Professor: Lanie Millar

4.00 credits

• CRN 16614: Monday & Wednesday, 12:00-1:50pm @ CHA 202

From contemporary migrant literature to narratives of conquest and colonization, this course explores the trope of travel in literature and culture from across the Portuguese-speaking world (Europe, the Americas, and Africa). From the Portuguese Empire’s epithet of “The Empire of the Sea” to contemporary narratives that trace the routes of globalization, the Portuguese-speaking world has been marked by both voluntary and involuntary movement of peoples. We will pair selections of canonical texts celebrating colonizing projects such as the Portuguese epic poet Luís de Camões’ The Lusiads (1572) with contemporary revisitings of these texts such as Mozambican writer Ungulani Ba Ka Khosa’s novella Ualalapi (1990). We will examine texts of coerced travel such as the slave trade and contemporary narratives retracing the Middle Passage, as well as units on internal migration in Brazil and immigrant narratives from the former Portuguese colonies in Africa to the Americas and Europe. We will thoroughly examine the historical contexts of the Portuguese-speaking world including Brazil, Portugal, and the Portuguese-speaking countries of Africa. 

 This class will fulfill the Arts and Letters colloquium and Global Perspectives cultural literacy requirements. If Arts and Letters has already been fulfilled, course will meet both elective colloquium and Global Perspectives requirements.