Studies in Latin American Literature and Culture

Catalog description

This repeatable course explores cultures of Latin America through thematic or conceptual focus. Students analyze authentic documents through, for example, historical, biographical, filmic, artistic, literary, musical, and theoretical perspectives, while improving and expanding their language skills. SPRING 2022: Revolution, Desire and Disenchantment - Cuba and Nicaragua 2019 marked 60 years since the Cuban Revolution, touted as the victory of a tiny island over US imperialism, and 40 years since the triumph of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, the movement coming to power when revolutionary struggles in other Central American nations fell short. Both garnered broad international attention due to their importance in the Cold War; they served as symbolic inspiration and real support to movements around the world, and as such, were idealized by the Left and vilified by the Right. While different, the Cuban and Nicaraguan Revolutions shared an understanding of the value of capturing the public imaginary through the arts. This course will interrogate the relationships between political and artistic movements. Once these political movements triumphed, how did artists negotiate the institutionalization of revolution? How did the role of prominent cultural workers evolve? Criticism of these revolutionary movements is not new, but scrutiny has been particularly intense recently, as journalists, artists and political dissidents have faced harsh reprisals, out migration increases, and protest movements grow. In this context of crisis, we will question the dynamic between artists whose works express discontent and the State: what is the space for dissent? How do artists of newer generations create space for types of expression that diverge from what early revolutionary moments considered transformative? Decades later with deeply entrenched governments, what is the relationship…