coldhearted scientist وداد

I need help with this. Anyone who would like to, please read and comment. You are also free to use any of my ideas in your own work.

Note 1: All readings have to be short and fairly simple, since this particular student population does not have the same level of facility in Spanish that junior level students have had at other institutions where I have taught culture.

Note 2: This course will be developed in accordance with the changing status of Spanish and the Spanish major in the United States. Consider the description of the field / the major on the Penn website, with which I concur:

The demographic, economic and political realities of the United States, the articulation of a mainstream English culture with an always increasing diversity of Hispanic and Latino cultures, and the ongoing forging of strong cultural and economic ties throughout the Americas, have moved Spanish out of the bounds of the category of “foreign” language and culture in this country. There are many instances that point to the fact that Spanish will become–de facto if not officially–a second national language and culture of the United States. Furthermore, in Europe, Spain is assuming an ever-more significant role in the affairs of the European Union. The process of post-Franco democratization in that country has fostered an environment of cultural, linguistic and political diversity that serves as a fascinating model for the rest of Europe, both east and west.

Hence, the knowledge of Spanish culture gives students much more than the ability to communicate in the third-most-spoken language of the world. It prepares them to account for an entirely different national, continental and global reality in all its complexity. Since culture is the controlling category in this field of studies, the major in Hispanic Studies orients itself to the types of knowledge generated by new disciplines such as cultural studies, new historicism, ethics, and postcolonial studies.

Majors in Hispanic Studies are overwhelmingly double majors. This means that they bring to their classes a dialogic perspective that engages in the study of Hispanic cultures informed by interest in other fields such as history, government, sociology, economics, medicine, and law. The richness and depth of these interests make for lively and intellectually rewarding classroom discussions.

Note 3: This course is technically taken in the 6th semester. It is also a 6th semester course at Amherst College and here is their course description, more traditionalist than my concept but not far from it in other ways:

A survey course that provides an understanding and appreciation of the Spanish-speaking world (Spanish America, Spain and the U.S.) through language, geography, history, economics, sociopolitical issues, folklore, literature and art. The different units in this course are geographically oriented, and they will focus on individual countries or particular Hispanic groups. Writing skills will be refined by the completion of research papers, and communication skills will be developed further by class discussions and oral presentations. Comprehension will be enhanced by presenting students with literary texts, movies, documentaries and periodicals. The course is conducted entirely in Spanish.

I am interested in doing something that will have this kind of content but be more squarely based in analysis and critique (as with the new Minnesota model, Spanish 3105W). I would not attempt geographical coverage, but would focus on skills for critical analysis of topics from different countries, or that can be looked at in different countries. I intend about 6 units, of which at least one will be on Spain; all the units will contain some Spanish material. The maps unit (first unit), for instance, will cover early Spain and will thus address the question of who was there before the (current) “Spaniards.”

PLANNING FOR THE CREATION OF TEACHING MODULES

INTRODUCTORY MODULE: WHAT IS CULTURE?

This module will address its title question and also the question, what is it to analyze cultural production and cultural objects? We will consider as well the distinction(s) among high, popular and mass culture. We could read some brief essays from Roland Barthes, Mythologies (very popular in the Spanish speaking world) and from a critic like Jesús Martín-Barbero (who analyzes mass culture). As part of this introductory module we might analyze something just for the sake of practice in contextualization. It could be a series of ads for a particular product, or the way the image of a major cultural figure (e.g. Frida Kahlo, Eva Peron, Diego Maradona, Che Guevara) has been deployed. Then we would move on to our first topical unit, analyzing maps.

MODULE 1: MAPS OF THE HISPANIC WORLD.

Here we would look at maps as active objects. Maps are not just neutral reflections of reality (although they do give information), they are also indicators of cultural attitudes, or imperial plans, etc.

Spain: with Greece, Rome, Visigoths, Arabs; Reconquista, expansion into Europe, Africa, America, Asia; current maps with regional divisions.

Americas: indigenous maps, Peters projection, upside down map, historical maps (e.g. viceroyalties, Gran Colombia, Mexico before the war with the United States), etc.

I would have to get all these maps and put them into slides for Moodle or Drupal.

MODULE 2: WHAT IS “HISPANIC”?

There is a lot to say on this question. It could segue into several other discussions, which could be threads in this one or units on their own, to wit:

1. Prehispanic cultures and their continuing presence in the Americas
2. Indigenous, Afro-Hispanic, and minority identities (such as Judeo-Hispanic, and so on)
3. Mestizaje, race, and racism (readings from A. Castro [Spain] as well as Latin American classic writers, to start with, and then more current news and legal discussions)
4. U.S. Latino identities

The point would not be to “cover” these topics completely, but to choose some key cultural objects that engage the issues, and contextualize and analyze these.

MODULE 3: THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR AND ITS REPERCUSSIONS. CULTURAL CHANGES IN SPAIN SINCE 1975. SPAIN IN THE EU.

This is easy to teach and important, and is something people know surprisingly little about. There is a lot of interesting film, art, songs, news reporting, videotaped interviews of people, etc., to use.

MODULE 4: HIS- AND HER-PANIC: SEXUALITIES AND WOMENS’ RIGHTS.

We have a lot of film on this and there is a lot to talk about. Spain is an important country in this area since there have been a lot of recent changes in laws on child custody, domestic violence, abortion, gay marriage, and so on. This could be a stereotype breaking unit, since Mexico too has comparatively advanced laws now, and Latin American and Spanish feminisms, gay rights movements, and so on are very large. What is patriarchy, what is machismo, what are traditional divisions of gender, what struggles are there around these issues?

MODULE 5: IMMIGRATION AND MOVEMENT ACROSS BORDERS.

Immigration from Mexico to the U.S. is not the only kind of immigration there is in the Hispanic world: consider Africans in Spain, Bolivians in Argentina, Nicaraguans in Costa Rica, and so on, as well as migrations within countries (sierra to coast in Peru, for instance).

MODULE 6: REPORTS ON INDIVIDUAL RESEARCH PROJECTS.

Discourse around sports, Carnaval, television; research on national film industries or a particular director; research on Hispanic languages (note the plural here), research on music, art, dance, food, sports; research on the imagery and discourse surrounding a current political or economic issue. Any cultural or socially relevant topic allowed so long as the focus is on analysis of cultural production. Limited scope so the projects do not get out of hand. This is a junior, not a senior or graduate level course, so we want research that involves critical thinking skills, yet also beginner’s projects for people still in the process of mastering el castellano.

OBRIGADA, E…

Axé.