This podcast in Portuguese was created by Emilia Kroprowska, a student of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the School of Languages and Area Studies, University of Portsmouth, as a part of a research project entitled ‘The Role of Student Audio Casting and Production in the Language Learning Curriculum’. The podcast was created using Audacity recording software and enhanced with free images using Windows Movie Maker. The recording is based on the student’s own original research carried out in the year 2007 - 2008. This podcast is a description of the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé by a filh-do-santo, or initiate, Mônica Baptista Costa. She speaks about the origin of the religion, in Africa approximately 5,000 years ago. She also explains why Candomblé is fundamentally a syncretic religion, and the difference between Candomblé, Umbanda and other religions in Brazil. The podcast can be used as a learning resource in several different ways: as a focus for discussion, aural comprehension or as a base for further research by students in the field of Lusophone, Brazilian and Latin American studies. A transcript of the podcast is also included.

This podcast in Portuguese was created by Emilia Kropowska, a student of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the School of Languages and Area Studies, University of Portsmouth, as a part of a research project entitled 'The Role of Student Audio Casting and Production in the Language Learning Curriculum'. The podcast was created using Audacity recording software and enhanced with free images using Windows Movie Maker. The recording is based on the student's own original research carried out in the year 2007-2008. This podcast explains the role of orixás in the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomblé, which was brought to Brazil during the era of slavery, and which has since become one of Brazil's major religions. Orixás play a pivotal role in Candomblé ritual and belief; they are intermediaries between human beings, nature and the divine. The podcast focuses particularly on the role of the orixá Exu, and what he represents within the belief system of Candomblé. The podcast can be used as a learning resource in several different ways: as a focus for discussion, aural comprehension or as a base for further research by students in the field of Lusophone, Brazilian and Latin American studies. A transcription of the podcast is provided.

A selection of resources built around the theme of the French presence in Africa

This collection contains original documents, academic texts and bibliographical references related to France and in its former Sub-Sahara African colonies.

This podcast in Portuguese was created by Emilia Kroprowska ,a student of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the School of Languages and Area Studies, University of Portsmouth, as a part of a research project entitled ‘The Role of Student Audio Casting and Production in the Language Learning Curriculum’. The podcast was created using Audacity recording software and enhanced with free images using Windows Movie Maker. The recording is based on the student’s own original research carried out in the year 2007 - 2008. The theme is the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé. The recording describes the religion’s origins in Africa, the means by which it was brought to Brazil, and subsequently adapted over the centuries. The recording also explains the theology, beliefs and rituals which are most characteristic of Candomblé. The podcast can be used as a learning resource in several different ways: as a focus for discussion, aural comprehension or as a base for further research by students in the field of Lusophone, Brazilian and Latin American studies. A transcription of the podcast including original photos is also provided.

This podcast in Portuguese was created by Emilia Kroprowska ,a student of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the School of Languages and Area Studies, University of Portsmouth, as a part of a research project entitled ‘The Role of Student Audio Casting and Production in the Language Learning Curriculum’. The podcast was created using Audacity recording software and enhanced with free images using Windows Movie Maker. The recording is based on the student’s own original research carried out in the year 2007 - 2008. The theme is the Afro-Brazilian religion Candomblé. Ritual sacrifice of animals is a feature of this religion, a practice which is frequently misunderstood by people not familiar with the religion. The recording, based on an interview with a Brazilian practitioner of Candomblé, explains the true significance of this ritual and its meaning within the context of the religion as a whole. The podcast can be used as a learning resource in several different ways: as a focus for discussion, aural comprehension or as a base for further research by students in the field of Lusophone, Brazilian and Latin American studies. A transcript of the podcast is also provided.

This podcast in Portuguese was created by Emilia Kroprowska , a student of Spanish and Latin American Studies at the School of Languages and Area Studies, University of Portsmouth, as a part of a research project entitled ‘The Role of Student Audio Casting and Production in the Language Learning Curriculum’. The podcast was created using Audacity recording software and enhanced with free images using Windows Movie Maker. The recording is based on the student’s own original research carried out in the year 2007 - 2008. This podcast explains the role of Umbanda, a religion which was founded in brazil in 1908, and is a syncretic in nature, with influences from Christianity, Hinduism, Spiritism, and Africa-based religions. The recording explains the fundamental beliefs of Umbanda, its practices, and its role within Brazilian society. The podcast can be used as a learning resource in several different ways: as a focus for discussion, aural comprehension or as a base for further research by students in the field of Lusophone, Brazilian and Latin American studies. A transcription of the postcast, with additional photos, is also provided.

In this inaugural lecture, Professor Tony Chafer charts the evolution of French interest in, and relations with, Africa from the 19th century to today. The text, the video of the lecture and the corresponding PowerPoint presentation are included here with a separate bibliography.

Once France’s sub-Saharan African colonies became independent in 1960, African troops who had served France loyally both in the world wars and in its wars of decolonization did not fit easily into the official, nationalist narrative of postcolonial African leaders of an African nation united in the struggle against French colonialism. As a result their role and experiences were largely ‘forgotten’ for some forty years after independence. A powerful symbol of this official forgetting is that, as recently as 1999, in France’s oldest African colony Senegal, a French colonial monument originally cast in 1923 to commemorate the role played by African soldiers fighting for France in World War I, was removed to a small cemetery on the outskirts of Dakar because its presence in the centre of the city was considered too redolent of the country’s colonial past. Yet five years later the monument made a great comeback to the city centre after the announcement by the President Wade, in the presence of a plethora of African heads of state of former French colonies, of the creation of a national day to commemorate the tirailleurs. At the same time he also announced that the Senegalese government would henceforth pay an allowance to all Senegalese war veterans still alive on 2 March 2000, in addition to the increase in African war veterans’ pensions recently announced by France. Following this the monument was restored to the centre of the city to become the focal point of a vast commemoration project in which the Place de la Gare was renamed the Place du Tirailleur and designated as a memorial to African soldiers who perished in both world wars.

This resource includes a reproduction of a 1923 monument commemmorating the Tirailleurs Sénégalais who fought for France during the First World War. The original of this monument was erected in Reims and destroyed by the Germans in 1940. An exact copy used to be displayed in Bamako (Mali) but is not currently on public display. This small-scale reproduction may be viewed at the Musée des Forces Armées in Dakar (Senegal) This resource also includes the reproduction of a certificate awarded to a Tirailleurs Sénégalais batallion, in recognition of its bravery in battle during the First World War. The website: www.tirailleursenegalais.com, is very interesting in the way that it rehabilitates the tirailleurs into a national narrative ('batisseurs du monde libre') but of course completely glosses over the fact that many tirailleurs also fought for France in its two wars of decolonisation in Indochina and Algeria.