100.117 History of Brazil The Johns Hopkins University Fall 2017 This lecture course offers an introduction to the history of Brazil from approximately 1500 until 2017. It presents an overview, proceeding roughly in chronological order, of successive stages of Brazil s history, from the early phases of European colonization through Brazil s emergence as an independent nation in the early 1800s to its rise as South America s largest economy and most populous country, though now in the throes of a political crisis. Among the topics and themes addressed include: slavery, the slave trade, and abolition; political transitions (at various moments) from colony to nation, monarchy to republic, and dictatorship to democracy; environmental degradation and conservation; industrialization; urbanization; foreign policy; inequality; race and racism; immigration; and many additional vital, gripping topics and themes. Statement of Learning Goals: At the end of the course, students will have become familiar with the history of South America s largest nation, opening up the possibility of further study of Latin America; they will be adept at analyzing a range of primary and secondary texts; and they will be able to use their detailed historical knowledge in timed and untimed essays. Instructor: Prof. Gabriel Paquette (gabriel.paquette@jhu.edu) Classroom: Hodson 210 Office Hours: Monday, 9:15-10 A.M. & Wednesday 1:30-2:45 P.M. in Gilman 322. *Check Blackboard for exceptions/changes to Office Hours schedule. Teaching Assistants: Mr. Álvaro Caso Bello (alvarocaso@jhu.edu) Mr. Jeremy Fradkin (jfradki4@jhu.edu) Assessment: 2 In-Class Mid-Term Exams: 20% each 1 Final Take-Home Exam: 40% Attendance and Participation in Section: 20% *No attendance is taken at lectures; however, the lectures contain a great deal of material beyond that contained in the course texts. Lecture content will be examined. 1
Week 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE August 31: Welcome/Introduction/Course Logistics Reading: Skidmore, Introduction, pp. 1-8; BBC; New Yorker Week 2 BEFORE BRAZIL : THE EARLY MODERN PORTUGUESE EMPIRE September 4: LABOR DAY/NO CLASSES @ JHU September 6: Reading: Russell-Wood (Portuguese Atlantic). Week 3 DISCOVERY, SETTLEMENT, GOVERNMENT AND EARLY COLONIAL SOCIETY September 11: September 13: Reading: Skidmore, Ch. 1, pp. 9-18; Schwartz, 1.1, 2.1, 3.1; B[razil] R[eader], pp. 25-32; Week 4 SUGAR AND SLAVERY: THE MAKING OF COLONIAL BRAZIL S ECONOMY September 18: September 20: Reading: Skidmore, Ch. 1, pp. 19-24; Ch. 2, pp. 29-40; Gates; Schwartz, 6.1, 6.4 Week 5 BRAZIL IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ATLANTIC WORLD September 25: NO CLASS (50-minute video lecture on Blackboard) September 27: Reading: Russell-Wood (Gold Cycle); Mansuy-Diniz Silva; Skidmore, Ch. 1, pp. 24-28; Schwartz, 11.1; BR, pp. 45-51 2
Week 6 CONFLICTS, CONSPIRACIES, AND THE INDEPENDENCE OF BRAZIL (C.1780-1840) October 2: October 4: Reading: Skidmore, Ch. 3, pp. 41-53; Maxwell; Chasteen and Chambers; BR, pp. 56-57, 63-64. Week 7 COFFEE, WAR, AND NATIONAL CONSOLIDATION IN THE AGE OF EMPEROR DOM PEDRO II: THE SECOND EMPIRE (C. 1840-1890) October 9: October 11: Reading: Skidmore, Ch. 3, pp. 53-70; BR, pp. 76-86; BR, pp. 131-134. Week 8 THE LATE EMPIRE, THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY, AND THE FALL OF THE MONARCHY October 16: MID-TERM EXAM I October 18: Reading: Skidmore, Ch. 4 (all); BR, pp. 143-145. October 23: October 25: Week 9 THE BRAZILIAN REPUBLIC Reading: Skidmore, Ch. 5, pp. 97-108; Burke and Humphrey; BR, pp. 110-12. Week 10 THE REVOLUTION OF 1930, THE VARGAS REGIME (1930-45), AND THE DEMOCRATIC EXPERIMENT (1945-64) October 30: November 1: Reading: Skidmore, Ch. 5, pp. 108-125; Skidmore Ch. 6, pp. 126-145; Leite Lopes; BR, pp. 156-159, 186-189, 204-205, 222-224, 327-330. 3
Week 11 FROM MILITARY DICTATORSHIP TO DEMOCRACY November 6: November 8: Reading: Skidmore, Chs. 6 (pp. 145-152), 7 & 8 (all); BR, pp. 238-240, 382-383, 386-390, 454-461. Week 12 BRAZIL IN THE AGE OF CARDOSO, LULA AND DILMA November 13: MID-TERM EXAM II November 15: Reading: McCann, Intro, Chs. 1, 4 & 5; Green; Anderson; BR, pp. 280-288. November 20: November 22: Week 13 THANKSGIVING/NO CLASSES @ JHU Week 14 KEY THEMES I: FOREIGN RELATIONS AND THE ENVIRONMENT November 27: November 29: Reading: Bethell; McCann, Ch. 3; Chico Mendes: Peaceful, Green Warrior and Legacy of Chico Mendes ; Mendes. Week 15 KEY THEMES II: INEQUALITY AND THE CURRENT POLITICAL CRISIS December 4: December 6: Reading: McCann, Ch. 2; BR, pp. 264-267; Vidal Luna and Klein; Wasteland (optional); The Economist; Foreign Affairs; The Intercept. 4
Take-Home Exam Distributed: November 27 Take-Home Exam Due: At the beginning of what would have been the in-class exam time, to be determined by the JHU Registrar. REQUIRED BOOKS (Available from the JHU Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com and other retailers; several copies also available on Reserve in the MSEL, though don t count on access to them) Bryan McCann, Throes of Democracy: Brazil since 1989 (Zed Books, 2008). Thomas Skidmore, Brazil: Five Centuries of Change. 2 nd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2010). Robert M. Levine and John J. Crocitti, eds., The Brazil Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Durham: Duke UP, 1999). REQUIRED ARTICLES, BOOK CHAPTERS, AND VIDEOS 1. Available on E-Reserve via link on MSEL/Blackboard Perry Anderson, Lula s Brazil, London Review of Books, vol. 3, no. 7, March 31, 2011. Leslie Bethell, Brazil and Latin America, Journal of Latin American Studies, 42:3 (2010): 457-485. Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, eds., Nineteenth-century Nation Building and the Latin American Intellectual Tradition (Hackett Publishing, 2007), #15 Euclides da Cunha, selections from Rebellion in the Backlands (1902) pp. 290-310. John Chasteen and Sarah Chambers, eds. Latin American Independence: An Anthology of Sources (Hackett Publishing, 2010), # 9 ( Documents from Brazilian Conspiracies: Tooth-pullers and Tailors are caught in the act ) pp. 67-78, #22 ( A Vote Against Ratification: Brother Caneca criticizes Brazil s proposed constitution ) pp. 169-173. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Black in Latin America (New York University Press, 2011), pp. 12-58. James N. Green, Brazil: Dilma Rousseff s Victory, NACLA: Report on the Americas, January-February 2011. José Sérgio Leite Lopes, Class, Ethnicity, and Color in the Making of Brazilian Football, Daedalus 129:2 (2000): 239-270. Kenneth Maxwell, Naked Tropics: Essays on Empire and Other Rogues (Routledge, 2003), ch. 8 Why Was Brazil Different? The Contexts of Independence, pp. 145-168. 5
A.J.R. Russell-Wood, The Portuguese Atlantic, 1415-1808, in Jack P. Greene and Philip D. Morgan, eds., Atlantic History: A Critical Appraisal (Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 81-109. Stuart Schwartz, ed., Early Brazil: A Documentary Collection to 1700 (Cambridge University Press, 2010), 1.1 The Letter of Pero Vaz de Caminha pp. 1-9; 2.1 A Royal Charter for the Captaincy of Pernambuco, Issued to Duarte Coelho on 24 September 1534 pp. 13-18; 3.1 Instructions issued to First Governor-General of Brazil, Tomé de Sousa, on 17 December 1548 pp. 37-52; 6.1 Excerpt from a letter from the Administrator of Engenho, São Jorge de Erasmo pp. 198-202; 6.4 Instructions on How to Manage a Sugar Mill and Estate pp. 224-229; 11.1 The State of Maranhão: A Letter from Father António Vieira S.J. (1653) pp. 289-296. Francisco Vidal Luna and Herbert S. Klein, Brazil Since 1980 (Cambridge University Press, 2006), Education, Social Welfare and Health Care, pp. 182-208. 2. Available from Blackboard Content Section BBC, "Brazil Corruption Scandals" (July 2017) The Economist, Brazil s Fall (2016) Foreign Affairs, How to Fix Brazil: Breaking an Addiction to Bad Government (2016) The Intercept, Brazil s Congress Protects Bribe-drenched President, Finalizing Elites Two- Year Plot (August 2017) Andrée Mansuy-Diniz Silva, Imperial Re-Organization 1750-1808, pp. 244-262 Chico Mendes, Fight for the Forest (Chico Mendes in His Own Words) (London: Latin American Bureau, 1989), pp. 71-84. New Yorker, The Most Important Criminal Conviction in Brazil s History (July 2017) A.J.R. Russell-Wood, The Gold Cycle, pp. 190-202. VIDEO: Chico Mendes: Gentle, Green Warrior (9 mins.). VIDEO: The Legacy of Chico Mendes (7 mins.). FILM (Optional): Wasteland (90 mins.). 6
A Note on Exams and Assessment: The In-Class Mid-Term Exams and the Take-Home Final Exam will involve a combination of short-answer ID questions, maps, and longer essay questions. You will be able to choose among several questions. The Mid-Term Exams will be taken in Blue Books during the class period and you may not consult your notes/books etc. The Take-Home Final may be submitted via e-mail to your TA by the due date/time of what would have been the final exam slot scheduled by the Registrar. You may use your notes, books etc. for the Take- Home Final but not for the In-Class Mid-Term Exams. The exams test material from lectures as well as the assigned readings. The TAs will grade the exams in consultation with the instructor. The instructor is the final arbiter of all grades, and you may assume that the grade you receive on an exam has been approved by the instructor, even if the comments you receive are exclusively those of the TA. Mid-Term I will cover material from Weeks 2-6. Mid-Term II will cover material from Weeks 7-10. The Take-Home Exam will be cumulative, but at least 50% of it will cover Weeks 11-15. Comprehensive instructions/guidance will be provided at least 14 days prior to each exam. A General Note: The instructor and the TAs are eager for you to succeed in this course. Please avail yourselves of the regularly scheduled office hours. Please confer with the TAs concerning all logistical matters related to the course. The instructor greatly prefers face-to-face meetings during office hours to extended exchanges over e-mail. 7