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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.
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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.”
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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.