Topics in Cultural Contact and Exchange

Catalog description

This course explores key geopolitical, social, intellectual, literary, artistic, and/or historical sites of contact, exchange, conflict, hybridity, and/or identity production in and across varied contexts of Spanish, Latin American, and/or Latina/o culture(s). While diverse variables (including diaspora, gender, race and ethnicity, sexuality, colonialism, nationhood, and transnationalism) will inform particular iterations of the course, approaches and text selection will be shaped by a central focus on conditions of cultural interaction and transformation in the Spanish-speaking world. Materials to be considered, which will vary according to the focus, may include literary, artistic, and intellectual works, film, media-based texts, music, and/or historical documents. Course objectives will also emphasize strengthening the range and precision of students' linguistic skills, especially writing. The writing component of the course will include frequent and varied assignments: short reaction papers, reflective journals, and more formal analytical essays to be completed across a structured draft and revision process.