SPAN 1845 - URBAN LIFE IN LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE AND FILM IN TRANSLATION
Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
The course examines representations of urban life in Latin American literature and film through works studied in English translation. Focusing on major cities such as Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Havana, Santiago, and Rio de Janeiro, students analyze how writers and filmmakers depict the city as a complex cultural space shaped by modernization, inequality, memory, violence, and everyday social practices. Drawing in part on theoretical approaches to urban culture developed in Bogota: Realidades, delirios y ficciones (2018)1, this course treats the city as a system of signs and narratives that can be “read” and interpreted. Through close attention to urban scenes, spaces, and events, students explore how literature and film reveal class relations, commerce, social interaction, and the emotional bonds-including nostalgia or saudade-that cities generate in their inhabitants. Particular emphasis is placed on how urban transformations are represented over time, especially from the second half of the twentieth century to the present. Special attention is given to how Latin American cities are represented over time, especially from the second half of the twentieth century to today. The course explores how cities change from mainly physical, built spaces into dynamic cultural spaces that are lived, remembered, imagined, and constantly rewritten through stories and images. Through literary analysis and film studies, students develop tools to better understand how urban life in Latin America is shaped, experienced, and reimagined in translated texts and films. The course also engages with key theoretical perspectives on the city and cultural representation, including approaches associated with Clifford Geertz, Beatriz Sarlo, Armando Silva, Nestor Garcia Canclini, Jesus Martin Barbero, and Adrian Gorelik, to analyze urban symbols, icons, and collective experiences. Through literary analysis and film studies, students develop critical tools to compare how Latin American cities are imagined, remembered, and contested in translated texts and visual narratives. No knowledge of Spanish is required. Impact: Current faculty have the knowledge, skill, and experience to teach this literature in translation course; no additional faculty are required to offer this course. Resources: No new resources are required. The course will use existing library holdings, streaming services, and instructional materials already available at the university.
Academic Career: Undergraduate
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: LG/SNC Elective Basis
Click here for class schedule information.
Add to Portfolio(opens a new window)
|
