Spanish W3300
Advanced Spanish through Content
Spring 2013
Section Topics
Section 001
WEIRD SCIENCE: Objects, Images, and Texts of Knowledge in Early Modern Iberian Worlds
Noel Blanco Mourelle
MW 8:40am-9:55am
What is the difference between science in the Early Modern period and science nowadays? How can we relate to Early Modern science and how can it serve us to explain modern scientific disciplines? In this class students will discuss and analyze a wide range of Hispanic Early Modern cultural productions such as maps, illustrations, diagrams, emblems, artistic objects, manuscripts and early printings. Our common goal will be to explain what is "science" in Early Modern world and what are the actors, objects, and social practices involved in its making. The emphasis of the class will be placed on the development of students' oral and written skills in Spanish. Besides discussion and compositions, the class will have a final project consisting in the elaboration of a collective website with visual material about science in Early Modern Iberia and the New World.
Section 002
Manhattan Transfers: Modernist New York in the Hispanic Imagination
Valeria Luiselli
MW 10:10pm-11:25pm
New York is a city where the boundary between representations of space and actual experienced space is often blurry. The way the early 20th century NY cityscape was viewed, fragmented, recomposed, and ultimately transformed into a representational space in the Hispanic imaginary is the main concern of this course. We will be focusing on an array of representations of NY, mostly but not exclusively textual, and discussing the way in which Latin American and Spanish writers, painters, architects and filmmakers who lived in New York in the first quarter of the century shaped an image of the metropolis. We will likewise be considering the ways that their experience of the metropolis gave shape to a poetics of space within their work and ultimately might have modified their perception of cities such a Buenos Aires, Montevideo and Mexico City.
Section 003
Angelina Craig-Florez
TR 2:40pm-3:55pm
The course follows a parallel study of the History and the Art of Spain from the Middle Ages to the Twentieth Century. The Counter-Reformation, the reality of “Golden Age” society, the French invasion, and the Spanish Civil War are all explored and analyzed through the eyes of our great masters: El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, Picasso and Dalí.
Section 004
Two Cultures, One Country: Islamic and Christian Influences Across Time in Spain
Reyes Llopis-Garcia
MW 4:10pm-5:25pm
Granada in the south, Santiago de Compostela in the north, both cities are impressive bastions of culture and witnesses to the century-long pull between the Christian and Islamic worlds.
Through the exploration of these two cities as setting for the course, we will examine architecture, literature, religion, culture, and tourism to consider the repercussions of both cultures in today's Spain.
There will be a varied range of materials used, such as videos, newspaper articles, classic literary works, architectural essays, or music. Collaborative work and in-class discussions will be constant throughout the semester.
Advanced grammar usage, further development of writing skills and fluency in oral interaction will be integrated goals within the course’s content.
Section 005
Wendy V Muniz
TR 11:40pm-12:55pm
The fantastic has long been a controversial field in Hispanic culture. Examining a range of 19th-21st century Latin American and Spanish cultural productions that have been linked to this so-called genre, in this course we will explore the problem of how to study, and represent, the fantastic. What is "the fantastic"? How does this "genre" metamorphose into diverse media in distinct historical contexts? Special attention will be given to different theoretical approaches to the fantastic, short stories, films, and the organization of public space as it relates to the uncanny. Geared toward developing the student's creative and analytical skills in Spanish, the course will revolve around in-class discussions, compositions, oral presentations, and a final project.
Section 006
Subversive Practices: the Arts under Political Repression
Agnese Codebó:
TR 6:10pm - 7:25pm
This course will focus on Argentinian cultural production during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. We will examine the repercussions of the Dirty War (1976-1982) on visual, literary, and performing Arts. The course will also attend to the development of advanced language skills through short papers, oral presentations and a final research project.
Section 007
Cultura: An Online Cross Cultural Dialogue
Jesús Suárez-García
MW 10:10am-11:25am
The course aims to provide students with the skills and tools to understand other cultures so that they can communicate more effectively across cultures. It is based on an online cross-cultural exchange with students from Spain, focusing on an exploration and comparison of the values, attitudes and assumptions of Spanish and US societies. Students analyze diverse materials films, articles, blogs, social media and discuss their findings. The course will also attend to the development of advanced language skills: acquisition of more sophisticated vocabulary, expressing opinions, forming hypotheses, supporting arguments, etc. The course will have active oral and written components.
Section 008
Gay Culture in Contemporary Spain
Javier Pérez Zapatero
TR 1:10pm-2:25pm
The course we will examine the following questions:
1. How can we define the concepts of /queer/ and /culture /in contemporary Spain?
2. What kind of social conditions determine queer culture in contemporary Spain?
3. How did this new situation create a new gay-queer sensibility if there is such?
4. What kind of documents would represent this new culture?
5. What methodology of analysis can we use to interpret with accuracy queer communication in contemporary Spain?