Spanish W3300
Advanced Spanish through Content
Spring 2010
Section Topics
Section 001
Dictatorship and Democracy
Jessica Gordon-Burroughs
MW 9:10am-10:25am
This writing-workshop proposes to explore the unhappy binomial of Dictatorship and Democracy in the latter-half of the 20th Century in Latin America. Using Chile's poignant example as springboard, we will explore polemical contemporary figures such as Álvaro Uribe and Hugo Chávez through the genres of chronicle, short story, and the essay, genres which the students will, in turn, produce in their own writing. The course will also incorporate visual materials, principally in the form of documentaries and photography.
Section 002
This World and the Next
Helene de Aguilar
MW 10:35am-11:50am
The English text to Bach's cantata "Nun danket alle Gott" invokes divine protection "in this world and the next". This course explores diverse Spanish and Hispanoamerican images of and ideas about the afterlife (e.g. the Day of the Dead in Mexico) and the relationship between the two worlds. What determines our future fate? What will the 'next world' be like? Readings include anonymous medieval romances and two major plays, "El gran teatro del mundo" by the seventeenth-century playwright Calderón de la Barca and "La dama del alba", by his twentieth-century compatriota Alejandro Casona. Also included in the syllabus are brief passages from religious texts representative of differing belief systems; a short story by the Mexican novelist and intellectual historian Carlos Fuentes; a museum visit, cartoons by Posada, a movie and some wonderful music. Students will take charge of classroom discussions. There will be numerous but short compositions, allowing for maximum practice and rapid improvement in writing skills without the intimidating pressure of more formal papers.
Section 003
Caribbean Identities
Perla Rozencvaig
TR 4:10pm-5:25pm
An examination of the cultural history of each national society using work from literature, film, and music. Particular emphasis will be placed on the political and socioeconomic differences of each country. Readings include interviews, speeches, texts from and about the historical-political context, poetry, and short stories.
Section 004
Cultural Sites/Sights: Spain and Latin America
Heather Cleary-Wolfgang
MW 4:10pm-5:25pm
A tour of several major Spanish and Latin American cities and their environs through primary materials including fiction, newspaper articles, and film. Students will improve language skills through creative and analytic writing projects such as travel diaries and film reviews, as well as through group work. The format of the course is highly collaborative and will involve the development of a class Wiki and student-generated discussion topics.
Section 005
Latin American Film Workshop
Guido Herzovitch
TR 9:10am-10:25am
Using contemporary Latin American films as our starting point, this class will creatively explore various written and oral genres related to film. The films will be paired with reviews as well as other film-related writings (Borges, Alsina Thevenet, Caicedo, etc), film scripts, etc. We will address questions of register and style in student writings and oral interventions.
Section 006
Title
Jessica Dzaman
TR 2:40pm-3:55pm
The rise and fall of a political leader, the opening of a new subway line, a series of student demonstrations, and the strike of a powerful earthquake are all events that shape and define the life of a city. While these episodes help to trace major historical changes, they also trigger a myriad of cultural responses which provide fascinating insights into urban experience. Designed as a round trip between two of the most vibrant cities of the Hispanic world, this content-based language course has a threefold purpose. First, we will map out a terrain in which significant episodes in the recent history of Madrid and Mexico City can be located. Concurrently, we will examine a wide variety of cultural artifacts – including but not limited to short stories, chronicles, popular music, films, and photographs – that remain inextricably linked to these events, discussing how artists and writers engage with social and political transformations that take place in the city. Finally, by stressing reading, writing, and oral communication in Spanish, we will focus on different strategies to respond both creatively and critically to these same cultural expressions. The course will include works by authors such as Luis Buñuel, Octavio Paz, Carlos Fuentes, Elena Poniatowska, Pedro Almodóvar, Roberto Bolaño, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Isaac Rosa, among others.
Section 007
Title
J. Suárez-García
MW 1:10-2:25
Section 008
Translating Cultures
Javier Pérez Zapatero
TR 4:10-5:25
Through special attention to translation theory and practice in the context of an examination of the issue of multiculturalism in New York, the course aims to increase critical skills, awareness of formal/informal registers, and command of academic writing structures among native speakers with varying degrees of previous language instruction. For heritage speakers of Spanish only.