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| Reviewed: |
Dec 21, 2005 by World Languages Editorial Board |
| Overview: |
Vozes sem Terra (Landless Voices: The Sight and Sounds of Dispossession) is an
online archive that documents the works of the landless movement of rural
workers in Brazil. Known as the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra or
MST, these fifteen million workers have been formally organized since 1984. The
web site, available in Portuguese or English, contains three major sections: the
first contains expressions of the landless themselves (art, music, photography,
sculpture, and children's art); the second is an archive of media about the MST
including over 100 resources and tools for research: photographs, films
(streamed video), statements by intellectuals and artists, academic papers,
lectures, a bibliography, maps, glossary and tables; and the third part is
entitled Research Tools and divides the themes related to the landless movement
into 25 cultural categories. Some of these categories include culture, history,
the struggle for land, encampments and resistance, and settlements.
Dr. Else R P Vieira is the Project Director & Academic Editor of The Sights and
Images of Dispossession: The Fight for the Land and the Emerging Culture of the
MST. Her present post is in the area of Latin American Studies (with special
reference to Brazil), at Queen Mary, University of London.
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| Learning Goals: |
Learners will develop knowledge of the landless movement in Brazil as well
as insights on Brazilian culture and language.
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| Target Student Population: |
Students of Latin American Studies with special emphasis on Brazil and students
of Brazilian Portuguese.
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| Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills: |
The site is bilingual thus accessible to all who speak Portuguese and English.
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| Type of Material: |
Media archive
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| Recommended Uses: |
This site may be used for research, independent study, or as part of a Latin
American Studies curriculum
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| Strengths: |
Vozes sem terra is one of a kind in its attempt to document the struggles and
the realities of the landless worker in Brazil. Multiple points of view are
taken
into account, allowing the learner to hear the "voices" of the workers
themselves, to read scholarly works written about them, and to examine
bibliographies, texts, video and audio documents about their conditions. This
site can serve as a springboard for a thorough study of the question of
landlessness. It is comprehensive and unique.
The section entitled Emerging Culture of the MST is subdivided into Sight and
Sound. On the "Sights" side, there are three films which include English
translations. These short films give a thorough introduction to the
impact that landlessness has on the workers who struggle for a better life. They
are accompanied by a collection of murals that depict the iconography and
symbols of the landless movement, 165 photographs and a moving collection of
childrens' posters. On the "Sounds" side, there is a collection of children's
compositions entitled "The Brazil We Want", whole music CDs, poems, essays and
song lyrics. In the section entitled Studies, Statements and References, there
is a collection of photographs documenting the landless workers by
world-renowned Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado.
This site makes superb use of media to reach a wide variety of learning styles
and audiences. It cross references its resources on the various pages so as to
give the user a more complete portrait of the worker's reality. One can take a
cultural, historical, political and/or scholarly approach to the topic, simply
by focusing on particular resources and the various cultural themes,
organized
by Dra. Else R P Vieira.
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Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool |
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| Strengths: |
While this site should become an essential resource for advanced Brazilian
Portuguese studies programs, it can be as useful for scholarly work in Latin
American Studies, Latin American History, and the study of landless movements
worldwide.
The graphic images alone will stimulate classroom discussions and debate. The
music and art produced on the movement can be studied as their own genres. The
archive can be used to enhance the appreciation and understanding of classic
Brazilian literature, art and cinema.
Students could construct entire research projects simply using the vast number
of
resources on this site.
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Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty |
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| Strengths: |
This site is very easy to use. A great deal of thought has been given to the
organization and categorization of artifacts in the collection. Each item has a
resource identification number and there are cross-references when a given item
appears in various parts of the collection. Artifacts are classified by media
type. All file sizes are noted. The plug-ins needed are clearly marked.
Copyright
information is explicit and all authors are duly identified and acknowledged.
The translation of the site into English is effective. It increases the
accessibility of the site enormously.
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