A Vanderbilt tem uma tradiçāo antiga de interesse no Brasil, seu povo, sua cultura, sua economia assim como sua história.  Este interesse começou após a Segunda Guerra Mundial, quando a Fundaçāo Carnegie ofereceu apoio financeiro para que a Vanderbilt University, Tulane University, a University of Texas, e a University of North Carolina criassem Centros de Estudos da América Latina.

 A Vanderbilt usou o dinheiro para estabelecer um Instituto de Estudos Brasileiros em 1947 e o Presidente Brasileiro Eurico Dutra veio para Nashville para lançar oficialmente o Instituto. Durante os anos cinqüentas e sessentas o Instituto ampliou o seu espectro tornando-se finalmente no Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS).  Atualmente uma variedade ampla de programas, departamentos e centros no College of Arts and Science apoiam os Estudos Brasileiros.

Hoje em dia CLAS recebe fundos do governo federal através do programa Title VI National Research Center com o Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS), incluindo  bolsas de estudo para o estudo de português durante o ano acadêmico e o verāo.

Além disso CLAS participa no consórcio FIPSE-CAPES com Howard University, a Universidade de São Paulo, e a Universidade Federal da Bahia com ênfase nos temas Raça, Desenvolvimento, Desigualdades Sociais e Educação Superior.

Com um grupo de Brasilianistas nos departamentos de antropologia, economia, história, espanhol e português a Vanderbilt University tem uma das mais fortes concentraçōes de Brasilianistas nos Estados Unidos

A Coleção Latinoamerican na biblioteca da Vanderbilt, especialmente a coleçāo de estudos brasileiros é uma das mais importantes do país.

Beth Conklin, Anthropology (Ph.D., 1989, University of California at San Francisco and Berkeley) beth.a.conklin@Vanderbilt.edu (615-343-6125) Professor Conklin is a cultural and medical anthropologist specializing in the ethnology of indigenous peoples of lowland South America (Amazonia).  Her research focuses on the anthropology of the body, religion and ritual, cannibalism, death and mourning, disease and healing, and indigenous identity politics.  She teaches courses on cultural anthropology, medical anthropology, shamanism, international development, South American Indians, and the anthropology of contemporary issues.  Her publications include Consuming Grief: Mortuary Cannibalism in an Amazonian Society, "Body Paint, Feathers, and VCRs: Aesthetics and Authenticity in Amazonian Activism," and (with Laura Graham) "The Shifting Middle Ground: Brazilian Indians and Eco-Politics."

Marshall C. Eakin, History (Ph.D., 1981, UCLA teaches Latin American history and courses in the interdisciplinary program in Latin American Studies. His research focuses on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Brazil, especially the history of industrialization and nation-building. He also works on the history of science and technology in Latin America. His publications include British Enterprise in Brazil: The St. John d'el Rey Mining Company and the Morro Velho Gold Mine, 1830-1960 (Duke, 1989), Brazil: The Once and Future Country (St. Martin's, 1997) and Tropical Capitalism: The Industrialization of Belo Horizonte, Brazil (Palgrave, 2001). marshall.c.eakin@vanderbilt.edu

Earl E. Fitz, Portuguese (Ph.D., 1977, CUNY). Professor of Portuguese, Spanish, and Comparative Literature. Director of the Comparative Literature program. Brazilian narrative and poetry, comparative studies between Brazil and Spanish-America, inter-American literature; ambiguity and gender in the New Novel of Latin America, Modernism in the Americas; colonial literature. earl.e.fitz@vanderbilt.edu

Thomas A. Gregor, Anthropology (Ph.D., 1969, Columbia); Thomas.A.Gregor@Vanderbilt.edu
Professor Gregor is interested in psychological anthropology, gender roles and sexuality, peace and aggression, psychoanalysis and culture, anthropological ethics, and native peoples of South America and anthropological film. He is the author of Mehinaku: The Drama of Daily Life in a Brazilian Indian Village and Anxious Pleasures: The Sexual Lives of an Amazonian People. His edited books include A Natural History of Peace and The Anthropology of Peace and Nonviolence (coedited) and Gender in Amazonia and Melanesia: An Exploration of the Comparative Method (coedited). He has worked as a film maker for the BBC, Grenada Television and NET in making the television films Mehinaku, We are Mehinaku, Feathered Arrows and Dreams from the Forest. Professor Gregor is currently completing a book on peaceful relations among tribes in Central Brazil, and an article on ethics and contemporary anthropology.

Russell G. Hamilton, emeritus, Portuguese (Ph.D., 1965, Yale Univesity). Professor of Portuguese, Brazilian and Lusophone African Literatures. Brazilian and Lusophone African literatures, Afro-Bahian cultural expressions, Afro-Portuguese Literature (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé e Príncipe), and postcolonial theory. russell.hamilton@vanderbilt.edu

James J. Lang, Sociology (Ph.D., 1973, University of Michigan) Research Interests: Comparative Sociology/macrosociology, Social Change, Latina/o Sociology
Office: 207 Garland Hall, Office Phone: 615-322-7516
Email: james.j.lang@vanderbilt.edu

Emanuelle Oliveira, Portuguese (Ph.D., 2001, UCLA). Assistant Professor of Luso-Brazilian Literature. Brazilian Literature and Cinema and Afro-Brazilian Literature. emanuelle.oliveira@vanderbilt.edu

The Latin American collection at the Vanderbilt University Libraries is one of its major strengths.  The longstanding geographic focus has been on the Brazilian collection.  The Colombian collection has also been a traditional strength with many unique resources and, more recently, an emphasis has been given to Mesoamerican anthropology and archaeology.  Special Collections houses eighteenth- and nineteenth-century accounts of travel and exploration in Latin America.  

The Latin American collection is particularly strong in nineteenth-century Brazilian history; that has been an area of targeted growth since the establishment of the first Institute of Brazilian Studies in the U.S. at Vanderbilt in 1947.  Exchanges of materials were established early on with government agencies, libraries, and institutes throughout Brazil as a result of Chancellor Harvie Branscomb's visits to Brazil and the visit of President Eurico Dutra to Vanderbilt.  Over time, book purchase trips to Brazil by the faculty and the Latin American Bibliographer as well as approval plans and cooperative arrangements with institutions have enhanced the collection.  NEH, Mellon and Tinker grants have allowed us to purchase many primary resources (e.g., 865 volumes of the 19th-century British Foreign Office correspondence with Brazil) and a number of scholars have given their private libraries (e.g., Alexander Marchant, Emilio Willems).  The Marchant collection also includes Brazilian photographs and a Brazilian coin collection and is housed in Special Collections.  Most recently, a donor has given a collection of Brazilian art books, exhibition catalogs, and political and artistic posters.  

We look forward to your visit to the Library while you are here. If you would like a quick introduction to the resources or have a specific research interest, I’ll be happy to meet with you.    

Paula Covington
Latin American and Iberian Bibliographer
Senior Lecturer in Latin American Studies
paula.covington@vanderbilt.edu