Regularly Offered Courses

Instructor: Dayse Bedê
Course Description: The first course in the basic Portuguese sequence. This class is intended for students with no background in Portuguese or another Romance language.

Instructor: Krista Brune
Course Description: This course offers an introduction to Brazilian Portuguese for students who already have a good grasp of grammar and vocabulary in Spanish, French, Italian, or Latin. This course will cover the topics of the basic language sequence (PORT 1, 2, 3) in one semester to prepare you for advanced Portuguese courses, study abroad, or research. Our focus will be on acquiring linguistic fluency, but along the way we will also gain insight into aspects of Brazilian culture through our analysis of song lyrics, journalistic texts, and TV shows. This course counts for the 2nd foreign/world language and the 12th unit of foreign/world language. Register for this course if: you grew up speaking a Romance language or you have taken Spanish, French, Italian, or Latin 3 or higher.
Prerequisite: SPAN 3; FR 3; IT 3; LATIN 3; or prior approval from the instructor

Instructor: Dayse Bedê
Course Description: The second course in the basic Portuguese sequence is a continuation of Portuguese 1. This class is intended for students with no background in Portuguese or another Romance language.
Prerequisite: PORT 001

Instructor: Dayse Bedê
Course Description: This course provides a more detailed study of the Portuguese language. Students will review and extend their abilities in all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing) as they learn more about the linguistic and cultural diversity of the Portuguese-speaking world. The course uses a textbook paired with written, audio, and video workbook activities and supplemented by authentic language materials and artistic works that generate communicative exercises that allow students to practice and refine their spoken and written Portuguese. As students improve their understanding of the Portuguese language, they also gain insight into Luso-Afro-Brazilian cultures by analyzing music, films, videos, paintings, photos, essays, chronicles, news articles, shorts stories, and poems. This course will be conducted in Portuguese.
Prerequisite: PORT 3, PORT 123, or permission of the instructor

Instructor: Dayse Bedê
Course Description: The third course in the basic Portuguese sequence is a continuation of Portuguese 1 and 2. This class is intended for students with no background in Portuguese or another Romance language.
Prerequisite: PORT 002

Course Description: This course traces the transformation of Brazilian cities, as represented in literature and the arts, from the modernization projects of the late 19th century through the exponential growth of urban areas in recent decades. Studying these urban transformations will provide students with insight into how contemporary Brazil developed into an urban nation with seventeen of its cities featuring populations of one million or more. This class focuses primarily on artistic representations of the global metropolises of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the modernist capital of Brazília, and the northeastern city of Recife. Readings will highlight the diverse experiences and expressions of urban life in essays, poems, short stories, and avant-garde novels. Music, film, and photography will complement students¿ literary tour of an urban Brazil. Critical readings from urban studies, architecture, anthropology, history, and other interdisciplinary fields will allow us to further explore the question of the city in Brazil. This course will be conducted in Portuguese. Students must be able to complete the readings, informal and formal written assignments, and in-class discussion and activities in Portuguese.
Prerequisite: PORT 405

Instructor: Dayse Bedê
Course Description: This course is a requirement for the Portuguese minor. It is intended to strengthen the advanced student’s ability to speak, read, and write in modern Brazilian Portuguese. The class uses crônicas, short stories, and other forms of cultural expression to strengthen students’ use of grammar, vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, and pronunciation in Brazilian Portuguese. Pre-requisites for this course are Portuguese 3, Portuguese 123, or permission of the instructor.
Prerequisite: PORT 003, PORT 123, or prior approval from the instructor

Time: TR, 1:35-2:50 p.m.
Instructor: Krista Brune
Course Description: This course studies social, political, economic, and cultural issues in the Portuguese-speaking world through the lens of film. This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree attributes in Humanities and the International Cultures requirement. Through examinations of feature films and documentaries, the class explores how cinema approaches social, cultural, political, and economic realities in Brazil, Portugal, and Lusophone Africa. Students will learn about national histories, political struggles, social movements, and cultural practices of the Luso-Afro-Brazilian world as they gain the skills and appropriate vocabulary to analyze and discuss film. The course materials will invite students to consider how films examine legacies of imperialism, colonialism, and dictatorial regimes, as well as ongoing divisions and injustices on the basis of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Questions to be considered in this course include: How do filmmakers grapple with traumas of the past, questions of memory, and debates around truth and reconciliation? How do forms of fiction and documentary intersect, serve as complements, or contradict each other in film? How does film represent the convergences and divergences between different parts of the Portuguese-speaking world? What are the possibilities and limitations of studying these works in a comparative Lusophone framework? Readings on film, history, and Luso-Afro-Brazilian culture, and interviews with filmmakers will complement our studies of the films. The course will be conducted in English. No prior knowledge of Portuguese is necessary, as the films will have subtitles and required readings will all be in English. Students pursuing the Portuguese minor may receive credit for the minor if they complete all of their written assignments in Portuguese.

Course Description: Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in-depth, a comparatively narrow subject that may be topical or of special interest.

Course Description: Courses offered in foreign countries by individual or group instruction.