AFTER DEI: TEACHING BRAZILIAN LITERATURE IN WHAT IS LEFT OF AMERICAN HUMANITIES

Abstract

This article draws from the practice of teaching Brazilian literature the United States higher education to offer a theoretical reflection about the place of Brazilian cultural studies in what is left of the American humanities. First, it discusses the beginnings of Brazilian Studies in the United States and the relationship between the emergence of this field and hegemonic efforts, on the one hand, and affirmative action, on the other. Then, it addresses the field’s decline in the face of the instrumentalization of higher education and the recent political polarization, offering a reinterpretation of this marginalization and as well as a practical rerouting for the field. I argue that the periphery to which Brazilian cultural studies are displaced, as part of the arts, humanities, and letters, is its locus of greatest potential for subversion. From this theoretical reflection informed by practice stem feasible options for the future of teaching Brazilian literature in a context of interruption and prohibition of university policies and actions related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.