Brazil Center
About the Brazil Center
The Brazil Center's mission is to support Brazilian studies across academic disciplines at the University of Texas, to promote collaborative research and exchange between Texas and Brazil, and to raise awareness of Brazil and its culture through community outreach.
The University of Texas at Austin is widely recognized as home to the top academic program in Latin American Studies and one of the most comprehensive Brazilian Studies programs in the United States.
Approximately one-third of LLILAS-affiliated faculty dedicate all or part of their research and/or instruction to Brazil-related content in diverse disciplines, such as: Afro-Brazilian studies, Anthropology, Architecture, Communications, Geosciences, Government, History, Human Ecology, Law, Language and Literature, Music, and Public Policy.
In pursuit of our mission, the Brazil Center has established several broad goals to:
- Create an interdisciplinary network of Brazilianists;
- Support the teaching, study, and research agendas of students, faculty, and visitors at the university; and
- Strengthen the university's institutional relations with academic, nonprofit, and government agencies in Brazil.
Background
The Brazil Center was inaugurated in fall 1995 as an autonomous unit under the umbrella of the Institute of Latin American Studies, following twenty-five years of work by the Institute’s Brazilian Studies Committee to diversify and expand interdisciplinary studies of Brazil on the Austin campus and to increase the number of faculty specializing in Brazil.
As early as 1973, respected UT professor Fred Ellison of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese was examining ways to strengthen Portuguese language and Brazilian studies as chair of the Task Force to Promote Portuguese Studies in the United States. Several well-regarded faculty members were active in the BSC over the years, including Jacqueline Barnitz (Art and Art History), Gerard Béhague (Music), John Dulles (American Studies), Richard Graham (History), David Jackson (Spanish and Portuguese), Fritz Hensey (Spanish and Portuguese), Greg Urban (Anthropology), and Robert Wilson (LBJ School). Fred Ellison and Lawrence Graham played key roles in the development of Brazilian studies at UT throughout their long careers at the University.
To subscribe or unsubscribe to the bimonthly Brazil Center e-newsletter on Brazil-related events at UT and around Austin, visit the listserv subscription page or e-mail the Brazil Center.