Course description
Programme description
- Unrivalled specialist teaching options.
- Guided pathways with a geographical or disciplinary focus.
- Huge choice of subject related extra-curricular academic and cultural activities in London.
For each pathway, you will complete a core course, two modules chosen from the options listing and a 15,000 word dissertation. Core modules: Literature & Cultural Identity; Themes in the History of Portuguese-speaking countries.
The following modules (under their pathways) may be on offer:
Literature and Culture: Contemporary Portuguese fiction; Brazilian poetry and popular song; Literary translation from Portuguese; Three Faces of Women in Galician-Portuguese Lyric.
History: Oliveira Martins, António Sérgio & the Cultural Politics of Citizenship; The History & Politics of Portuguese-speaking Africa: 1885 to the present; The Portuguese 'discoveries' in History & Historiography; The Making of Modern Portugal: The Revolutionary era in Portugal 1807-1851.
Brazil: The History of Brazil since Independence; Culture and Identity in Brazil; Brazilian Poetry & Popular Song; Latin American Cultural Studies.
Lusophone Africa: The History & Politics of Portuguese-Speaking Africa: 1885 to the present; Plantation Societies in the Portuguese world.
You will take a module in theory and research methodology during the second semester.
Pathways
Literature and culture; History; Brazil; Lusophone Africa.
Programme format and assessment
Taught core and optional modules assessed by coursework and/or examination plus a compulsory dissertation.
Programme modules for MA Portuguese Studies
Advanced Language & Literary Translation
The aim of this module is to take students to Advanced Level or above, to Extensive Level, i.e. to a high level of comprehension of the written language and near-native competence in writing European Portuguese, in different registers such as journalism, literary and creative texts, and academic writing. The module also aims to foster literary translation skills as well as a confident command of Portuguese for a non-academic context.
Brazilian Poetry & Popular Music
The module traces the development of two distinct but closely related traditions within Brazilian culture - lyric verse writing, and urban and rural popular music, in particular popular song.
Culture and Identity in Brazil
The module examines the key moments in the history of cultural debate and practice as they have constructed and reflected upon conceptions of Brazilian identity. Particular attention is given to the way in which centralised notions of a unified, integrated national identity have been challenged by alternatives based on ethnicity, non-Western and popular cultures in the context of colonialism, imperialism, the construction of the nation-state under Empire and Republic, twentieth-century modernisation and dictatorship.
Duration
One year FT, two years PT, September to September.
