Spring 2015 LAS 342/SPA 342
THE LATIN AMERICAN CITY: HISTORICAL NARRATIVES AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATIONS
M/W/F 9:30 am
Chambers 3155
Professor Magdalena Maíz-Peña, Hispanic Studies Department. Chambers 2252; x2456 Horas
de oficina: M/W/F 1:30 – 3:00 and by appointment
Professor Jane Mangan, History Department. Chambers 2258, x2878, jamangan@; Horas de
oficina: M/W 10:30 – 12:00, Th 1-2 and by appointment
Course Description
This course will study the Latin American city through historical and cultural perspectives.
Students will learn about the history of select cities and then analyze the relationship between
historical context and cultural production through texts offering historical, cultural, and literary
representations of the cities. The course will emphasize comparison of cities over time, with
attention to the prehispanic city, the modern city, and the contemporary Latin American City,
as well as Los Angeles, a US city with a strong Latino influence.
“The Latin American City” will introduce students to an array of primary historical sources,
cultural readings, and films organized around particular historical moments, and/or urban
formations in the following cities: Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and
Latino Barrios in Los Angeles. The course will encourage students to theorize about historical
and cultural interpretations of a society, and its cultural production in a specific time, space,
and historical moment through a variety of models of urbanism including Latin American
history, Latin American Cultural Studies, Latin American/Latino Literature, and Film Studies.
The in-depth interdisciplinary knowledge acquired in the course will depend on students’ close
reading of historical-cultural and theoretical texts as well as their active participation in
discussion through journal entries and dialogue.
Course Objectives
*Acquire in-depth information about selected Latin American cities from historical,
literary, and cultural perspectives
*Practice textual and contextual analysis in several areas including:
change over time in the cities under study
relationship between historical context and urban cultural production
comparisons of different models of urbanism
*Practice and improve Spanish linguistic skills and cultural competence through Spanishlanguage immersion in class discussions, and a Spanish-language centered syllabus
*Gain familiarity with distinct disciplinary approaches to the study of the city in Latin America
and the Latino City and apply a multidisciplinary perspective in individual assignments, a
collaborative digital project, and a final research interdisciplinary paper.
Required Texts
The three following texts are required for this course, and students may purchase them at the
Davidson College bookstore.
2
Patricia Galvão (Pagu). Industrial Park, A Proletarian Novel. [1933] Translated by
Elizabeth and K. David Jackson. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,
1993.
Luis Valdez. Zoot Suit; Bilingual Edition. Houston: Arte Público, 2004.
Raúl Homero Villa. Barrio-Logos; Space and Place in Urban Chicano Literature
and Culture. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000.
Please also purchase three green books for required journal entries.
Other materials are available through Moodle.
Course Materials
The syllabus incorporates a diversity of historical and cultural readings, and films, including
poetry, chronicles, life-writing, fiction, non-fiction, music, photographs, and paintings. Most of
the readings will be in Spanish; selected English-language sources are included on the syllabus if
they are published and readily available only in English.
Many readings will be available on MOODLE. Links for videos in YouTube will be provided
through Moodle for students to watch videos on their own schedule in preparation for class.
We may give handouts of related readings (no more than 10 pages) on occasion during the
semester. Students will need to buy two or three green books for weekly journal entries.
Students should expect to read between 60 and 80 pages per week.
In addition, students will be responsible for viewing the following films outside of class:
Amores perros (México)
Ciudad de Deus (Brasil)
Garaje Olimpo (Argentina)
Zoot Suit (US)
Note: movies will be shown on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 8:30 pm in Chambers
2164.
Course Assignments
Please note: Professors will provide detailed instructions for each major assignment over the
course of the semester.
Active Class Participation: (15%)
Students are responsible for reading all assignments on the syllabus and for using those
readings for active class discussion.
Reflexión crítica: (15%)
Journal entries in the green books:
For each class session, students are responsible for formulating and responding to two
original discussion questions (1 page each). These questions must be written each week
before our Friday class. Students should sign and date the journal entries. Journals will
be collected at random intervals during the semester for review by Profs Maiz-Peña and
Mangan. Certain weeks of the semester students will incorporate journal entries
directly into class discussion.
Short Paper Assignment: The Latin American City through historical sources (20%)
3
Length: 6 pages not including bibliography and images. Specific guidelines to be
distributed the second week of the semester. Paper due February 13 at 8 pm in
both electronic and paper format.
Collaborative Projects on Barrios Latinos de Los Angeles (25%)
Students will work in groups of 5 or less. Professors will assign groups. Presentations in
Spanish of 25 minutes followed by a Q&A will be held during a 3-hour period the week
of April 27 – May 1. Each student will be required to share his/her research. Precise
time and location will be announced. All students are required to attend. Detailed
instructions for this assignment will be distributed the eighth week of the semester.
Presentations will be held the week of April 27 – May 1.
Final Interdisciplinary Research Paper (25%)
The final paper (8 - 10 pages, not including bibliography) will treat the historical and
cultural dimensions of any Latin American city or US city with major Latino influence.
This research paper must be interdisciplinary bringing together sources and
methodological insights from History and Hispanic/Latino cultural studies. Topics are
open and may include architecture, visual arts, music, dance, public art, museums,
memorials, film, photography, advertising, popular culture, or political propaganda.
Papers must use at least two scholarly works of history to ensure that students consider
historical formation of that city and two critical works on cultural studies theory to
reflect on the representation of the city in relation to the chosen topic. Detailed
instructions will be distributed the eleventh week of the semester.
Students must turn in a final research paper proposal Friday, April at 8 pm containing a
one page description of theme, approach, tentative hypothesis, and a minimum
bibliography of 5 sources.
Note: Students may choose either MLA or Rampolla formats (please do not mix styles,
but pick one and be consistent). The final interdisciplinary research paper is due
Sunday, May 10 at 8 pm.
**Students must complete all requirements in order to receive a passing grade.**
Grading Percentages
Class participation
Journal
Short Research Paper
Group Oral Presentation
Final Research Paper
15%
15%
20%
20%
30%
Course Policies
Accommodations: We are happy to speak to any student who needs specific
accommodations for this course. Please visit one of us during the first two weeks of the
semester to make any necessary arrangements.
4
Late-paper policy: The due dates for assignments are noted on the syllabus.
Mark these dates on your calendars and plan accordingly. We will mark down any
papers we receive thereafter by 5 points per day. The only exceptions to this policy are
true emergencies or severe illness (in the case of the latter, students should advise us
ahead of time).
Attendance: Attendance is of critical importance for this class. Absences will have a
negative impact on your class participation grade and could result in failure in keeping
with Davidson’s official 25% rule. Please inform both professors if you will be missing
class.
Honor Code: The Davidson Honor Code applies to all aspects of this course – written
work as well as emails or conversations between students and the professor.
Ultimately, all work for this course must represent your original thoughts, OR give the
appropriate credit to scholars in footnotes. Any instances of plagiarism will result in a
failing grade for the course.
Course Schedule
Semana 1
Lectura de la Ciudad, escenario público y producción histórico- cultural
Lunes Enero 12
Introducción a la clase
Miércoles Enero 14
¿Por qué la ciudad? Centros urbanos y producción cultural
Néstor García Canclini, “What is a City,” in Rebecca Byron, City/Art 37 – 60.
[Moodle]
Jesús Martín-Barbero, “Mediciones urbanas y nuevos escenarios de
comunicación,” 23 – 39. [Moodle]
Viernes Enero 16
Rocco Mangieri, “Lector in Urbis: espacio urbano y estrategias narrativas,”
77 – 92. [Moodle]
I Ciudad de México
Semana 2
Mestizajes, Revolución y Modernidades
Lunes Enero 19 Celebración Martin Luther King (no hay clase)
Miércoles Enero 21
La ciudad precolombina
Páginas sobre la Ciudad de México 1469-1987. [1] Edited by Emmanuel
Carballo y José Luis Martínez. [Moodle]
“Nezahualcoyotl” 31 – 32.
Hernán Cortes. “Segunda Carta de Relación” 35-37
5
La visión de los vencidos. Relaciones indígenas de la conquista
Edición Miguel León-Portilla (México: UNAM, 1992). [Moodle]
“Rendición de México-Tenochtitlán,” 125-133 (crónica)
“Cantos tristes de la conquista” 164-167
Imágenes de Tenochtitlán [Moodle]
Codex Mendoza & Cortés Map
Viernes Enero 23
Presentación del Prof. William Ringle (Dept. of Anthropology)
Michael E. Smith. “City Planning: Aztec City Planning” 134-144 [Moodle]
Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España
“El mercado de Tlatelolco” 38-39 [Moodle]
Semana 3
La capital como urbe post-revolucionaria
Lunes Enero 26
Ciudad Porfiriana y Cultura de Resistencia
Presentación sobre marco histórico 1860 – 1910 Profesora Mangan
Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera, “La novela de un tranvía,” en Páginas sobre la ciudad
de México, 1469-1987, 179-183 y “La Duquesa Job” 184-187. [Moodle]
Textos Visuales: Imágenes de José Guadalupe Posada (1852-1913)
Litografías
Miércoles Enero 28
Ciudad Revolucionaria
Presentación sobre marco histórico: Revolución y Post-revolución 1910-1930
Mauricio Tenorio, I Speak of the City: Mexico City at
the Turn of the Twentieth Century. Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 2012.
Read “On 1910 and the City of the Centennial,” 4-40 and “Science and the City,”
283 – 310. [Moodle]
Textos visuales:
Fotografías de Agustin Victor Casasola
Ciudad revolucionaria (video-clip) [Moodle]
Viernes Enero 30
Ciudad, reescritura de la historia y arte post-revolucionario
Margaret A. Lindauer, Devouring Frida: The Art History and Popular
Celebrity of Frida Kahlo, “Unveiling Politics,” 114 – 149. [Moodle]
Luis-Martín Lozano, “In Search of our own Modernity: Mexican
Modern Painting 1935-1950,” in Mexican Modern Art (Canada: National Gallery
of Canada, 1999), 52 – 69. [Moodle]
Frescos Rivera (video-clip)
6
Frida Kahlo (video-clip/selección de obras pictóricas)
Semana 4
Ciudad de México a fines del siglo XX: espacio e identidad nacional
Lunes Febrero 2
Modernismo a mediados del sigo
Anahi Ballent, “El arte de saber vivir, Modernización del habitar doméstico
y cambio urbano, 1940 – 1970,” en Nestor García Canclini, Cultura y
comunicación en la ciudad de México UAM/Grijalbo, México, 1998. 65-69; 7991. [Moodle]
Carlos Fuentes, La región más transparente.[Selections] (México: Alfaguara,
1994 [1958]), 11-12; 495-510. [Moodle]
Miércoles Febrero 4
Ciudad, violencia y fractura
Octavio Paz, “A cinco años de Tlatelolco," en El peregrino en su patria. Octavio
Paz y Luis Mario Schneider, eds. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1987,
304-316. [Moodle]
Elena Poniatowska, La noche de Tlatelolco: testimonios de historia oral
México: Era, 1997 [1971]), [Selections] 32-34; 43-54; 79-80; 163-175; 193-194.
[Moodle]
Viernes Febrero 6
Cine y ciudad
Presentación del Prof. Luis H. Peña (Dept. of Hispanic Studies)
Juan Poblete. “New National Cinemas in a Transnational Age,” and
Ignacio Sánchez-Prado “Amores Perros: Exotic violence and neoliberal fear,”
[Moodle]
Amores perros (Mexico) (ver película fuera de clase)
II Buenos Aires
Semana 5
Ciudad, Nación e Identidad(es)
Lunes Febrero 9
Ciudad porteño, umbligo de la nación
Marco histórico, fundaciones Buenos Aires Profesora Mangan
Textos to be announced
Miercoles Febrero 11
Liliana Lukin Una Buenos Aires de Novela [Selections] to be announced*
Textos visuales [Moodle]:
Natalia Kohen, Patios (Buenos Aires: Ediciones del Retiro, 1981).
Attilio Rossi, Buenos Aires en tinta china (Buenos Aires: Losada, 1951)
7
Viernes Febrero 13
Jorge Luis Borges. Fervor de Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1993,
[Selections] 15, 23, 71, 99-100, 119. Poemas: “Fervor de Buenos Aires,”
“Fundación Mítica de Buenos Aires,” y Texto narrativo “Borges y yo.”
Audiopoema “Oda Intima a Buenos Aires” [Moodle]
Paper due February 13 at 8 pm in both electronic and paper format.
Semana 6
Ciudad en marcha: performitividad y protesta
Lunes Febrero 16
El tango como expresión genérico-cultural
Marta Savigliano,“Tango as a Spectacle of Sex, Race,
and Class, ”Tango and the political economy of passion (Boulder:
Westview Press, 1995), 30-72. [Moodle]
Letras del Tango (La ciudad de Buenos Aires y el tango) [Moodle]
Escuchar música de tango (Carlos Gardel y Piazzolla)
Miércoles Febrero 18
Autoconstrucción, poder político y presencia urbana
Alma Guillermoprieto, “Evita,” Historia escrita: crónica (México: Plaza y
Janes, 2001), 9 – 26. [Moodle]
Fotografías de Eva Perón
Videoclip de “Evita” de Manuel Desanzo y “Evita” de Madonna [Moodle]
Funeral de Eva Perón
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90JvfFURHf4 (fuera de clase 15 min)
[Moodle]
Viernes Febrero 20
Populismo, fervor político y zonas de convocación laborales
Leer y analizar discurso político de Juan Perón: October 17, 1945, Balcón de la
Casa Rosada [Moodle]
Semana 7
Espacio público, control y vigilancia en la ciudad autoritaria
Lunes Febrero 23
Escribir, censurar, escribir de nuevo
Julio Cortazar, “Graffiti.” Obras Completas, Vol 1 (Barcelona: Galaxia
Guttenberg, 2003), 965 – 969. [Moodle]
Luisa Valenzuela, Aquí pasan cosas raras, “Aquí pasan cosas raras,” (Buenos
Aires: Ediciones de la Flor, 1975), 7 – 16.
8
Miércoles Febrero 25
Ciudad, género y protesta: Madres de la Plaza de mayo
Testimonio de Hebe de Bonafini, Historias de vida (Buenos Aires:
Fraterno/Del Nuevo Extremo, 1985), 85-127. [Moodle]
Viernes Febrero 27
Cartografía urbana, terror de Estado y dictadura
Luisa Valenzuela, “Los mejor calzados,” (Buenos Aires: Ediciones de la Flor,
1975), 17-18. [Moodle]
“Garaje Olimpo” (ver película fuera de clase)
Semana de Vacaciones de Primavera Marzo 2 - Marzo 7
III Barrios Latinos:
Semana 8
East Los Angeles, etnicidades, historias, conciencia espacial urbana
Lunes Marzo 9
Raúl Homero Villa, Barrio-Logos. “Spatial Practice and Place-Consciousness
In Chicano Urban Culture,” and “Creative destruction: Founding Anglo Los
Angeles on the Ruins of El Pueblo.” (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000)
Introduction and Cap. 1 1-65
Miercoles Marzo 11
Rodolfo Acuña. Anything but Mexican. Chicanos in Contemporary Los Angeles.
London & New York: Verso, 1997. “Introducing Chicano LA,” 1-18 “Taking back
Chicano history,” 19-42 [Moodle]
Viernes Marzo 13
Ciudad y períodico
Ejercicio crítico con fuentes primarias sobre Sleepy Lagoon
Profesora Mangan dará instrucciones una semana antes
Semana 9
Cuerpo político, Espacios, fronteras urbanas y performatividad artístico-cultural
Lunes Marzo 16
Marco histórico chicano, arte híbrido contestatario, geografías postmodernas
Raúl Homero Villa, Barrio-Logos. “From Military-Industrial Complex to
Urban Industrial Complex” Cap. 2 66-90
Miercoles Marzo 18
Teatro Chicano Moderno
9
Luis Valdez.. Zoot Suit, Bilingual Edition (Houston: Arte Público, 2004). Versión
en español. 85-169
Viernes Marzo 20
Cine Chicano y Cultura Zoot Suit
“Zoot Suit” Dir. Luis Valdez (ver película fuera de clase)
Semana 10
Arte público, performatividades y cultura material urbana
Lunes Marzo 23
Raúl Homero Villa, Barrio-Logos. “Art against social Death” and “Between
Nationalism and Women’s Standpoint (Lorna Dee Cervantes’ Freeway
Poems).” Cap. 4 156-184 y Cap. 5 215-224.
Miércoles Marzo 25
Helena Viramontes, “Neighbors” in The Moth and other Stories, (Houston, TX:
Arte Público Press, 1985), 102-118. [Moodle] Raúl Homero Villa, Barrio-Logos.
“Phanthoms in Urban Exile” Cap. 3 ‘Root Destruction’ (On Viramontes piece),
115-134.
Los Lobos (The Town and The City Album)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lUOx4NNcWs [Moodle]
Viernes Marzo 27
Gil Cuadros, City of God. San Francisco: City Lights, 1994.“My Aztlan: White
Place,” 53 – 58, and “There are places that you don’t walk at night alone,”
112 – 114. [Moodle]. Raúl Homero Villa, Barrio-Logos. “Phanthoms in
Urban Exile” Cap. 3 ‘Queer Aztlán’ (On Cuadros writings), 139-141.
Brenda Jo Bright, “Los Angeles Low Riders,” in Looking High and Low; Art
and Cultural Identity (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1995), 89-123.
[Moodle]
Judith Baca, “Arte íntimo, Arte Público: Spirit, Vision, and Form,” LACAP
Lecture May 2014 (one hour lecture/ ver fuera de clase)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awLRA-xS7Vw [Moodle]
The Great Wall of Los Angeles (Introduction abridged version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJRL_AhQ3u4 [Moodle]
IV Brazil: Geografías, afrolatinidades, urbanización y ciudadanías locales/globales
Semana 11
Río/São Paulo: modernización, sitios urbanos y mestizajes africanos-europeos
Lunes Marzo 30
10
Marco histórico
Presentación de la Profa. Mangan sobre la ciudad brasileña
Teresa Meade, “Living Worse and Costing More’: Resistance and Riot in Rio
de Janeiro, 1890-1917,” Journal of Latin American Studies 21:2 (May 1989),
241-266. [EBSCO]
Miércoles Abril 1
Aracy Amaral. “El movimiento modernista,” en Arte y arquitectura del
modernismo brasileno (1917-1930), compilación y
prólogo, Aracy Amaral: cronología, José Carlos Serroni,
traducción Marta Traba (Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho, 1978), 181-202
(Selection) [Moodle]
Textos visuales:
Imágenes del modernismo brasileño (Anita Malfatti & Tarsila do
Amaral)
Viernes Abril 3
Elizabeth Lowe, The City in Brazilian Literature (East Brunswick, NJ:
Associated University Press, 1982), “City Literature and Urban Growth
in Brazil, 25 – 40. [Moodle]
Vacaciones de Pascua 4 a 7 de abril
Semana 12
Representacion(es), cartografía urbana, etnicidad y clase social en Río/São Paulo
Miércoles Abril 8
Elizabeth Lowe, The City in Brazilian Literature (East Brunswick, NJ:
Associated University Press, 1982) “The City as Literary Convention,”
41-69. [Moodle]
Viernes Abril 10
Brian Owensby, “Domesticating Modernity: Markets, Home, and Morality in
the Middle Class in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, 1930s and 1940s,” Journal
of Urban History 24 (1998): 337 – 363. [EBSCO]
Textos visuales:
La fotografía paulista de Hildegard Rosenthal
Final research paper proposal due at 8 pm
Friday, April 10 in both electronic and paper format
Semana 13
Registros urbanos, género e industrialización brasileña
11
Lunes Abril 13
Patrícia Galvão (Pagu), Industrial Park, A Proletarian Novel. [1933]
Translated by Elizabeth and K. David Jackson. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1993.
From “Looms” to “Dividing Walls,” 7- 71.
Miércoles Abril 15
Patrícia Galvão, Industrial Park, A Proletarian Novel (continuación)
“Public Housing” to “Industrial Reserve,” 73-114.
David Foster, São Paulo, Perspectives on the City and Cultural Production.
(Gainesville: U of Florida, Press, 2011) Ch. 2 “The Feminization of Social
Space in Patrícia Galvão,” 27 – 44.
Viernes Abril 17
Presentación del Prof. Mauro Botelho (Dept. of Music) sobre Bossa Nova
Tinhorão, Jose Ramos, “The Fathers of the Bossa Nova,” trans. Mauro Botelho 110. [Moodle]
Mc Gowan, Chris and Ricardo Pessanha, Cap. 3 “Bossa Nova: The New
Way” in The Brazilian Sound; samba, bossa nova (Philadelphia:
Temple University Press, 2009), 57-78. [Moodle]
Letras de bossa nova [Moodle]
Documentando interiores: geografías urbanas, Life-writing y cinematografía
Semana 14
La ciudad latinoamericana a través del testimonio personal escrito y visual
Lunes Abril 20
Carolina Maria de Jesus, Favelas (Selections) Habana: Casa de las Américas,
1962, pp. 17-47 [Moodle]
Miércoles Abril 22
City of God (Brasil) (ver película fuera de clase)
Viernes Abril 24
Futurist Urban Optics: marcos críticos
Evaluaciones del curso
VI Semana 15 Presentaciones
Lunes Abril 27 - Mayo 1
Presentaciones en bloque de 3 horas. Fecha y lugar serán anunciados en la primera
parte del semestre.
FINAL INTERDISICIPLINARY RESEARCH PAPER DUE
Domingo Mayo 10 a las 8 de la noche: Hard and electronic copy for both professors.
12