HISTORY 471
HISTORY OF BRAZIL

http://www.history.umd.edu/Faculty/DWilliams/Fall08/HIST471

Description & Organization | Requirements | Readings | Grading | Academic Integrity | Schedule

Prof. Daryle Williams
Department of History
2131A Francis Scott Key Hall
(301) 405-4267
daryle@umd.edu
http://www.history.umd.edu/Faculty/DWilliams

Office Hours:
By appointment only

This course examines the history of Brazil from the transfer of the Portuguese Court in 1808 through the military dictatorship of 1964-1985. Our primary focus will be the historical evolution of the Brazilian state, the changing definitions of a Brazilian "national" culture, and the conundrums of wealth and poverty in a "developing" economy.

Recurrent themes include political organization and participation, liberalism, (under)development, nationalism, authoritarianism and redemocratization, slavery and emancipation, social organization and stratification, cultural production, race relations, gender politics, and regionalism. Throughout the course, our goal is to make the connections between political economy, political culture, and identity politics to formulate historically-sensitive interpretations of modern Brazilian culture and society.

The course meets twice a week for seventy-five minutes. Each meeting will be divided between lectures, multimedia presentations, and discussion.

A pass/fail MAP QUIZ will be given in class on Monday, September 8, 2008. Seven or more correct identifications (out of a possible ten) will be considered a pass. If you do not pass on the first attempt, you will retake the quiz until you do pass.   Failure to pass the map quiz will mean that your final exam grade will automatically be dropped one letter grade. A Study Sheet will be distributed on the first day of class.

Two PRIMARY SOURCE CRITIQUES will be assigned during the semester. Each critique will require a six-to-eight page analysis of an assigned primary text that explains key historical references, defines keywords, and, most importantly, locates the assigned document in its proper historical and historiographic contexts. Complete instructions will be provided in the Primary Source Critique Guides.

Our first critique, due at the beginning of lecture on Monday, October 13, considers the "Memoir addressed to the General Constituent and Legislative Assembly of the empire of Brazil on slavery" [Original title: "Representação à Assembléa Geral Constituinte e Legislativa do império do Brasil, sôbre a escravatura"], written by José Bonifácio de Andrada e Silva  (1763-1838) circa 1823. Click for guide that includes link to English-language translation, published in London in 1825.

Our second critique, due at the beginning of lecture on Wednesday, November 26, considers four texts written by Brazilian statesman Getúlio Vargas. Click for guide.

A CRITICAL REVIEW of Warren Dean's With Broadax and Firebrand (1997) will be due on the last regularly-scheduled lecture. Click for instructions.

A two-hour FINAL EXAMINATION, to take place the morning of Friday, December 19, 8:00-10:00am, will be cumulative in scope. Click for guide.

Assigned Readings

Assigned books with be available through Course Reserves at McKeldin Library and for purchase at the University Book Center as well as through online and brick-and-mortar booksellers. Assigned book chapters and full-text journal articles are available through Blackboard. Full-text journal articles are also available via ResearchPort and in hardcopy in the University Libraries stacks.

The following reading assignment is optional:

Skidmore, Thomas E., Brazil: Five Centuries of Change . New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

The following reading assignments are required.

Alves, Maria Helena Moreira, State and Opposition in Military Brazil. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985.

Beattie, Peter M., "The House, the Street, and the Barracks: Reform and Honorable Masculine Social Space in Brazil, 1864-1945," Hispanic American Historical Review 76:3 (August 1996): 439-473.

Chazkel, Amy. "Beyond Law and Order: The Origins of the Jogo do Bicho in Republican Rio de Janeiro," Journal of Latin American Studies 39 (August 2007):535-565

Costa, Emília Viotti da, The Brazilian Empire: Myths and Histories . Revised Edition. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2000.

Dean, Warren. With Broadax and Firebrand: The Destruction of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest . Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997.

Drescher, Seymour, "Brazilian Abolition in Comparative Perspective," Hispanic American Historical Review, 68:3 (August 1988): 429-460.

French, John D., "Industrial Workers and the Birth of the Populist Republic in Brazil, 1945-1946," Latin American Perspectives , 16:4 (Autumn 1989): 5-27.

Langland, Victoria. "Birth Control Pills and Molotov Cocktails: Reading Sex and Revolution in 1968 Brazil," in In from the Cold: Latin America's New Encounter with the Cold War . Gilbert M. Joseph and Daniela Spenser, eds. Durham: Duke University Press, 2008, pp. 308-349.

Levine, Robert M., "Father of the Poor?": Vargas and His Era . New York: Cambridge University Press, 1998.

__________., "Mud Hut Jerusalem: Canudos Revisited," Hispanic American Historical Review , 68:3. (August 1988): 525-572.

Levine, Robert M. and José Carlos Sebe Bom Meihy. The Life and Death of Carolina Maria de Jesus . Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1995.

McCann, Bryan, " Black Pau : Uncovering the History of Brazilian Soul," in Rockin' Las Americas: The Global Politics of Rock in Latin/O America . Deborah Pacini Hernandez, et al., eds. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2004, pp. 68-90.

Needell, Jeffrey, "The Revolta Contra Vacina of 1904: The Revolt Against 'Modernization' in Belle-Époque Rio de Janeiro," Hispanic American Historical Review , 67:2 (May 1987): 233-269.

Schultz, Kirsten, Tropical Versailles: Empire, Monarchy, and the Portuguese Royal Court in Rio de Janeiro, 1808-1821 . New York: Routledge, 2001.

Weffort, Francisco. "Why Democracy?" in Democratizing Brazil: Problems of Transition and Consolidation. Alfred Stepan, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989,  pp. 327-350.

Williams, Daryle and Barbara Weinstein, " Vargas Morto : The Death and Life of a Brazilian Statesman," in Death, Dismemberment, and Memory: Body Politics In Latin America . Lyman L. Johnson, ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005, pp. 273-316.

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Grading

Grading will be consistent with the University's University Attendance and Assessment Policy.

Final grades will be determined by the following formula:

Pass	Map Quiz
40%	Primary Source Critiques (20% each)
20%	Broadax and Firebrand Critique
20%	Final Examination
20%	Participation

Late work will not be accepted without prior consent. With the exception of legitimate excuses (i.e., illness, religious observance, inclement weather, extraordinary circumstances) late papers may be penalized up to one full grade for every day late.

Academic Integrity

The University of Maryland has a nationally recognized Code of Academic Integrity, administered by the Student Honor Council. This Code sets standards for academic integrity at Maryland for all undergraduate and graduate students. As a student you are responsible for upholding these standards for this course. It is very important for you to be aware of the consequences of cheating, fabrication, facilitation, and plagiarism. For more information on the Code of Academic Integrity or the Student Honor Council, please visit http://www.shc.umd.edu .

To further exhibit your commitment to academic integrity, remember to sign the Honor Pledge on all examinations and assignments: "I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any unauthorized assistance on this examination (assignment)."

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COURSE SCHEDULE