Teaching American Studies in Brazilian Universities: Johannes Factotum Or Janus?

“North American Culture and Institutions” courses, as they are called, have been taught in Brazil since the early 1980s. At the University of Brasilia where I teach, these courses have been offered since 1980 and are compulsory courses for the students of the Translation Department. They are designed to give support to English Language and Literature courses but look beyond language and literature by providing students with cultural awareness, an important component of the process of acquisition of the language they are learning to translate. They were and to a large degree still are taught in the so-called “life and civilization” fashion; i.e., as the study of North American history and institutions. Similar courses are taught at the graduate level, forming part of the M.A. programme in English.

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