Brazil: Culture, Development, and Social Justice

Beginning Spring 2010, this program will be titled:

Brazil: Social Justice and Sustainable Development


Program Overview

In the SIT Brazil: Culture, Development, and Social Justice study abroad program students examine the multifaceted dynamics shaping development patterns in northeastern Brazil, including social, political, and economic forces. Through thematic coursework, educational excursions, field study, and independent research students gain exceptional insight into the socioeconomic challenges facing the region's diverse populations. Cultural immersion in both urban and rural settings provides students with additional perspectives on the impact national and international socioeconomic and political policies are having on northeast Brazil. 

SIT's outstanding in-country networks give students unique access to local and regional perspectives. During the program, students have the opportunity to work with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), research organizations, social activists, and local community members. Students continuously are exposed to diverse viewpoints on issues such as poverty, migration, and the impact of large-scale development on urban and rural residents. Immersive language study and homestays with host families further enrich students' experiences while creating a cultural framework for the study of social justice and development in Brazil.

Students return from the program with a far deeper awareness of the links between global poverty and social injustice on the one hand and domestic and foreign policy on the other.  

A Study in Contrasts
Northeastern Brazil is a patchwork of contrasting elements: millionaires and peasants; abundant rainforests and drought-plagued agriculture; avant-garde architecture and slums all simultaneously coexist in this complex region. Within this paradoxical context, students examine the vast human and environmental challenges confronting northeast Brazil's populations and the impact of social inequities on economic growth. Students interact with different ethnic groups, including indigenous and Afro Brazilian populations, to gain insight into the challenges and benefits of implementing social change within a multicultural environment.

The Brazil: Culture, Development, and Social Justice program is based in Fortaleza, the modern seaside capital of the state of Ceará. Students attend classes at the Instituto Brasil/Estados Unidos/Ceará (IBEU-CE), a bi-national center dedicated to the promotion of cultural ties and understanding between the people of Brazil and the United States. Local academics, community leaders, and researchers lead lectures and seminars on Brazilian culture, development, and social justice. Students engage with leading organizations working to promote social justice in the area including the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) and Banco Palmas.

Homestays with families from a range of socioeconomic levels deepen students' understanding of inequities in health care, education, employment, land, and basic resources in this culturally diverse and economically challenged region of Brazil.

Browse this program's Independent Study Projects/Undergraduate Research