Contingentia : Vol. 3 No. 1, 2008
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This paper discusses the role of German Jesuit priests in the conquest of the lower amazon area in the 17th century. The Luxemburg missionary John Philip Bettendorff, founder of the second largest city of Pará, Santarém, was one of the most important figures while colonizing the Estate of Maranhão e Great-Pará. His chronicle is not only an important testimony of the settlements’ history but also of the Jesuit activities as handicraft workers and artists while catechizing this region. Thus, it comprehends a part of the rich cultural memory of colonial Brazil.
Based on the bilingualism and ethnolinguistic identity research, this study aims to observe the role identity and linguistic attitudes play in a minority mother language’s maintenance or shifting process in early bilingualism cases in a societal bilingualism situation. The analyzed context comprises native speakers of essentially bilingual communities that migrate to an urban center like Porto Alegre, where the opportunities for minority mother language use are drastically restrained by the monolingual Portuguese context. It’s asked how this language was maintained and what is the identity and linguistic attitude after the removal of the original context identified as more rural, isolated and ethnic and culturally different. The data collection derives from semi-structured interviews, recorded and subsequently transcribed. The data analysis suggests that the ‘geographic’ factor isn’t so relevant to the maintenance/shifting of a minority language than the speaker’s ‘micro-decisions’ to preserve the cultural and affectionate ties with their origin group, the family. Besides family group, community, school and government should be called to come together to construct new ways for the linguistic and cultural preservation of the bilingual community in Brazil. In that sense, this research intends to contribute to a wider understanding of the identity and linguistics attitudes’ role in the languages’ teaching and learning in general.
Either in the realm of the mother tongue debating, or in the problematization of the second language classroom, the matters related to the assessment conduct and to the linguistic behavior of both teachers and students should not be underestimated or even left aside. Linguistic diversity is broadly present in the school context, and it is imperative not to overlook the way this reality is considered and the linguistic policies which are present and necessary. Whereas the assessment process is an integral part of the formation of the student’s identity, it is relevant to consider the theoretical concept of this process as well as the practice current in the school context. This paper gathers definitions on the assessment conduct and linguistic behavior, highlighting the role played by the teacher in classroom routine aiming at the flexibility of the process, as well as the appreciation of the pupil’s linguistic individuality.
Brazil is a popular writing subject. Its representation is full of varieties and reaches from "exotic country", "the land of the future", "paradise", "the unknown country" to a reputation of being underdeveloped with its inhabitants living in misery. Hugo Loetscher, an important contemporary Swiss writer, defined Brazil as a place of encounter with the enemy, i.e. another culture, nature or with himself: a discovery of the consequences of colonialism and the search for a new proper identity. This article focuses on the image of Brazil in Loetscher's work, trying to get to know Brazil as a place in German literature that offers a possibility for an intercultural dialogue.