Accelerated Beginning Portuguese This course is an intensive and fast-paced introduction to Portuguese, covering all of the basic structures and vocabulary as well as important aspects of the cultures of Lusophone countries. Within a cultural context, emphasis will be placed on active communication aimed at the development of comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing. Students are expected to continue with PGSE 0215, after successful completion of PGSE 0115 (formerly PGSE 0210). Open to all students.

Advanced Portuguese This course is a continuation of PGSE 0210. It is designed to balance textual and cultural analysis with a thorough review of grammar at an intermediate/high level. Students will hone their critical thinking and linguistic skills through guided readings, oral discussions, and short written assignments on Lusophone cultural topics.

A Bridge Between Nations: Introduction to Galician Culture and Language Galicia is a cultural region in the Iberian Peninsula. In this course we will explore how the study of the Galician region, its language and culture, can help us develop a deeper understanding of the Luso-Hispanic world. This will be an interdisciplinary course in which we discuss history and politics (formation of the region, its place in the globalized world and Spain); key sociolinguistic terms (diglossia, minoritized/minority language); and cultural manifestations while we explore and learn a new, but familiar, language. (SPAN 220 or PGSE 0215 or equivalent). 3 hrs.lect./disc

Japanese Immigration to Brazil Japanese Brazilians are the largest ethnic Japanese community outside Japan. What factors gave rise to this community? How did it expand over time? In this course we will study the modern Japanese diaspora from a Brazilian perspective. The first families from Japan arrived in Brazil in 1908. Why did these families leave their country? Which work did Japanese immigrants do? How did they negotiate their Japanese cultural identities within the Latin American context? To what extent have they contributed to the Brazilian culture? In order to answer these and other questions, students will examine and discuss a set of critical/creative sources that include essay, film, testimony, painting, advertisement, poetry, and literary fiction. In the last segment of the course, we will consider a social-economic counterpoint: the context in which Brazilians of Japanese ethnicity followed the reverse path of their grandparents and massively immigrated to Japan during the 1990s. 3 hrs sem.

With Flavor: Food and Brazilian Culture In this course we will focus on the food being produced and consumed in Brazil in its relation to Brazilian culture and history. Topics include how food and Brazilian culinary practices are related to certain aspects of Brazilian society, such as the Northeast’s landed oligarchy, Afro-Brazilian culture in Bahia, regional, national, and transnational identities, women and gender constructs, and the experience of hunger. Narratives (fictional, non-fictional, and theoretical) will be drawn from different media: printed and online texts as well as audio-visual materials, such as songs and popular music videos, films, TV series and cooking programs. The course will also entail preparation and degustation of Brazilian dishes.

Machado de Assis and Brazilian Society in the 19th Century Machado de Assis (1839-1908) is an Afro-Brazilian writer widely regarded as the greatest of Brazilian literature. In this course we will examine his works as we look into the social-political context in which Machado lived. We will study Brazil's history in the 19th century, from the time it achieved independence as a monarchy (1822), through its establishment as a republican system (1889). As the last western nation to abolish slavery (1888), Brazil was a place where women’s rights were egregiously overlooked, and formal education was accessible only to the white elite.  We will explore how Machado de Assis’ works are structured by the Brazilian society of his time, and how they helped structure social conditions that emerged later.

The Black Lusophone Atlantic (in English) In this course we will examine the histories, power struggles, and cultural formations in Portuguese-speaking spaces of the African Diaspora. The Lusophone, or Portuguese-speaking world, encompasses four continents as a lasting legacy of Portuguese imperialism and the trafficking of enslaved people. Working across and against disciplines, we will critically engage with Black decolonial worldmaking in these spaces and across periods as we re-evaluate and dismantle this so-called Lusophone world and other imperialist geographies. In the process, we will examine connections between Black life in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Portugal, and more over the last six centuries; and also how Black life re-historicizes these spaces and times. 3 hrs.sem.

Narratives from the Margins: Occupying Minds In this course we will investigate the narratives that marginal voices create in order to symbolically occupy a "space" in society. Taking, as our starting point, the concept of ocupação developed by the MST (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra), we will focus on marginal groups composing Brazilian society, such as landless workers, inmates, or faveladxs. We will also analyze literary and filmic texts that express dissident viewpoints in the 20th and 21st centuries as well as the contemporary scene. In conjunction with these texts, we will discuss an array of online articles that deal with analyzed authors and/or issues that serve as context and counterpoint to these narratives. Texts analyzed will include Tetê Moraes's and Paulo Sacramento's documentaries, MST's poetry and songs, inmates' literature, or Carolina Maria de Jesus's narratives.

Race, Sex, and Power in the Lusophone World How do race and sex intersect in the Lusophone world? What can they teach us about the power dynamics behind world-shaping events such as the Inquisition, colonialism, slavery, miscegenation, nationhood, and even plastic surgery? We will explore the connections between violence, racial identity, gender, and sexualityin the histories and cultures of Lusophone nations. Content covered will include literature, film, television, music, historical documents, and interdisciplinary scholarship that offer different insights into how racial and sexual discourses and practices shape or contest power structures.

Brazilian Cinema and Culture In this course we will analyze how Brazilian cinema has been approaching issues related to Brazilian society and culture since mid-twentieth century to the present. Issues may range from colonialism and neocolonialism, dictatorship and revolutionary movements, and the permanence of violence in the fabric of society, to gender identity and diverse sexualities, or race and racism. Throughout the course we will also learn about different movements, moments, aesthetics, and filmmakers, as well as how filmic genres are constructed in Brazilian cinema. Readings will be taken from film criticism and history, social and historical analysis, as well as from other theoretical frameworks, such as gender theory or critical race theory. (PGSE 0215) Course taught in English.

Brazilian Cinema: The Wide Angle In this course we will focus on how Brazilian cinema, from the 1950s popular chanchada comedies onwards, has attempted to represent and give voice to subaltern social groups and subjectivities. The sertanejos and favelados, Indigenous and Black Brazilians, women and LGBTQ+, inmates and revolutionaries, are all in front of the lens, but often holding the camera as well. Films will be from different modes of production, ranging from mass production to independent. Analyses will be informed by readings on film theory and criticism, subalternity, queer theory, feminism, critical race theory, social analysis, and history. (PGSE 0215, or by approval) 3 hrs lect

The Luso Hispanic Fiction Writer In this course we will study the representation of the writer of fiction in Luso-Hispanic contemporary narrative. As Julio Premat argues, writers often understand their task not only as the creation of literary works, but also as the fashioning of an authorial self within fiction and through essays, interviews, photographs. We will study how and why such images are crafted, and how they reflect ideas about the aesthetic and political role of the writer, the “truth” of fiction, the interplay between literature and reality, and the relationship between authorship and gender. Portuguese-language texts will be read in Spanish translation.

Literatures of the Black Lusophone Atlantic In this course we will think with and learn from Black writers of the Lusophone world across historical periods including enslavement, post-abolition, colonialism, and post-independence, as well as across Africa, the Americas, and Europe. Through writers such as Machado de Assis, Paulina Chiziane, Conceição Evaristo, Odete Semedo, and Yara Monteiro, we will also critically interrogate the reproduction of anti-Blackness and coloniality while imagining worlds and forms of being beyond it. Topics and theoretical concerns will include aesthetics, Black artistic movements, Black feminist thought, postcolonial/decolonial studies, queer of color critique, migration, state violence, neoliberalism, and more. Readings will come mainly in the form of short stories, written/spoken/sung poetry, theoretical essays, and two short novels. (PGSE 0215) Lect/disc,

A Cultural History of Brazilian Soccer Brazilians usually joke that volleyball is the country’s #1 sport, because soccer in Brazil does not count as a sport, it is a religion. In this course students will learn about the history of Brazilian soccer and how it became a “religion”. This history begins in 1895 when Charles Miller, coming from England, organized in São Paulo the first soccer game ever played in Brazil. Since then, the sport has deeply permeated Brazilian culture and arts (literature, music, cinema). Topics to be examined in this historical context are race, social class, gender, politics, and national identity. Materials to be discussed include fictional and non-fictional texts, songs, videos, and movies. Depending on the number of students enrolled, the course will be scheduled to have one soccer practice and one game (against another team) during the semester. Students may opt out of the practice and/or the game if they want. (PGSE 0215, or by approval) 3hrs. lect

Soccer in Latin America Why are Latin Americans so passionate about soccer? The answer to this question is a complex and multifaceted one. The history of this passion goes back to the mid-19th century when British workers were sent to Latin America to build railroads and operate railroad companies. Along with them, soccer arrived in the region. The first documented match took place in Argentina in 1867. Since then, soccer quickly spread out over Latin America to become the most popular sport — by a large margin — in nearly every country. In this course we will examine the history of soccer in Latin America and its links to politics, culture, racial issues, and gender discrimination. We will also take a look at the lives of iconic figures such as Di Stéfano, Garrincha, Pelé, Maradona, Messi, and Marta. The course is intended to finish with a soccer practice and a match against another team. 3hrs.sem.

Colonial Discourse and Its Legacies in the Lusophone World In this course we will critically analyze the meanings and ideas that shaped and undergirded European colonialism and its legacies in the interconnected realms of culture, race, language, gender, sexuality, and labor. In addition to studying the colonial period, we will pay particular attention to how the discourses of colonialism impact power structures concerning nation, globalization, and cultural consumption. In doing so, we will also address the problematics of the concept of “Lusophone,” starting with the historical legacies and cultural implications of such a transnational entity. Course materials will include critical theory, historical sources, literary texts, visual media, and music from Brazil, Lusophone Africa, Lusophone Asia, and Portugal. (PGSE 215 or equivalent) 3hrs. lect./disc.

The School of Bossa Nova During the 1950s, Brazil left the image of an exotic country behind to emerge on the world stage as a prosperous and modern nation. The soundtrack to this historical period was Bossa Nova, a revolutionary musical genre that blends together Afro-Brazilian samba and American jazz. In this course students will explore the history of Bossa Nova, its cultural paradigms, and its global impact. As a product of samba and jazz, how did Bossa Nova deal with issues of race and gender? Is Bossa Nova a “whitened” form of samba? How are women represented in Bossa Nova’s lyrics? Also, how were Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes’ songs received in countries such as Japan, France, Cape Verde, Argentina, and the U.S.? How did these songs help change the perception of Brazil from abroad? In order to reflect on these and other questions, we will combine the reading of essays on Brazilian history and culture with the analysis of a number of Bossa Nova’s classics. Moreover, we will dedicate a section of our classes to “practice” these songs. As in the movie The School of Rock, students and teacher will rehearse for a performance, open to the Middlebury community, that will take place on campus by the end of the semester. Music skills are desirable, but not required. (PGSE 0215, or by approval) 3hrs. lect.

Daniel Silva

Fernando Rocha

Laura Lesta Garcia

Luis Castaneda

Mario Higa

Silvia Lorenso Castro

Read 24 reviews for Portuguese courses at Middlebury College. Find the best Portuguese professors and courses.  Discover your new major today!

Mario is an enthusiastic and fun teacher. He is really good at getting everyone to engage and practice the language. I really enjoyed having this class to balance my more rigorous courses but I still feel like I learned a lot. 

I loved this class with Professor Higa, he has so much enthusiasm and really elevates the energy in the room, even if it's one of those lousy Mondays. He's very engaging and makes the course's material accessible to everyone.

I took this course in Spring 2024, not 2023. I did study abroad in the fall semester, and I thoroughly enjoyed being able to continue to practice my Portuguese, especially in a very comfortable learning environment. Professor Silva is great and I highly recommend! 