PORTGSE 46
Brazil and Portuguese-Speaking World
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Taught in English. Topical analysis of cultural history of Brazil in context of Portuguese-speaking world, with emphasis on comparative, trans-Atlantic relations, social development, and artistic manifestations. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2019 - This is the class to take if you are looking for something stress-free and an interesting, new topic to learn. Professor Bivona gives you every chance on Earth to get an A+ in her class. Most of the class is reading articles, chapters of a book, and watching films. Professor Bivona will let you know when a quiz is coming and from what material. There are a few papers which range from a page to 3 pages in length, all very straight forward. Participation is easy, just raise your hand and answer a question every now and again. The group presentations are interesting and everyone must do one. They are pretty easy and should only take a 2-3 hours of group work to complete.
Fall 2019 - This is the class to take if you are looking for something stress-free and an interesting, new topic to learn. Professor Bivona gives you every chance on Earth to get an A+ in her class. Most of the class is reading articles, chapters of a book, and watching films. Professor Bivona will let you know when a quiz is coming and from what material. There are a few papers which range from a page to 3 pages in length, all very straight forward. Participation is easy, just raise your hand and answer a question every now and again. The group presentations are interesting and everyone must do one. They are pretty easy and should only take a 2-3 hours of group work to complete.
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2017 - Reasons this class is awesome: 1. It’s about the least boring historical analysis class you can take if you’re like me and you hate writing essays and learning history. I feel like it was even more of social than historical analysis. 2. We screened super interesting movies, saw a beautiful exhibit in a museum, and read a really good novella. 3. In general, readings were pretty short (except the novella, but it was interesting, so it was fine.) 4. The work load was so small. We only had to write five 3-page essays, two of which constituted the final. Plus, we had a significant amount of freedom to choose our essay topics. Also, the prompts were really interesting. 5. The class is basically four weeks of material stretched over ten weeks. Professor Johnson often repeated the same concepts, and we barely ever used the entire time for class.
Fall 2017 - Reasons this class is awesome: 1. It’s about the least boring historical analysis class you can take if you’re like me and you hate writing essays and learning history. I feel like it was even more of social than historical analysis. 2. We screened super interesting movies, saw a beautiful exhibit in a museum, and read a really good novella. 3. In general, readings were pretty short (except the novella, but it was interesting, so it was fine.) 4. The work load was so small. We only had to write five 3-page essays, two of which constituted the final. Plus, we had a significant amount of freedom to choose our essay topics. Also, the prompts were really interesting. 5. The class is basically four weeks of material stretched over ten weeks. Professor Johnson often repeated the same concepts, and we barely ever used the entire time for class.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - The hardest part about this class was showing up. If you're really interested in Brazil's history and culture, I definitely recommend this class, but from having to buy a separate book to draw sketches every week and attending 9 am discussions with mandatory attendance, this class was just not for me as a STEM major. I did not enjoy lectures and used up all 2 of my available excused absences the first two weeks of class. If you have free time, totally take this class (easy A), but otherwise save your sleep and money and pick another easy GE.
Fall 2025 - The hardest part about this class was showing up. If you're really interested in Brazil's history and culture, I definitely recommend this class, but from having to buy a separate book to draw sketches every week and attending 9 am discussions with mandatory attendance, this class was just not for me as a STEM major. I did not enjoy lectures and used up all 2 of my available excused absences the first two weeks of class. If you have free time, totally take this class (easy A), but otherwise save your sleep and money and pick another easy GE.
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