| Unit name | Self and nation in Lusophone modernisms |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HISP20057 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Silva Pereira |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
N/A |
| Co-requisites |
N/A |
| School/department | Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Questions of individual and national identity are central to cultural production in the Portuguese-speaking world, and are particularly prevalent in modernist production. Lusophone modernisms celebrate, interrogate and revise cultural traditions and specificities. A comparative view of the modernisms of Portugal, Brazil and Cape Verde allows us to identify multi-directional relationships of influence between those countries.
This unit will investigate cultural dialogues taking place in Portugal, Brazil and Cape Verde from 1915 to 1940. It will focus on the Orpheu generation in Portugal, the Antropofagia movement in Brazil, and the Claridade movement in Cape Verde. It will explore how the artists and writers involved in those movements pose intellectual challenges to the intellectual and artistic traditions of their countries; how they interrogate the place of the individual in the society of their times, and how they seek to focus on and celebrate the specific qualities of their nations.
The unit’s aims are:
On succcessful completion of the course, students will have developed the following skills. Subject specific: • a more advanced knowledge and understanding of Lusophone national identities and the relationship of identity to cultural production; • an understanding of the relationship between modernity and cultural production, and the multi-directional relationships between the modernisms of Portugal, Brazil and Cape Verde; Generic • the analysis of texts from a variety of media, including literature and the plastic arts; • research and critical interpretation skills; • skills in written and oral presentation for an academic context; Employability • collaboration with colleagues through team discussions and student presentations; • peer support and review through the student conference; • project management and report writing as part of the assessment.
Classes will be a mixture of tutor-led seminars and lectures, and student-led seminars. Blackboard will be used to provide additional resources for students.
Assessment will focus on the development of both subject specific and generic skills and will consist of: • oral presentation (25% - this will test students’ abilities in textual analysis and critical thinking, as well as contributing to the development of good presentation skills and skilled use of A/V facilities. • Written assignment (75%, 2500 words – This will test students’ subject-specific knowledge and abilities to reflect in a structured fashion on modernist Lusophone identities and the intellectual relationships between countries studied. The assignment also aims to develop students’ skills in research-based learning and academic writing.
Darlene Sadlier, An Introduction to Fernando Pessoa: Modernism and the Paradoxes of Authorship (Florida UP, 1998) Portuguese Modernisms: Multiple Perspectives on Literature and the Visual Arts, ed. Steffen Dix and Jeronimo Pizarro (Legenda, 2011) Luís Madureira, Cannibal Modernities: Postcoloniality and the Avant-Garde in Caribbean and Brazilian Literature (University of Virginia Press, 2005) Sílvio Castro, Teoria e Política do Modernismo Brasileiro (Editora Vozes, 1979) David Brookshaw, ‘A Busca da Identidade Regional e Individual em Chiquinho e o movimento da Claridade’, in Les littératures africaines de langue portugaise: à la recherche de l’identité individuelle et nationale (Paris: Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, 1985)
Students will focus on a variety of set literary (prose and poetry) and artistic texts which will be made available via Blackboard. These texts may change from year to year.
