Unit information: Cultural Exchange in the Lusophone Atlantic, 16th-17th Centuries in 2015/16

Unit name	Cultural Exchange in the Lusophone Atlantic, 16th-17th Centuries
Unit code	HISP20089
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Lingna Nafafe
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies
Faculty	Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

The Unit aims to introduce students to the history of cultural exchanges between Lusophone Africa and Brazil from 16^th – 17^th centuries—that is, during the period of the Atlantic slave trade. It provides students with in depth knowledge that will enable them to engage broadly with the Atlantic world, its peoples, cultures, expressions, and experiences. The Unit will provide narratives and interpretations of themes such as: Understanding the journey; the birth of slavery in Lusophone Africa; the rise of the Atlantic slave trade; knowledge brought by slaves from Africa to Brazil; Lusophone African-influenced cultural forms from Brazil; race, religion, cultural consumption, politics and music.

Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit students will have:

1. Examined the impact of the slave trade on Africa and the Americas
2. Developed an understanding of what forces led to the rise of slavery as an institution in Africa, Europe and the Americas, and the end of the Atlantic slave trade
3. Developed an understanding of the multiple ways the slave trade affected communities on all sides of the Atlantic
4. Developed an understanding of cultural exchange in the Lusophone Atlantic through a variety of texts
5. Developed critical interpretations of the past appropriate to level I

Teaching Information

2 contact hours per week.

Assessment Information

1 x 2000 word essays (50%) and 1 x 2 hour exam (50%) This assessment will test ILO’s 1-6.

Reading and References

Ferreira, R. Cross-Cultural Exchange in the Atlantic World, Angola and Brazil during the Era of the Slave Trade, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012.

Freyre, G. The Masters and the Slaves: a Study in the Development of Brazilian Civilisation, Translated by Samuel Putnam. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1938.

Hawthorne, W. From Africa to Brazil, Culture, Identity, and an Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600–1830, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

Thornton, J. K. Africa and Africans and the making of the Atlantic World, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.