Department ___ MCLL ____
Course Number _ SPAN 351 _
Course Name: Introduction to Latin American
Literature, Part I
This form must be submitted to the Faculty Council on Liberal Learning and Academic Life as part of the submission process.
Please attach a proposed syllabus for this course and the Undergraduate Curriculum Course Proposal Form.
DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: 16 September 2005
Please answer the following questions:
Check Only One:
X

This course is an existing course (in the current curriculum) that we are now proposing for this Area of
Inquiry.

This is a new course that we are now proposing for this Area of Inquiry.
1. Name and contact information for the department chair administrating this course.
Danielle Cahill Velardi
MCLL
Commonwealth Hall #3 dcahill@cnu.edu
594-7107
2. In any given semester, how many sections of this course is your department willing to offer?
One
3. Why is this course being offered/what is it designed to achieve (Course purpose/goal) ?
This course can be taken as one of the three required courses in literature to complete the major in Spanish or as a course above the 100-level to complete the minor in Spanish.
This course studies the different Latin American literary movements, discourses, genres, and authors of the pre-Columbian and Colonial Period through the late 19 th Century. Readings include texts authored by
Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas before and after the arrival of the Spaniards in the Americas, by Europeans
(Christopher Columbus, missionaries, and soldiers participating in the Conquest), by a Mestizo (The Inca
Garcilaso, son of an Incan princess and Spanish captain), a nun (sor Juana Inés de la Cruz), and Creoles
(those of Spanish origin who were born in the Americas).

4.
Check the objectives below that the course will address. The first objective is required and every proposal must include at least two more objectives from the list below.
X

Interrogate the dominate culture in relationship to other cultures ( required)
X

Compare communication styles among cultures
X

Assess how culture impacts and informs the development of creative expression/movements, politics,
economics, or philosophy

Analyze how concepts of “self” and individuals in various cultures differ and/or intersect

Articulate how culture influences the structure of languages, societies, and institutions
5.
Briefly explain how this class addresses the above objectives. A course may cover more than three objectives. a.) Interrogate the dominate culture in relationship to other cultures: Emphasis is given to the influences of different cultures on Latin American authors. For example, we identify traces of the European
Renaissance in colonial texts and study how the Modernist poets, influenced by the Parnassian and
Symbolist poets from France, created new versification patterns in poetry written in the Spanish language. b.) Assess how culture impacts and informs the development of creative expressions: Lectures by the professor and videos will provide the necessary historical background to aid understanding the literary texts. For example, after receiving information about how the Spanish Conquest was not only a military battle but also a battle of ideas about the justice of conquest and the nature of the indigenous people (Did they have souls?), the students will read authors who wrote about the indigenous people, examining their portrayal of the indigenous populations and realizing the differing opinions held about them. c.) Compare communications styles among cultures: While studying indigenous literature, students will learn how the Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas transmitted knowledge and history primarily in oral forms, pictographs or through knotted cords know as quipus. This contrasts with the norm in Spanish culture during the colonial period, in which knowledge and history are transmitted through writing.
6.
Course Assessment: Identify how this course will accomplish the above objectives (choose at least one):
X

Participating in class discussion and debate

Engaging in teamwork and other collaborative exercises
X

Writing analytical or evaluative papers, perhaps incorporating original research
X

Making oral presentations

Creating an artistic product or a performance

Participating in fieldwork:
X

Other means – please identify: Exams; Keeping a journal to reflect about reading assignments and list new vocabulary words in Spanish
7.
Attach a proposed syllabus, which includes a statement of purpose, course objectives, and how these objectives will be accomplished.

8. Please identify and explain if this course contributes to the Foundations of Liberal Learning expectations for:

Oral Communication Literacy: The students will continue to hone their skills in speaking and comprehending spoken Spanish by listening to the professor’s lectures, watching films and videos, and actively participating in discussions during class. They will also gain practice in public speaking skills by summarizing in an oral presentation the findings of their research papers.

Information Literacy: The students will read materials in Spanish and English to use as bibliographical sources in preparing research papers and oral presentations. They will have the opportunity to examine a variety of these sources, such as books, academic journal articles, web pages on the Internet, and learn how to evaluate their usefulness. The students will also learn about Latin America’s history and major literary movements and styles.

Writing Literacy: The students will write analytical papers in Spanish. There will be numerous opportunities for them to gain practice with this type of writing. They will prepare short essays as homework assignments, answer essay questions on exams, and write a 2-3 page research paper. The journal, a more informal type of writing, will help them to organize their ideas before writing the more formal analytical papers.
9. Explain how this course connects to Vision 2010 – the CNU Strategic Plan.
In Spanish 351, the students will read texts written by those who made Latin America what it is today: the
Mayas, Aztecas, and Incas; Spanish conquistadores; women who argued for the right of all to study; and those who fought for the independence of their countries and, in some instances, became president. These texts will expose the students to a wide range of viewpoints about the transformations and violent clashes brought about by Spain’s colonization of Latin America. Assignments in the class will encourage the students to compare and contrast these viewpoints, exploring how the texts are an expression of the diverse cultures that came into contact in Latin America. The goal of the course is for students to gain knowledge about these cultures by reading the literary texts and locating secondary sources through research at the library. This course will help the students to become more culturally aware and able to communicate their knowledge both orally and in writing, goals that are a part of Vision 2010.
Submission Checklist:
By the deadline, submit a packet with the following documents to the Assistant Dean for Liberal Learning. Please submit in electronic and hard copy form.
__ X ___ Area of Inquiry Course Proposal Form
__
__
X __ Syllabus for the Course
N/A __ Undergraduate Curriculum Committee Course Proposal Form

Christopher Newport University: Spanish 351
Introduction to Latin American Literature: Part 1
Fall 2005
Dr. Elaine M. Miller Office: Commonwealth Hall, Room 8
Telephone: 594-7489 Office Hours: M-W-F 11-12:00(Einstein’s) e-mail: emiller@cnu.edu M-W-F 3:00-4:00(Commonwealth Hall #8)
and by appointment
Texts:
Required: A) Voces de Hispanoamérica: Antología literaria . Tercera Edición. Chang-Rodríguez & Filer.
2004. Thomson Heinle.
B) Small spiral notebook for journal
Recommended : Good Spanish/English Dictionary
Objectives: o Learn critical reading strategies to develop effective reading skills for better literary analysis, interpretation and comprehension o Learn about the different Latin American literary movements, discourses, genres, and authors of the Pre-
Columbian and Colonial Period through the late 19 th Century o Learn about Latin American history and culture during this time period o Develop library research skills for expanding one’s knowledge about Latin American literature and authors o Gain practice writing analytical papers in Spanish o Build vocabulary o Improve oral, listening and written communication skills in Spanish o Develop a desire to learn more about those who contributed to the making of Latin America!
Tabulation of the Final Grade :
A) Numerical grades will be determined by using the following formula:
3 Exams
10 Homework Assignments
Journal
Final Exam (cumulative)
30%
10%
10%
25%
Student Presentation
Essay (about topic of Student Presentation)
10%
15%
B) Letter grades will be given according to the following conversion table:
93 - 100 = A 88 - 89 = B + 78 - 79 = C + 68 - 69 = D + 0 – 59 = F
90 - 92 = A - 84 - 87 = B
80 - 83 = B -
74 - 77 = C
70 - 73 = C -
64 - 67 = D
60 - 63 = D -
Exams : There will be three exams during the semester that will cover our readings, discussions, lectures and anything else presented in class. The final exam will be cumulative. Each exam will include sections with true/false, matching, or multiple-choice questions; questions requiring short answers; and essay questions.
Participation and Homework: The only way to become a better reader in any language is to read. The only way to participate in class discussions is to have completed the assigned readings. Many times you may feel that the readings are too difficult because of the vocabulary or style of the author. However, I encourage you to try your best to read each assignment at least twice before class. During your first reading, try to capture a general impression of the work and a literal sense of what is happening or being described. In the second reading of the same passage, you can look up vocabulary words, writing them down in a specific “journal” (more information about this in the next section!) and learning their meaning. It might be necessary to read certain passages of the text again until you have a better understanding of its possible literary meanings. Do not feel discouraged if you still have unanswered questions about an assigned reading. As the instructor, I will share strategies with you to

help you better understand Latin American literature. At times, I will give lectures about the historical content of a work or background information about its author and literary genre. However, I will spend most of class time in guiding discussions with you, expecting you to assume an active role in contributing, asking questions, disagreeing, and searching for a deeper meaning. At times, we might not arrive at a definite right or wrong answer, yet we will attempt to support our interpretations using the information found within the text. To help you prepare to contribute to our class discussions, there will be a total of ten homework assignments. You must turn in all ten to your professor in order to receive complete credit for the 10% of your final grade. These assignments will assist you in summarizing the content of the texts and organizing your thoughts about them in
Spanish before class, boosting your confidence and providing space for all members of the class to share their ideas in discussions.
Journal : Please purchase a small spiral notebook to use as your journal. When you are completing the reading assignments, you will look up any unknown words in a dictionary. In the journal, you should write the word, the sentence in which it is used in the reading assignment, its definition, a synonym for it in Spanish, and an original sentence created by you to use the word. You will also write in your journal once a week for 5-10 minutes. You should respond to one of the reading assignments either before a class discussion or after class to reflect on what you have learned. I am most interested in your personal responses to the Latin American literature that we are reading and less concerned with the accuracy of your grammar and vocabulary in your journal entries. Therefore, when I periodically collect the journals, I will award full credit for this portion of your final course grade if you have recorded vocabulary words for each reading assignment and have written at least one entry per week throughout the semester responding to an assigned text. The purpose of this journal is two-fold: first, by writing down the new vocabulary words, you can later use them to study and improve your Spanish skills; second, the journal entries are a way to “rehearse” what you want to say about the reading assignments in class or in a more formal piece of writing and for me to provide you with some personalized, written feedback about your ideas.
Attendance Policy : Make it your goal not to miss a single class. Two points will be added to your cumulative grade for perfect attendance! With proper documentation, you will not be penalized for missing class and you will still qualify for the bonus points. If you do need to miss class, please make an appointment with me the next time we see each other to discuss whatever material was covered in class that day. This way you will not fall behind. Due to the nature of this course, your success will much depend on your being present for every class session.
Any missed opportunities for a grade will not be made up, unless proper documentation is presented to the professor! All work for the class is due on the assigned date unless you are absent and have written justification or you have previously requested and received permission to submit assignments on a day other than indicated by your professor. A note from a physician, an obituary, a court summons, and an official note of participation in a sanctioned CNU academic or athletic event are examples of acceptable written justification for missing class and then making up that day’s test or assignment. You will not receive credit for late assignments without proper documentation or prior permission from your professor.
Student Presentations: The last two weeks of class, each of you will have a chance to present your findings that relate to your research paper. The presentation should last approximately 10 minutes. In order to engage your audience, please make good eye contact with everyone in the class and do not read these. I encourage you to use audio-visual aids, such as photocopied material, PowerPoint slides, overhead transparencies, and photographs.
However, this information should serve only as a guide for you to follow. You are also encouraged to use an outline on index cards to help you stay on track. Try and make your presentation as clear, engaging, and informative as possible. Practice your presentation at least three times on your own so that the information will come naturally to you and you will keep within the time prescribed. Remember to first introduce the class to what you are going to talk about, situating the work in its time frame, present the information, and offer a conclusion including personal impressions.
Essay: On the day of your oral presentation or the last day of class, you will submit a research paper about the topic of your oral presentation. The research paper should be at least 2 pages long, typed, double-spaced, and no longer than 3 pages. During the semester, you will learn how to locate bibliographic sources in the library to help you write your paper and you will practice integrating this information into essays. Your final paper should have a bibliography with at least 3 sources, such as books or journal articles. Web sites can also be a wonderful resource, but you should exercise care in locating Internet sources that are more than just encyclopedia-style

entries containing general information. While you are encouraged to list Web sites in your research paper’s bibliography, only 1 of your minimum 3 listed sources should be a Web site. The essay’s grade will consider the quality of the research, its organization, the consistency in formatting the bibliography and notes according to the
Modern Language Association’s MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, meeting intermediate deadlines connected to the preparation of the essay set by your professor, and the accuracy of the Spanish grammar and vocabulary. Please come see me during office hours or make an appointment to meet with me so that I can help you select a topic for your oral presentation / essay and assist you in completing these assignments.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
Disabilities:
If you have a disability, please make an appointment to see me immediately. In order to receive an accommodation, your disability must be on record in the Office of Disability Services in the Academic Advising
Center, Room #101, McMurran Annex (Telephone: 594-8763).
Academic Honesty:
Plagiarism is the stealing or passing off as your own the writings or ideas of someone else. Examples of plagiarism include, but are not limited to, quoting, summarizing, or paraphrasing ideas without giving credit to their source, submitting as your own work that has been copied or purchased from another student or other source, permitting someone else to revise or edit a paper to the extent that it is no longer your own work, lifting off the
Internet wording or ideas that are not your own without crediting the Internet source. Plagiarism is a very serious violation of the CNU Honor Code and may result in penalties that can include, at the discretion of the instructor, rewriting the entire assignment, having to complete an alternative assignment, getting a zero on the plagiarized assignment or getting an F for the course. In addition to these penalties, the instructor has the right to place a note in the student's university file, which could result in an honors council sanction such as suspension or expulsion from CNU. I expect that you will uphold the CNU Honor Code in all work submitted for this course.
Change to Audit & Withdrawal:
THE LAST DAY TO DROP/ADD OR ELECT AUDIT STATUS IS FRIDAY, AUGUST 26, 2005.
THE LAST DAY TO WITHDRAW OR ELECT PASS/FAIL IS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2005.
We want you to succeed at CNU; therefore I may notify the Academic Advising Center if you seem to be having problems with this course. Someone may contact you to help you determine what help you need to succeed. You will be sent a copy of the referral form. I invite you to see me at any time that I can be of assistance in helping you with the course material, questions about the major / minor in Spanish, or study abroad.

HORARIO
Día lunes miércoles viernes
Fecha
22 de agosto
24 de agosto
26 de agosto
Materia
Introducción al curso
Introducción: La configuración del mundohispanoamericano: Las raíces, la colonia, la independencia ( V 2-12)
Voces amerindias: Los mayas, los nahuas y los quechuas,
Popol Vuh ( V 13-17)
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes miércoles viernes
29 de agosto
31 de agosto
2 de septiembre
Voces amerindias: Los mayas, los nahuas y los quechuas,
Poesía náhuatl y Poesía quechua ( V 17-21)
Cristóbal Colón ( V 23-4)
Cristóbal Colón: Carta a Luis de Santángel ( V 24-6)
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes miércoles
5 de septiembre
7 de septiembre
Bartolomé de las Casas: Historia de las Indias, La Rebelión de Enriquillo, Libro III, Capítulos CXXV-CXXVI ( V 28-33)
Bartolomé de las Casas: Libro III, Capítulo CXXVII viernes 9 de septiembre
( V 33-35)
Bernal Díaz del Castillo: Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España ( V 37-42)
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes miércoles
12 de septiembre
14 de septiembre
Bernal Díaz del Castillo ( V 42-6)
El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega: Comentarios reales de los viernes 16 de septiembre
Incas: Proemio al lector y El origen de los incas reyes del
Perú
( V 61-66)
El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega: Protestación del autor sobre la historia ( V 66-8) /
Fecha límite: Escoger el tema de
presentación oral /ensayo
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes 19 de septiembre
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz:
Respuesta de la poetisa a la miércoles
21 de septiembre muy ilustre sor Filotea de la Cruz ( V 75-80)
Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz:
Redondillas I y Sonetos III y IV viernes 23 de septiembre
( V 80-81; 84)
Special Class in Library about Researching Latin American
Literature
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes miércoles viernes
26 de septiembre
28 de septiembre
30 de septiembre
José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi:
El periquillo sarniento
(V 86-9)
José Joaquín Fernández de Lizardi (
Repaso
V 90-91)
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes miércoles
3 de octubre
5 de octubre
EXAMEN I
Introducción: Búsqueda de la emancipación cultural
( V 102-10) viernes 7 de octubre Domingo Faustino Sarmiento: Facundo: Primera Parte,
Capítulo 1 ( V 137-44)
______________________________________________________________________________

lunes viernes miércoles
10 de octubre
12 de octubre
14 de octubre
FALL RECESS
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento: Facundo: Primera Parte,
Capítulo II y Segunda parte, Capítulo 1
( V 144-52)
Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda:
Al partir, Romance y A
él
( V 154-58) /
Fecha límite: Entregar la bibliografía del ensayo
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes 17 de octubre Ricardo Palma:
( V 164-69)
Tradiciones peruanas: Amor de madre miércoles viernes
19 de octubre
21 de octubre
Clorinda Matto de Turner:
Clorinda Matto de Turner:
Para ellas
Malccoy (
(
V
V 187-90)
191-94)
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes viernes miércoles
24 de octubre
26 de octubre
28 de octubre
Repaso
EXAMEN II
Introducción: La realidad americana y la renovación literaria ( V 198-206)
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes 31 de octubre miércoles viernes
2 de noviembre
4 de noviembre
José Martí: Versos sencillos , Poética y Dos patrias
( V 207-09; 210-15)
José Martí: Nuestra América ( V 216-20)
Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera: La duquesa de Job ( V 222-27)
Fecha límite: Entregar una version preliminar del ensayo final
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes viernes miércoles
7 de noviembre
9 de noviembre
11 de noviembre
José Asunción Silva:
Nocturno ( V 233-35)
Rubén Darío: El velo de la reina Mab ( V 240-42; 254-56)
Rubén Darío:
Sonatina , El cisne, A Roosevelt, Lo fatal y
Los cisnes ( V 245-53)
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes miércoles
14 de noviembre
16 de noviembre
Repaso
EXAMEN III viernes 18 de noviembre Presentaciones orales
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes viernes miércoles
21 de noviembre
23 de noviembre
25 de noviembre
Presentaciones orales
THANKSGIVING RECESS
THANKSGIVING RECESS
______________________________________________________________________________ lunes 28 de noviembre miércoles
30 de noviembre
Presentaciones orales
Presentaciones orales viernes 2 de diciembre Repaso para el examen final
______________________________________________________________________________
EXAMEN FINAL : viernes, el 9 de diciembre, 11:00AM-1:30PM