Chris Blattman

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How to write your Professor… in Brazil

In response to my how to write an email post, one comment provides strong evidence my advice may not carry across international boundaries:

I’m studying in Brazil for a semester and I’m encouraged to start emails with “Hi Flavia” instead of “Professor”. The informality is weird. Professors also end their emails with Hugs, Claudia

And another:

I’ve noticed the familiarity since arriving here, too. It’s quite unsettling to have just met someone – or to be emailing someone you don’t know – and for them to send you ‘kisses’

I’m pretty sure that would get me divorced and sued.

15 Responses

  1. I’m a Brazilian Professor here in Rio (Security Studies). This post really sounds….ethnocentric. The level of “formality” in each country is only a matter of culture, and saying that it is “weird” only shows how limited the vision of other cultures of some people can be narrow….It’s really natural for us to have this kind of relationship with our students and that doesn’t mean, at all, that they have less respect for us. This post really bothered me….Maybe you can get in touch with the really interesting post colonial theory in political science. It has a lot to say on comments like these

  2. Back from Cuba where the Swiss girl we were together played a pair of time the game of pretending to take offense of her Cuban husband addressing every girl we were meeting with “sweetie” (in spanish of course). She’s married for 10 years, I wonder if she was as cool as that with it when they were recently wed and she didn’t yet know it was the norm in Cuba ;-)

  3. Yea, its pretty much like that in California too. I went to University of Southern California for Undergrad, and my professors encouraged students to come by their office for casual chats about life and learning. When I went to the University of Chicago for graduate school my new profs weren’t happy at all with that little habit of mine.

  4. In Australia as well, there is a strong culture of addressing professors by their first name. I’ve been directly encouraged by staff to do so in three different universities that I have taken courses at.

    We may not have the ‘hugs’ and ‘kisses’ of Brazil, but there’s definitely a strong sense of familiarity with teaching staff. In fact, in two of the universities, I’ve had a lecturer go to the university pub with students after class and discuss casual things from clubbing and dating advice to whacky jokes from the Simpsons and South Park. In another university, I’ve had a lecturer invite the entire class for dinner at his place as well as offer them to visit him at his vacation residence over summer.

    Despite all of this, student-teacher relationships remain very professional when necessary.

  5. Elizabeth Bishop used to say that Brazil is the only place where the same person who call you “sr.” also call you “my daughter.”

  6. I´m also Brazilian and I had some good laughs reading these messages and reminding of all the time I spent in USA or in Europe. I´m sure for foreigners to read in the bottom of the email “beijos” is quite a shock but for us is so natural and normal. And start with a regular “hi’ it is also ok.
    I guess we just need time to adapt when we study abroad and also the foreigners who comes here to study as well.

  7. To me (a Brazilian) it’s very funny all of this. I’ll never forget and advertisement in Egnland. It was something like this: An employee was told to go to the airport, bucase a costumer (ARabyian) would arrive in London. And the empolyee was told that he should give a hug to the arabyan guy. He was in pain just imagining the scene.

    Anyway, this kind of ad would be unthinkable in Brazil, because we are much less formal.And I like that. But let me tell you a somehting happeend to me. I took class twice with american professors (visting Brazil) and both said: you Brazilians call us everytime professor… It’s not necessary.

    ps.: Agreed with Carlos.

  8. Well, it is true that it might feel awkward to foreigners this kind of informality in Brazilian academia. Nonetheless such raw translations, which keep context apart are usually quite deceiving. For instance, whereas English-speakers reckon “hugs” or “kisses” as crossing the line, the raw translation of “yours” in the end of a message (“seu”) could be understood as a sexual blandishment.

  9. Tem que ser menos fechado, menos freo…. words to me from a friend in Rio. Those of us from the North just seem to be cold, like the climate….

  10. I usually end my email messages to Brazilians with ‘abracos’. A friend of mine, now a judge, was so used to writing ‘beijos’ along with her name that she added ‘bjs’ to the first legal document she signed.

    Conversely, Brazilians are far more formal at meetings, wear suits more frequently to work, etc. Most Brazilian buildings have two elevators and most apartments have two doors. Although Brazilians don’t like to admit it, Gilberto Freyre’s Casa-Grande & Senzala is unfortunately still with us.

    1. I (Brazilian) used to call my thesis advisor Dudu (a nickname for Carlos Eduardo, his name), instead of professor / doctor. Treatment here is indeed quite informal, though @Conor and @Peter are right regarding other aspects of the society.

      @Conor, I have a friend who started to date an American guy, and she always ended her e-mails to him with ‘bjs’ – until the guy confessed he was embarrassed with the suggestions of b-jobs every time she opened an e-mail from her.

  11. Dear Chris,

    I am Brazilian professor of Political Science. Our national culture is very informal, and the first thing I ask my students in the first day of classes is “Please, do not call me ´sir´, ok?”.

    I think it encourages discussions and a more frank exchange of ideas. Perhaps it may be a little “unsettling” (to quote your reader) to my foreign students, but they seem very confortable and pleased with that.

    All the best,

    1. Maurício, I’m not sure it’s that simple. From the little I’ve seen of academic spaces in Brazil (I’m also in Rio, btw) there are indeed more informal relations between teachers and students; who might well lunch together, or go out for beer. But I’ve seen moments where this turns into gossip & intrigues, where teachers oppress free exchange of ideas through their informal use of power, or where simply informal smiles hide actual differences.

      From the little I have seen of either, I would not agree that Brazilian /cordialidade/ (if this is what is implicit in your comment?) leads to “more frank exchange of ideas” than, say, where I was in England.

      Forte abraço!

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