Note 1: All readings have to be short and fairly simple, since this particular student population does not have the same level of facility in Spanish that junior level students have had at other institutions where I have taught culture.
Note 2: This course will be developed in accordance with the changing status of Spanish and the Spanish major in the United States. Consider the description of the field / the major on the Penn website, with which I concur:
The demographic, economic and political realities of the United States, the articulation of a mainstream English culture with an always increasing diversity of Hispanic and Latino cultures, and the ongoing forging of strong cultural and economic ties throughout the Americas, have moved Spanish out of the bounds of the category of “foreign” language and culture in this country. There are many instances that point to the fact that Spanish will become–de facto if not officially–a second national language and culture of the United States. Furthermore, in Europe, Spain is assuming an ever-more significant role in the affairs of the European Union. The process of post-Franco democratization in that country has fostered an environment of cultural, linguistic and political diversity that serves as a fascinating model for the rest of Europe, both east and west.
Hence, the knowledge of Spanish culture gives students much more than the ability to communicate in the third-most-spoken language of the world. It prepares them to account for an entirely different national, continental and global reality in all its complexity. Since culture is the controlling category in this field of studies, the major in Hispanic Studies orients itself to the types of knowledge generated by new disciplines such as cultural studies, new historicism, ethics, and postcolonial studies.
Majors in Hispanic Studies are overwhelmingly double majors. This means that they bring to their classes a dialogic perspective that engages in the study of Hispanic cultures informed by interest in other fields such as history, government, sociology, economics, medicine, and law. The richness and depth of these interests make for lively and intellectually rewarding classroom discussions.
Note 3: This course is technically taken in the 6th semester. It is also a 6th semester course at Amherst College and here is their course description, more traditionalist than my concept but not far from it in other ways:
A survey course that provides an understanding and appreciation of the Spanish-speaking world (Spanish America, Spain and the U.S.) through language, geography, history, economics, sociopolitical issues, folklore, literature and art. The different units in this course are geographically oriented, and they will focus on individual countries or particular Hispanic groups. Writing skills will be refined by the completion of research papers, and communication skills will be developed further by class discussions and oral presentations. Comprehension will be enhanced by presenting students with literary texts, movies, documentaries and periodicals. The course is conducted entirely in Spanish.
I am interested in doing something that will have this kind of content but be more squarely based in analysis and critique (as with the new Minnesota model, Spanish 3105W). I would not attempt geographical coverage, but would focus on skills for critical analysis of topics from different countries, or that can be looked at in different countries. I intend about 6 units, of which at least one will be on Spain; all the units will contain some Spanish material. The maps unit (first unit), for instance, will cover early Spain and will thus address the question of who was there before the (current) “Spaniards.”
