| Unit name | Re-Making and Re-Sexing Hispanic History |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HISP21311 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Ginger |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The modern world has been shaped significantly by the revolutions that swept the Atlantic world at the beginning of the modern period. These events broke up the Spanish Empire and ultimately undermined its old monarchy. The pursuit of freedom has been a crucial factor in the modern world’s subsequent development, but also one of its most difficult endeavours. In the Spanish-speaking world, supporters of liberalism and democracy have struggled with dictatorship and repression. These struggles have given rise to stories and narratives, ‘foundational fictions’ that seek to define or reflect on the central concerns of such modern nations and of the individuals who live in them. Sexuality is at the heart of many such stories, just as it is a significant factor in people’s lives. This unit looks at some examples of how some such key narratives have been told and re-told on both sides of the Spanish-speaking Atlantic, in Latin America (especially Argentina), and Spain.
Aims:
Subject-specific: Through relatively focused and selective study, students should begin to articulate their understanding of parallel developments across the Atlantic in modern Hispanic culture, with specific regards to the telling and re-telling of stories about history in an effort to articulate the meaning of freedom, often embodied in sexual freedom, in the wake of the collapse of the old Spanish monarchy (‘empire’). Students will be able to articulate why these issues have mattered in the context of Hispanic cultures. Generic: Using a relatively selective amount of primary material, students should begin to understand how to interrelate the analysis of detail with broader thematic and contextual study in a sustained topic of study. Through consideration of a relatively selective number of parallel case studies, students should develop the skill of producing sustained reflection on a substantial topic as a whole, drawing on detailed evidence. Students should be able to take notes on a sustained course of lectures, to engage in structured group activity and individual preparation, and to combine what they have discovered from these diverse activities into an articulate piece of written work in an academic format. Employability: Within a quite structured pattern of work, and given a fairly constrained focus, students should be able to sustain reflection on the extended task at hand, integrating information that they are provided with by a lead (here in the form of lectures) and their own reflection both through relatively highly structured team activities (here in the form of focused seminar discussions on selective aspects of texts and films) and in more independent activity. Within these conditions, students should be able to produce a sustained final document clearly articulating the major conclusions they draw from an extended task.
Lectures and seminars
one 4000 word essay 100%
Dir. María Luisa Bemberg, Camila
Juana Manuela Gorriti, ‘Camila O’Gorman’ and other selected stories (available
via Biblioteca Virtual Cervantes and in coursepack)
Dir. Luis Buñuel, Tristana
Benito Pérez Galdós, Tristana
