BA Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Brazilian Literature

Course unit fact file
Unit code SPLA20832
Credit rating 20
Unit level Level 2
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit? Yes

Overview

Brazil is a large, multi-ethnic country, marked by deep social and geographical contrasts. This course will discuss different aspects of Brazilian culture and society through the analysis of representative works from Brazilian literature. By reading original texts in Portuguese, students will significantly improve their vocabulary and syntax while developing a sophisticated knowledge of Brazilian literature and culture.

Pre/co-requisites

This unit is available as free choice with knowledge of the target language.

Available on: SPLAS (Portuguese) Programme

Pre/Co/Antirequisite units 

Pre-requisite: SPLA52010 Portuguese Language 1 (or equivalent) 

Co-requisite: SPLA51050 Portuguese Language 5 

Aims

On successful completion of this course unit, students will be able to:

Teaching and learning methods

  • Lectures
  • Task- motivated group work
  • Structured debate
  • Presentations given by groups of students
  • Active and informed participation in seminar discussion.  

Knowledge and understanding

  • Discuss key aspects of 19th and 20th century Brazilian literature
  • Discuss important aspects of Brazilian culture and society and and how they are represented in literature
  • Display literary analytical skills

Intellectual skills

  • Display cultural analytical skills (literary analysis, social and political analysis)

Practical skills

  • Significantly improve their ability to read Portuguese
  • Significantly improve vocabulary and syntax in Portuguese

Transferable skills and personal qualities

  • Demonstrate independent and critical thinking
  • Demonstrate an ability to present material and ideas individually and collectively in oral and written form.
  • An ability to participate in group discussions
  • An ability to participate in internet discussions

 

Assessment methods

Assessment taskFormative or SummativeWeighting unit within
Short essayFormative 
Final essaySummative70%
Group PresentationsSummative30%

Resit Assessment:

Essay

Feedback methods

  • Written feedback on presentations  
  • Peer feedback on formative essay  
  • Written feedback on final essay
  • Formative feedback about in-class participation and discussion
  • Additional one-to-one feedback (during the consultation hour or by making an appointment) 

 

Recommended reading

  • Bethell, Leslie. “The Independence of Brazil”, Cambridge History of Latin America, vol 3,(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984) pp. 157-196 
  • Fausto, Boris. A Concise History of Brazil (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1999).  SLC  

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Lectures 11
Seminars 22
Independent study hours
Independent study 167

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Lucia Sa Unit coordinator

Additional notes

Please check your ‘My Manchester’ timetables for days/times.  Any queries can be directed to salc-languages@manchester.ac.uk or the Languages Student Information Office. 

This module must be passed with a minimum overall mark of 40% in order to progress. 

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