Month: August 2013

The exciting news that came with the HBCU visit is that the Brazilian Ministry of Education is going to fund scholarships for prospective Brazilian secondary school teachers to go to HBCUs.  The plan is for them to start their university studies in Brazil for the first year.  After that, they spend two years in HBCUs, and then return to Brazil for their fourth year to graduate in Brazil.

We have to work out details. This program will be complicated because it is specifically designed to send only to HBCUs and the Brazilian target audience will be Brazilians of African descent. This kind of affirmative action is controversial in Brazil and difficult for practical reasons.  

Brazilians don’t recognize the same racial categories as we traditionally have. In America, race was identified as any African descent, no matter how small a percentage or physical appearance. Brazil is not so black and white. Most Brazilians have some kind of mixed heritage and it has always been appearance rather than heritage that counts. Brazilians are not surprised to find that a “black” man and a “white” one are brothers, or that parents might have children of what we would call different races.  That is, if they even bothered to think about it at all. In the U.S., we would probably try to resolve this dilemma; in Brazil the dilemma just doesn’t exist.  You are what you look like and the definition might vary.  An individual, who might be called mostly black in primary European southern Brazil, might be identified as mostly white in heavily African heritage Bahia. There is a famous case at the University of Brasília where identical twin brothers were classified into different racial categories.  

The use of racial categories for affirmative action purposes is creating the need to more closely and permanently define racial identity. Blacks make up less than 8% of the Brazilian population, but mixed race people are more than 43% and even among the 48% that now identify as white, there is room for interpretation. If there is advantage, more people will emphasize their African heritage and the African-Brazilian population will likely grow despite falling birthrates. 

One thing that may be useful in casting a wider net is additional emphasis on English. Students from poorer backgrounds, which often include more African-Brazilians, tend not to have English up to the level required for university study. English is the single biggest barrier to a more inclusive education policy.  The Brazilian government is working to improve English competence in general and specifically they will fund additional English study for those selected to go to HBCUs.

The HBCU delegations’ successful visit to Brazil culminated with the Minster of Education’s public announcement of a new scholarship program to fund Brazilian students going to HBCUs.   This program will go beyond SwB to also include studies in humanities and communications. The Minster ended his remarks by praising Martin Luther King and quoting from the “Dream” speech.  This program had nearly perfect public diplomacy pitch.   

Posts in Rio, São Paulo and Brasília shared the responsibly for escorting two groups of HBCU leaders. It was a big investment in time but worth it.  Besides the clear benefits for the HBCUs, this was a wonderful opportunity for us to make and renew contacts with important academic leaders inside and outside the usual big cities.

We spoke at a post initiated but Brazilian run seminar on how Brazilian universities can attract American students.  Sixty-three Brazilian universities were represented.  We asked PUC Rio to organize and sponsor the program since they are the most successful Brazilian university in attracting American students. Brazilians sharing experience with Brazilians does more to advance the 100,000 Strong initiatives than anything we ourselves could do.   The only USG expense was my travel and paying for a coffee break.  That the universities are paying their own way shows their commitment.  

U.S. Speakers Mark and Valerie Wynn continued their series of workshops and talks about domestic violence, this time in Minas and Pernambuco.

Recife PAO met with ABA (BNC) President Eduardo Carvalho who will return to Harvard next week to finish up his one-year Advanced Leadership Seminar.

PA São Paulo, in partnership with SESC and SENAC, launched the book Shared Heritage at Livraria da Vila at JK Shopping, in a cocktail attended by approximately 200 hundred key contacts from government, academic, literary and NGO sectors. As part of the event, PA organized a photo exhibit of works by American and Brazilian photographers on the African, Indigenous, European and current immigrants influence in both countries, originally displayed at the four shared heritage festivals.

Our main social media campaign of the week was the 50th anniversary of the March to Washington and Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech anniversary. Posts on Facebook had great reach and interaction with mostly positive comments regarding MLK, America, President Obama and the fight against segregation. Posts had a total of over 62K people reached, total of 278 shares on Facebook. Even the cover photo about MLK had a lot of interaction, with 30 shares, which is uncommon for a cover photo change. On Twitter, tweets had a total more than 1.2 million potential impressions.