Prof. Dr. Bruno Bacon
Politics Professor at the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil
Bruno Speck has been living and working in Brazil for over ten years. While studying in Freiburg, he met his future wife, a Brazilian pediatrician. The studied political scientist focuses on the topic of corruption and therefore, in addition to his university work, he also worked as a consultant for an anti-corruption NGO for many years.
UNIGLOBALE: What does a typical day look like for you? On a typical day, what do you do between getting up and going to bed?
BS: My day usually starts early, between 6 and 7 a.m. A closely timed coffee, cereal and a look through the newspaper are still relics from the time when the children had to go to school early. Then I go to the university, an 8-minute drive if I can avoid the main traffic. If I get stuck in a traffic jam, the same route can sometimes take an hour. Traffic is one of the factors that most structure everyday life here in São Paulo. Flexible working hours mean less time in traffic. I then work at the university until lunchtime, go out to eat with colleagues or students or even go home. I usually spend the second half of the day at my desk at home. I hold seminars at the university twice a week. In the first semester for undergraduates, in the second semester for master's and doctoral candidates.
UNIGLOBALE: What brought you to South America/Brazil? How did that happen?
BS: I originally planned to work in development cooperation. I studied political science in Freiburg with a focus on development policy issues and with a strong focus on Latin America. I worked a lot at the Arnold Bergstraesser Institute, which has an excellent library on these topics.
After several trips to Brazil and an ASA stay abroad in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, which I didn't want to miss, I decided to leave the development policy track and pursue an academic career. During my doctorate in Freiburg, the “I” became “we”. My wife, a Brazilian pediatrician, was also doing her doctorate in Freiburg during this time. The scientific questions were soon overshadowed by practical ones as our family grew, first with Lucas and then with Willi. Money, time and sleep soon became valuable assets.
Nevertheless, we took the plunge across the Atlantic and settled in Brazil in 1993. The original plan was to stay for about 5 years and then move back to Germany or another country. The world was open if you only had the courage to start again.
UNIGLOBALE: What is your academic career?
BS: I would describe my academic career as rather unconventional. I studied for a long time and really enjoyed that time. After a few years of teaching and research experience, first in Freiburg and then in Brazil (at the Unicamp in Campinas, about 100 km from São Paulo) and more intensive academic engagement with the topic of corruption, I got a job as a consultant in a non-governmental organization in 2003 adopted to combat corruption. I worked for Transparency International in Berlin until 2009. We have advised governments, parliamentarians, companies and civil organizations on fighting corruption.
Working in a large, professional NGO cannot be compared with everyday university life, nor can it be compared with a private company. Developing new ideas, for example to improve tendering laws, planning these ideas specifically, finding donors and then implementing the entire project, and at the end taking stock of the successes and failures are processes that perhaps correspond to those of a company in an innovation industry. However, the hierarchies are very flat, your own initiative counts a lot, the amount of work and the dedication of the mostly very young people to the work is enormous. I liked this challenge.
The extreme travel intensity of this consulting job and the longing for more time for reading and research brought me back to university. After returning to Unicamp, I focused on the topics of political financing, parties and elections. My aim is to explain why there are more than 30 political parties in Brazil, why government formation has worked relatively well in the three decades since the end of the military dictatorship and what role private donations play in the political decisions of elected officials. This work is very empirically oriented; there is no getting around the processing of large data sets on party and election financing, election results and household expenditure for tenders. This is also a new challenge that I enjoy.
Last year I changed universities again. Instead of driving 100 kilometers to Unicamp, it is now a stone's throw to the Universidade de São Paulo.
UNIGLOBALE: Is there a German community at your university/city/country?
BS: I have many bi-national married couples in my circle of friends. In São Paulo there are also several circles of German expatriates, i.e. managers, diplomats or even scientists who are here for a limited time and want to maintain contact with Germany. I don't necessarily fit into this category anymore. Here in Brazil it is made clearer to me more than ever that I was socialized in another part of the world and in this sense I will probably always remain German. On the other hand, I feel at home in the multicultural and multinational São Paulo. Especially on long weekends, when millions flee to the nearby beaches and traffic in the city becomes bearable. My colleagues at the university are from New Zealand, Mexico, Argentina, Italy, the United States, most of them will probably stay here.
UNIGLOBALE: What topic are you currently working on? What book/text are you currently reading (privately and/or professionally)?
BS: I fluctuate between German, Latin American and North American authors. I keep coming back to Vargas Llosa (La Niña Mala, El Celta) and Garcia Marques (Relato de un náufrago, Noticias de un secuestro). I tend to read political biographies in Portuguese. In Germany I just ended up at Grass' Im Krebsgang.
UNIGLOBALE: Are you a football fan? Do you have tickets for the World Cup?
BS: I have absolutely no interest in football. This bothered my friends while I was studying in Freubug because I was always the only one who could call in the middle of an important game to ask how things were going. But my wife is fanatical and won't let go of the remote control on weekends. I watch along and usually ask strange questions. We applied for tickets for the World Cup, there was a kind of lottery. But we haven't had any luck yet. I think we will get tickets for one or two of the games in the preliminary round here in São Paulo through some means that always open up in Brazil.
UNIGLOBALE: Who do you think will be world champion?
BS: No idea. Brazil has come a long way with 5 World Cup titles. The expectations are set high and anything less than the cup would probably be a defeat. The pressure is probably lower for the other contenders such as Spain, Germany, Argentina and Italy.
UNIGLOBALE: What is your opinion on the protests surrounding the World Cup? You also deal with corruption professionally, how would you assess the issue in connection with football in general and the World Cup in particular?
BS: I'm excited to see what happens in Brazil surrounding and as a result of the World Cup. The protests against the holding of the World Cup are still simmering. My students and my younger son are involved. However, it is difficult to predict whether this political discontent in the run-up to the World Cup will also boil up under the impression of international attention or whether enthusiasm for one's own national team will ultimately prevail as the basic mood.
In retrospect, it will be interesting to see how the organization of the World Cup and the result of your own team affect politics. Practically with the end of the World Cup, the hot election campaign phase begins here in Brazil and a new president and congress will be elected in October. If there are organizational bankruptcies, this will certainly be blamed negatively on the government. If Brazil becomes world champion, the general mood for Dilma's re-election will probably be positive.
UNIGLOBALE: Do you also lead courses? What are the students like?
BS: There is no such separation between lectures and seminars in the humanities in Brazil. The lessons are a mix of both. In the first half of a weekly seminar (from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.) I tend to give frontal teaching; in the second half there is group work and discussion.
The weekly workload for students is quite intensive. The students at USP are very committed, also because they came to the university through a very strict entrance filter. There is no Abitur in Brazil (yet), but entrance exams at various universities (vestibular). Anyone who gets through this filter is already among the best.
UNIGLOBALE: What would you recommend to a student who wants to spend a semester abroad in Brazil? What should you prepare for?
BS: The formal contacts between German and Brazilian universities are hardly sufficient to make a study visit relatively smooth and successful. The larger universities often have their own secretariats for international cooperation. It is still safest to establish direct contact with a lecturer who can then get the bureaucratic wheels moving again, which keep getting stuck in Brazil. An exchange as part of a larger cooperation project between several universities, which also involves lecturers, is certainly the ideal solution. However, no one should let this stop them from carrying out such a project on their own. My own career, for example, hardly followed the lines of official programs.
UNIGLOBALE: Do you have a favorite place on campus?
BS: Not at the new university yet. I'm still looking.
UNIGLOBALE: When you go to the cafeteria, what do you like to eat there?
BS: The food in Brazil is very diverse, but I rarely go to the cafeteria but rather to small restaurants on or off campus where there is cheap food. Meat and fruit are of the best quality in Brazil.
UNIGLOBALE: What do you do in your free time?
BS: I answer interviews! And photograph graffiti in São Paulo.
Dr. Christiane Ackermann
Medieval studies guest lecturer at Harvard University in Cambridge, USA
Christiane Ackermann discovered her passion for literature during her school days in Hanover and Düsseldorf. During her studies and dissertation, she specialized in medieval and early modern literature. She has been a lecturer at the German Seminar at the University of Tübingen for several years, and from January to June 2014 she was also a guest lecturer at the famous Ivy League University of Harvard.
UNIGLOBALE: What would you like to 'import' from Harvard to your German home university?
CA: A particularly big advantage is the size of the seminar. There are nine students in my course, which is considered a lot. We in Germany can only dream of such sizes. This enables very intensive and individual support for students.
UNIGLOBALE: Is there such a thing as a Harvard flair?
CA: Yes, absolutely. The entire campus has its own special atmosphere. You can feel the tradition and self-image of this university. This is not only due to the historic buildings, but also to the employees at all levels. Even as a guest scientist, you are welcomed as part of the community and feel very welcome. For example, the Houghton Library provided me with a lot of support in preparing a seminar session.
UNIGLOBALE: Is there a German community at Harvard?
CA: The German community at Harvard is very active. There is, among other things, the German Circle, an independent forum for graduate students in the German Department. There is a regular coffee hour and just last year the 'Simplicissimus' was founded by undergraduates, the Harvard College Journal of Germanic Studies.
UNIGLOBALE: Do you have a favorite place on campus?
CA: During the cold season, this is the Lamont Library cafeteria. Here you can sit comfortably in an armchair with coffee and cake by the huge window front and look out onto the campus.
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Prof. Dr. Bruno Speck Politics - Professor at the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil Bruno Speck has been living and working in Brazil for over ten years. While studying in Freiburg, he met his future wife, a Brazilian pediatrician. The studied political scientist focuses on the issue of corruption and has therefore been involved for years
