The Institute is divided into three different modules that will be spread over twelve sessions for the duration of the three-week program. Virtual instruction will take place from June 13-17. Participants should plan on arriving in San Diego no later than Sunday June 19th for the in person portion of the program which will run from June 20-July 1. 

Week One: Historical Background and Racial Politics of Brazil
The first week of the Institute will follow a chronological trajectory, beginning with a brief introduction to colonial history and nineteenth-century racial ideologies, urban divisions, Brazil’s position in the Black Atlantic, the development of a politicized Afro-Brazilian identity, and the growth of urban segregation and divisions. This will allow us to illustrate how race and racism are shaped by historical, geographical, and cultural factors, and to explore how social divisions are embedded in Brazil’s image of an emerging modern power. The discussions will center on readings, as well as analyses of musical and visual examples. Week One includes topics such as “Early Images of Brazil in Global Context: Noble Savages and Indigeneity”; “Brazil and the African Diaspora”; “The Emergence of Modern Brazilian Racial Ideologies”. 

Week Two: Modernity and Marginality in Urban and Rural Contexts
The second week of the Institute will take a closer look at the urban vs. rural contrasts that play out in modern Brazil, both historically and in the contemporary context. The focus of this week is to understand how racial and ethnic disparities inform the Brazilian landscape and shape communities that have been historically marginalized. The topics of sessions will include: “Labor, Race and Marginal Urban Spaces”; “Contrasting Images of Urban and Rural Modernisms”; “Indigeneity in Contemporary Times”; “Blackness and Urban Spaces”; “Development, Dams, Stadiums and Modernity”.

Week Three: Cultural Representations of Modern Inequalities
The third week will approach the idea of “failed modernity” from the interdisciplinary perspective of literary, film and cultural studies. In particular, our aim is for participants to make links between the historical, anthropological and social concepts discussed in Weeks One and Two, and the cultural representations of Brazil’s marginal spaces, racial diversity and social inequalities as depicted in fictional texts, film, music, photography and performance. This week’s sessions will discuss the following topics: “Race and the Body”; “Brazilian Carnival”; “Urban Marginal Spaces”; “Musical Intersections of Gender, Race and Class”.