Professional Development: Somos Nos: Afro-Brazilian Identity
This week, I will be spending time at Tulane University as part of the Somos Nόs series, a five-year Brazilian study initiative funded by the US Department of Education and shared between Tulane University, University of Georgia and Vanderbilt University. All in all, I was very happy to have to come to the institute. I learned a lot and hope that other educators will come in the future. Here is my story of adventure and fun in the grand city of New Orleans, LA!
Day 1: I arrived to Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, my favorite city in the whole world! I came by the Megabus from Atlanta. It wasn't a bad ride at all. I left Georgia at 10pm and rode into the day. I was surprised by our dorms, as the hallways were outside, so it got really humid quickly and it being a rainy summer day, soon I found outside bugs trying to make the inside of my dorm home! Go away! I took a quick nap and unpacked. The dorms provided bedding and towels. After getting some sleep, I walked to the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies building at the other end of the campus and attended a very nice opening reception with snack and drinks, and then watched a Brazilian film. We were given our itinerary and sent on our way to get ready for the following day.
Day 2: This was our first full day. We opened with introductions from the administrators for the program. We started our first lesson with beginning Portuguese. We learned about the sounds of Portuguese and practiced having conversations. After studying for years, it was nice to converse with others in Portuguese. The instructor made sure to use a lot of cognates and we were able to do a lot with Portuguese, even those that had never studied it before! Que bom! After lunch, we learned about Candomblé: Afro-Brazilian Religious Practice and Identity. Then we worked on curriculum and learned about using every day utensils to make Brazilian instruments to make samba music. I think this was one of my favorite activities. The instructor taught us how to make instruments from everyday utensils. Que legal!
Of course after class, I took it upon myself to visit Bourbon Street in New Orleans!
Day 3: Again, we took off with another amazing Portuguese lesson. We learned about representations of Afro-Brazilians in media, which has the same dismal issues that the United States had in the 1950's, namely a lack of representation. We learned about service learning projects in the Portuguese classroom and the ability to incorporate podcasts in Portuguese to help with language acquisition. I must say, I was quite amazed at the number of really cool projects that professors are doing in their classrooms with Portuguese. We also took a field trip to the New Orleans Public Library, where we participated in a capoeira lesson, learned about heros in Brazilian children's literature as a part of their summer reading series and ate Brazilian food. Optimo!
I researched samba in New Orleans and wanted to give a shout out to Casa Samba who offers samba classes at all levels at the Treme Community Center, located in New Orleans' historic Treme area. I walked to the class and immensely enjoyed myself. The class offered samba instruction and percussion. A lover of dance, I was able to learn samba in class and dance with percussion. This was the highlight of my trip and I recommend that anyone go and take advantage of this once in a life time opportunity to dance and learn about samba. I really wish this opportunity would have been a part of the institute. I did ask the dance director, Carolyn Barber-Pierre, who is also a professor of dance at Tulane, and she stated that she would have loved to have been involved. Next year, gente!
Day 4: Today started with a tour of the Amistad Research Center which is on Tulane's campus. I was able to find information for my dissertation involved Spanish ships in the Americas with enslaved Africans. We finished the day with more Portuguese language as well as a presentation on African foodways in Brazil. After the day was over I ventured over to the Historic New Orleans Collection museum exhibition titled, Purchased Lives:New Orleans and the Domestic Slave Trade, 1808-1865. It was the opening ceremony and very well attended. I learned the Brooks Brothers clothing company became prominent due to the work of the enslaved in New Orleans. They used the cotton produced from their work to make themselves a rich company. As I walk through the stores in the future, I will always wonder who also profited off of slave labor?
Day 5: We presented our curriculum and enjoyed lunch on our last day. This was a great opportunity! I extended my stay in the city of New Orleans after the institute and made sure to take another samba class at the Treme Community Center. Unfortunately, the New Orleans African American Museum of Art and History was under construction; however, I had visited before and know that is worth a visit. It features tours of its grounds, collection and original enslaved peoples' quarters. I loved the institute, I love the city of New Orleans and hope to be back soon!
Here are photos from the institute.
Day 1: I arrived to Tulane University in New Orleans, LA, my favorite city in the whole world! I came by the Megabus from Atlanta. It wasn't a bad ride at all. I left Georgia at 10pm and rode into the day. I was surprised by our dorms, as the hallways were outside, so it got really humid quickly and it being a rainy summer day, soon I found outside bugs trying to make the inside of my dorm home! Go away! I took a quick nap and unpacked. The dorms provided bedding and towels. After getting some sleep, I walked to the Roger Thayer Stone Center for Latin American Studies building at the other end of the campus and attended a very nice opening reception with snack and drinks, and then watched a Brazilian film. We were given our itinerary and sent on our way to get ready for the following day.
Day 2: This was our first full day. We opened with introductions from the administrators for the program. We started our first lesson with beginning Portuguese. We learned about the sounds of Portuguese and practiced having conversations. After studying for years, it was nice to converse with others in Portuguese. The instructor made sure to use a lot of cognates and we were able to do a lot with Portuguese, even those that had never studied it before! Que bom! After lunch, we learned about Candomblé: Afro-Brazilian Religious Practice and Identity. Then we worked on curriculum and learned about using every day utensils to make Brazilian instruments to make samba music. I think this was one of my favorite activities. The instructor taught us how to make instruments from everyday utensils. Que legal!
Day 3: Again, we took off with another amazing Portuguese lesson. We learned about representations of Afro-Brazilians in media, which has the same dismal issues that the United States had in the 1950's, namely a lack of representation. We learned about service learning projects in the Portuguese classroom and the ability to incorporate podcasts in Portuguese to help with language acquisition. I must say, I was quite amazed at the number of really cool projects that professors are doing in their classrooms with Portuguese. We also took a field trip to the New Orleans Public Library, where we participated in a capoeira lesson, learned about heros in Brazilian children's literature as a part of their summer reading series and ate Brazilian food. Optimo!
I researched samba in New Orleans and wanted to give a shout out to Casa Samba who offers samba classes at all levels at the Treme Community Center, located in New Orleans' historic Treme area. I walked to the class and immensely enjoyed myself. The class offered samba instruction and percussion. A lover of dance, I was able to learn samba in class and dance with percussion. This was the highlight of my trip and I recommend that anyone go and take advantage of this once in a life time opportunity to dance and learn about samba. I really wish this opportunity would have been a part of the institute. I did ask the dance director, Carolyn Barber-Pierre, who is also a professor of dance at Tulane, and she stated that she would have loved to have been involved. Next year, gente!
Day 4: Today started with a tour of the Amistad Research Center which is on Tulane's campus. I was able to find information for my dissertation involved Spanish ships in the Americas with enslaved Africans. We finished the day with more Portuguese language as well as a presentation on African foodways in Brazil. After the day was over I ventured over to the Historic New Orleans Collection museum exhibition titled, Purchased Lives:New Orleans and the Domestic Slave Trade, 1808-1865. It was the opening ceremony and very well attended. I learned the Brooks Brothers clothing company became prominent due to the work of the enslaved in New Orleans. They used the cotton produced from their work to make themselves a rich company. As I walk through the stores in the future, I will always wonder who also profited off of slave labor?
Day 5: We presented our curriculum and enjoyed lunch on our last day. This was a great opportunity! I extended my stay in the city of New Orleans after the institute and made sure to take another samba class at the Treme Community Center. Unfortunately, the New Orleans African American Museum of Art and History was under construction; however, I had visited before and know that is worth a visit. It features tours of its grounds, collection and original enslaved peoples' quarters. I loved the institute, I love the city of New Orleans and hope to be back soon!
Here are photos from the institute.
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