SPAN 3390 - Contemporary Latin America

This course, taught in English, offers an introduction to contemporary life in Latin America through the lenses of cinema, literature and ethnolinguistics. Films will be viewed with subtitles. All literature to be read in this course will be in English translation. Representative topics which may be treated in this course include:

I. Survey of Contemporary Latin American Cinema. In this version of the course, by examining key films from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico, the discussion will touch on essential issues such as the formation of national and post-national identities and the interplay of cinematographic canons and forms of representation between Latin American film makers and their European and U.S. counterparts.

II. A survey of twentieth and twenty-first century Latin American Fiction. This course will introduce students to the politics and aesthetics of the “new Novel” in Latin America, the so-called “Boom” and “post Boom” literature, as well as debates surrounding twenty-first century writings.

III. A survey of 20th- and 21st-century Spanish-American Poetry. A study of the major figures and movements beginning with Rubén Darío and Modernismo. Special emphasis will be placed on the poetry of Huidobro, Neruda, Vallejo, Borges, Mistral, Paz.

IV. An incursion on Indigenous Cultures of Latin America through their language and stories. This course will introduce students to some of the myths, trickster stories, cosmology and the sociopolitical tradition of the indigenous peoples of Latin America stressing the importance of syncretism and the role of indigenous culture in contemporary Latin American society, culture and identity.

Credits: 3 hours

Notes: This course satisfies General Education Area IV: Other Cultures and Civilizations. May be repeated for credit.