Spanish Culture and Identity Through the Arts and Film

Catalog description

How does a country come to define itself as such? What diverse elements merge together to form a national and cultural identity? This course will study the development and construction of Spanish culture and civilization from pre-Roman times to the present, focusing on history, geography, art, literature, and other cultural manifestations. Specifically, we will examine the cultural threads of distinct identities that have been woven together throughout history to visibly influence the design of contemporary Spanish society. Far from viewing peninsular culture as a seamless, cohesive entity, we will consider the conflicts between dominant and marginalized groups such as men/women, Castilians/non-Castilians, and Christians/Jews/Arabs as crucial forces in the shaping of Spanish identity. Our analyses in this course will question to what extent the concept of Spanishness has been shaped as a reaction against a foreign other, whether that "other" dwells outside or inside the borders of Spain itself.