News
Bibliography of Brazilian Emigration
Click here for a bibliography on Brazilian emigration with more than 250 sources prepared by Maxine Margolis, University of Florida.
Brazil Initiation Scholarship Winners - 2009
The Brazil Initiation Scholarship (BIS) is a key component of BRASA’s agenda to expand Brazilian Studies in the United States. BRASA invites applications from graduate and undergraduate students for a one-time $1,500 travel scholarship to do exploratory research or language study in Brazil. This scholarship targets aspiring Brazilianists with relatively little or no experience in Brazil. It seeks to contribute to the student’s initial trip (for a period from six weeks to three months), to heighten the student’s interest in Brazil, and deepen his/her commitment to Brazilian studies in the United States. Students are encouraged to combine this scholarship with other grants or awards. Recipients will be recognized during the awards ceremony of BRASA international congresses. Funding will be disbursed prior to travel.
BRASA awarded four fellowships in last year's competition.
Applications for fellowship for 2010 are in the hands of this year's selection committee. The next competition (for 2011) will be announced in October 2010.
The winners of this year's competition are:
Kiristen Bright, University of Florida (M.A. program in Anthropology)
"I traveled to Florianopolis, Santa Catarina to begin my research on the sambaquis, or shell mounds, of Brazil. My research focused on collecting data pertaining to the species of mollusks used by the pre-ceramic peoples of the Brazilian coast to construct these extremely large funerary monuments and how certain species respond to changes in sea surface temperatures and salinity brought on by the Southern Oscillation, or El Niño and La Niña phases. If changes in the types of species collected occur in layers dated during El Niño or La Niña events, archaeologists may be able to better explain the collapse of this maritime society that spanned 5000 years and 2000 km."
Yehonathan Brodski, University of Texas (Ph.D. program in History)
The award enabled me to visit a variety of archives in Brazil and collect rare books, periodicals and manuscripts detailing Arab culture in that country. Specifically, the Instituto de Cultura Arabe, the Nucleo de Estudos Libaneses, and Nucleo de Estudos do Oriente Medio at the Fluminense University, along with Professor Safa Jubran's private library have provided me with documents that are only found in Brazil and that shed light on Levantine life in the early part of last century. Altogether, I have brought home more than 10 thousand pages of documents, which include rare newspapers, magazines, books, travel documents, manuscripts, and personal memoirs that are needless to say not available in the US. More specifically, these documents reveal that Levantines not only represented large literary communities in Brazil by the late 19th century--but that they formed an active and influential culture that continued to play into the affairs of the homeland. This diaspora cultivated and nurtured social Arab nationalist movements and birthed intellectual and political figures which would play significant roles in the then rising state of Lebanon."
Amanda Hughes, University of Chicago (Ph.D. program in History)
"I began the summer doing research in Rio de Janeiro at the Arquivo Nacional and the Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporânea (CPDOC) at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas. At the Arquivo Nacional I found a rich collection of the Instituto do Açúcar e do Álcool’s (I.A.A.) records including files on individual mills, credit lending, I.A.A. budgets and correspondence. With this collection, combined with the documents and interview transcripts at CPDOC, I will be able to complete my dissertation on the history of the I.A.A. The findings from this summer will serve as the basis for my dissertation proposal and bolster my applications for the Fulbright and Social Science Research Council fellowships. The B.I.S. has allowed me to position myself as a top candidate for these grants as I can specify what sources I will use, where they are located, and which institutions and individuals in Brazil are willing to offer me guidance during my stay there. I combined the B.I.S. with funding from the Foreign Language and Area Studies Grant to support language study. This was a unique opportunity to sharpen my written and spoken Portuguese. My newfound facility with Portuguese made possible professional and social exchanges which will continue for years to come and will greatly aid current and future research. I was able to attend events at CPDOC and participate in detailed scholarly discussion, something that was unthinkable given my language level just at the start of this year. A scholar at UNICAMP, who had been a visiting scholar at my home institution, remarked on my vast language improvement and suggested that now I was truly a 'Brazilianist.'"
Hasan Shahid, University of Illinois (M.A. program in Latin American Studies)
“Before traveling to Brazil this summer, I had originally planned to focus on studying the role of mosques in São Paulo in the shaping of religious identity among local Muslims. After rethinking my project, I decided to focus not just on the mosque as an influence on religious identity but other environmental factors as well, such as the portrayal of Islam in the media. In order to collect data for my research, which took place between May and August, I took a multifaceted approach. First, I frequented the city’s mosques several times a week. Second, I conducted fifteen semi-structured interviews with local Muslims, both converts and those born into Muslim families. Finally, I collected books, magazines, and pamphlets from various Muslim organizations. As my research progressed, I eventually concentrated on studying Muslim converts. Since little research about Muslim converts in Brazil exists, I believe the thesis I will produce with the data gathered abroad will provide a significant contribution to Latin American studies.”
BRASA awarded four fellowships in last year's competition.
Applications for fellowship for 2010 are in the hands of this year's selection committee. The next competition (for 2011) will be announced in October 2010.
The winners of this year's competition are:
Kiristen Bright, University of Florida (M.A. program in Anthropology)
"I traveled to Florianopolis, Santa Catarina to begin my research on the sambaquis, or shell mounds, of Brazil. My research focused on collecting data pertaining to the species of mollusks used by the pre-ceramic peoples of the Brazilian coast to construct these extremely large funerary monuments and how certain species respond to changes in sea surface temperatures and salinity brought on by the Southern Oscillation, or El Niño and La Niña phases. If changes in the types of species collected occur in layers dated during El Niño or La Niña events, archaeologists may be able to better explain the collapse of this maritime society that spanned 5000 years and 2000 km."
Yehonathan Brodski, University of Texas (Ph.D. program in History)
The award enabled me to visit a variety of archives in Brazil and collect rare books, periodicals and manuscripts detailing Arab culture in that country. Specifically, the Instituto de Cultura Arabe, the Nucleo de Estudos Libaneses, and Nucleo de Estudos do Oriente Medio at the Fluminense University, along with Professor Safa Jubran's private library have provided me with documents that are only found in Brazil and that shed light on Levantine life in the early part of last century. Altogether, I have brought home more than 10 thousand pages of documents, which include rare newspapers, magazines, books, travel documents, manuscripts, and personal memoirs that are needless to say not available in the US. More specifically, these documents reveal that Levantines not only represented large literary communities in Brazil by the late 19th century--but that they formed an active and influential culture that continued to play into the affairs of the homeland. This diaspora cultivated and nurtured social Arab nationalist movements and birthed intellectual and political figures which would play significant roles in the then rising state of Lebanon."
Amanda Hughes, University of Chicago (Ph.D. program in History)
"I began the summer doing research in Rio de Janeiro at the Arquivo Nacional and the Centro de Pesquisa e Documentação de História Contemporânea (CPDOC) at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas. At the Arquivo Nacional I found a rich collection of the Instituto do Açúcar e do Álcool’s (I.A.A.) records including files on individual mills, credit lending, I.A.A. budgets and correspondence. With this collection, combined with the documents and interview transcripts at CPDOC, I will be able to complete my dissertation on the history of the I.A.A. The findings from this summer will serve as the basis for my dissertation proposal and bolster my applications for the Fulbright and Social Science Research Council fellowships. The B.I.S. has allowed me to position myself as a top candidate for these grants as I can specify what sources I will use, where they are located, and which institutions and individuals in Brazil are willing to offer me guidance during my stay there. I combined the B.I.S. with funding from the Foreign Language and Area Studies Grant to support language study. This was a unique opportunity to sharpen my written and spoken Portuguese. My newfound facility with Portuguese made possible professional and social exchanges which will continue for years to come and will greatly aid current and future research. I was able to attend events at CPDOC and participate in detailed scholarly discussion, something that was unthinkable given my language level just at the start of this year. A scholar at UNICAMP, who had been a visiting scholar at my home institution, remarked on my vast language improvement and suggested that now I was truly a 'Brazilianist.'"
Hasan Shahid, University of Illinois (M.A. program in Latin American Studies)
“Before traveling to Brazil this summer, I had originally planned to focus on studying the role of mosques in São Paulo in the shaping of religious identity among local Muslims. After rethinking my project, I decided to focus not just on the mosque as an influence on religious identity but other environmental factors as well, such as the portrayal of Islam in the media. In order to collect data for my research, which took place between May and August, I took a multifaceted approach. First, I frequented the city’s mosques several times a week. Second, I conducted fifteen semi-structured interviews with local Muslims, both converts and those born into Muslim families. Finally, I collected books, magazines, and pamphlets from various Muslim organizations. As my research progressed, I eventually concentrated on studying Muslim converts. Since little research about Muslim converts in Brazil exists, I believe the thesis I will produce with the data gathered abroad will provide a significant contribution to Latin American studies.”