Admission requirements
The teaching language of the course is Spanish. Elective students who want to follow the course must contact the lecturer. Occasionally, English can be used when participating in the tutorials.
Description
Latin America is a massive geographic area with rich, complex and diverse landscapes, peoples and cultures that reflect an equally varied historical accounts and social dynamics.
This course will introduce you to some of the complexities of this region by exploring cultural and historical developments from the end of the 19th century to present. Looking into some representative literary and filmic examples of Hispanophone Latin American culture, you will explore some of the fascinating but also turbulent topics and histories that have shaped questions on identities and subjectivities and its representations of ideas of nation, class, citizenship, gender and ethnicities. These topics include the (re)inventions of urban cultures, ideas of revolution, post-dictatorship narratives in the Southern Cone and the new aesthetics and temporalities of contemporary Latin American culture in Spanish.
This course focuses on the cultural analysis of primary sources such as literature and film, with an emphasis on reading texts in Spanish and interpreting them within their historical frameworks. Students are expected to critically connect these works to their corresponding social and historical contexts.
Course objectives
After successfully completion of this course, students will
Have a solid grasp of the specific context of production of at least one of the primary texts studied in the course.
Understand some of the main debates surrounding notions of identity within the Hispanophone cultural history from the 19th century to present.
Be able to use tools and terms of literary and/or filmic analysis when constructing an argument.
Further develop teamwork skills, presentation skills and reading strategies of literary texts in Spanish and non-literary texts in Spanish and English.
Get to know some theoretical and critical approaches to Latin American film and literature.
In addition to these specific skills, students will acquire valuable transferable skills, including the ability to investigate a particular topic in depth, work collaboratively on tasks, and critically analyze both established and emerging information.
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Lectures and seminars.
Assessment method
Assessment
Group Oral Presentation in Spanish
Essay plan with annotated bibliography in Spanish
Final Essay in Spanish
Weighing
To complete the final mark, please take notice of the following:
Group Oral Presentation in Spanish (10 minutes) 20%
Essay plan with annotated bibliography in Spanish (1.500 words) 30%
Final Essay in Spanish (3.000 words) 50%
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 6.0 or higher. There is no resit for the presentation nor for the essay plan.
Resit
Students who receive an overall insufficient grade for the course are permitted to resubmit a revised version of the Final Essay. The deadline for resubmission is 10 working days after receiving the grade for the Final Essay and subsequent feedback. If the student fails to resubmit the reworked version of the Final Essay within 10 calendar days, the student will not pass the course.
Inspection and feedback
Feedback-session to be programmed by lecturer.
Reading list
Preliminary Bibliography:
Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. Revised edition. London: Verso, 2006.
Brummett, Barry. Techniques of Close Reading. 2nd edition. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc, 2019.
Eagleton, Terry. How to Read Literature. 1st ed. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2013.
Hart, Stephen M. A Companion to Latin American Literature. NED-New edition. Vol. 243. United Kingdom: Boydell & Brewer, 2007.
King, John, Magical Reels: A History of Cinema in Latin America. London: Verso, 1990.
** A further list of required and recommended readings for each session will be provided.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Registration À la carte education, Contract teaching and Exchange
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of À la carte education (without taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
Information for those interested in taking this course in context of Contract teaching (with taking examinations), eg. about costs, registration and conditions.
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Reuvensplaats
Remarks
Attending all lectures and seminar sessions is compulsory. Students may not miss more than two sessions.