Spanish 161: Latin American Civilization and Culture
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Maria Luisa Ruiz, 1
05/19/2019
Syllabus 161, Spring 2013
Class Time: T/TH 9:45-11:20
Instructor: Professor María Luisa Ruiz
Office Location: Dante 301
Office Hours: TBA
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Maria Luisa Ruiz, 1
05/19/2019
Syllabus 161, Spring 2013
Course Description:
What defines Latin America? Is it national boundaries, language, and politics or activities and forms of expression like lucha libre, music, religious festivals, telenovelas, television, certain forms of fiction and film? Latin American culture is not static, nor is it easily summarized.
A literature based course that uses an interdisciplinary approach focused on the intersections of gender, race and social class in the context of Latin American popular cultural production, this course introduces students to the richness and diversity of the cultures of Latin America in order to discuss the political, social and artistic components that contributed to unique cultural developments of Latin America.
Additionally, students will develop an understanding of how ‘Latin America’ as a category develops through literary works and other texts from a specific non-U.S. and non-Western European viewpoints. This course recognizes that it is impossible to fully do justice to the richness and diversity of the cultures of Latin America from their inception to the present. Such a large project requires the selection of themes that will reveal the social, artistic, literary and political components that contributed to the unique cultural development of Latin America. We will focus on representative moments that took place in specific areas in Latin America and exploring themes that link those representative areas together. So, for example, when we discuss the role of caricature and newspapers in popular culture, we will compare the broadsides published in Mexico during the Mexican Revolution to the comic strip Mafalda published in Argentina during its repressive dictatorship.
Furthermore, students will develop an awareness of the social and historical contexts in which manifestations of popular culture have developed in various regions of Latin America, analyze cultural artifacts; understand the complexity of how culture transforms and evolves; and think about ways in which different cultural manifestations compete for legitimacy and power. In order to gain this understanding, we will use different theoretical perspectives to analyze how, in an era of globalization, Latin American popular cultures are shaped by other cultures and in turn, influence other expressions of culture (i.e. U.S. Latino cultures).
Learning Outcomes:
Students who successfully complete this course will be able to:
1. Define the terms “culture” “popular culture” and “Latin America” as well as the various terms used to describe its inhabitants.
2. Develop an understanding of how ‘Latin America’ as a category develops through literary works and other expressions of popular culture from specific non-U.S. and non-Western European viewpoints.
3. Develop an awareness of the social and historical contexts in which manifestations of popular culture have developed in various regions of Latin America
4. Understand and be able to identify the major events of the broad outline of representative moments from Latin American history to the present.
5.. Effectively identify and explain the major components of Latin-American culture through critical reading of different ‘texts’, literary and visual.
6. Explain the influence of Spain, Portugal, Africa, the U.S. and Native Americans on the culture of Latin America.
7. Write clear, precise, and well-organized short papers and longer essays using conventions of the MLA style.
8. Improve Spanish language skills especially in terms of reading, writing and speaking.
9. Draw upon course materials to develop further, meaningful questions about the political, social and historical dimensions of literature and other popular culture texts
10. Develop an awareness of ‘identities’ (national, regional, continental, western and nonwestern), its colonial
legacy and the place race, class, and gender hold in its construction.
11. Present well-thought out ideas on texts during class discussion and formal presentations.
12. Use different theoretical perspectives to analyze how, in an era of globalization, LatinAmerican popular
cultures are shaped by other cultures and in turn, influence other expressions of culture (i.e. U.S. Latino cultures).
Required Textbooks:
Latinoamérica: su civilización y su cultura, 4th ed. Chang-Rodríguez, Eugenio
Course Reader
You are also required to have a Spanish/Spanish or a Spanish/English dictionary for this course.
A copy of the textbook and additional reading materials are available on reserve at the library under the course number. You can also access the additional reading materials on Moodle.
Course Requirements:
Your course grade will be based on the following:
Class participation/Activities/attendance:15%
Response papers on readings:20%
Presentations:10%
Midterm Project/Exam:25%
Final paper/Exam: 30%
Total100%
Class Participation/Activities/Attendance: 15%
We will have a series of in-class activities that involve group work, work in pairs and discussion. Therefore, it is important that you attend class on time and come prepared to participate as fully as possible. You are expected to complete all reading assignments before coming to class. In addition to the readings, I will, on occasion, assign activities such as bringing advertisements from magazines or writing poems or other creative pieces. These will count towards your participation grade.
*You may miss two classes during the semester without being penalized. Your grade will go down for each absence beyond two.
*In addition, you may be late for class or leave class early twice during the semester without being penalized. After that, arriving late or leaving early counts as one half of an absence.
*On those rare occasions when you do miss all or part of a class, you are responsible for finding out about any information that you missed (especially additional or modified assignments). Talk to a classmate or to me.
Response Papers: 20%
You are to write 2 FULL pages, (typed, double spaced, 12 font New Times Roman, one inch margins) on the readings for the week, in which you attempt to formulate an answer to meaningful questions about the political, social and historical dimension of popular culture. You may focus on just one aspect of a text, or compare the different themes found in the readings. For example: how do both the Argentian comic strip Mafalda and the short story “La muñeca menor” by Puerto Rican author Rosario Ferré present gender inequality and social class differences? How are they different? How are these both expressions of popular culture? How does an analysis of these texts help us develop an awareness of ‘identities’ (national, regional, continental, western and nonwestern)?. These will be used as part of our in class discussions and can be used to develop paper topics for your final project. These are due on THURSDAYS, unless otherwise noted. NO LATE, EMAILED, OR HAND-WRITTEN PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
These typed responses will be graded as a whole at the end of the semester. Save all of your responses. You will receive brief comments on them, indicating with a check +, check, or check- how well you are meeting class objectives and making suggestions about how you can improve. Please note that if you miss class, you are still responsible for turning in a reading response for that day. You must turn it in by the end of the day in my box (Dante 301).
**You are allowed to miss 2 responses during the semester without penalty.**
Presentations: 10%
For each of the topics and texts discussed in class, you are asked to give in-class presentations. These are planned as paired/group activities, depending on class enrollment. The groups will make a 15-20 minute presentation about the texts assigned for that day. This presentation should include:
1) web based research on the text
2 ) clarification of significant vocabulary related to the class
3) questions for class/group discussion that should help us develop an awareness of ‘identities’ (national, regional, continental, western and nonwestern) Questions can be about:
the political, social and historical dimension of the readings, the development of Latin American ‘identities’ its colonial legacy and the place race, class, and gender hold in its construction, themes (i.e. race, class, gender) as manifested in Latin American popular culture and how they are different in distinct communities,
4) I strongly suggest that the groups meet with me prior to their presentation.
5) The rest of the class will be spent on discussing the questions brought by the presenters that will help us analyze how, in an era of globalization, Latin American popular cultures are shaped by other cultures and in turn, influence other expressions of culture (i.e. U.S. Latino cultures).
6)The presentations can be used to explore potential topics for your final papers, thus, I ask the groups to submit a one page, typed summary/outline of their presentation.
7) These presentations should be creative, interactive and demonstrate that the group has read the text. For example, a group presenting can act can have the class be the jury in a trial in which we judge the first person accounts of the post-conquest period in Mexico as described by indigenous voices found in the Codex Mendoza, those of the foot soldier Bernal Díaz de Castillo and of Hernán Cortés.
Midterm Project: 30%
Your midterm essay is a way for you to demonstrate your understanding of the readings, the themes in the texts, and of general concepts related to the historical/cultural development of writing and literature in Latin America. The essay is to be between 5-6 pages (typed, double spaced, Times New Roman 12pt. font, one inch margins) and should follow standard MLA format. Further details about the midterm essay will be discussed in class well before it is due, but the assignment asks students to use the class readings to discuss the political, social and historical dimension of literature and popular culture and its role in the development of an awareness of ‘identities’ (national, regional, continental, western and non-western) and the place race, class, and gender hold in its construction.
For example, you may compare and contrast the film Yo, la peor de todas with primary texts by Sor Juana and the articles on the Virgin of Guadalupe/Malinztin, La Llorona, and La Malinche in order to analyze the diverse discursive registers embedded in these various sources about the colonial period.
There will be an additional in-class portion to the midterm as well, which will asks students to demonstrate awareness of the most significant authors from the pre-Conquest period to Modernismo in order to compare and contrast how societies and cultures connect, develop and change over time and place.
NO LATE, EMAILED OR HAND-WRITTEN PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED.
Final paper/Presentation: 30%
The final paper is to be between 6-8 pages (typed, double spaced, Times New Roman 12pt. font, one inch margins) and should follow standard MLA format. There will be an additional in-class portion to the final as well. Details about the final project will be discussed in class well before it is due, but, similar to the midterm essay, this project will also ask students to use the class readings to discuss the political, social and historical dimension of literature and its role in the development of an awareness of ‘identities’ (national, regional, continental, western and non-western), its colonial legacy and the place race, class, and gender hold in its construction.
Classroom Rules:
In order to try to insure that all class participants experience a stress-free and non-distracting learning environment, the following are put forth and your cooperation solicited:
1.Please be on time and don’t leave early. If you arrive late be sure to just take your seat quietly so as not to disrupt the lecture or other ongoing activity. You are required to attend a full class. If you must leave, be aware that it will count as a tardy. Three tardies count as one absence. You are allowed three absences during the semester. After three missed classes, your grade will go down 1/2 of a letter grade. Tardies/leaving early also affect your overall grade. If you are consistently tardy, I reserve the right to not let you come into class.
2.You are responsible for any planned class activity such as a test or quiz even if you were absent from an earlier class in which it was announced. Additionally, you are responsible for all the assignments on the
syllabus even if I did not mention them during class. You must contact a fellow class member FIRST after an absence to inquire about what is going to be happening when you return. Do not email me the night before or the morning of the class and expect me to get your message and follow up with you about the assignments missed or what was discussed in class.
3.It is totally inappropriate to work on other reading or writing activities at length during class. Leave the updating of your appointment book, the studying for some other class, and the reading of material related to another course to your own time out of class. If I see you doing this, you will lose your participation points for the day.
4.Active cell phones and other electronic devices are not welcome in the classroom. Please make sure you shut it off before coming in class.
5.No prolonged bathroom breaks. If students begin to abuse this privilege, we will no longer be allowed to leave the classroom during class time.
6.Discussions are in Spanish; please do not use English when discussing texts. Your grade will be affected if you speak primarily in English.
7.Please allow at least 24 hours for a response to an email.
8. I do have drop in office hours, but if you need to discuss a paper, or another lengthy topic, please inform me at least two days in advance. Please do not give me, or send me via email, a draft of a paper or a response paper the day before it is due and expect me to read it. If you want feedback on a paper, please give me the paper at least a week in advance before our office hour visit.
9. A note on emails: When you email me, or another professor on campus, please make sure that it does NOT read like a text message. Please include a greeting, information about who you are and specifics as to why you are writing. For example, the email
“Hey, what did I miss today?”
Is NOT an appropriate way to address a professor who reads multiple emails from students on a daily basis. The more information you provide in your email, the more likely it is that you will get a quick response, or a response at all.
Administrative Policies:
No incompletes will be given, except in extreme cases.
No extensions on assignments will be given except in extreme situations.
This is a rigorous and intellectually challenging course and I expect full participation from each of you so that we can reach the objectives of the course successfully. If you feel at any point that you are having trouble keeping up with the course, please see me. Plagiarism and other forms of intellectual dishonesty will NOT be tolerated. In this course, we will adhere to the code of conduct as detailed in the honor code found in the student handbook.
Reasonable and appropriate accommodations, that take into account the context of the course and its essential elements, for individuals with qualifying disabilities, are extended through the office of Student Disability Services. Students with disabilities are encouraged to contact the Student Disability Services Coordinator at (925) 631-4164 to set up a confidential appointment to discuss accommodation guidelines and available services. Additional information regarding the services available may be found at the following address on the Saint May’s website: http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/academics/academic-advising-and-achievement/student-disability-services.html
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Maria Luisa Ruiz, 1
05/19/2019
Syllabus 161, Spring 2013