Possible Teaching Modules for Spanish 320

INTRODUCTORY MODULE: WHAT IS CULTURE?

This module will address its title question and also the question, what is it to analyze cultural production and cultural objects? We will consider as well the distinction(s) among high, popular and mass culture. We could read some brief essays from Roland Barthes, Mythologies (very popular in the Spanish speaking world) and from a critic like Jesús Martín-Barbero (who analyzes mass culture). As part of this introductory module we might analyze something just for the sake of practice in contextualization. It could be a series of ads for a particular product, or the way the image of a major cultural figure (e.g. Frida Kahlo, Eva Peron, Diego Maradona, Che Guevara) has been deployed.  (And if this is not too ambitious, the students could do semester long research projects on some more of these figures, and those presentations could be the final exam.) Then we would move on to our first topical unit, analyzing maps.

MODULE 1: MAPS OF THE HISPANIC WORLD.

Here we would look at maps as active objects. Maps are not just neutral reflections of reality (although they do give information), they are also indicators of cultural attitudes, or imperial plans, etc.

Spain: with Greece, Rome, Visigoths, Arabs; Reconquista, expansion into Europe, Africa, America, Asia; current maps with regional divisions.

Americas: indigenous maps, Peters projection, upside down map, historical maps (e.g. viceroyalties, Gran Colombia, Mexico before the war with the United States), etc.

I would have to get all these maps and put them into slides for Moodle or Drupal.

MODULE 2: WHAT IS “HISPANIC”?

There is a lot to say on this question. It could segue into several other discussions, which could be threads in this one or units on their own, to wit:

1. Prehispanic cultures and their continuing presence in the Americas
2. Indigenous, Afro-Hispanic, and minority identities (such as Judeo-Hispanic, and so on)
3. Mestizaje, race, and racism (readings from A. Castro [Spain] as well as Latin American classic writers, to start with, and then more current news and legal discussions)
4. U.S. Latino identities
One could include here excerpts from Benedict Anderson and his concept of nation as “imagined communities”, followed by fragments of Facundo, “Nuestra America”, and then the new Colombian constitution of 1991 in relation to the recognition of indigenous cultures (and the critiques it has received from many sides). What is a nation? What constitutes a nation? How do we imagine the indigenous elements in relation to projects of modernity in the periphery?

The point would not be to “cover” these topics completely, but to choose some key cultural objects that engage the issues, and contextualize and analyze these.

MODULE 3: THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR AND ITS REPERCUSSIONS. CULTURAL CHANGES IN SPAIN SINCE 1975. SPAIN IN THE EU.

This is easy to teach and important, and is something people know surprisingly little about. There is a lot of interesting film, art, songs, news reporting, videotaped interviews of people, etc., to use.

MODULE 4: HIS- AND HER-PANIC: SEXUALITIES AND WOMENS’ RIGHTS.

We have a lot of film on this and there is a lot to talk about. Spain is an important country in this area since there have been a lot of recent changes in laws on child custody, domestic violence, abortion, gay marriage, and so on. This could be a stereotype breaking unit, since Mexico too has comparatively advanced laws now, and Latin American and Spanish feminisms, gay rights movements, and so on are very large. What is patriarchy, what is machismo, what are traditional divisions of gender, what struggles are there around these issues?
…Entre Villa y una mujer desnuda is a good film to watch here and it fits in with the FAMOUS IMAGES concept and also opens to discussions of current economies.

MODULE 5: IMMIGRATION AND MOVEMENT ACROSS BORDERS.

Immigration from Mexico to the U.S. is not the only kind of immigration there is in the Hispanic world: consider Africans in Spain, Bolivians in Argentina, Nicaraguans in Costa Rica, and so on, as well as migrations within countries (sierra to coast in Peru, for instance). Materials can include the Argentine movie “Bolivia” by Adrian Caetano, about which there is a fair amount written, and more.

MODULE 6: ECONOMIES.

Galeano, Naomi Klein, film Our Brand is Crisis, NAFTA…

POSSSIBLE FINAL PROJECTS

TOO ADVANCED

Discourse around sports, Carnaval, television; research on national film industries or a particular director; research on Hispanic languages (note the plural here), research on music, art, dance, food, sports; research on the imagery and discourse surrounding a current political or economic issue. Any cultural or socially relevant topic allowed so long as the focus is on analysis of cultural production. Remember, though, that this is a junior, not a senior or graduate level course, so we want research that involves critical thinking skills, yet also beginner’s projects for people still in the process of mastering el castellano.

PERHAPS LESS ADVANCED: STUDIES OF IMAGE PRODUCTION BY AND AROUND INDIVIDUAL FIGURES: Malintzin, Eva Peron, Frida Kahlo, Che Guevara, Villa, more.

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