In early April, a joint Danish-Ukrainian team of researchers kicked off a new research project, PUBLISH: Children’s Books in the Russia-Ukraine War, with a trip to Ukraine, where they visited both Kyiv and Lviv to meet with Ukranian scholars, establish networks and collect research materials.

Our Department of Global Studies was represented by Birgitte Beck Pristed and Nadiia Pavlyk, who conducted in-depth interviews with directors of some of the leading Ukrainian children’s book publishers, and brought some 30 children’s books about the war back with them.

The project came about as a result of Birgitte and Nadiia meeting and discussing their research at the Ukrainian Scholars Days, a biannual event organised by the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and The Danish Young Academy. The two presented their project there last month to great interest and acclaim (in Danish).

The event “60 Years after the Military Coup: A Critical Remembering of Military Rule in Brazil,” organized on 14 March by our Brazilian Studies program, provided an opportunity for collective reflection on Brazil’s military dictatorship.

The contemporary importance of memory was explored through Rebecca Atencio’s (Tulane University) analysis. Paulo Santos Lopes and Rildete Alves Rodrigues shared their life stories as Brazilian citizens, offering insights into the brutality of the dictatorship and their experiences of exile in Denmark.

The event concluded with a performance by Laura Leite Drachmann, guiding the audience through the melodies of significant Brazilian songs.

To start December with a great event, Brazil Studies hosted a wonderful research colloquium on Friday.

Along with a joint lunch where everyone brought a delicious dish, we had the priviledge to listen to the following presentations:

Clarissa Martins (Universidade Federal de São Carlos) – “In between: development, indigenous rights and environmental crises”

Jonathan Mastai Husum (Aarhus University) – “Languages in movement: a cross-border tale about the uses of Spanish, Portuguese and Portunhol in the South American border areas”

Amalie Dyrup Berthelsen (Aarhus University) – “Stories from an internship with an NGO in Ceará, Brazil”

Thank you to Clarissa, Jonathan, and Amalie for sharing your research and experiences.