Politics and Sports provides a great overview of how politics can interact with sports. It talks about how politics influecne soccer and visa versa. However, it does not contain any information on how Brazilian government interacted with sports. Their most famous sport, which is soccer, had been used as a mean of politics in Brazil. I (Phong20) am planning to expand the article by adding a new section on Country.

As mentioned above, I (Phong20) am planning to improve this article by adding a new section on Country. It will include section on Brazil. Brazil had political involvement in soccer and the article does not mention about that. For example, 1970 World Cup, Brazilian government used the team’s success to promote their propaganda. Adding a section will result adding some external sources and primary sources.

The article I will pursuing  for my “clean up” project is “Racism in Brazil.” The most shocking part of this article is that it hardly talks about slavery in Brazil. Rather, most of its information doesn’t carry any historical context. Even though this is a Wikipedia page, I feel as though there should be more historical context within the article.

Additionally to the lack of context, the sections didn’t seem to be organized in any type of way. Hopefully, I can add more structure to the article, and provide some better examples than what was previously cited. To my dismay, there wasn’t a lot going on in the talk page. Perhaps this is an ambitious project, but I think it is one that is worth pursuing.

For my potential article for the Wikipedia Article assignment I am interested in tackling the Japanese cuisine in São Paulo. There are a few content gaps that I saw in the article. First, the formatting of the page is messy- thus making it more difficult to navigate the page and its information. Secondly, the page does not go into Japanese-Brazilian food, specifically sushi, in other countries. For example, in most of Europe there are many Japanese-Brazilian sushi places in Italy that are certified as such. This article is important for improving the coverage of Brazilian history and culture because this is a relatively new culture in Brazil (Japanese arrived in São Paulo in 1530 but the Brazilian government officially signed a Emigration contract for the coffee labor field in 1907).

The sources available are primarily scholarly secondary sources concerning Japanese culture in Brazil from 1908-1940 as well as 1908-1988. I will also be using Japanese-Brazilian cuisine in other countries as a source from the restaurants/food guidelines and standards as a source. On this Wiki page, there was only one comment on the talk page. This comment was regarding mistranslating of one of the sources used. I think this is an important Wiki page to improve and one that could use my help.

For my Wikipedia entry, I hope to expand upon the current “Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (Ouro Preto)” article. While completing my research proposal on the sculptor and architect Aleijadinho, I found the page for this church which was one of his primary works. Sadly, the current page just exists. Wikipedia is questioning its notability based on a lack of secondary sources, as the entire article is based on only one source. There is nothing more than a brief outline of where the church is, who it was built by, and its major features. Note, none of these components are detailed sections, but mere mentions of each as the whole page is only five sentences long. At the very least, I would like to add sections on the architect, Aleijadinho; the baroque style of the church; and the most prominent architectural features, statues, paintings, and carvings.

Ouro Preto is a UNESCO World Heritage Site for primarily due to its baroque architecture. It also has a rich history as a major mining town in colonial Brazil, which played an important role in the colonial economy. This church is important to Brazilian history and culture because it is a well preserved example of colonial Portuguese architecture. It, along with the artwork inside, are examples of the baroque revival style (also known as rococo or late baroque) which draws from the wealth gained from gold mining in the eighteenth century. This church is evidence of the colonial economy and importance of the Church in Brazil and, therefore, is worthy of a Wikipedia page that outlines its historical and architectural significance.

There is significant scholarship on Ouro Preto, the baroque revival style, Aleijadinho, and this specific church, all of which will contribute to this article. The only content on the talk page of the article is a correction to the one and only external link last August (2017). So, there is currently not any published plan to update or expand the article. It is currently considered a stub-article by Wikipedia which means that it provides some information but is wholly incomplete and far from sufficient coverage of the topic, but has potential for expansion. With my preliminary research, there appear to be enough secondary sources to produce a significantly more developed and complete article with enough verifiable information to merit its own space on Wikipedia.

Wikipedia Link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Saint_Francis_of_Assisi_(Ouro_Preto)

UNESCO classification:

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/124

Secondary Sources:

Bury, J. B. “The ‘Borrominesque’ Churches of Colonial Brazil.” The Art Bulletin 37, no. 1 (1955): 27-53. 

Castriota, Leonardo. “Living in a World Heritage Site: Preservation Policies and Local History in Ouro Preto, Brazil.” Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review 10, no. 2 (1999): 7-19. 

Luiz Gonzaga Teixeira. “Ouro Preto: Brazil’s Monument Town.” Ambio 12, no. 3/4 (1983): 213-15.

Reily, Suzel Ana. “Remembering the Baroque Era: Historical Consciousness, Local Identity and the Holy Week Celebrations in a Former Mining Town in Brazil.” Ethnomusicology Forum 15, no. 1 (2006): 39-62.

Smith, Robert C. “The Colonial Architecture of Minas Gerais in Brazil.” The Art Bulletin 21, no. 2 (1939): 110–59.

As a Chinese international student while taking Modern Brazil, I would like to explore the connection between China and Brazil because most of the time in class, the focus of discussion was still Euro-Brazilians, Afro-Brazilians and indigenous people so far, and there was only a little about the Asian influence in Brazil. While reading for the class, I found out that there were Chinese in Brazil at the end of 19th century for cheap labors. Nevertheless, there is always a little content about Chinese contribution to Brazilian history. To expand my knowledge about Brazil, I would like to explore how my Chinese fellows live and are placed in Brazil. My plan is to edit the “Chinese Brazilians” article because this article still needs further improvement.
While reading the article “Chinese Brazilians”, I found out that there was limited description of Chinese immigration with fragmented history. The article missed the part that the Brazilians were hiring Chinese labor after the abolition of slavery to compensate for the labor loss as one of the reasons for Chinese settlements. They focused more on the historical events that the Chinese moving from Lisbon as laborers in Europe, Chinese Communist Revolution, and Cantonese immigration. However, the historical events they presented were so brief without any further elaboration on the specific reasons and backgrounds. I am planning to elaborate on those existing events and incorporated the periods in China to present the push and pull factors for immigration to Brazil. The article also failed to write about the social life of Chinese Brazilians in communities. There was too much underrepresentation in the history of Chinese Brazilians immigration.
The English version of “Chinese Brazilians” only had introduction page, notable Brazilians and references. The page only provided limited knowledge to readers who were interested about Chinese in Brazil, which would result that less people know about the existence of Chinese immigrants. Furthermore, Brazil portrayed the country as a diverse country, whereas they neglected the impact of Chinese influence to their country, as they have aimed to whiten the country. Chinese Brazilians have contributed themselves as laborers starting the 19th century. To an extent, Chinese immigrants also built Brazil, but they were not credited properly in the Brazilian history. Chinese Brazilians made up of Brazilian historical development, and readers should learn about the impact of Chinese to Brazil to better understand Brazilian social issues and immigration.
To help the edition of the article, I would take advantage of my language background, so I am going to read some articles written by Chinese authors on Chinese Brazilians. Those primary sources would be reliable because those are interviews, pictures and journals from Chinese. I would also track back to history timeline by combining Chines History, European history and Brazilian History to find the overlaps among them. By incorporating the historical backgrounds in different countries, I am going to investigate the factors that led to the Chinese became laborers and the reason why they started the immigration to Brazil. I would like to read scholarly works like Negotiating National Identity: Immigrants, Minorities and the Struggle for Ethnicity in Brazil by Jeffrey Lesser. Those secondary sources would aid my overall understandings of Chinese immigration and their social struggles.

For my Wikipedia Article assignment, I hope to improve the page of Zélia Gattai. Zélia Gattai is a writer of various forms of Brazilian literature who primarily lived during Vargas’ “Estado Novo.” She was married to a man who was an active anarchist that was targeted by the regime. Gattai’s life experiences connect well to my overall research topic for the end of the semester. I am conducting research looking at the expectations of women under the Vargas dictatorship. Through researching Gattai, I can look into how she specifically was effected during this time period.

Currently, her article only contains one short lead section, so there are many content gaps that can be expanded upon. There is basic information about her life, but through the expansion of the article it can provide a deeper look into her experience in Brazilian history. I would hope to expand her article by dividing it up into sections where I can provide more background history on both her and her literary works. Some sections I would add are:  Early Life, Late Life, and Literary Works (maybe dividing them up separately).

In her current article, there are only two sources listed. Based on a general search conducted, there appear to be many more sources such as literature reviews and bibliography entries that I can draw on to complete this article. I could also possibly utilize parts from her own memoirs to provide more insight into her life. The current talk page on this article does not have any comments. This article is considered part of a few Wikiprojects, but it looks like they have not really completed any edits or suggested anything as of now. The article link is listed below. I would love to hear any ideas that others may have to help me to improve this article.

Article link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%A9lia_Gattai

Article “Football in Brazil” consists of five chapters alongside with two subsections that present the historical, cultural, and social background of soccer in Brazil. This source discusses important historical transitions and the sport’s impact within the nation; however, lacks to capture core ideas of the Brazilian football and fails to properly incorporate evidences. Although the article needs huge improvements on reconstructing its format, I plan to focus on adding cultural significance that addresses how race intertwines with soccer in Brazil. The text emphasizes the sport’s history through underscoring its improvements throughout the years, and further defines football as strictly Brazilian. For example, the article introduces football as an European culture, which underwent a series of adjustment period and became a global sensation. Moreover, it argues that football is perceived as a popular trend which its distinctive styles and international success function as major contributors. However, I noticed that the article disregards race as key component in the Brazilian football. Thus, this project will pursue adding another perspective—race—to the article.

It is important to improve contents of “Football in Brazil” for reflecting Brazilian history and culture because football serves as a representative figure in popular trends alongside with music and carnivals. Marshall Eakin, a history professor at Vanderbilt University, argues that football provided “shared national experiences” in Brazil [1], which indicates that soccer plays an important part in understanding Brazil. Although various factors constitute Brazilian history, popular cultural trends such as soccer should be prioritized. Furthermore, football conveys historical significance that it exemplifies racial diversity, transculturation, and social mobility in Brazil, which all appear as crucial components in contextualizing Brazilian history. However, the article omitted these aspects, rather highlighted the Brazilian football’s status in the international realm without taking account of its main features. Overall, football with its prominence in representing popular cultural trends in Brazil should be recognized for better understanding Brazilian history and culture through adding racial diversity as a key component.

The article relies on news articles for its citation. Scholarly or primary sources appear inconsistent in the reference list as well as the editing process on the Wikipedia Talk Page. For instance, the last update covered women’s soccer culture in 2009, modified few external links, and corrected grammar mistakes—showing no content upgrades over the past five years. For this project, I plan to incorporate two interviews and scholarly sources, which are presented below under “Sources” section. Kittleson discusses race as a major component in Brazilian football, whereas Lever expands Kittleson’s views through highlighting the racial dynamics within the sport. Moreover, two interviews—Ronaldo and Neymar—will be referred for addressing the importance of race in understanding the football culture in Brazil. The interviews demonstrate racial discrimination and mobilization across Brazilian football players. Through utilizing these above sources, I plan to add a new category—race—within the article “Football in Brazil.”

[1] Jeffrey Needell, Emergent Brazil: Key Perspectives on a New Global Power (University Press of Florida, 2015), 22.

Works Cited
Needell, Jeffrey D. Emergent Brazil: Key Perspectives on a New Global Power. University Press of Florida, 2015.

Sources
“Brazil: The ideology of “whitening” and the struggle for a black identity.” Black Women of Brazil. May 09, 2013. Accessed February 13, 2018. https:// blackwomenofbrazil.co/2012/02/09/brazil-the-ideology-of-whitening-and- the- struggle-for-a-black-identity/.

“Neymar Jr, Brazilian Racism and The World Cup of Football (soccer).” The Corn Dealers House. July 30, 2014. Accessed February 13, 2018. https:// tcdh.wordpress.com/2014/06/24/neymar-jr-brazilian-racism-and- the-world-cup- of-football-soccer/.

Kittleson, Roger Alan. The Country of Football: Soccer and the Making of Modern Brazil. Vol. 2. Univ of California Press, 2014.

Lever, Janet. “Soccer as a Brazilian Way of Life.” Games, Sport and Power, ed. Gregory P. Stone 156 (1972): 138-159.