SPAN 5130/7130:
Critical Approaches to Iberian and Latin American Literatures (Kennedy)
Mondays, 3:35 - 6:05pm, MKNA 103
Border Tropologies in Global “Hispanic” Contexts
This course will critically examine Iberia-Africa, Mexico-Central America, and US-Mexico border regions. Theory will stem from Anthropology, Performance Studies, and Critical Latinx Indigeneities/Latinx Studies to analyze cultural narratives and their performances of politics with a focus on the environmental humanities and critical migration studies. We’ll address the following questions: How are borders and migration cast in novels, films, and performance? How do literature and art (fail to) address problematic stereotypes and racial architectures, and their implicit interpellation? What might a Zoque poet have to say about African migration to Spain or Oaxacan migration to New York City?
Readings/films range from Zoque, Zapotec, and Nahua poets in bi-lingual formats; documentaries like Guardian de la memoria (2019) and De l’autre côté (2003); and novels like La orilla africana (2013) and Señales que precederán al fin del mundo (2009) to name a few. Theoretical and critical texts include Gilles Deleuze, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, Sandro Mezzadra and Brett Neilson, Edward Said, Lisa Marie Cacho, Doreen Massey, Michel Foucault, Jason de León, Gloria Chacón, and Maylei Blackwell, among others. Students will be invited to produce weekly or bi-weekly abstracts, public humanities, and digital humanities projects with an emphasis on their interests and will be supported in grant writing and conference submission.
SPAN 5140/7140: Spanish Literature, Medieval Period (Silleras-Fernández)
Wednesdays, 3:35 - 6:05pm, MKNA 103
Pleasure and Pain in Medieval and Early Modern Times takes an intersectional approach to cultural production, primarily texts, but also other artistic forms, customs, emotions, acts, and performances conducive to stimulating the senses and provoking a strong emotional response, whether positive and negative. Seeking pleasure or pain could sometimes go against the social norms, laws, written and unwritten rules, and codes of conduct that regulate proper behavior and reinforce social control. This seminar will also analyze how texts contributed to shaping, accommodating, or pushing against dominant discourse. We will read canonical and non-canonical genres of the three main Iberian religious and cultural traditions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism –using Iberian and Mediterranean studies as the frame of reference. We will focus on literature written in Spanish; but in view of the linguistic diversity of premodern Iberia, we will also read works in other peninsular languages (translations to Spanish will be provided as necessary) and texts relating to the various literary traditions that were fundamental to Iberian cultural production.
SPAN 5320/7320: Spanish American Literature, 20th and/or 21st Centuries (Dabove)
Tuesdays, 3:30 - 6:00pm, MKNA 103
Treats various topics, as needs and resources dictate. Gives special attention to developing historical and current theoretical and critical background of each topic. Representative topics might include modernism, theatre, the essay, the regional novel, the novel of the Mexican Revolution, the modern novel, contemporary theatre, and contemporary poetry.
SPAN 5440/7440: Trends in Hispanic Linguistics (Quan)
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2-3:15pm, CASE E313
Spanish applied linguistics from a critical perspective
What does it mean to know a language? Why is 90% or more target language-use in the classroom the language teaching standard? Who is a native speaker? What constitutes an error? Which Spanish(es) do we teach? This graduate seminar explores foundational questions and taken-for-granted concepts that underlie and have shaped the field of Spanish applied linguistics. We will learn about key language acquisition constructs (e.g., input, corrective feedback) and the canonical studies that have contributed to their popularity in the discipline. We will then draw on critical, sociolinguistic, and sociocultural research and theoretical frameworks (e.g., critical language awareness, translanguaging, raciolinguistics) to problematize the generalizability of these constructs for the teaching and learning of Spanish as an additional and heritage language.
This course will be conducted primarily in Spanish, with readings and assignments in both English and Spanish.