| Unit name | Key Moments in Lusophone History and Culture |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HISP10015 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | C/4 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Infante |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
N/A |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
For most students, this is their first contact with the histories, cultures, and literatures of Portuguese-speaking countries. This unit complements your study of Portuguese language, by going beyond the language. As former colonial empire, Portugal left its language across the globe. However, each former colony became an independent nation, with its own history, narratives, and aspirations. This unit will introduce you to those narratives and also to various issues related to post-colonial studies. As a mandatory unit for students of Portuguese in a joint honours degree, this unit will help you acquire foundational knowledge that allows you to articulate several concepts that are important for the units you will choose in your second and final years.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
This unit will allow you to analyse and discuss a wide range of primary sources from three continents: America, Africa, and Europe. The unit is essential for students taking Portuguese at degree level. In addition, it is an optional unit for Spanish Single Honours students, who can also choose to take Beginners Portuguese as an optional unit in second year. Therefore, it provides a wider range of students with core knowledge to understand the countries that originated from both Iberian colonial empires. Both teaching staff and the syllabus reflect a decolonial approach, ensuring that voices beyond the mainstream are heard and their importance is acknowledged; this enables you to engage in post-colonial reflection, which will be a key to unit in your second and final years. should be heard and acknowledged in their importance.
Overview of content
This unit will take you chronologically from the beginning for slave trade by the Portuguese, and the establishment of a colonial empire, to the collapse of that very empire and the successfully independent countries that came as an aftermath. We will also discuss dictatorships, music and art as forms of resistance, and reflect on the place of Brazil, Portugal, and Portuguese-speaking African countries in their post-colonialities.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?
Throughout this unit, you will acquire core insightful knowledge about Portuguese-speaking countries and their histories. The binomial colonial/postcolonial is indissociable of the histories in this unit, and this unit will allow you understand how the contemporary histories of Portuguese-speaking countries is closely linked to their colonial past. Discussing these links will also allow you to observe them across other former colonial empires and countries that are former colonies. These discussions and analyses will allow you to deepen your comparative skills within your intellectual abilities.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit students will be able to:
1. Demonstrate knowledge of key moments in the history of the Portuguese-speaking world and understanding of how these moments have affected subsequent cultural production;
2. Engage critically with a range of primary sources (historical, literary, visual), in Portuguese and English translation;
3. Reflect and feedback on various elements of cultural production in the Portuguese-speaking world;
4. Develop research skills and engage critically with a range of secondary sources;
5. Develop skills in critical thinking and academic writing as appropriate to level C/4.
Students will engage with a wide range of textual, visual, and audiovisual sources, in order to gain foundational knowledge about the histories and cultures of various Portuguese-speaking countries. The syllabus will mainly focus on key moments, such as Colonisation, Brazilian Independence, dictatorships in Brazil and Portugal, and the wars of liberation in African colonies. The approach is varied, from interactive to inquiry-based, taking into account this is an introductory, first-year unit. Students are now in a new phase of their lives, and this unit aims to help them as they settle into the academic expectations at university level, namely engaging more critically with primary and secondary sources. The gradual build-up to an academic essay also allows students to progressively gain self-confidence in producing that type of text.
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
Throughout this unit, there will be various formative tasks to prepare you for the summative written work you will have to submit. In some of the seminars, teaching staff will give you guidance and help you practise how to write a commentary, and essay, and all other tasks involved. Some seminars will have time allocated to practice assessment tasks and guide you, either through group commentary or essay plan and essay content discussion. You will have the opportunity to ask questions about your expectations and practices prior to submitting your summative work.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Portfolio of written texts, 1500 words (50%) [ILOs 1 and 2]
The first summative written assignment is a portfolio which includes commentaries on different types of sources: written text, pictures, films.
Essay, 1500 words (50%) [ILOs 1, 3 and 4]
There will be various questions to choose from, and guidance will be provided so that you meet the expectations and are happy with your final written product.
When assessment does not go to plan
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. HISP10015).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
