Portuguese In The America Series
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
bullet 15th Annual Summer Program in Portuguese

 

15th Annual Summer Program in Portuguese
XV Programa de Verão em Português

July 7 - August 6, 2008

Director : Prof. Christopher Larkosh
Sponsor : Luso-American Foundation and College of Arts and Sciences

Administered through Professional and Continuing Education


[Theme for the 2008: Future Spaces] [Portuguese in the World]
[Summer in the SouthCoast] [Cultural Activities] [Courses Offerings]

[General Information]
[Admission and scholarship application (PDF format)]

 

bullet Theme for the 2008:  Future Spaces

How will the Portuguese language continue to connect cultures, continents and ideas in the 21st century? How will the structure and perception of Portuguese-speaking spaces change? Beyond the present questions posed by studies in bilingualism, translation and cross-cultural identity, what new ways of theorizing cultural space will emerge, and where? Finally, and perhaps most importantly for the purposes of the Summer Program” what is the role of today’s students of Portuguese in the making of these future spaces?

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bullet Portuguese in the World

Portuguese is spoken by more than 230 million people, and is the official language of eight countries on four continents. After Chinese, Spanish, Hindi, English, and Bengali, it is the sixth-most spoken language in the world. Although Portuguese has its beginnings in the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula during the medieval period, the Age of Exploration in the 16th century carried it far beyond its European origins. Portugal’s membership in the European Union has made Portuguese one of its 23 official languages. Portuguese is also the official language of Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world, the largest country in Latin American, and an emerging global economic power as part of the Mercosur trading bloc.

Five African countries are former Portuguese colonies, and as independent nations, all of them continue to use Portuguese as their official language: from the Atlantic archipelago of Cape Verde, its continental neighbor Guinea-Bissau and the equatorial islands of São Tomé and Príncipe, to the larger southern African republics of Angola and Mozambique. As one of the five working languages of the African Union, Portuguese is positioned to remain one of Africa’s main languages of intercultural communication well into the 21st century.

Even in communities across Asia, the Portuguese language continues to be an important element of a complex cultural mosaic, sharing official status with Chinese in Macau, and with Tetum in newly independent East Timor. Moreover, Portuguese is also widely spoken outside of its officially recognized borders, most notably by over two million people across the U.S., Canada, and in other corners of the Lusophone diaspora. These communities further extend the language’s impressive global reach, ensuring its cross-cultural importance for scholars in literary and cultural studies, social sciences, business, and other academic disciplines with an international focus.

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bullet Summer in the SouthCoast

The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth has one of the largest departments of Portuguese in North America, with six full-time professors, seven faculty members in affiliated departments in the humanities and social sciences, and a full PhD program in Luso-Afro-Brazilian Studies and Theory. The university is located on a spacious and modern 800-acre campus in the heart of the SouthCoast region, home to one of North America’s largest Portuguese-speaking communities. Immigrants from the Azores, Madeira, mainland Portugal and Cape Verde have lived in the region for over 150 years, and Brazilian communities have contributed greatly to the cultural landscape over the last two decades to create a truly broad-based cultural scene in Portuguese, reflected most visibly in the traditional festivals held throughout the summer, as well as in the local cuisine, art, and music. UMass Dartmouth thus provides an excellent cultural environment in which to learn Portuguese in an immersion setting, complete with Portuguese-language television, radio, local newspapers, and day-to-day communication, each reflecting the important role of the Portuguese language in the region’s cultural identity.

Among the resources available on campus are an extensive collection of books, videos and archival materials held in its library, the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture, and the university language laboratory. The Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives is one of the main centers for advanced research on the Portuguese immigrant experience. New Bedford’s Casa da Saudade and Whaling Museum libraries also provide additional research opportunities on the Portuguese language as it is passed from generation to generation in a southern New England cultural context.

The campus is only a few minutes by bike from the center of Dartmouth and a few miles from the historic cities of Fall River and New Bedford. The summer climate is pleasantly warm, with days and nights that enjoy a sea breeze; the beaches of Dartmouth and neighboring Westport are only a short drive away. Larger cities such as Boston or Providence are about an hour from campus, as are the popular summer resort areas of Cape Cod and Newport. One-hour fast ferries from downtown New Bedford also provide connections to the island of Martha’s Vineyard. In all of these areas, you will find Portuguese spoken in local markets, bakeries, restaurants, clubs, and businesses.

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bullet Cultural Activities

The 2008 Summer Program will provide a full schedule of cultural events showcasing the diversity of the Portuguese-speaking world as reflected in the South Coast region, including: sightseeing tours to museums, ethnic festivals, and other regional events; dinner at ethnic restaurants and cookouts at nearby state parks and beaches; a Portuguese-language film series; a concert series with local professional artists performing music of Brazil, Cape Verde and Portugal; conversation sessions and other extracurricular activities; and lectures from noted scholars in the field of Luso-Afro-Brazilian studies and theory.

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bullet Course Offerings

POR 103 Intensive Elementary Portuguese (6 credits)
This course is designed for beginners who desire to master the basic structures and vocabulary of the language. Students earn two semes–ters of academic credit in five weeks, by practicing all four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. Each day includes three 1-hour sessions in the classroom and an additional hour in the language laboratory.
Lectures: Daily 9 am - 12:30 pm; Group I, Room 111

POR 203 Intensive Intermediate Portuguese (6 credits)
This course is designed to review the grammar and syntax of first-year Portuguese. Stress is on development of competency in all four language skills, expanding vocabulary and using Portuguese in practical situations, as well as reading and analyzing short texts. Each day includes three 1-hour sessions in the classroom and an additional hour in the language laboratory.
Prerequisite: One year of elementary Portuguese or equivalent
Lectures: Daily 9 am - 12:30 pm; LARTS, Room 112

Conversation Sessions
Optional twice-a-week sessions are designed for both Elementary and Intermediate Portuguese and focus on the oral practice of the structures and vocabulary already learned in class.
Tuesday and Thursday 1:00-1:50 pm
POR 103 - LARTS, North Lounge
POR 203 - LARTS, South Lounge

POR 217/ENL 200 Portuguese-American Literature (3 credits)
What is a diaspora?  How do the social, political and economic pressures of transnational migration change the way people understand both their own cultural identities and those of others? Through readings, class discussion and activities, students will examine how people of Portuguese descent are represented in mainstream culture, and how literature and other creative works by and about Portuguese in the U.S. and Canada address the complex issues of community life, inter-ethnic relations, gender and racialization that have often characterized their experience here.  This course is taught in English. 
Prerequisite: ENL 102
Lectures: M, T, W, Th 6:30-8:30 pm; LARTS, Room 111

POR 305 Portuguese-English Translation (3 credits)
This bilingual undergraduate course will draw upon materials in contemporary Lusophone cultures, especially the mass media, in order to develop the practical and critical skills necessary for Portuguese-English translation.  It includes a review of specialized vocabulary from the worlds of business, communications, tourism and international relations.  Through work in translation, the bilingual experience is thus recognized as an important conduit of cultural exchange between the Lusophone and Anglophone worlds.
Prerequisite: POR 302 or consent of instructor
Lectures: M, T, W, Th 2:00-4:00 pm; LARTS, Room 111

POR 308 Advanced Grammar and Syntax (3 credits)
This course is designed for students who wish to pursue advanced study of Portuguese grammar. Teaching methodology will employ source texts from linguistics and language pedagogy, and will include contrastive analysis of Portuguese and English grammar. Coursework will emphasize development of skills in speaking and academic writing, and focus on the diversity of Portuguese across the Lusophone world (European, Brazilian, African), as well as comparisons to closely-related Romance languages on the Iberian peninsula (Galician, Mirandês).
Prerequisite: Two years of Portuguese language or equivalent
Lectures: Daily 9:00-10:30 am; LARTS, Room 114

HST 376 Politics of Space in Brazil (3 credits)
This course aims at understanding Brazilian society and politics from a broad-based historical perspective, both through the evolution of architectural models and the continually evolving discourses of race, gender, and social class pivotal to the construction of national identity. After a brief review of the period of European contact to colonial rule, independence, and integration into the agro-export economy in the 19th century, we will then focus upon the reconfiguration of urban space by way of modern architecture and national politics over the 20th and into the 21st century. 
Lectures: Daily 10:30-12:00; LARTS, Room 114

POR 481/581/681/781 Topics in Luso-Afro-Brazilian Studies and Theory: “Luso-Asian Fictions” (3 credits)
This advanced undergraduate/graduate seminar in Portuguese focuses upon the cultures of Asia as seen through literature, whether written in Portuguese or translated in and out of other languages.  How do representations of Asia change in literary works as Portugal attempts to reinvent its relationship with areas formerly under its colonial control?  Beginning with classics of Portuguese literature that point toward the ambivalent nature of the colonial enterprise (Camões, Mendes Pinto, Vieira), we will continue on to more recent literary works and films on Goa, Macau, East Timor and other parts of Asia (from Ondina Braga, Senna Fernandes, Tabucchi, Agualusa and others), both to investigate any lingering traces of colonial nostalgia as well as to imagine new possibilities for communication between the Lusophone world and Asia. 
Prerequisite: Fluency in Portuguese
Lectures: M, T, W, Th 6:30-8:30 pm; LARTS, Room 112

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bullet Gerenal Information

Admissions and Enrollment
As the Summer Program offers courses for students at all levels of linguistic and academic proficiency, anyone interested is encouraged to apply for admission. Participants range from graduate students who wish to complement the offerings at their home institution with a seminar from our master’s and doctoral programs, to high school juniors and seniors interested in beginning language courses may be determined by a short interview and/or written exam before classes begin. Students can register either by mail or by phone by contacting the University Enrollment Center at 508-999-9129.

To download the admission and scholarship application (PDF format), click here. Applications can be submitted by post or by email to verao@umassd.edu.

Housing
The university provides on-campus housing for the Summer Program in its Woodland Commons residence halls. All students who opt for summer housing receive single rooms clustered in suites. Students are strongly encouraged to speak only Portuguese in the shared areas as part of a through immersion experience.
The 2008 rate is $40 per day, per person. Please contact Eric Lyonnais (elyonnais@umassd.edu) to register for housing during the program.

Tuition, Fees and Scholarships
The cost for the Summer Program is set by the Office of Professional and Continuing Education. The 2008 summer rates are as follows:

The Summer Program offers a limited number of scholarships based on academic merit and financial need. Some of the scholarships are reserved for teachers of Portuguese. The deadline is April 30, 2008, but some applicants may be considered after this date in exceptional cases.

Contact Information
Gina M. Reis, assistant director
Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
285 Old Westport Road
North Dartmouth, MA 02747-2300 USA
Tel: + 1 508 999 9270
Fax: + 1 508 999 9272
Email: greis@umassd.edu

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