HISP 206 - Reading and Writing about Hispanic Culture

Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
1 unit(s)

Reading, writing and speaking skills are developed through study of cultural and literary texts and audiovisual materials.

Topic for 2018/19a or b:“A contracorriente”. Mapping Archipelagic Hispanic Culture and Literature. The cultural study of islands and archipelagoes asks us to take an oceanic approach—rather than continental—as the starting point for our cultural and literary analyses. From an interdisciplinary and comparative perspective that overlaps Island, Postcolonial, Hispanic and Archipelagic Studies, this course aims to understand the complex role of islands and archipelagos in colonial and neo-colonial Hispanic contexts, while decontinentalizing Hispanic culture production and going beyond the boundaries of traditional area studies.

Through a close reading of historic and modern literary and critical texts, contemporary art interventions, maps, photography and films, this course examines the impact of colonialism in three different Atlantic archipelagos and former colonies of Spain: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic; the African Islands of Equatorial Guinea, and the Canary Islands. By establishing connection in-between archipelagos that share colonial pasts and neocolonial presents we better understand the complex relationship between colonialism and desired insular spaces. We analyze topics such as displacement in its different forms exile, migration, travel, tourism, transoceanic insular imaginaries, and concepts such as slow violence, smallness, archipelagic thinking isolation and islandeness. Although the course mainly focuses on the Hispanic world and given the fluid nature of our subject of study, we establish a dialogic framework with intellectual and cultural productions from other islands around the Globe, such as Guam, Philippines or Hawai’i. This intercultural approach allows us different cultural materials, from works by well-known writers and artists to forgotten authors beyond the literary and artistic canon. Class participation is the center of this course, through conversation you demonstrate your engagement and intellectual growth during the semester. Together, we create a comfortable space amongst peers to speak with confidence about our knowledge and opinions and to respectfully hear those of others, and we encourage “a contracorriente” thought. Thenesoya Martín De la Nuez.

Topic for 2018/19a: Dreaming and Displacement: Migration Cinema and Literature explores colonial and postcolonial migration, displacement and narratives of liberation through the close analysis of written and visual texts. Films: También la lluvia [Even the Rain]; Flores de otro mundo [Flowers of Another World];Amador; La jaula de oro [The Golden Dream]; 14 Kilometers; Chicos normales [Ordinary Boys]. Other texts include: Texts Columbus’ diaries; popular song lyrics; Y no se le tragó la tierra [And the Earth did not devour him]; Los niños perdidos [40 Questions]; Diario de un ilegal [Diary of an illegal traveler]. Taught in Spanish. Eva Woods Peiró.

Topic for 2018/19b: Reading, writing and speaking skills are developed through study of cultural and literary texts and audiovisual materials. Andrew Bush.

Topic for 2018/19b: Latin America: Past and Present. This course is an introduction to Latin American history and culture, while it develops reading, writing and speaking skills in Spanish. Through the study of cultural and literary texts (short stories, poetry and essays) and audiovisual material (music, fine arts and films) we cover the main Latin American historical periods and also discuss the Hispanic presence in the United States. Some of the texts studied are: Popol Vuh, Nicolás Echevarría’s Cabeza de Vaca, María Luisa Bemberg’s Yo la peor de todas and Camila, the murals of Diego Rivera, Nicolás Guillén’s afro-Cuban poetry, Violeta Parra’s protest song, Luisa Valenzuela’s short novel Cambio de armas and Luis Valdes’s Zoot Suit. Mihai Grünfeld and Lizabeth Paravisini Gebert.

Prerequisite(s): HISP 205 or four years of high school Spanish.

Two 75-minute periods and one hour of conversation.