Portuguese Studies

Activism and Social Change

Has racism always existed or is it a modern phenomenon? Why have some movements against racial discrimination been more successful than others? How have women and minority groups fought for equal rights, from the suffrage campaigns of the twentieth century to the #NiUnaMenos movement of today? Why is Latin America marked by such stark inequalities in wealth and what are the best ways to combat this? These are some of the questions that will be explored in this module.

Comparative Visual Cultures

This is a school-wide module taught by specialists from across the school who have research interests in visual culture. It introduces students to some of the main movements in European cinema and art, and includes a strong Russian and East European element. The module includes seminars and film viewings.

Portuguese Language Intermediate

Portuguese Language Intermediate

For those who started learning Portuguese in Level 1

If you didn’t study Portuguese in the first year, you can choose to pick up Portuguese as a beginners’ language in the second year, for 20 credits, and can even increase your exposure to the Portuguese-speaking world to 40 credits by also taking Cultural Crosscurrents in the Portuguese-speaking World

Cultural Crosscurrents in the Portuguese-speaking World

This module will examine the way producers of culture (authors, filmmakers, painters, singers, etc.) from the Portuguese-speaking world dialogue with the sociocultural links and/or historical legacies in Portuguese-speaking countries. The module covers countries across the Portuguese-speaking world (Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Macau, East Timor, Goa and São Tomé and Príncipe), although it may not cover all of them in a given year.

The course is taught in English. Although effort will be made to provide English translations for the works studied, where these are available, please note that the course requires reading and listening in Portuguese. 

Hispanic Spaces

This module is an exploration of Hispanic spaces and their representation in various contexts. It will consider the ways in which spaces dialogue with reality or, in some cases, transform themselves in the imaginary. The case studies led by each of the tutors will consider space in the analysis of, for example, islands and/ or cities, and analyse texts (in the broadest sense, including fiction, images and films) from the Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese-speaking worlds. Topics considered may include contested space (tourism, migration, insiders and outsiders), space/place (literary constructions of place) and ideal/utopian spaces. The spaces studied may include islands such as the Balearics, the Canary Islands, and the Azores or Cape Verde, and cities such as Madrid and Lisbon. 

No prior knowledge of Catalan or Portuguese is required since the works analysed in those languages will be available in English translation. In addition to those studying Spanish, we welcome students enrolled on Catalan and Portuguese language modules.

Language at Work

This course provides the basis for understanding communication and communicating in multilingual (work) settings. After completing this module, students will - know the basic properties of language and communication and their relation to culture; - be able to characterise the relationship between English and their other languages; - be able to describe the difference between everyday language use and institutional language use; - be able to describe the differences between communication in monolingual and multilingual (intercultural) settings; - be able to differentiate between characteristics of communication involving native speakers of a language and communication involving non-native/foreign language speakers of a language; - use systematic methods to carry out simple investigations of language, communication and culture (and their implications for foreign language learning); - use digital technology to communicate academic work to non-specialist audiences.

Language and Society in Luxembourg and the French Borderlands

With a focus on the French borderlands, this course explores the status and function of the French language in relation to its speakers and to speakers of other languages. We will apply key theoretical insights to issues concerning linguistic minorities in the officially monolingual country of France, in addition to the bordering multilingual countries of Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. In this way, we will investigate how language becomes the target of struggles and debates that are embedded in broader socio-political issues. More broadly, this module underlines the necessity of questioning the presupposed homogeneity conveyed by the use of labels such as the ‘French language’ and ‘French-speaking countries’, which potentially mask the social and linguistic complexity inherent to the social world.

Cultural Crosscurrents in the Lusophone World

This module aims to examine how particular works discuss themes and concerns present in the intercultural relationship between societies and cultures across the Portuguese-speaking world (Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Macau, East Timor and São Tomé and Príncipe), though the course may not cover all of these countries in a given year. The aim is to promote an understanding of how different Portuguese-speaking countries have approached, and influenced, each other. In so doing, the aim will be for students to understand how the links between countries affect social, political and cultural aspects of those countries, building upon and developing the knowledge gained of in the Level 2 Portuguese Studies modules already studied. The aim is also to develop the learning of basic skills in making presentations, carrying out research, and problem solving.

The course is compulsory for students taking 40 credits of Portuguese, but it may be taken EITHER in Level 2 or Final year. 

If you took this module in your Level 2, you can choose to do a dissertation on a Portuguese topic.

Languages & Cultures Project

Guided by individual supervision and support seminars, you will plan and execute an extended piece of independent research on a topic that complements but does not duplicate work you have done (or will do) in SLC taught modules. Alternatively, you may translate a substantial text into English accompanied by a full commentary to contextualize it. Your project must relate to at least one of the countries or cultures whose languages you are studying. As well as writing an extended piece of work, all students present their work at the end of the year.

Comparative Critique of Consumer Culture

Critiques of consumer cultures are as old as capitalism itself. This module takes the long view, starting in the eighteenth century and tracing our conflicted identities as modern consumers into the present day. Especially applying German cultural theory to European cultural history, we shall ask what is meant by economic and social liberalism, and whether even culture owes a debt to consumer society. Consumerism can entail complicity in exploitative modes of production (causing poverty and displacement, and profiting from serfdom and slavery). It has been both celebrated and satirised for enabling hedonism and individual bad taste (or kitsch). And consumption has been nationalist, yet also cosmopolitan; today, it threatens our shared environment. Theory, the visual arts, and literature have all been critical of capitalism - but ironically, they can themselves be packaged as consumer goods. Examining a wide range of primary texts (including film and caricature) and critical reflections, you will translate and write a commentary on a historical source, and submit an essay on a topic of your choice.

Social Approaches to Multilingualism

This course begins by outlining key theories about multilingualism and then explores language contact and variation, language and identity and differences between individual and societal multilingualism. Students design their own research projects to examine the ways in which issues of language are linked to broader socio-political practices, policies and debates. Project topics include language and digital media, language and migration, multilingual education and linguistic landscapes in multiple sites around the world to obtain global perspectives.