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Course Offerings for Fall 2007 Core Courses Elective Courses Core Courses SPAN 202 Intermediate Spanish II (LAIS Core Course) CRN 97104 Schedule M T W Th 10:30-11:30 am OLINLC206 This course continues refining and perfecting the student’s mastery of speaking, reading, comprehending, and writing Spanish. Advanced study of grammar is supplemented by a video series and authentic readings on a wide variety of topics related to Spanish and Latin American history, literature, music, and art. Current topics in culture such as the Latin American military dictatorships or issues surrounding the Hispanic presence in the United States will be discussed. In addition to shorter readings, such as excerpts from Don Quixote and indigenous Mexican poetry, students may read a short modern novel. Prerequisite: Spanish 201 or permission of instructor. Prospective students must speak with instructor prior to registration. On-line registration SPAN 301 Interpretation of Hispanic Texts (LAIS Core Course) CRN 97105 Schedule: Tu Th 1:00-2:20 OLINLC 206 Distribution: Foreign Language, Literature & Culture. This course provides an introduction to Spanish literature through a variety of genres including poetry, short stories, novels, dramas, and essays. We will begin in the 11th century when the first literary texts in Spanish were written, and continue through the twentieth century. Special attention will focus on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, an especially rich period of literary production in Spain. Discussions will take into account the historican and cultural conexts in which these texts were produced in order to provide students with a greater understanding of Spanish culture. We will also explore other artistic contributions to this culture from the fields of music, painting, and sculpture. Students will read texts in the original with special attention given to close readings. Conducted in Spanish. Open for online early registration. Elective Courses ANTH 201A Gender and Social Inequalities in Latin America CRN 97105 Schedule: M W 1:30-2:50 OLIN 201 Distribution: Foreign Language, Literature & Culture. Recent achievements in democratization notwithstanding, contemporary Latin American societies continue to display dramatic inequalities. This class will explore inequalities of gender, and their interface with hierarchies of social class, ethnicity and race through examination of ethnographic texts. We will examine historical sources of these inequalities in colonial structures and their expression in contemporary cultural practices, giving attention both to social groups that seek to impose and maintain inequalities, and those who challenge them. After critically evaluating Latin American gender stereotypes, we will consider how gender is practiced and gender identities formed in particular local and global contexts. We will investigate urban elites and middle classes, and a variety of subaltern populations ranging from market women, to male factory workers, to groups struggling for indigenous rights, to transgendered prostitutes. Ritual contexts to be explored will include beauty contests, Carnival, and soccer, and Catholic, Protestant evangelical and Afro-Brazilian religious practices. Texts will be drawn from Latin American societies including Brazil, Peru, Mexico, and Guatemala, and will be chosen to represent a variety of theoretical approaches within anthropology. ArtH 269 Revolution, Social Change, and Art in Latin America CRN 97166 Schedule: Mon Wed 3:00-4:20 Preston 110 Distribution: Analysis of Arts. Cross-listed: Human Rights, LAIS, SRE This course examines the role that Christian iconography played in the conquests of the 16th century and the radical new meanings that same iconography took as time went on; it also reviews the visual strategies employed in the presentation of the “heroes” of independence movements (Simón Bolivar, Miguel Hidalgo) and how art contributed to the formation of national identities. It considers the 20th century Mexican mural movement and how the artists involved promoted and reaffirmed the nation’s new leftist political policies in public spaces. Other topics include printmaking as a political tool; the use of Che Guevara’s image as a catalyst for social change; murals in Nicaragua; art in Chicano activists in the United States; and the role of folk art traditions. The course concludes with a look at the use of performance, installation, and video as a means to promoting dialogue on such complex issues as the border, racism, feminism, and AIDS. Open for online early registration Susan Aberth CRN 97352 Schedule: Mon 9:30-11:50 Fisher Annex Distribution: Analysis of Arts. Cross-listed: LAIS This course examines the muralism movement’s philosophical origins in the decades following the Mexican Revolution, the murals of Orozco, Rivera, and Siqueiros, the Tres Grandes (“The Three Great Ones”); and the work of lesser-known Mexican muralists. Also considered is the muralism movement’s wide-ranging impact on murals executed under the WPA in the United States throughout the 1930s, in Nicaragua during the 1970s, and in urban Chicano communities. Prerequisite: Art History 101-102, or 160 or permission of the instructor. Open for online early registration ECON 221 Economics of Developing Countries CRN 97119 Schedule: Wed Fr 10:30-11:50 am OLIN 204 Distribution: Social Science. Cross-listed: Africana Studies; Asian Studies; Environmental Studies; GISP; Human Rights; LAIS, Social Policy. This course explores the economic conditions and problems faced by the majority of the world’s population that live in the developing countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. The concept of economic development is defined and related to ideas such as economic growth, sustainable development and human development. Economic theories of development are introduced, and policies designed to promote development at the local, national and international levels are evaluated. Considerable attention is paid to understanding how household decisions in rural agricultural societies are shaped by the institutional and policy environments. Topics include the economic consequences of colonialism and economic dependence; poverty and income distribution; investments in physical and human capital; economic aspects of household choices such as schooling, and fertility; rural-urban transformation; the effects of trade, industrial and agricultural policies; the role of foreign capital flows; political economy aspects of development policy; population growth and the environment; gender and development. Students will be expected to carry out a case study of the development experiences of a country of their choice. Prerequisites: One Economics course, or permission of the instructor. Open for online early registration PS 214 U.S./Latin American Relations CRN 97491 Schedule: M W 12:00-1:20 Olin 201 Cross-listed: American Studies; GISP; LAIS Related interest: Human Rights A comprehensive examination of the relationships between the United States and the nations of Latin America, how this process was affected by historical and ideological events, and what possibilities exist for its future. The course is divided into three sections: first, historical overview of the events that shaped U.S.-Latin American relations, emphasizing U.S. military interventions in Latin America, U.S. attempts to establish political and economic hegemony, and U.S. efforts to export democratic government; second, an examination of the principal issues that currently dominate the relations between the U.S. and its southern neighbors: economic integration, trade, drugs, and immigration; third, a close look at the relationships between the United States and three countries of special interest to it and its domestic politics: Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico. On-line registration SPAN 106 Basic Intensive Spanish CRN 97101 Schedule M T W Th 9:20-10:20 OLINLC 210 M T W Th 10:45-11:45 OLINLC 210 Distribution:Foreign Language, Literature & Culture 8 credits. This course is designed to enable students with little or no previous knowledge of Spanish to complete three semesters of college Spanish in five months (eight credits at Bard and four credits in Mexico in January). Students will attend eight hours of class per week plus two hours with the Spanish tutor. Oral communication, reading and writing skills will be developed through a variety of approaches. Prospective students must interview with the instructor prior to registration. On-line registration Jose Fernandez Castillo CRN 97102 Schedule M T W Th 9:20-10:20 am OLINLC 115 Distribution: Foreign Language, Literature and Culture A course designed for the student who has had some prior exposure to Spanish or who has excellent command of another Romance language. All the major topics in grammar will be covered, and the course will provide intensive practice in the four skills (speaking, comprehension, reading and writing). We will be using a new textbook specially designed to provide a streamlined review of basic topics in grammar and provide more detail and exercises for advanced topics. The textbook will be supplemented with authentic video material from Spain and 'Latin America. One additional hour per week of practice with the Spanish tutor and a substantial amount of work in the language resource center will also be required. The course will prepare the student for summer language programs abroad or Spanish 201 the following semester. On-line registration SPAN 201 Intermediate Spanish I CRN 97103 Schedule: M T W Th 10:30-11:30 am OLINLC 208 Distribution: Foreign Language, Literature & Culture For students who have completed Spanish 101-102. This course is designed to perfect the student's command of all four language skills (speaking, aural comprehension, reading, and writing). This will be achieved through an intensive grammar review, conversational practice, reading of modern Spanish texts, writing simple compositions, and language lab work. On-line registration SPAN 240 Testimonies of Latin America CRN 97034 Schedule: Tu Th 2:30-3:50 OLIN 203 Distribution: Foreign Language, Literature & Culture /Rethinking Difference Cross-listed: Human Rights; LAIS This course provides the opportunity for students to engage critically with texts that serve as a public forum for voices often silenced in the past. Students will also learn about the broader context of the hemisphere's history through the particular experiences of women from Bolivia, Guatemala, Argentina, Mexico, and the U.S.-Latino community, including Rigoberta Menchú, Domitila Barrios de Chungara, and Cherríe Moraga. We will read testimonial accounts documenting the priorities and concerns of women who have been marginalized for reasons of poverty, ethnic difference, political ideologies, or sexual preference. The semester will be devoted to analyzing the form in which their memories are represented textually, and to the discussion of the historical circumstances that have led to their marginalization. Some of the central questions that will organize our discussions are: how to represent memories of violence and pain? What are the ultimate effects of mediations of the written word, translations to hegemonic languages, and the interventions of well-intentioned intellectuals? How best to use writing as a mechanism to trace a space for dignity and "difference"? We will integrate films that portray the issues and time-periods documented in the diaries and testimonial narratives to be read - including "Men With Guns", "El Norte," "Historia oficial," and "Rojo amanecer." Conducted in English. On-line registration SPAN 340 Cervantes' Don Quixote CRN 97033 Schedule: M W 1:30-1:50 pm OLIN 303 Distribution:Foreign Language, Literature & Culture Cross-listed: Human Rights, LAIS This course examines the role of difference in Miguel de Cervantes’ masterpiece, El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha. In this “first modern novel” conflict erupts when an old man, moved by his readings of chivalric literature, pronounces himself a knight in shining armor to rescue those in need. Believing in evil enchanters, Don Quijote and his rotund alter ego, Sancho Panza, set out to rectify the wrongs of the world. However, Don Quijote takes up this mission when knighthood has long ceased to be a social reality in sixteenth-century Spain. Difference and conformity thus become critical issues at every turn of this novel. What are the ideological forces that compel conformity in Don Quijote? How are language and violence posited as instruments of change? How does literature change its readers and, alternatively, how do readers change literature? Apart from Don Quijote readings will include Lazarillo de Tormes, Amadis of Gaul, and El abencerraje, among others. Conducted in English. On-line registration SPAN 357 Writing Toward Hope CRN 97107 Schedule: M W 1:30-2:50 pm OLINLC 206 Cross-listed: Human Rights; LAIS Based on Marjorie Agosín’s recent compilation with this same title, this seminar considers the regenerative power of language after the experience of traumatic historical and political events in Latin America. We will read well-known and less familiar voices that attest to a variety of instances of crises: bearing witness, confronting silenced memories, exile, giving voice to fear, women’s roles in Latin America, and various expressions of hope. Among the authors we will read are: Jacobo Timerman, Reinaldo Arenas, Griselda Gambaro, Víctor Montejo, Luisa Velenzuela, Homero Aridjis, and Claribel Alegría. Agosín’s anthology includes fiction, essays, plays and poems that “capture the creativity and expression born out of the various social and political struggles that took place in Latin America during the last century.” Conducted in Spanish. Please note: Spanish 301 or 302 are prerequisites for all 300-level literature seminars in Spanish. Prospective students must speak with instructor prior to registration. On-line registration Back to course list Back to top |
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