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.

Another way to do it would be to lead in from single images or cultural products, e.g. GUERNICA (lead in to both modern art and Civil War).

LIST OF POSSIBLE PEOPLE: WHO ARE THE BEST CHOICES AS STARTING POINTS FOR THE STUDY OF CULTURAL OBJECTS PRODUCED AROUND THEM?

CARMEN MIRANDA [leads to the discussion of the production of images of what "Hispanic" is]
MALINTZIN [leads to discussion of castas, mestizaje, malinchismo, etc.]
JOSE MARTI [add Bolivar here, and this adds to discussion of identity, mestizaje, nation, nationalism]
VILLA [we could also have corridos, Zapata, Marcos, and Sabina Berman's play "Entre Villa y una mujer desnuda]
DOLORES IBARURRI [note that she was actually the propagandist / publicist for the Republic and created the phrase NO PASARAN]
EVA PERON
FRIDA KAHLO
CHE GUEVARA

Other possibilities: Rigoberta Menchu, Pablo Picasso

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.”

1. ¿Se debe tener empleados o criados? ¿Por qué o por qué no? ¿Cuándo? ¿En qué condiciones?

[Perhaps consider: Is a maid or manservant / valet the same as a gardener? A cleaning service whose workers go home at night? Chauffeurs? Home health workers? Child care workers? Plumbers? Carpenters? What if you feel really need some kind of service, but you can only get an illegal alien to work at the rate you think is fair?]

2. Los estereotipos: raza, clase, género sexual, nacionalidad… ¿en qué se basan? ¿Qué son categorías como la ‘clase’? ¿Cómo funcionan? ¿Qué contradicciones inhieren [inhere] en ellas?

[Consider: are 'race,' class, gender and so on stable and real? Consider: what the Lady in our play says about class, and what we learn about through what actually happens. Consider: ¿La clase social es lo mismo que la clase económica o el dinero? On any of these, you may want to discuss this question by looking at a particular example, because conceptually this question is or could be somewhat difficult.]

3. [An essay based on the consideration of one or more of these questions:]

Los problemas sociales que se ven en El delantal blanco ¿son actuales? ¿Cómo afecta el dinero las actitudes de los personajes? ¿Existe una estructura social semejante en los EEUU? ¿Cómo se burla Vodanovic de la burguesía chilena?

Juntos inventaremos el TEMA de la composición final, que se entrega el día del examen final.

Para el examen final, cada quien debe traer un ESBOZO (handout) de su composición para repartir. El examen final es un CONGRESO (conference) sobre el tema de la composición.

WHAT HAPPENS THE DAY OF THE FINAL:

1. REQUIRED (90 MINUTES TOTAL). You turn in the composition. Basing themselves on their sketches, people PRESENT, in panels of three (OR POSSIBLY MORE), their “take” on the topic to the class. Each group of takes questions from the audience.

2. OPTIONAL (60 MINUTES). Read, and write a cogent summary / commentary in English of, a text you have not seen before, but which is at the level of what we have been reading (remember those BBC articles on immigration? … like that …). This is for people who have missed work or have other reasons to wonder whether they might pass. It is a grade saver.

3. OPTIONAL (60 MINUTES). Read something a little harder than what the people in #2 are reading: a genuine newspaper article, for instance, or a tougher Guillén poem, or a very brief short story. Write a cogent summary/commentary in English. This is for people who feel they are in fact more capable than they have shown themselves to be, and want to raise their grades from C to B or B to A (if you’re not making a C average, you probably don’t want to do this – you want the option described above, in 2). It is a grade raiser.

You may bring dictionaries if you choose to do exercise 2 or 3.

2. Homework (a) is to do the paragraph based on the poem “Instantes” in BKN. It is right here. Remember, this is based on the poem and the mechanical exercises we did on it April 24. Use the same or similar constructions to write the paragraph.

3. Homework (b) is to reread El delantal blanco and imagine yourself as the director. Think of TWO different ways in which it could be staged. For example: with the Empleada acting very submissive, or on the other hand, very sarcastic (using the same words, of course, but a lot depends on tone). Concentrate on the section of the play assigned to your group (see below) and through Moodle, e-mail your ideas to your group members *and to me* by noon on Monday if not before. This way everyone will come to class ready to start working with their group and *rehearsing.*

4. Groups and precise plans for group work were slightly changed due to conversation in and then after class, and in office hours, today.

PRESENTATIONS: Groups of 3 people will each put on their section of the play in TWO WAYS, with people changing roles. That way there is always someone who is a director/prompter/understudy. And we gain a more subtle interpretation of the play by seeing how different it can be, depending on how it is staged.

We will practice in class TUESDAY and put the play on THURSDAY. You do not have to memorize lines but you must have practiced … you must speak the lines easily, from note cards or from the script, but not with your eyes glued to it.

Revised Group 1: Kristen Killeen, Rebekah (this is the only 2 person group). Pages 1 and 2, including the first 2 lines on p. 3.

Revised Group 2: Travis, Kristin Meadows, Chris Boudreaux. Pages 3 and 4, including the first 2 lines on p. 3.

Revised Group 3: Ona, Alaina, Stacy. Pages 5 and 6.

Revised Group 4: Destinée, Derick, Aimée. Pages 7 and 8, including the lines on p. 9 through the Señora’s “porque sí.”

Revised Group 5: Ingrid, Tara, Vanessa. Pages 9 and 10. Start on 9 with the the Señora’s “Eso no es juego. Es la realidad,” and end on 10 just before the bathers come in.

Revised Group 6: Ricardo, Blake, Samuel, Heather, Raneesha, Hope. From where the bathers come in to the end.

5. The next TUESDAY is our QUIZ on El delantal blanco and the grammar we’ve worked on since the last quiz!

6. Thursday, the last week of class, we plan our last composition which we will present orally, in conversation, for the final! 

+ Composition rewrites due
+ Finish reading the first six pages of El Delantal Blanco
+ Vocabulary quiz on words from El Delantal Blanco: not the obscure, weird words, but the key words, the interesting words, the words you will use again!

Questions? Send e-mail… And: I’ll be in the lab in 418 HLG large parts of Monday.

El 17 de abril:

+ We will work further in El delantal blanco, and have a vocabulary quiz

El 22 de abril:

+ We will finish El delantal blanco, and turn in and discuss a one paragraph character sketch
+ We will organize ourselves into groups to put on El delantal blanco
+ Homework is to research and prepare to discuss Latin bands playing at Festival International and to work on BKN, “Instantes”

El 24 de abril:

+ We will discuss Latin bands playing at Festival International
+ We will work on BKN, “Instantes”
+ We will rehearse the play

El 29 de abril:

+ We will put on the play (this is an oral presentation grade, and you want it)
+ We will briefly discuss Festival International
+ We will prepare for QUIZ 3 on Thursday

El 1 de mayo:

+ QUIZ 3 … and discuss!
+ Extra credit #3, on Festival International, is due!

El 6 de mayo:

+ FILM

El 8 de mayo:

+ We will discuss the film and plan for the final: a brief series of questions on the film (this is quiz 4), a composition on the film (prepared ahead of time), and a conversation based on this composition.

GRADES: I made a mistake on the original grading scale – I created four items at 20% each, not 25% each as I should have, so I have had to reweight it. Note as well that we haven’t done quite as much as foreseen (only one composition before the final, not two). The quizzes took up more time and the compositions less, so I am weighting them more. It is to your advantage. Also, the quizzes and compositions were more sophisticated than the oral presentations, so again, I am weighting these last a little less and the compositions more. Again, it is to your advantage.

GRADE BREAKDOWN, REWRITTEN BUT THE SAME IN SPIRIT:

1. Attendance and homework: 10% (this is essentially a completion grade).
2. Informal oral work: 10% (this is on quantity and quality of oral participation).
2. Three best grades on four quizzes, averaged (the fourth quiz is the written part of the final): 30%
3. Composition (two grades, averaged): 20%
4. Oral presentations: (two grades, averaged): 10%
5. Final composition (due the day of the final): 10%
6. Final conversation (due the day of the final): 10%

OUR FINAL IS THURSDAY, MAY 15, AT 8 AND WE CAN PLAN A REVIEW SESSION EARLIER IN FINALS WEEK!

We will start discussing the reading Thursday. Tuesday is conferencing on compositions and discussion of sentence structures. If you have finished the exercises related to “La historia de Juan” there is no NEW homework for Tuesday. This, however, is an excellent opportunity to undertake the extra credit assignment (optional; see below), which is due THURSDAY at the latest.

Admission to the University Art Museum is free to UL Lafayette students, and it is worth going just to see the building and the fountain!

Essays should be about 225 words long, and will count to replace a poor grade or to strengthen weak records in in-class performance … or to help move you from B+ to A- at the end of the semester … or to help you get stellar letters of recommendation … or just to get you to a really interesting set of exhibits on an enjoyable part of the UL campus, and to practice more with Spanish!

El martes, primero de abril, hablaremos del quiz y de la composición. Entre el martes y el jueves comentaremos la introducción a Mundo Latino (BBC) y la unidad BKN Historia de Juan.

THEREFORE: if you want to get ahead over the break, read both the BBC piece and the BKN song / start on the exercises. BREAKDOWN OF ACTUAL HOMEWORK IS:

For Tuesday: a) Read the BBC piece. b) Answer in English or Spanish this question: what is is to be Latin / who is Latin? Write down a couple of meaningful sentences on this, based on the reading and, if you wish, on other information you may have. Bring this to class for discussion. c) Write, in Spanish, five good questions on or about the content of this article. It does not matter if you understand the entire thing 100%. 50%, for instance, is good enough. We will resolve doubts in class! Writing the questions in Spanish is for writing practice, and so that everyone will be ready for class and have something in common to discuss. All writing today is to be turned in – it is our quiz!

For Thursday: a) Listen to the song. b) Do the preterit/infinitive exercise, realizing that all words and verb forms here are fair game for a pop vocabulary quiz! c) Prepare and write down concrete material to use in this writing exercise, based on the song. We will actually *do* the exercise in small groups in class, but each person needs to do the research the instructions suggest and come prepared with very concrete ideas on how to write the story, what information to use.