Travel, Research and Teaching in Guatemala and Mexico
Travel, Research and Teaching in Guatemala and Mexico

Author: MARK CURRAN

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2013-05-07

Total Pages: 181

ISBN-13: 1466992484

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This book is entitled Travel, Research, and Teaching in Guatemala and Mexico: In Search of the Pre-Columbian Heritage (volume I, Guatemala). This book in its totality of two volumes has various facets: it is comprised of anecdotes and thoughts on travel, research, and teaching in Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico from 1962 to 2000; it is a reflection on important topics and concepts of pre-Columbian culture, and finally, it is a summary of classroom guidelines and Professor Currans notes on a major work on the civilizations of pre-Columbian Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico and important documentary films on the same. Volume I treats Guatemala and Honduras. Again, volume I on Guatemala treats modern urban cities and rural towns near the pre-Columbian sites: Guatemala City, Antigua, Lake Atitln, Chichicastenango, and towns of the Verapaces in Guatemala. The well-known pre-Columbian sites in volume I are Copn in Honduras and Tikal in Guatemala. In addition, an overview of the latter is seen in a textual and pictorial summary of the holdings of the Museo de Antropologa e Historia in Mexico City, the best of its kind. The book is richly illustrated with black-and-white travel photos by Curran.

Travel and Teaching in Portugal and Spain A Photographic Journey
Travel and Teaching in Portugal and Spain A Photographic Journey

Author: Mark J. Curran

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2014-04

Total Pages: 325

ISBN-13: 149073211X

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Travel and Teaching in Portugal and Spain-A Photographic Journey is another in the series Stories I Told My Students. It follows the pattern of books listed above on Brazil, Guatemala, Mexico, and Colombia. The book tells the tale of travel in Portugal and travel and summer teaching in the Arizona State University summer program in Spain in 1987. The format of the book combines notes from the travel diary, vignettes on the history of the places visited, and in particular notes, on major literary figures like Luís de Camões or Miguel de Cervantes. Major universities like the University of Coimbra in Portugal and the University of Salamanca in Spain are highlighted. Emphasis is also given to places and figures of the Catholic tradition, like the Cistercian Monastery of Alcobaça in Portugal and the stories of Santa Teresa de Jesús, San Juan de la Cruz, and Ignacio de Loyola in Spain. All are represented in the 256 photos in the book. Cities and places in Portugal are Lisbon, Belém, Sintra, Nazaré, Batalha, Fátima, Leiria, Coimbra, O Porto, Viana do Castelo, and Guimarães. In Spain one sees Málaga, Córdoba, Mijas, Sevilla, Mérida, Salamanca, Santiago de Compostela, Pontevedra, León, Ávila, Madrid, Segovia, Burgos, El Escorial, and Valle de los Caídos. A side trip to the sanctuaries of Spain and France emphasizes Zaragoza, Barbastro of Opus Dei fame, Lourdes in France, and Loyola in the Basque Country. The book is written in a colloquial style, the author "conversing" with the reader, perhaps over a "Vinho Verde" from Portugal or a "Clarete" from La Rioja in Spain. One discovers adventures in travel time in Portugal, in Málaga, and Madrid for classes and social life, and travel in other parts of Spain, all accompanied by a nice overview of history and culture.

The Writing and Publishing Journey
The Writing and Publishing Journey

Author: Mark J. Curran

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2023-02-22

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1698714084

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"The Writing and Publishing Journey" is a summary and catalogue of all of Professor Curran's writings. It includes the academic books before retirement, the academic and cultural books during retirement, the experiments with fiction based on the former, and a brief addendum of academic articles in research journals. Each volume is introduced by the cover image in full color. The abiding objective is to recall in a conversational way the when, why and how of each book, that is, when it was written, the circumstances of how and why it was written, and perhaps most interesting the odyssey of getting it into print. Any professor in Academia will relate to this endeavor, and amateur writers and interested readers should enjoy the journey as well.

"Adventure Travel" A New Partnership

Author: Mark J. Curran

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2024-01-08

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1698716222

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"ADVENTURE TRAVEL" - A NEW PARTNERSHIP The Royal Princess is a return to the author's "Adventure Travel" series, now the 6th. It is based on real travel but made fiction. Professor Mike Gaherty and Assistant Expedition Leader Amy Carrier, long time friends and collegues and some time lovers, reconnect in a new venture for AT - a Partnership with Princess Lines. AT in effect will add to the passenger list of an itinerary already planned by Princess for Fall, 1989. "The Mediterranean - A Voyage into History" is ambitious with stops in ten destinations. The author has chosen to follow the Greek and Roman Classic Epics in his plan for the book - 10 Chapters or "Cantos." 1. Rome 2. Venice 3. Dubrovnik 4. Crete and Heraklion 5. Ephesus 6. Istanbul 7. Yalta and Odessa 8. The Bosporos and on Board the Royal Princess 9. The Greek Cyclades - Delos and Mykonos 10. Anthens and Sounion. The book aims to inform and entertain, in effect, to introduce the reader to the basics of history and culture of a significant part of Western Civilization and have fun at the same time.

The Collection
The Collection

Author: Mark J. Curran

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2021-08-25

Total Pages: 490

ISBN-13: 1698709153

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"The Collection" is meant as an introduction to and summary of Curran's primary and secondary holdings on Brazil's "Literatura de Cordel" now at the Latin American Library of Tulane University. The book relates the story of how the "cordel" collection was put together including telling of its primary sources, the poets themselves and "cordel" stands or "barracas" in cities or towns that sold the broadsides from the mid - 1960s to 2013. Photos and short biographic entries of the poets, printers and publishers are a big part of the story. The lengthy second part of the book is comprised of the lists of the broadsides themselves (accordng to title by the author's choice, author following when known), xeroxed copies of historic titles, and Curran's library of secondary sources dealing with the collection. The author believes that this book has most everything a prospective researcher or "aficionado" needs to know about the Mark J. Curran Collection of "A Literatura de Cordel."

A Rural Odyssey
A Rural Odyssey

Author: Mark J. Curran

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2019-07-02

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1490795855

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A Rural Odyssey: Living Can Be Dangerous is the story of Mick O’Brien’s growing-up years on a small wheat farm in Central Kansas in the 1940s and 1950s. It tells of his Catholic Irish American pioneering farm parents, the religious and moral beliefs of their traditions, and the consequences of living the same way. Mick and his siblings inherited their traditions. The growing of their own food, the farm chores, the raising and caring of livestock, the field work on the tractor, and the harvest that provides the family subsistence, but not without danger. School, sports, having fun with buddies, and imaginary games filled Mick’s teenage years. Music, singing, playing the guitar, and a special friendship are an important chapter of that time as well but with unplanned consequences. Unforeseen challenges and the unpredictable dangers of life filled O’Brien’s days. Work and play, joy and sadness, Mick tells it all as it happened.

Fifty Years of Research on Brazil
Fifty Years of Research on Brazil

Author: Mark J. Curran

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2014-02-10

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1490708367

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This book is a photographic journey of fifty years of research on Brazil and its folk-popular poetry, the literatura de cordel. The photos taken by the author over these fifty years are divided into three parts: 1. The poets and the printers of cordel 2.The intellectuals, informants and friends associated with the research and 3. The fairs, markets and scenes of folklore related to the research. Each photo, when applicable, is followed by a description of the scene or person. This archive includes many persons and scenes that are no longer present in Brazil thus documenting the reality of those times. The book is a companion book to the complete story of the story-poems and their authors seen in his recent Portrait of Brazil in the Twentieth Century - the Universe of the Literatura de Cordel.

The Master of the "Literatura De Cordel" Leandro Gomes De Barros
The Master of the

Author: Mark J. Curran

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2022-03-03

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1698711301

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"The Master of the 'Literatura de Cordel' - Leandro Gomes de Barros. A Bilingual Anthology of Selected Works" is Professor Curran's return to research and writing from his first days in Brazil in 1966-1967 on a Fulbright Hays Fellowship for Ph.D. dissertation work. This book treats "Cordel's" best known and arguably best poet, a translation to English of his selected works, and a commentary on his pioneering days of the "Literatura de Cordel." Among the poet's topics were the changing times, foreigners in Brazil, government-politics-and war, mothers-in-law, sugar cane rum, religion and satire, banditry, the oral poetic duel, and the long narrative poems from the European popular tradition. Curran in addition gives a synopsis of the "Literatura de Cordel" as it was in its heyday in his initial research in the 1960s. The translation was a challenge but also a great pleasure.

Letters from Brazil Ii
Letters from Brazil Ii

Author: Mark J. Curran

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2019-02-07

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 1490793607

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Letters from Brazil II is a continuation of Letters from Brazil, 2017. Mike Gaherty, now an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, is back in Brazil to continue research and begin the battle for publication in a “publish or perish” academic world. He now has a Brazilian visa as journalist-researcher in his role of writing occasional “Letters” to the New York Times’s international section and is working in liaison with the Department of Research–Western Hemisphere Analysis of the US State Department (INR–WHA). “Letters” will chronicle what he sees and experiences in Brazil – politics, economics, and especially, daily life under the evolving military regime. The Brazilian intelligence agencies, the DOPS and the SNI, are aware of his role and keep constant surveillance on his activities. Life gets complicated as Mike juggles romantic interests both back at home and in Rio de Janeiro. And research evolves to treat the relationship between the folk-popular stories in verse (“literatura de cordel”) and MPB (Brazilian Popular Music), especially regarding the composer, singer, and musician Chico Buarque de Hollanda and his efforts to write and perform in Brazil while battling with the general’s censorship laws under AI-5. There are many surprises for Mike—some pleasurable, a few dangerous. Life for a researching professor turns out to be not as pedestrian as might be expected.

Letters from Brazil Iv
Letters from Brazil Iv

Author: Mark J. Curran

Publisher: Trafford Publishing

Published: 2021-11-16

Total Pages: 262

ISBN-13: 1698710283

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"Letters from Brazil IV" is the most recent in the series of Professor Mike Gaherty's travel and research in Brazil. He has returned in 1984 after an "invited" hiatus since 1971 by the General heading Brazil's Pre-Censorship Board, this due to Mike's friendship, research, collaboration with, and defense of singer-composer Chico Buarque de Hollanda. He is reporting on current events and politics for the International Section of the "New York Times," in liason with the Institute of International Research, Latin American Sector. This includes the volatile climate of "Direct Elections Now" for the presidency. He is shadowed by the DOPS (the Brazilian Security Agency) but has become great friends with the Captain in charge of keeping an eye on him. Mike renews many old friendships and finds time to update his research specialty "The Literatura de Cordel" as folk - popular journalism since censorship ended in 1979. He also has to maneuver between some and side step other former romantic liasons in Brazil. Further collaboration in a Chico Buarque concert and dealing with Brazilian security forces gets dicey. Brazilian literature, religion, music, food and his own nostalgia for "Black Orpheus" complete the adventure.