4. Ideas for Future Courses

The following are examples of possible future courses that I would be interested in developing as undergraduate courses in the future.

Contents of Section 4

  1. 200-Level Hispanic Studies Courses
    1. Ways to Imagine Latin America
  2. 300-Level Hispanic Studies Courses
    1. From Misery-Porn to the Spider Woman
    2. Colombia and the Latin American Film Tradition


200-Level Hispanic Studies Course

i. Ways to Imagine Latin America

For this introductory level class, we will study a series of critical and creative essays that discuss Latin America and its cultural productions. The objective of the course is to provide students with a basic knowledge of different trends in critical thought, as well as a critical capacity to understand the evolution of the way scholars have envisioned and thought of Latin America.

Possible authors include: Alfonso Reyes, Octavio Paz, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, Alejo Carpentier, Ángel Rama, Alberto Fuguet, Severo Sarduy, Julio Cortázar, Mario Vargas Llosa, José María Arguedas, and Roberto Bolaño.

More details coming soon.



300-Level Hispanic Studies Course

i. From Misery Porn to the Spider Woman: Alternative Aesthetics to Magical Realism

Course Description: Magical realism has frequently been defined as inherently intertwined with Latin American culture, both from within Latin America and abroad. In many ways, authors exploit this dominant style, but others have contested its efficacy on multiple levels time and again. In this course, we will explore some basics of magical realism, and then survey alternative discourses and aesthetics from the 1970s and on. We will look at new ways to view modernity or postmodernity in Latin American cultural productions, and how authors respond with different approaches to literature.

Some authors that we may possibly study include: Alejo Carpentier, Gabriel García Márquez, Andrés Caicedo, Manuel Puig, Clarice Lispector, Luis Ospina, Diamela Eltit, and Rafael Chaparro Madiedo.

Course Objectives: This course attempts to analyze alternative discourses that emerged in the 1970s and 1980s in the shadows of dominant culture figures and styles of the “Boom” in Latin American Literature in the 1960s. Students are expected to gain an understanding of both of magical realism and alternative aesthetics within Latin American culture in the 1970s and beyond.

Required Texts:

Novels:

Films (theatrical screenings will be available):

Critical Studies:

Articles:

All required crticial essays and articles will be accessible electronically.

Organization of Course:

Week 1–2:   

Alejo Carpentier, Sobre lo real maravilloso en América (1949)

Alejo Carpentier, El reino de este mundo (1949)

Selected essays from Magical Realism
Week 3–4   

Gabriel García Márquez, El otoño del patriarca (1975)

Gabriel García Márquez, Selected essays and short stories

Selected essays from Magical Realism
Week 5–6  

Andrés Caicedo, ¡Que viva la música! (1977)
Week 7   

Pura sangre (Luis Ospina, 1982)

Carne de tu carne (Carlos Mayolo, 1983)
Week 8 

Agarrando pueblo (Luis Ospina and Carlos Mayolo, 1978)

Pixote (Héctor Babenco, 1981)
Week 9–10   

Manuel Puig, El beso de la mujer araña (1976)
Week 11   

Clarice Lispector, La hora de la estrella (1977)
Week 12   

Diamela Eltit, Lumpérica (1989)
Week 13   

Conclusions and final remarks

 

Assessment:

Attendance and Participation, 15%

Attendance for the two weekly sessions is mandatory. Students earn attendance and participation points by attending the class sessions (3 absences are permitted) and by participating in the class discussions. Participation, of course, requires that students arrive at the each class having prepared the appropriate materials and read the assigned readings.

Short Essays, 30%

Students are required to complete and submit 3 short essays (3–5 pages) over the course of the semester.  Keeping in mind relevant discussions from the class, each short essay should rigorously analyze key elements of particular texts or compare a prominent aspect between different texts from the previous weeks. More information will be available during the semester.

Oral Presentation, 15%

Each student will be required to prepare one oral presentation during the semester. The purpose of the oral presentation is to present one of the assigned texts to the class and to briefly lead a class discussion. Students are encouraged to use audio-visual technology, but should remember that the focus of the oral presentation is to offer a relevant and insightful analysis of the texts at stake, as well as involve the class with questions (and responses).

Reviews, 20%

Students will be required to submit two short reviews of Latin American cultural productions (500–1000 words each). Films, books, or other Latin American texts may be chosen based on their adherence to the course themes, and should contribute in a meaningful way to the course objectives.

Final Paper, 20%

Students will present a research paper (6–8 pages) that further examines texts discussed in class or related to the topics we discuss throughout the semester. Students may wish to include the texts that they discuss in the Review assignments. The paper should show evidence of further research as well as well-thought discussion that critically examines the texts at hand, and places them in dialogue with the broader scope of this course and Latin American culture in general.



Colombia and the Latin American Film Tradition

[Click here for a complete pdf of this syllabus]

Course Description: Despite turbulent conditions fluctuating between near-constant violence, social instability, and lack of sufficient funding, Colombian cinema has passed through moments of stagnancy due to a more lucrative market for foreign imports as well as flourishing internal and shared productions, leading some critics to consider the past decade a "renaissance" of Colombian film. As with much of the cultural productions within Colombia, however, their impact within the Latin American cultural framework has remained neglected and understudied. This course will survey trends within Colombian film with the ultimate objective of situating them within a broader context of Latin America cinema. We will divide the course by topics, some of which may include: pioneers of (silent) film, Pornomiseria and Colombia's neo-neorealism, corruption, revisiting the past, (im)migrations and the displaced, narco-cinema, documentary, and new trends.

Directors may include: Sergio Cabrera, Víctor Gaviria, Carlos Mayolo, Luis Ospina, Leopoldo Pinzón, Barbet Schroeder, Ciro Durán, Luis Buñuel, Héctor Babenco, Fernando Meirelles, Israel Adrián Caetano, Fernando Birri, Joshua Marston, Simon Brand, Felipe Aljure.

Course Objectives: Students will be introduced to significant films from the Latin Ameican cinema canon, and they will relate the overarching themes and techniques from these films to distinct and similar approaches that appear in Colombian cinema. By the end of the course, students should be able to identify the main trends we discuss from Latin American films as well as the specific idiosyncrasies of cinema produced within Colombia.

Required Texts:

Books:

Suggested Background Reading:

Articles:

All required crticial essays and articles will be accessible electronically.

Required Films:

Week 1:          Selection of Silent Films from Latin America
                                    Bajo el cielo antioqueño (Arturo Acevedo Vallarino, 1925; Colombia)
Week 2           Los olvidados (Luis Buñuel, 1950; Mexico)
                                    Selection of Italian Neorealism Clips (in-class)
Week 3           Agarrando pueblo (Carlos Mayolo, 1978; Colombia)
                                    Gamín (Ciro Durán, 1979; Colombia) (Clips)
                                    Pixote (Hector Babenco, 1981; Brazil)       
Week 4           Rodrigo D: No futuro (Víctor Gaviria, 1990; Colombia)
Week 5           Cidade de Deus (Fernando Meirelles, 2002; Brazil)
Week 6           La ley de Herodes (Luis Estrada, 1999; Mexico)
Week 7           Perder es cuestión de método (Sergio Cabrera, 2005; Colombia)
                                    Carne de tu carne (Carlos Mayolo, 1983; Colombia)
Week 8           Memorias del subdesarrollo (Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1968; Cuba)
                                    Paraíso Travel (Simon Brand, 2008; Colombia)
Week 9           La estrategia del caracol (Sergio Cabrera, 1990; Colombia)
                                    Los viajes del viento (Ciro Guerra, 2009; Colombia)
Week 10         María llena eres de gracia (Joshua Marston, 2004; Colombia)
Week 11         La virgen de los sicarios (Barbet Shroeder, 2000; Colombia)
Week 12         Tire dié (Fernando Birri, 1960; Argentina)
                                    Chircales (Marta Rodríguez and Jorge Silva, 1968–72; Colombia)
Week 13         La sierra (Scott Dalton and Margarita Martínez, 2005; Colombia)
                                    Suite Habana (Fernando Pérez, 2003; Cuba)

Assessment:

Attendance and Participation, 10%

Attendance for the two weekly sessions is mandatory. Students earn attendance and participation points by attending the class sessions (3 absences are permitted) and by participating in the class discussions. Participation, of course, requires that students arrive at the each class having watched the feature film and prepared the assigned readings.

Short Essays, 40%

Students are required to complete and submit 3 short essays (3–5 pages) over the course of the semester.  Keeping in mind relevant discussions from the class, each short essay should rigorously analyze a key element of a particular feature-film or compare a prominent aspect between different feature-films from the previous weeks. More information will be available during the semester.

Oral Presentation, 15%

Each student will be required to prepare one oral presentation during the semester. The purpose of the oral presentation is to further the class discussions by analyzing supplementary films that fall into similar categories as the required screenings for the class. Students are encouraged to use audio-visual technology, but should remember that the focus of the oral presentation is to offer a relevant and insightful analysis of additional films from Latin America or Colombia.

Available films are listed on the detailed syllabus below. Students may request other films pending instructor approval. More information will be available during the semester.

Film Reviews, 15%

Students will be required to submit two short film reviews (500–1000 words). Films should be chosen in the same way as the films for the oral presentations, and should not be the same film that the student will present to the class.

Final Exam, 20%

Students are required to learn to speak (in Spanish) about Latin American and Colombian cinemas as well as acquire a basic knowledge of their connections and/or discontinuities.  As such, students are required to take a 20-minute oral exam during the final exam period.  The format of the exam consists of 6–8 stills about which students will comment.  In preparation for the exam students will have access to a bank of stills covering the most significant feature-films, historical and artistic movements, and technical developments that we have discussed in class.  From this bank of 80–100 slides, 6–8 slides will be selected for the exam.  Exams are taken individually with the instructor.



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