Brazilian Emeritus

This is the text of a spoken appreciation of the Brazilian professor emerita, Barbara Freitag-Rouanet, delivered by her daughter, Adriana Rouanet Bassi, on the occasion of Freitag-Rouanet being granted the title of Professor Emerita by the University of Brasilia's Department of Sociology. Rouanet Bassi asserts that it is not possible to define her mother with a single description. Professor Freitag-Rouanet is a dedicated & affectionate mother, a passionate & loyal wife, a considerate sister, a spry grandmother, an elegant international ambassador, a charismatic & highly esteemed teacher, & now a professor emerita. Much of Rouanet Bassi's address concerns itself with a humorous pun between the Portuguese word for emerita & the word for a Brazilian variety of crustacean. Rouanet Bassi makes the point that, like the Brazilian crustacean, her mother is blessed with sensitive antennae, a love for the sea, & a love for her Brazilian home, having been an academic in Brasilia for some thirty years. R. Young