CURRICULUM VITAE Benjamin Legg Senior Lecturer Department of Spanish and Portuguese Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States [email protected]
EDUCATION
PhD Brown University, Portuguese and Brazilian Studies. Thesis: “’Admiráveis mas não imitáveis’: The United States in Brazilian Intellectual Discourse, 1900-1960”. May 2016.
M.A. Brown University, Portuguese and Brazilian Studies. May 2014.
B.A. University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Portuguese and Journalism. Summa Cum Laude. May 2004.
Additional Studies Tulane University (1999-2000), Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (2003) University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, Luso-Afro-Brazilian Studies (2008-2010).
PROFESSIONAL APPOINTMENTS
Vanderbilt University. Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Senior Lecturer. 2016-
PUBLICATIONS
Journal Articles: Forthcoming: “Parallel Sojourns, Divergent Trajectories: The Inter-American Encounters of Gilberto Freyre and Monteiro Lobato” Letterature d’America. proj. 2017.
Book Chapters:
2015- “The Bi-Cultural Sex-Symbol: Sônia Braga in Brazilian and North American Popular Cultures”. Performing Brazil. eds. Kathryn Bishop-Sánchez e Severino Albuquerque. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2015. 202-223.
Book Reviews:
2016: Albuquerque Jr., Durval Muniz de. Nordestino: Invenção do ‘falo,’ uma história do gênero masculino (1920-1940). Luso-Brazilian Review. Dec. 2016. 53:2, e24-e26.
2011- De Carli, Ana Mery Sehbe e Flávia Brochetto Ramos, orgs. Tropicália: gêneros, identidades, repertórios e linguagens. Luso-Brazilian Review, Dec. 2011. 48: 218-221.
Translations:
2013 -- Silva, Luiz Inácio Lula da. "Latin America without Chávez" The New York Times. 7 Mar, 2013. A27. (with Robert Sarwark).
Forthcoming: Castro-Alves, “O navio negreiro.” Tomás Antônio Gonzaga, various poems. The Brazil Reader. Ed. James Green.
Rubens Machado Jr. “Os Tempos Ressonantes de Hélio Oiticica.” Los Angeles Film Forum. Ismo Ismo Ismo Project Catalogue.
ACADEMIC AWARDS AND HONORS
2013 – Belda Family Research Award – Brown University.
2010 – Mellon Graduate Fellowship – Brown University.
2008 - FLAD Award for Luso-Afro-Brazilian Studies Best Essay – University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth,
2008- Instituto Camões Summer Study Award – University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.
2004 – Kappa Tau Alpha Journalism Honors Society – University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
CONFERENCE PARTICIPATION
2017 –Forthcoming, “Sorcery, Prophecy and the Subconscious: The Rational Fantastic in Guimarães Rosa’s Short Fiction.” Kentucky Foreign Languages Conference. University of Kentucky. Lexington, KY.
2016 – “Parallel Sojourns, Divergent Trajectories: Gilberto Freyre, Monteiro Lobato and the United States.” BRASA XIII. Brown University, Providence, RI. 30 Mar-2 Apr.
2014 – “Crônicas de uma ‘Outra América’ e um outro Freyre”. American Portuguese Studies Association IX, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. 23-25 Oct.
2014 – “Henfil’s American Illusion”. Brazil: From Dictatorship to Democracy. Watson Institute. Brown University. Providence, RI. 9-12 Apr.
2013 -- "A Collision of Peripheries: Poland, Portugal and Africa in the Work of Ryszard Kapuscinski" American Comparative Literature Association, University of Toronto. Toronto, Canada. 4-7 Apr.
2012 -- "A presença de Mircea Eliade no "Recado do morro" de João Guimarães Rosa." BRASA XI. University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, IL. 6-8 Sep. Panel Moderator.
2012 -- “Reflections on History and Contemporary Crisis is Chinua Achebe's Arrow of God and Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa's Ualalapi” American Comparative Literature Association, Brown University, Providence, RI. 29 Mar-1 Apr.
2010 --“Descobri que eu sou um anjo: Black Empowerment in the Music of Jorge Ben Jor” American Portuguese Studies Association VII, Brown University, Providence, RI. 7-9 Oct..
2009 – “The Bi-Cultural Sex Symbol: Sonia Braga in Brazilian and North American Popular Cultures. Gender, Empire and Postcolony. University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, MA. 9-11 Oct.
CLASSES TAUGHT
Vanderbilt University. Brazilian Culture Intermediate Portuguese The Making of Modern Brazil Portuguese through Popular Culture
Harvard University. Portuguese for Spanish Speakers. (Teaching Assistant. Sole-taught three sections of this course).
Brown University. Mapping Global Cultures: Portugal and Lusophone Africa (Teaching Assistant. Sole Instuctor). Performing Brazil (Teaching Assistant) Intensive Portuguese (Teaching Assistant ) Elementary Portuguese (Teaching Assistant. Sole-taught two sections of this course)
University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Intensive Portuguese (Teaching Assistant ) Intermediate Portuguese (Teaching Assistant. Sole-taught one section of this course) Elementary Portuguese (Teaching Assistant. Sole-taught one section of this course.)
Institutul Teologic Protestant. Cluj-Napoca, Romania. All Levels of English language and literature courses. (2005-2007)
DEPARTMENTAL/UNIVERSITY SERVICE
Graduate Student Application Review Committee, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, Vanderbilt University, 2016-
Faculty Advisor. Spanish and Portuguese Society of Creative Critics, Vanderbilt University, 2016-
Departmental Representative. Graduate Student Council, Brown University, 2012-2014.
Assistant Facilitator. International Student Orientation, Brown University, 2013.
Graduate Student Representative. Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, Brown University, 2012-2013.
Various Portuguese-English Interpretation services for visiting figures including: Flora Gomes (2014), Conceição Evaristo (2012) and Marina Silva (2011).
Assistance with the organization of various conferences and symposia including: Third World First (2013), APSA VII (2010), and Gender, Empire and Postcolony (2009).
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
2011-2012-- Instructor of free Portuguese classes for Providence Free School initiative.
TEACHING AREAS
20th Century Brazilian Popular Music and Social History Brazilian Prose (Late 19th and 20th Century) U.S.-Brazil Cultural Intersections Queer Voices of the Lusophone World Lusophone African Literature Portuguese Prose (20th Century) Elementary, Intermediate and Intensive Portuguese Language. Portuguese for Spanish Speakers
LANGUAGES
English: Native reading, speaking and writing. Portuguese: Near-native reading, speaking and writing. Spanish: Fluent reading. Excellent speaking. Conversational writing. French: Excellent reading. Conversational speaking and writing. Romanian: Excellent reading. Conversational speaking and writing. Hungarian: Basic reading, speaking and writing. Italian: Can read with dictionary.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
Modern Language Association (2014) Brazilian Studies Association (2012) American Comparative Literature Association (2012) American Portuguese Studies Association (2010)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
The Construction of National Identity in the Lusophone World. U.S-Brazil Cultural Relations. Postcolonial Lusophone Africa Gender and Queer Studies in the Lusophone World Brazilian Popular Culture