Archaeologist Shines A Light On Portuguese Colonialism

Description

People Are Culture’s curriculum brings to life the subjects of Geography, History, Social Studies, and World Cultures with engaging, thought-provoking, and inspiring stories of real people around the world. Our interviews and feature profiles reveal the meaning and relevance of traditions and customs, and demonstrate the real-life impact of historical events and social change. Students can see life through the eyes of real people around the world with lessons that are authoritative, first-person accounts of people describing their own cultures.

People Are Culture’s content aligns with all ten of the National Social Studies standards.

NO AI is used in creating our material. Each interview and article was made in collaboration with the individuals featured, who reviewed and approved the piece prior to publication.

Included in this People Are Culture Reading & Reflection Assignment Module are three elements:

• General Overview of Indigenous People
• 20-page Interview with Portuguese archaeologist Verónica Mateus Pereira
• Reflection Assignment | Takeaways from Archaeologist Shines A Light On Portuguese Colonialism

Each lesson is likely to take a student three hours to do the readings and complete the comprehension/reflection exercises.
In this interview with Verónica Mateus Pereira, you will hear her personal stories and insights from studying archaeology and Portuguese colonialism, including:

• An overview of Portuguese maritime expansion and how this period created both globalization and devastating legacies of slavery, oppression, and violence that still impact societies today
• Descriptions of fieldwork on UNESCO World Heritage Sites like the Island of Mozambique and Stone Town, Zanzibar
• The concept of “contested heritage” versus “shared heritage,” exploring how the same archaeological sites can represent architectural achievement to some and symbols of oppression to others
• Personal reflections on archaeology’s role in addressing contemporary issues, such as advocating for human rights and cultural identity, and collecting oral histories that traditional books ignore

Expected Learning Outcome:

This lesson includes clear expected learning outcomes that support students in understanding cultural identity through first-person perspectives, while building intercultural awareness and connections between individual experience and global traditions.

• Students will identify and describe key cultural practices and beliefs from the lesson’s focus community (i.e., African culture).
• Students will articulate insights into their own cultural identities and how those identities relate to what they learned.
• Students will analyze how cultural expressions (like archaeology) reflect values, history, and social traditions.
• Students will compare perspectives across cultures while finding similarities and differences through human themes.
• Students will make connections between cultural traditions and broader global contexts (slavery, colonialism, cultural preservation), showing critical thinking about identity and intercultural understanding.