure that the most appropriate accommodations can be provided, students should contact the SSD Office at 471-6259 or 471-4641. For more information, read regulations for academic accommodations for students with disabilities at http://diversity.utexas.edu/disability/accommodations-and-services/
2. Scholastic dishonesty: students who violate University rules on scholastic dishonesty are subject to disciplinary penalties, including the possibility of failure in the course and/or dismissal from The University of Texas. Since such dishonesty harms the individual, all students, and the integrity of the University, policies on scholastic dishonesty will be strictly enforced. For more information, visit Student Judicial Services (SJS) at http://deanofstudents.utexas.edu/sjs/ .
Assigned readings/viewings
January 16
Introduction to course
January 18
Brazil from Afar
Flying Down to Rio (dir. Thornton Freeland, 1933): selections Rio (dir. Carlos Saldanha, 2011): selections Turistas (dir. John Stockwell, 2006): selections
Tropical Conquest
January 23
Levine & Crocitti, “Origins, Conquest, and Colonial Rule” (from The Brazil Reader) Anonymous, "A Description of the Tupinambá" Davi Kopenawa/Bruce Albert, "Drawn Words" [testimonial literature] from The Falling Sky: Words of a Yanomami Shaman [e-resource]
January 25
Hans Staden (Luis Alberto Pereira, 1999)
The Price of Empire
January 30
Levine & Crocitti, “Slavery and its Aftermath” Anonymous, "The War Against Palmares" Gilberto Gil, "Quilombo, o Eldorado negro" (song lyrics)
February 1
Quilombo (Carlos Diegues, 1984)
The Wild, Wild Northeast
February 6
Levine & Crocitti, “Imperial and Republican Brazil” Dain Borges, “A Mirror of Progress” Franklin Machado Nordestino, "Debate between Lampião and an American tourist" (chapbook)
February 8
White Devil, Black God (Glauber Rocha, 1964)
Race, Gender, and the "New State"
February 13
Rollie Poppino, "Getúlio Dornelles Vargas" Getúlio Vargas, "New Year's Address, 1938" [radio address] Stanley R. Bailey, "Racial Democracy" João Francisco dos Santos and Others, "Madame Satã, a Grifter in Lapa"
February 15
Madame Satã (dir. Madame Satã, 2002)
Ambivalent Neighbors
February 20
Darlene Sadlier, "Good Neighbor Brazil," in Brazil Imagined Saludos Amigos (dir. Walt Disney, 1942; excerpt)
February 22
Bananas is my Business (dir. Helena Solberg, 1998)
Carnavalia
February 27
Marshall Eakin, “Communicating and Understanding Mestiçagem: Radio, Samba, & Carnaval” from Becoming Brazilians Clarice Lispector, "Remnants of Carnival" (story) Noel Rosa and Ary Barroso, selected sambas
March 1
Black Orpheus (dir. Marcel Camus, 1959)
March 6
Review for exam
March 8
Mid-term exam
SPRING BREAK
Dissonant sounds
March 20
Levine & Crocitti, “Seeking Democracy and Equity” Christopher Dunn, “Tropicalism and Brazilian Popular Music under Military rule” from The Brazil Reader Oswald de Andrade, "The Cannibalist Manifesto"
March 22
Tropicália (dir. Marcelo Machado, 2012)
War games
March 27
Janet Lever and José Carlos Sebe Bom Meihy, “Two Essays on Sports” Sérgio Sant'Anna, "In the Mouth of the Tunnel" (short story)
March 29
The Year my Parents went on Vacation (dir. Cao Hamburger, 2006)
Spectacles of poverty
April 3
Bryan McCann, "The Big Picture," from Hard Times in the Marvelous City
April 5
André Diniz, Picture a Favela (graphic novel)
April 10
City of God (dir. Fernando Meirelles & Kátia Lund, 2002)
April 12
Bianca Freire-Medeiros and Márcio Grijó Vilarouca, "Would you be a favela tourist? Confronting expectations and moral concerns amongst Brazilian and foreign potential tourists"
Analytical paper due
Environmental Challenges and Responses
April 17
Manoel de Barros and Astrid Cabral, selected poems Sebastião Salgado, selected photography
April 19
Waste Land (dir. Lucy Walker, 2011)
Media manipulations
April 24
John Sinclair and Joseph Straubhaar, "The Dominant Markets--Brazil" from Latin American Television Industries Wagner dos Santos, "An Open Letter from a Massacre Survivor" Roberto DaMatta, “Is Brazil Hopelessly Corrupt?”
April 26
Bus 174 (dir. José Padilha, 2004)
May 1
Review
May 3
Final exam