Global Arc

Major cinematic movements in Latin America and/or Spain: their influence and their relationship to literary and cultural issues. Possible topics include: the art of adaptation of narrative to film or Spanish surrealism. Two 90-minute seminars. Prerequisite: 207 or instructor's permission.

The development of the novel and short story, as art forms, from 19th-century realism to the avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s. An analysis of literary problems and their historical background, drawing on the works of Galdós, Clarín, Unamuno, Baroja, Valle-Inclán, Miró, and others. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or equivalent.

Special attention to its European context. Course may focus on a few important essayists (such as Ortega, Unamuno, d'Ors, and Zambrano) or may trace the development of an influential idea (such as the function of art, the individual and the masses) or map the characteristics of a certain period. One three-hour seminar. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or equivalent.

The ways in which individuals and societies define space and place is very revealing. The investigation of space and place-how cultures turn material, racial, and/or metaphysical settings into human landscapes defining home, neighborhood, and nation-is a deeply important optic that dramatizes social, racial, political, and religious factors. At the same time, it can be used to track the changes of these realities over time. Because of its unique mix of Jews, Christians, and Moors, medieval Iberia offers near laboratory conditions for the study of space and place in their racial, ethnic, literary, religious, and political identities.

This course focuses on one of the most renowned and influential Spanish poets of the 20th century--Federico García Lorca. We will examine Lorca's vast corpus of poems and plays to see how they combine experimental aesthetics and popular traditions. We will also study the readings and re-readings of "Lorca" as both an author and a mythical figure, standing for freedom, the defeated Spanish Republic, the historical avant-garde poetry, and gender politics.

This course explores the cultural productions surrounding narcos and cocaine in Colombia and Mexico, two countries whose imaginaries have become globally associated with drug trafficking. Beginning with the transformation of the coca leave into an illegal global commodity, passing through the emergence of the figure of the "sicario" in the 1980s, all the way to Netflix's 'Narcos' vision of the War on Drugs and cryptococaine, the course will engage critically with so-called narco-aesthetics in chronicles, movies, television series, short stories, podcasts, and art

This course examines masterworks produced during the Spanish Renaissance. Topics of discussion include the significance and influence of selected texts in the formation of modern literary genres (i.e., novel, drama, poetry) and how these works may be read as representations of the social changes and tensions of early modernity. We will also focus on the rise of imperial Spain and problematize the Crown's efforts in forging a Spanish identity that precluded minority groups, such as people of Jewish and Muslim lineages. Texts will be introduced alongside visual productions whenever relevant.

Poetry from the late 19th century to the Spanish Civil War, considering modernismo and the generations of '98 and '27 in relation to European symbolism and the avant-garde. One three hour seminar. Prerequisite: a 200-level Spanish course or equivalent.

This seminar focuses on the comparative study of Latino urban cultures in U.S., Caribbean and Spanish cities (mainly New York City, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Madrid). Topics include the 2008 Financial Crisis, Occupy-like movements, global migratory flows, popular culture, memory, debt, visuality and citizenship. Paying close attention to their political and cultural contexts, flamenco, hip-hop, graffiti, visual culture, poetry, documentary films and political performances will be analyzed. Guest speakers and musicians will be part of the conversation.

The starting point is the art show Radical Women: Latin American Art (Los Angeles, 2017). The exhibition reevaluates the contribution of Latin American, Latina, and Chicana women to contemporary art. "Poisonous Flowers" examines the productions of outstanding Latin American female whose work has challenged our understanding of politics and the arts and had significant impact on lives and histories in the region.