Olá
pessoal!
Happy
Father’s Day! Brazilians celebrate in August.
I’ve
been wanting to squeeze in another blog post for some time and for whatever
reason now, at 1am, I have vontade to do so. Today marks 6 months and one day
since I arrived in Brazil and August 17th will be exactly 6 months
since I first stepped foot in Porto Alegre. It seems like just yesterday I was
taking the SuperShuttle from absolutely beautiful, awesome, stunning Miami
Beach and heading to the airport to catch a flight to São Paulo for the Fulbright
orientation!
And
without further ado here are the latest notícias.
Research:
*School
visits -
Now
I’m really starting to wrap things up. I’m visiting one more school and after
that I am done with interviews. I only anticipate more school visits if I am
able to visit a class. As you know from previous blog posts, trying to set up a
time to observe a class has been quite the challenge! I’ve started to look over
and review all of the interviews that I’ve done to find commonalities, differences,
make suggestions, etc. and hopefully creating some sort of cohesive and
articulate piece documenting my research findings. Going through information,
organizing it, and attempting to write it down has been quite tedious; I have
really forgotten what it’s like to be a “student” again!
*Interviews
-
I
have a few more interviews lined up with various minority groups. I’m curious
to see what they think about the municipal law, planning, and execution of the
education both from the Municipality of Education and from the teachers
themselves.
*I
met with the city councilman who authored the municipal law and various
security personnel from the private and public sectors. I don’t know if it’s
because I’m from the U.S. or that I’m here with Fulbright, but I am so
surprised how these very, very, busy and important people made time to meet
with me. Not only that, but our meetings went well over an hour, they gave me
their private contact information, and encouraged me to reach out again if I
have more questions. I can’t publicize their names and the content of our
discussions, but the meetings with the security personnel were particularly eye
opening and interesting.
*Presentations
–
I’ll
give a 15-minute presentation on my research at the Fulbright seminar in Brasília
which will take place at the end of September. Other groups have expressed
interest in me presenting my work as well. Following the Fulbright seminar, I
think I’ll send them my presentation so they can get an idea of what it entails
and then move forward from there.
National
News:
The
plot thickens!
*
Former President Lula
is sentenced to jail for 9 years and 6 months https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-12/brazil-s-lula-sentenced-to-prison-on-corruption-charges.
This is a huge deal because it was thought that Lula would be a candidate for
presidential elections in 2018.
*Temer survives corruption vote - http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-40809826.
Many people went to the streets following the vote. Rumor has it that Temer may
have bought votes.
*Petrobras, Brazil’s petroleum corporation, has raised gas
and diesel prices. This has sparked outrage and protests throughout the
country. https://oglobo.globo.com/economia/petrobras-aumenta-em-69-preco-do-gas-de-cozinha-1-21670005
Travels:
The month of July is winter vacation in Brazil, which means
extra high premium prices for traveling. Naturally, I decided to stay local and
continue to explore my beautiful city. I did go on a mini-trip for four days
though…
I went on a young professionals trip to Espirito Santo to
partake in a community service project. We were a group of 16 Brazilians from
all over the country – Porto Alegre, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte,
Brasília, and Espirito Santo. We worked in an indigenous village called Areal, close to the city of Regência, and built a soccer field for the kids, learned about their community, and its
realities and challenges. Rio Doce has been decimated by environmental
destruction. You can read about what happened here, https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/oct/15/samarco-dam-collapse-brazil-worst-environmental-disaster-bhp-billiton-vale-mining.
Many communities within Espirito Santo and Minas Gerias were, and still are,
extremely dependent on Rio Doce. Their economies and quality of life have
changed dramatically for the worst. Even before the disaster, many of these
communities, including Areal, had very little economic means and were very
vulnerable.
Discoveries:
*I knew that the Nazis were all over the world, but I guess
now I really understand that they were in fact everywhere. Through my research
and meetings, I learned that Nazi spies were active throughout the Americas –
the US, Panama, Mexico, Brazil, etc. – sending messages to Berlin regarding the
movement of ships, planes, weapons, and economic mobilization occurring
primarily in the US and England as well as attitudes and behaviors towards the
Germans and WWII. In Porto Alegre, there was a German House that served to
disseminate Nazi ideology through cultural, educational, youth, and social
events.
*Ariana is a common name that neo-Nazis in Brazil use to name their
daughters. It means Arian race.
*The Biannual Mercosul cultural and artistic event and the
B’nai B’rith day-long seminar on Holocaust education were supposed to take
place in Porto Alegre this year. Unfortunately, due to the political and
economic crisis they have been postponed to next year.
*I am constantly being asked what I think about President
Donald Trump. When I was first asked about Trump (pronounced in Brazilian Portuguese
as “Trump-eee") I first thought they asked me what I think about trampolines. When I responded that they were “fun and I enjoy jumping on them” I got
many weird looks and reactions. I then learned that “Trump-eee” = Trump
It’s now almost 2am, an appropriate time to go to bed I
think. I’ll probably post another blog in September following my research trip
to the Cidade Maravilhosa :-)
Abraços, beijos, e boa noite!
-Ariana
Rio Doce, Espirito Santo
Soccer field that we built. Areal, Espirito Santo
Centro Histórico, Porto Alegre
Jardim Botânico - Botanical Gardens, Porto Alegre
