Daniel Silva
Associate Professor of Luso-Hispanic Studies

- Office
- Carr Hall 208
- Tel
- (802) 443-5854
- dfsilva@middlebury.edu
- Office Hours
- By appointment
Daniel F. Silva earned his Ph.D. from Brown University in Portuguese and Brazilian Studies. His research and teaching interests include postcolonial cultural studies in Lusophone and global contexts; African and African Diaspora Studies; Critical Race and Ethnic studies; Latin American Studies; imperial and colonial discourses; critical approaches to intersections of race, gender, and class in global contexts.
He is Director of the Black Studies Program, Director of the Twilight Project, steering committee member of the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity, and a contributing member of the International and Global Studies Program.
Courses Taught
BLST 0301
Black Studies Theory & Methods
Course Description
Theory and Methods in Black Studies
In this course, which is the required junior seminar for Black Studies, we will explore the historical, philosophical, and methodological basis of Black Studies. Reading seminal primary and secondary sources, students will gain a deeper understanding of both the central issues and the range of theoretical responses (e.g., intersectionality, critical race theory) that have helped shaped the field since its inception in the late 1960s. Emphasis will be given to preparing students for senior work in the major. 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
BLST 0700
Upcoming
Senior Work
Course Description
Senior Work
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
FYSE 1571
Race, Body, and Spectacle
Course Description
Race, Body, and Spectacle
Through an array of visual, aural, and literary materials, we will explore the many connections between racial discourses and corporeal imagery and their role in the reproduction of interwoven systems of racism, capitalism, patriarchy, cisgenderism, heterosexism, and ableism. To this end, we will pay particular attention to cultures of spectacle and performance in which the body is staged and codified in terms of race, gender, sexuality, and (dis)ability for particular audiences. Examples will include fitness culture and contests, beauty pageants, sporting events, music videos, minstrelsy, and other cultures of spectacle from around the globe. Furthermore, we will interrogate how the racial spectacle is embedded into visual arts and literature spanning different stages of empire and capitalism. 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
IGST 0101
Intro to Intl & Global Studies
Course Description
Introduction to International and Global Studies
This is the core course of the International and Global Studies major. It is an introduction to key international issues and problems that will likely feature prominently in their courses at Middlebury and study abroad. Issues covered will differ from year to year, but they may include war, globalization, immigration, racism, imperialism, nationalism, world organizations, non-governmental organizations, the European Union, the rise of East Asia, politics and society in Latin America, and anti-Americanism. 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
IGST 0411
The Racial Life of Power
Course Description
The Racial Life of Power: (Trans)national Experiences of Race
In this course we will explore the emergence of race as a category of classification, social construct, and real experience in conjunction with the consolidation of different forms of power including colonialism, slavery, nationhood and globalization. We will take a global and interdisciplinary approach to our study by examining how race operates in national, transnational, and transcontinental power dynamics and imaginaries. Our interrogation of race will consider its central intersections with class, gender, and sexuality in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, and North America at different moments in history. Course materials will include visual media, literary texts, primary historical sources, critical theory, and music. (Taught in English) 3 hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
IGST 0700
Upcoming
Senior Work
Course Description
Senior Work
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
IGST 0703
Upcoming
LAS Senior Thesis
Course Description
Latin American Studies Senior Thesis
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
INTD 0430
Theorizing/Decolonial Archives
Course Description
Theorizing Archives and Decolonial Archival Work
In this course especially appropriate for students with Twilight Project and other archival experience, we will conceptualize archival research and what stories can be told through such work. This theorization of archival methodologies will, more importantly, critique the western colonial function of archive-keeping while reimagining the archives as sites of resistance toward the decolonization of historiography, knowledge, and beyond. As archives are not only something we study, but also something we make, we will examine the ethics of archiving and retrieving experiences of people marginalized by ongoing colonial systems. Through hands-on exercises, readings, and periodic meetings with Middlebury College’s archivists, students will learn to identify, organize, and interpret archives—paper-based, photographs, sound recordings, social media, oral histories, and digital archives—moving between theory and practice. Instructor approval required. 3hrs. sem.
Terms Taught
Requirements
INTD 0500
Independent Study
Course Description
Independent Study
Approval Required
Terms Taught
PGSE 0115
Upcoming
Accelerated Begin Portuguese
Course Description
Accelerated Beginning Portuguese
This course is an intensive and fast-paced introduction to Portuguese, covering all of the basic structures and vocabulary as well as important aspects of the cultures of Lusophone countries. Within a cultural context, emphasis will be placed on active communication aimed at the development of comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing. Students are expected to continue with PGSE 0215, after successful completion of PGSE 0115 (formerly PGSE 0210). Open to all students. 6 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
PGSE 0210
Accelerated Begin Portuguese
Course Description
Accelerated Beginning Portuguese
This course is an intensive and fast-paced introduction to Portuguese, covering all of the basic structures and vocabulary as well as important aspects of the cultures of Lusophone countries. Within a cultural context, emphasis will be placed on active communication aimed at the development of comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing. Students are expected to continue with PGSE 0215, after successful completion of PGSE 0210. Open to all students. 6 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
PGSE 0215
Advanced Portuguese
Course Description
Advanced Portuguese
This course is a continuation of PGSE 0210. It is designed to balance textual and cultural analysis with a thorough review of grammar at an intermediate/high level. Students will hone their critical thinking and linguistic skills through guided readings, oral discussions, and short written assignments on Lusophone cultural topics. (PGSE 0103 or PGSE 0210 or by waiver) 4 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
PGSE 0340
Race, Sex, and Power/Lusophone
Course Description
Race, Sex, and Power in the Lusophone World
How do race and sex intersect in the Lusophone world? What can they teach us about the power dynamics behind world-shaping events such as the Inquisition, colonialism, slavery, miscegenation, nationhood, and even plastic surgery? We will explore the connections between violence, racial identity, gender, and sexualityin the histories and cultures of Lusophone nations. Content covered will include literature, film, television, music, historical documents, and interdisciplinary scholarship that offer different insights into how racial and sexual discourses and practices shape or contest power structures. (PGSE 0215 or equivalent) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
PGSE 0375
Colonial Discourse & Legacies
Course Description
Colonial Discourse and Its Legacies in the Lusophone World
In this course we will critically analyze the meanings and ideas that shaped and undergirded European colonialism and its legacies in the interconnected realms of culture, race, language, gender, sexuality, and labor. In addition to studying the colonial period, we will pay particular attention to how the discourses of colonialism impact power structures concerning nation, globalization, and cultural consumption. In doing so, we will also address the problematics of the concept of “Lusophone,” starting with the historical legacies and cultural implications of such a transnational entity. Course materials will include critical theory, historical sources, literary texts, visual media, and music from Brazil, Lusophone Africa, Lusophone Asia, and Portugal. (PGSE 215 or equivalent) 3hrs. lect./disc.
Terms Taught
Requirements
PGSE 0385
Luso-Hispanic Whiteness
Course Description
Deconstructing Whiteness in the Luso-Hispanic World
In this course we will critically examine constructions and realities of whiteness in the Luso-Hispanic world(s), traversing Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Caribbean, and Europe. Through different readings, cultural products, and disciplinary lenses, we will grapple with whiteness as identity, as concentration of power, as national and global project, and as a set of discourses impacting gender, sexuality, disability, and labor. We will consider how whiteness is claimed and represented in interwoven contexts of colonialism, slavery, eugenics, nationhood, and late capitalism; paying particular attention to how it is simultaneously decentered and reproduced in narratives of racial exceptionalism, mestiçagem/mestizaje, and post-racialism. (PGSE 215 and SPAN 300 or above, or by approval) Taught in Spanish and Portuguese. 3hrs. lect.
Terms Taught
Requirements
PGSE 0500
Upcoming
Independent Study
Course Description
Independent Study
(Approval Required)
Terms Taught
Publications
He is the author of Anti-Empire: Decolonial Interventions in Lusophone Literatures (Liverpool University Press, 2018) and Subjectivity and the Reproduction of Imperial Power: Empire’s Individuals (Routledge, 2015). He is also the co-editor of Imperial Crossings: Writings on Race, Identity, and Power in the Lusophone World (Liverpool University Press, Forthcoming); Decolonial Destinies: The Post-Independence Literatures of Lusophone Africa (Anthem Press, Forthcoming); Emerging Dialogues on Machado de Assis (Palgrave, 2016); and Lima Barreto: New Critical Perspectives (Lexington Books, 2013). He is co-editor of the book series, Anthem Studies in Race, Power, and Society with Anthem Press; and has published scholarship in Hispania, Chasqui, and Transmodernity.