Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Contact: Robert Moser, 706/542-1111, rmoser@uga.edu

Brazilian-Americans in Georgia and Beyond: Multi-disciplinary symposium to be held April 25-26 at the University of Georgia and Georgia State University

Athens, Ga. – The University of Georgia, in conjunction with Georgia State University, will on April 25-26 host a conference titled “Brazilian-Americans in Georgia and Beyond: a Multi-Disciplinary Symposium,” addressing Brazilian immigration to the United States, with special focus on this community’s presence in Georgia.

Despite the fact that an estimated 50,000 Brazilians currently live and work in Georgia, particularly in and around the Atlanta metropolitan area, and despite the rapid growth of this community during the last decade, very little scholarly attention has been given to the presence of Brazilians in Georgia, said Robert Moser, a professor of Portuguese in the department of Romance languages at UGA and one of the organizers of the conference.

The purpose of the conference is to address this issue directly and, at the same time, serve as a springboard for further research and dialog among interested scholars, government officials and community and business leaders.

“Building upon the collaboration of faculty from diverse disciplines at both UGA and GSU, this two-day symposium will consist of carefully selected panelists and keynote speakers addressing relevant issues in such areas as demographics, immigrant status, religion, linguistics, race and ethnicity, gender, business, literature and the arts,” said Moser.

The symposium also will provide a forum for the Brazilian communities in both Athens and the Atlanta area to discuss current relevant issues, and will also serve as an inaugural event for the opening of a Brazilian consulate in Atlanta, highlighted by the presence of Adalnio Senna Ganem, the Brazilian consul general for the southeastern United States.

This event is made possible through the support of UGA’s Latin American and Caribbean Studies Institute, with additional support from GSU’s Center for Latin American and Latino/Studies and its department of anthropology. Other sponsors from UGA include the Office of Public Service and Outreach and the department of romance languages.

For more information about the conference and links to the entire program, see www.rom.uga.edu/news.html.

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