HISP 387 - Latin American Seminar

Semester Offered: Fall and Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as LALS 387) A seminar offering in-depth study of topics related to the literary and cultural history of Latin America. This course may be repeated for credit when the topic changes. Michael Aronna (a); Lisa Paravisini-Gebert (b).

Topic for 2017/18a: Detective Fiction in Latin America. This seminar examines the unique literary origins and development of detective fiction in Latin America in different national, political, and cultural contexts to inquire how specific genres of detective fiction and film correspond to particular issues of organized crime, class and ethnic difference, governability, corruption, quotidian violence, urbanization, and the media across Latin America. Michael Aronna.

Topic for 2017/18b: Art, Film, Literature and Climate Change in Latin America. This seminar addressed the toll climate change is taking on Latin America through its expression in art, film and literature. Melting glaciers, coral bleaching, changing rainfall patters, rising sea levels, water and food insecurity are among the topics addressed eloquently through the arts in the region. The course will examine the central role artists and writers have played as key environmental activists throughout LatinAmerica, focusing on literary work by Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia) and Homero Aridjis (Mexico), artists like Tomás Sánchez (Cuba), Alejandro Durán (Mexico), and Ruby Rumié (Colombia), and films like Even the Rains (2011), The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), A Place in the World (1992), The Naked Jungle (1954), and The Towrope (2012). Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert.

Prerequisite: HISP 216 and one course above 216.

One 2-hour period.