History, Politics, & Music of Brazil

IMPORTANT: American citizens and citizens of many other countries will need Brazilian visas (not included in program fee).

Program Description
HUNTER-BAHIA consists of two courses: LACS 330.51/POLSC 272.19, Brazilian History and Politics, an interdisciplinary field course, and LACS 330.61, Brazilian Music: Understanding the Historical Richness of Brazil.  These courses provide analytic, interpretive materials on Brazilian history, culture, and politics, with a particular focus on Salvador, Bahia, the site of the course.  Readings and discussion in the history and politics course will treat authoritarianism, the transition to democracy, current successes and failures of Brazilian democracy, economic policy, and the role of social movements and popular culture. Especially in the Bahian context, it will examine globalization, socioeconomic inequality, the history and legacies of slavery and racism.  The music course will provide insight into and appreciation of the richness of Brazilian music, from the 1500s to the present. It will enrich analysis of the Brazilian cultural context as well as the historical background through the use of DVDs, CDs, photos, power point texts, and live music.  

Why Brazil? Brazil is the world's fifth largest country and the fifth most populous.  It has the world's sixth largest economy and has received much media attention as one of the rising new economic powers, the "BRICS." It is a fascinating nation of contrasts and contradictions-of poverty and wealth, of the privileges and the deprivations of race and class, and of economic leaders employing cutting-edge technology while many labor under primitive conditions. After 20 years of authoritarian rule following the military coup of 1964, social movement activists, opposition politicians, and some social and political elites forced a negotiated end to the dictatorship and wrote the democratic constitution of 1988. In this new Brazil, the once-imprisoned labor leader, Lula, was elected to two successful terms as President of the Republic, and his Workers Party successor, Dilma Roussef, Brazil's first woman president, is now governing with broad and deep popular support. We will see that the realities of society and politics in Brazil are complex, and both encouraging and sobering.

Why Salvador?  Capital of colonial Brazil and a stunning UNESCO World Heritage site, Salvador, with 3 million inhabitants, is now Brazil's third most populous city, 1000 miles up the coast from Rio de Janeiro.  It was the center of the colonial sugar industry and one of the principal ports of entry for African slaves brought to work in that industry.  Peopled at independence by Portuguese, enslaved Africans, and Amerindians, Salvador today presents itself as the most African of Brazilian cities, where culture, religion, foods, and, especially, music and the plastic arts all revel in their pluralistic ethnic roots.  The contradictions of race and class are clearly evident.  For graphic and audio illustrations of Salvador and its creative spirit, visit the rich website created by "Pardal," a transplanted New Yorker,  http://www.bahia-online.net/TheMusicandDanceScene.htm and the links it gives.

Complementing the in-class seminars, HUNTER-BAHIA will visit museums, churches, monuments, markets, and performance spaces-sites that reflect the history of colonial Portuguese rule, the oppressions of slavery, the expressions of resistance in the popular culture, and the multiculturalism of today's Bahia.  Music is ever present in the daily life of Salvador, and the local arrangements team will organize visits to a candomblé ceremony and to a capoeira school, illustrating different styles of ritual music.  There will also be a one-day trip to Cachoeira and São Felix, historically important inland towns located on opposite sides of the Paraguaçu River. 

Students will live in shared apartments in the Hotel Porto Farol, located in Barra, close to two popular beaches and a shopping center. Barra is the neighborhood of Salvador immortalized in songs by Caetano Veloso and Dorival Caymmi.

Credits & Grades

Students in this program will receive both credits and letter grades. Grades will count towards their Hunter GPA.

SYLLABI

Winter 2012-13 Music Syllabus

Winter 2012-13 LACS/POLSC Syllabus

Feel free to contact Prof. Erickson with questions regarding the syllabi for his courses. His contact information can be found below.