Boom Towns: Finance and Literature in Latin America

Catalog description

Studying the works of Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia), Clorinda Matto de Turner (Peru), Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), Rosario Castellanos (Mexico)... this class explores the implications of using this financial metaphor to refer to the cultural production of the region since the nineteenth century. We will examine the relationship between finance and writing by looking at, among other things, the literary creation of three fictional boom towns: Kíllac, Macondo, and Tora. Through the invention of these places, literature in Latin America has sought to give sense to its ‘peripheral’ position within the capitalist world-system and challenged common-sense narratives about economic development, progress, and social structures. Students will thus learn about economic cycles and financial crises in Latin America from a cultural perspective. Emphasis on the role of finance in the reproduction of gender, race, class inequalities, and ecological impacts.