1 LAIS 102/LAIS 202 Spring 2005 Professor Silvia Bermúdez M: 3:00-5:50pm, Phelps 3515 Office Hours: M - 1:00-2:30, Phelps 4311 I will do lots of e-mail consulting at: bermudez@spanport.ucsb.edu TA Luz Maria Cabral Office hours: T- 2:00-5:00pm Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Cultures, Languages, and Literatures of Latin America This course proposes to explore the ways in which different forms of cultural production (e.g. literature, music, film and painting) participate in the construction and deconstruction of national, regional, class, and gender identities in Latin America. Among other approaches, we will evaluate these cultural productions and their relation to politics and everyday life. Required texts The Companion to Latin American Studies. Ed. Philip Swanson Class Reader Course requirements: No more than two absences are allowed during the quarter and the “attendance” portion of your final grade will be impacted starting with the 3rd absence. For any emergency situations you do need to bring a justification to your TA. Grading for undergraduate students: 1) Attendance 15% 2) A critical evaluation of lecture by Carlos Iván Degregori (3 pages) due Monday April 18th, 2005.* No exceptions: 35% 3) Final paper (8-10 pages) ** due on Monday May 23rd, 2005. No exceptions: 50% TOTAL 100% Grading for graduate students: 1) Class presentations: each student is responsible for 4 class presentations. One of these will be conducted during the main class session. 50% 1) Final paper: a 15-20 pages research paper is due on Tuesday May 31st, 2005. No exceptions. TOTAL 50% 100% *Requirements for critical evaluation: -3 pages, double space, 12 “font”, needs to be submitted in class on April 18, 2005. There are absolutely no exceptions to this assignment and papers cannot be submitted by fax or attachment. -“Movie reviews” from The Independent and Los Angeles Times are good examples of what a critical evaluation entails: a) summary of the film—in this case the lecture; b)comment of style/approach/strategies used; c) assessment of what the film/lecture accomplishes or fails to accomplish. **Requirements for final paper: -8-10 pages, double space, 12 font, needs to be submitted in class on May 23 rd, 2005 No exceptions on the due date and papers cannot be submitted by fax or attachment. Papers submitted in any of these manners will be automatically graded with an F. -The final paper needs to focus on any text (literary, filmic, or musical) that has been evaluated in class. The main objective of the final paper is to offer a critical reading of the chosen text(s). --Paper topics need to be established first with Professor Bermúdez at least 2 weeks before the due date. Please contact me by e-mail to set up an appointment. 2 Schedule March 28 Introduction to the course: “What is Latin America?” and “Where is situated?”: Rubén Darío’s “A Roosevelt/ To Roosevelt” Graduate students: “Nationalism as a Practical System: Benedict Anderson’s Theory of Nationalism from the Vantage point of Spanish America” by Claudio Lomnitz. April 4 From The Companion read “Introduction,” “Latin American Geographies”(pp. 1-25) and “Politics and society” (pp. 26-46). The discussion of “Latin American Geographies” will be done by a graduate student. From Class Reader poems by Gabriela Mistral and Octavio Paz, and selections from The Little School: Tales of Disappearance & Survival in Argentina By Alicia Partnoy. Graduate Students: From Class Reader, Carlos Iván Degregori’s “Harvesting Storms: Peasant Rondas and the Defeat of Sendero Luminoso in Ayacucho” and Ñacuñán Sáez’s “Torture: A Discourse on Practice” from Tattoo, Torture, Mutilation, and Adornment: Th Denaturalizationof the Body in Culture and Text April 11 Required attendance to lecture by Carlos Iván Degregori “Questions of Violence and Racism in a Diverse Society: The Findings of the Peruvian Turth and Reconciliation Commission” Where: McCune Conference Room, Time: 4:00pm We’ll meet in class at 3:00pm to discuss, Carlos Iván Degregori’s essay from our Class Reader “Harvesting Storms: Peasant Rondas and the Defeat of Sendero Luminoso in Ayacucho” until 3:30pm and then we’ll go to the McCune Room to attend the conference. April 18 Critical commentary on the lecture by Carlos Iván Degregori due today: no exceptions (3 pages). From The Companion read “The cultures of colonialism” (pp.47-68). From Class Reader read selections of Rabinal Achi: A Mayan Drama of War and Sacrifice and Marcia Stephenson’s “Forging and Indigenous Counterpublic Sphere: The Taller de Historia Oral Andina in Bolivia” This essay will be presented by a graduate student. Graduate students: From Class Reader, Chapter One “Medieval Quests: The West Meets the Savage” from Refracted images: The Canary Islands Through a New World Lens by Eyda M. Merediz. April 26 From The Companion read “‘Civilization and barbarism’” (pp.69-85), “Approaches to Latin American Literature” (pp. 107-21) and “Latino US literature” (pp.122-53). The discussion of “Civilization and barbarism” will be done by a graduate student. From Class Reader, Short stories: Mario Vargas Llosa’s “On Sunday,” Gabriel García Marquez’s “Bon Voyage, Mr. President” and Helena María Viramontes’s “The Moths.” Poems: Pablo Neruda’s “Walking Around” and “Ritual de mis piernas” (Liturgy of my Legs) and “Gloria Anzaldúa’s “To Live in the Borderlans means you.” The discussion of “Bon Voyage, Mr. President” will be done by a graduate student. Graduate students: From Class Reader, “The Neo-Postcolonial Condition of the Work of Art in Latin America” by Rita De Grandis and José María Arguedas’ “The Pongo’s Dream.” 3 May 2 From The Companion read ‘Latin American visual cultures” (pp.15471). Graduate students: From Class Reader, “Chapter Four: Childless Mothers” from Mestizo Modernism:Race, Nation and Identity in Latin American Culture, 1900-1940 by Tace Hedrick. Film: Amores perros. May 9 From The Companion read “Race in Latin America” (pp.185-99). From Class Reader read poems by Nicolás Guillén and “Chapter 1, Comparative Diasporas: The Aftershock of Slavery” from Tropical Multiculturalism: A Comparative History of Race in Brazilian Cinema and Cultureby Robert Stam. This essay will be discussed by a graduate student. Film Quilombo. Graduate students: From Class Reader, read “Introduction” and “Cultural Difference And Representation” from The New Latin American Cinema: A Continental Project by Zuzana M. Pick. May 16 From The Companion read “Gender and sexuality in Latin America” (pp. 200-21). From Class Reader read Alfonsina Storni’s “Tú me quieres blanca” (You Would Have Me Immaculate) and “La que comprende” (She Who Understands), Elena Poniatowska’s “Literature and Women in Latin America” and Beatriz Sarlo’s “Women, History, and Ideology” by Beatriz Sarlo. Graduate students: From Class Reader, “Feminine Writing, Metaphor, and Myth” by Drucilla Cornell. May 23 From The Companion read “Popular culture in Latin America” (pp. 17284) and from the Class Reader. This essay will be presented by a graduate student. Boleros From Los Panchos to Luis Miguel; Celia Cruz and Salsa, “Narcocorridos” and Los Tigres del Norte. Graduate students from the Class Reader, “NATIONAL-POPULAR, Genealogy of a Concept” by David Forgacs. FINAL PAPER DUE MONDAY MAY 23rd, 2005 in CLASS. NO EXCEPTIONS. * Critical analysis: a 3-5 pages long critical evaluation of Carlos Iván Degregori’s presentation. **Final paper: An 8 pages paper (double space, 12 font) analyzing any of the cultural productions discussed during the quarter is due in class on Monday May 23rd, 2005: there are no exceptions. Final papers cannot be faxed nor submitted by electronic mail. Papers submitted in such manners will be automatically graded with an F.