This year Oswego State is launching a new program called “International Year Of” to help educate students about different cultures.
This program will focus on a different country every year, teaching students about their food, music, politics, economic systems and much more. For the first year, Brazil is the country of focus.
The events will begin Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. in Marano Campus Center starting with the Brazilian Cultural Festival. This will feature authentic foods, music and other cultural aspects including a visit from the Latino Student Union’s Ritmo dance club.
The opening ceremony will be held in Sheldon ballroom on September 22nd at 6pm. Sally Crimmins Villela, SUNY vice chancellor for global affairs, will help formally inaugurate the International Year of Brazil.
Oswego State’s president and provost will also speak at the event. Gonzalo Aguiar, assistant professor of Spanish and Portuguese, will speak about Brazil’s place in global society.
There will also be performances from Syracuse University’s Brazilian ensemble, Josh Dekaney and Samba Laranja, as well as Oswego State’s Gospel Choir.
This series also includes a few more lectures throughout the year. On Oct. 18 the landless movement will be discussed by Ithaca College professor Patricia Rodriguez. On Nov. 14, Pedro Erber, an associate professor from Cornell, will discuss art and neoliberalism in Brazil.
This event will try to capture the essence of Brazilian culture through festive and academic films and guest lectures.
“There’s a lot more to Brazil than Zika and the Olympics,” Professor Ulises Mejias said. “The objective of this series is to provide students with a unique opportunity to learn about a particular country beyond what we see on the mainstream media.”
“It will deepen their sense of being global citizens,” Aguiar said. “Historically, Brazil has been a country that embraces the foreigner.”
This event is meant to be intriguing for all students on campus. It will give rich background into another culture and will help broaden students’ understanding of Brazil.
“I could notice that a lot of students don’t know some things about Brazilian culture. Most of them asked me if our native language is Spanish and if we just play soccer there,” Brazilian student Leticia Marcatto said. “I think that it will be important for us if all of them know a little bit more of our culture and all of amazing things that we have in our country.”
This experience is going to give some of the Brazilian students on campus a chance to be reminded of home while educating other students about what the country is like.
