After the summer vacation Brazilian Studies is now ready to present the first event of the semester from the 23th to the 27 th of September. On Monday at 15.00 in “Nobelsalen” at Aarhus University the world renowned Brazilian author Miltoun Hatoum is coming and talking about his newest book “Cinzas do Norte” along with the Danish translator Tine Lykke Prado, who has translated it into Danish. Hatoums main subject in his book is the Amazonia area where he is born and he will together with Tine Lykke Prado be part of a round table discussion afterwards. Dr. Marcel Vejmelka from the University of Mainz will give a lecture about the amazon as a global stage at 14.00 Tuesday in building 1481 room 366. Wednesday will be about the Indian languages in the Brazilian Amazon, where professor in linguistic Peter Bakker from Aarhus University will give a lecture about this subject. The lecture begins at 16.00 and afterwards the documentary “The Grammar of Happiness” by the famous A...

Grupo de capoeira Ginga Mestre Agostinho i Århus, professor Renato Munaia

In this article I will be writing about my experiences on two islands in the states of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro. For more in-depth articles with links to the pictures of my travels, please click the links in this article. In the beginning of March, when I still was in Denmark, I didn’t fully understand I would be in Brazil within half a month. It is easy to dream yourself away to a life on the beach, bonfire in the night and perfect social conditions: the economy of Brazil grows and grows, but unfortunately you see Brazil from a polished surface. The experience I got with me from the university in Denmark has helped me with so many things – how to handle the culture chock and have the opportunity to understand my way around Brazil, because coming to Brazil from Denmark is to walk into a different world.  I came to Brazil in March; half a month after the Carnival had taken place. And when coming to Brazil for the first time you’d expect something completely different for what ...

The 5th of April the university year at the University of Brasília (UnB), where I am an exchange student this semester, began. As Brasília is the capital of Brazil and the home city of the Supreme Federal Court, the President and the Congress UnB had the possibility to invite one of their former students, president of the Supreme Federal Court, Joaquim Barbosa, to make a speech at the inauguration of the university year.  Before Barbosa’s speech, there were several speeches from the other deans of the university and there was also a short music session. However the biggest applause came when Chief Justice Barbosa arrived and people took pictures of him as if he was a celebrity. Barbosa expressed himself calmly while he talked about his time at UnB and prised the university for the events and conferences that they arranged. Besides that he talked about how the university now is more democratic and fair and said that interdisciplinary is very important in universit...

The 13th of May this year it was exactly 125 years since the "Lei Á urea" (The golden law) was signed by Princess Isabel in 1888. Slavery was thereby declared abolished in Brazil. Since I am currently living here I thought it would be a great experience to see how Brazil celebrates this day, but I ran into some obstacles along the way.  First of all, it was very difficult to even find an event. In my mind I had pictured a big parade but the only event I could find was at UERJ, the state university of Rio de Janeiro. Secondly it was even more difficult to find the precise location of the event when I arrived at the university. Neither the students nor the teachers had even heard about it. Finally, with a lot of help, I found it and to my disappointment there were only between 20-40 people attending.   The event consisted of a demonstration of an afro-Brazilian folk dance and a panel discussion about education, racism and affirmative action. Furthermor...

Gallery Image in Aarhus presented the Brazilian art photographer Calé. He had his opening of the exhibition on Friday the 12 th of April; it is the first solo exhibition he has had in Scandinavia.   The exhibition consists of two series: Seekers and Elo . With the serie   Seekers , we are introduced to portraits of people who are placed central in the picture, with the urban scene behind. But it is impossible to see exactly who the person in the portrait is. The persons are blurred and overexposed while the background stands out sharp with the focus and color.   The pictures give the impression that it is not important who the person in the picture is. It could be anyone. With the serie   Elo , two men are embracing each other in different public places. With this project, Calé concentrates his attention to the reaction from the people around the embracing men. The reactions from the surrounding people probably reflect their own limits fo...

The 21st of April  is a day where Brazilians commemorate the national hero Joaquim Jose da Silva Xavier, on the date of his execution. Xavier lived from 1746 to 1792 and fought for Brazilian independence from the Portuguese colonial power. Xavier was later betrayed and then hanged in Rio de Janeiro in 1792.  The day of his death is a national holiday in Brazil with all government offices, schools and banks closed. The plaza (Praça Tiradentes) where he was executed is named after him and the Brazilians also raised a monument there in his honour. Government officials will meet at Praça Tiradentes on the 21st and pay tributes to the hero with speeches dedicated to the martyrdom of the revolutionary. Written by  Mikkel Hansen