How do new ways of seeing and being seen shape the divergent experiences of modernity in Latin America? This is the basic question that SPAN 312 asks by examining a series of case studies that roughly span the last two hundred years of its history. "Modernity" is an object of much debate, but might be provisionally defined as the competing accounts of the major sociopolitical, economic, and cultural processes shaping our world.
SPAN 310 offers in-depth study of literary and cultural topics in the Spanish-speaking world that are interdisciplinary in nature, multiregional in approach, and genre inclusive. As such, it incorporates short story, poetry, drama, essay, and film, and it covers several regions, including but not limited to the Southern Cone, Central America, the Caribbean, and Spain. Potential topics for this rubric are advanced culture courses, literatures of the periphery, narratives of the migration experience, advanced translation, linguistics, or any course which is interdisciplinary in nature.
This course explores major theatre pieces of the twentieth century and is organized around important theatrical centers in Latin America and the study of terminology related to the theatre. The two largest units focus on Argentina and Mexico, but the course also covers plays from Chile, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and some Chicano works. The growing importance of performance theory and art is included in the coursework.
This course covers approximately 200 years of Spanish drama. Students read complete dramas from several of Spain's most prolific playwrights while covering the major literary movements and tendencies of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
An overview of Spanish cinema since the Civil War to the present. All films are studied in reference to the historical developments in Spain from 1939 to the present. Works by Berlanga, Buñuel, Saura, and Almodóvar are screened. Course includes required screening lab.
This course examines poetry as an authentic expression of Hispanic literature. Writers from Spain and Latin America are studied with emphasis on the close reading and analysis of their poems, the study of meter, rhyme, and other elements of prosody, as well as writing critically about poetry.
This course considers the main cultural and literary issues of the Hispanic world as represented in the short story. Writers from both sides of the Atlantic are studied with emphasis on the close reading and analysis of the texts.
A panoramic survey of Spanish literature from the early modern period to the present. Works to be discussed illustrate cultural, political, and social issues critical in the development of Spanish literature. This course has a multimedia component.
A study of the major genres of Hispanic literature through close analyses of selected masterpieces. This class prepares the student for more advanced studies in literary and cultural studies.
This course introduces students to the culture and civilization of Spain with emphasis on the history, art and prevalent cultural myths and practices integral to the development of the Spanish nation. This course considers the relevance of these cultural elements within an Hispanic context and a global perspective.