New Directions in Hispanic Studies

Catalog description

SPRING 2021: COVID Cultures - Narratives from a Pandemic This course is designed to investigate the narratives of the COVID pandemic within a global context focusing on the humanistic and cultural. The geographic focus will be the Spanish-speaking world. Readings will begin with the philosophers Seneca and Maimonides and continue through history such that the analyses stem from the students' development of their own concept of narratives of the body and pandemic. We will concentrate on the stories and experiences of those disproportionately affected by the pandemic in order to attempt to amplify those voices. In addition, we will question standards of practice of health and medicine in the US and the effectiveness of those standards when applied to various Spanish-speaking cultures both within and outside of the US. Conversely, we will attempt to understand what the US can learn from other cultures. This course will be taught in English.