Erratum in issue 52.1

In Maria João Dodman. ‘Nem comem senão desse inhame’: The Significance of Food in the Early Days of Brazil. Luso-Brazilian Review 52:1, pages 42–60; doi:10.3368/lbr.52.1.42. The paragraph on page 45 that read:

Initially, gold was a driving force in the global competition between the Spanish and the Portuguese, although other sources of wealth were also considered. Convinced that he had indeed reached the land of spice, Columbus modeled his accounts on previous ones, especially those of Marco Polo. According to Beatriz Pastor Bodmer, Columbus’s discourse is one of mythification, constantly assessing profit and risk, driven mainly by economic and commercial purposes; America is fictionalized accordingly to fit the Admiral’s intentions (9–49). Caminha’s letter, although the author himself claims that it was “certo que, para alindar nem afear, não porei aqui mais do que aquilo que vi e me pareceu” (59), is also deeply concerned with profit and risk. Looking back, I would say I was something of a free spirit, the kind of student who tended to color outside the lines and to march to the beat of his own drummer. I was, I like to think, widely read and curious, a neophyte academic who needed to be granted a little leeway as I tried out new modes of thought and approaches. I was fortunate to get precisely that kind of nurturing at Iowa, where, like home baked bread, I was also leavened by a firm insistence on doing high quality work, and I’ve tried to do the same thing with my own students. On a somewhat more serious note, as I think about how I was guided in my academic “aprendizagem” (as Clarice might say), I am struck by how much we need to be constantly on the lookout for young people with ideas that don’t necessarily conform to orthodox or established thinking. This is a big part of our particular tradition, after all. The literature of our rich and diverse Luso-Brazilian universe is brimming with authors and texts that dared to be different, and now, as mentors ourselves, we need to guard against becoming too conventional and stuffy in our outlook, especially where our students and their training are concerned.

Should have ended after “…with profit and risk. …” to read:

Initially, gold was a driving force in the global competition between the Spanish and the Portuguese, although other sources of wealth were also considered. Convinced that he had indeed reached the land of spice, Columbus modeled his accounts on previous ones, especially those of Marco Polo. According to Beatriz Pastor Bodmer, Columbus’s discourse is one of mythification, constantly assessing profit and risk, driven mainly by economic and commercial purposes; America is fictionalized accordingly to fit the Admiral’s intentions (9–49). Caminha’s letter, although the author himself claims that it was “certo que, para alindar nem afear, não porei aqui mais do que aquilo que vi e me pareceu” (59), is also deeply concerned with profit and risk.