BRAZIL WEEK: "Brazilian Women's Movements"

Monday, April 18 - Monday, April 25

Recent scholarship has argued that Brazil has Latin America's largest, most vibrant and most diverse feminist movement, having pioneered a number of policy changes advancing women's rights.  The Third Annual Brazil Week at Harvard will bring together scholars, leaders, members of the local community, and students to examine these critical issues and celebrate the multiple ways in which Brazilian women have organized, including a focus on the role of women's organizations in the new immigrant communities.

Brazil Week Founder & Chair: CLÉMENCE JOUËT-PASTRÉ - Senior Preceptor in Portuguese, Department of Romance Languages & Literatures, Harvard University.

Sponsored by Harvard University's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) and the Department of Romance Languages & Literatures. 
All events are free and open to the public.  No RSVPs required. 

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Events:

"Brazilian Women in Popular Music"
MONDAY, APRIL 18
6:00 - 8:00 PM, Yenching Auditorium (Yenching Library), 2 Divinity Avenue (off of Kirkland Street), Cambridge
http://hcl.harvard.edu/harvard-yenching/directions.html

Music by VALDISA MOURA & BAND
Vocals: Valdisa Moura, bass: Tal Shalom-Kobi, guitar: Deborah Rocha, flute: Tina Jacas, percussion: Steve Sanford & Marcos Santos. 

Lecture by DÁRIO BORIM, JR. - Associate Professor of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Author of Perplexidades: Raça, Sexo e Outras Questões Sociopolíticas no Discurso Cultural Brasileiro and Borders and Selves: Contemporary Autobiography of Brazil and the Americas. Borim is host and producer of Brazilliance, a weekly live radio program dedicated to the music of Brazil and other lusophone countries.

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"Brazilian Women's Movements: A Historical Perspective"
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20
12:00 - 2:00 PM, DRCLAS Conference Room (2nd Floor), 61 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
Brazilian lunch served at noon; the presentation will began at 12:30 pm. 
http://drclas.fas.harvard.edu/about/directions

A historical overview of women's movements in Brazil and an analysis of the movement's triumphs and challenges in the twentieth century, focusing particularly on education and society. Unlike the U.S. model, Brazilian education was marked by a strong Jesuit presence and hundreds of years of influence from the Catholic Church. The Constitution of 1891, which established Brazil as a secular, federal and democratic state, led to changes in the educational system which had profound repercussions for the education of women.

Speaker: ROSELI FISCHMANN, Visiting Scholar of Political Psychology, Department of Psychology, Harvard University, and Professor of Graduate Studies, Department of Educational Administration and Economics of Education, University of São Paulo (USP); Author of numerous books and articles, Fischmann is a regular contributor to the Brazilian newspaper Correio Braziliense. She is a former member of the São Paulo State Council for Women's Affairs (1999-2002).

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"Boston's Brazilian Women's Group"
THURSDAY, APRIL 21
6:00 - 7:30PM: Presentation (Conference Room - 2nd floor)
7:30 - 8:30PM: Reception & book launch (Resource Room - ground floor)
DRCLAS - 61 Kirkland St., Cambridge
http://drclas.fas.harvard.edu/about/directions

What is it like to be a Brazilian, a woman, and an immigrant? How does it change one's life? These are some of the questions that Heloisa Galvão's book, As Viajantes do Século Vinte: Uma História Oral de Mulheres Brasileiras na Área de Boston, tries to answer. The project is an oral history of the saga of Brazilian women immigrants narrated in their own voice, featuring interviews with eleven Brazilian women who immigrated to the United States in the 1980s. They are young and old, married, mothers, grandmothers, workers from all areas, and homemakers. They speak for themselves on why they decided to come, what happened when they came, and how it changed their lives.

Speakers: HELOISA MARIA GALVÃO, co-founder, Brazilian Women's Group, and bilingual community field coordinator, Boston Public Schools.
GRUPO MULHER BRASILEIRA, founded in 1995 by a group of Brazilian immigrant women in Boston, this organization developed strong roots by participating actively in the organization and growth of the local Brazilian community. http://www.verdeamarelo.org/

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"Brazilian Journeys: The Documentaries of Dorrit Harazim"
A series of films depicting different touching facets of Brazilian life.
FRIDAY, APRIL 22
4:30 - 7:30 PM, Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall (next to Widener Library)
http://map.harvard.edu/level3.cfm?mapname=camb_allston&tile=F7&quadrant=C&series=N

4:30pm: "Travessia do Escuro" (Journey through Darkness), 2002, 28 min.
Chronicles the struggles and triumphs of the illiterate in Brazil. The film tells the story of three elderly Brazilians, two of them women, all of whom have led productive lives and retired yet have now returned to school to learn how to read and write, hoping to fulfill the gap illiteracy has carved in their lives.

5:00pm: Post-film discussion with the filmmaker.

5:30pm: "Passageiros" (Passengers), 2000, 57 min.
At the age of 17, Marcelo left the ranch and mine where he worked with his father in Piauí and made his way to São Paulo in search of employment.  The film accompanies Marcelo in a three-day bus journey as he returns home for the first time.  Through the personal stories of Marcelo and the other passengers who are part of this constant migration movement within Brazil, the film depicts the aspirations and obstacles of the contemporary migrant.

6:30pm: Post-film discussion with the filmmaker.

Documentaries in Portuguese with English subtitles. For full series, see: http://drclas.fas.harvard.edu/programs/brazil/films

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"Brazilian Mothers' Feeding Practices and Child Overweight"
MONDAY, APRIL 25
12:00 - 2:00 PM, DRCLAS Conference Room (2nd Floor), 61 Kirkland Street, Cambridge
Brazilian lunch served at noon; the presentation will begin at 12:30pm.
http://drclas.fas.harvard.edu/about/directions

A presentation on an on-going research project examining Brazilian mother's feeding practices, perceptions of infant weight status, and the factors that may influence a child's dietary intake and the development of overweight in pre-school years.

Speakers: ANA CRISTINA LINDSAY, DDS, MPH, DrPH, Research Scientist, Public Health Nutrition, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health.
KATARINA MUCHA, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Anthropology, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, Harvard University.
     
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For a full schedule of DRCLAS's Brazil Semester at Harvard, please see: http://drclas.fas.harvard.edu/brazil

For location details of Harvard buildings, please see: http://map.harvard.edu

Um abraço, Tomas Amorim
http://drclas.fas.harvard.edu