Territories of Dwelling, Desire and Resistance in Latin America
SPAN 288
Spring 2025
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
LAST 288 |
What does it mean to dwell in a place? How are spatial orders and more-than human dimensions conceived of and what is the symbolic and material weight of these conceptions? This course seeks to examine the ways in which diverse spaces categorized as rural or as "natural frontiers" in Latin America have been inhabited, negotiated, and contested in the 20th and 21st centuries. How have cultural practices constructed them as territories of dwelling, desire, possession, dispossession, and resistance? How does narrative and art reflect on local modes of dwelling and on the relationships between community, embodiment, desire, memory and the materiality of place? We will focus on texts and artistic practices--literature, film, performance, and the visual arts--that, in thinking about mountains, rivers and other bodies of water, plants, more-than-human beings, seek to destabilize the hegemonic (colonial) gaze that has been projected onto rural spaces for centuries and complicate extractivist and other capitalist logics that have sought to transform them. We will trace how these texts intervene in urgent debates about extractivism, the destiny of rural lands, the uses, abuses and rights of nature, the struggles for peasant and indigenous rights, environmental justice, and the defense of alternative ontologies. We will focus particularly on the Andean and Amazon regions of South America, with specific attention to Colombia and Perú. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA RLAN |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (HISP)(HRAD-MN)(LAST) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Major readings:
Literary texts written by Arguedas, Guimaraes Rosa, Colanzi, and others. Films by Lucrecia Martel, Oscar Ruíz Navia, César Acevedo, Laura Huertas Millán, etc. Art by Cecilia Vicuña, Abel Rodríguez, Carolina Caicedo, Miguel Angel Rojas, Wilson Díaz, Felipe Arturo, Delcy Morelos, etc.
Latin American theorists include Rivera Cusicanqui, Escobar, De la Cadena, Curiel, etc.
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Examinations and Assignments:
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Class participation, weekly written reactions, a creative audiovisual assignment, two short essays and a group oral presentation. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
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This course is intended for students who have completed Spanish 221 or the equivalent with a grade of B- or better. Advanced-level competence in Spanish is essential. Students who have not taken SPAN 221 should consult with the professor before pre-registering.
Reading, writing and discussion are the best ways for adult learners to improve their Spanish. Students are expected to be active/informed participants in class discussions, further developing their spoken Spanish skills. You will improve all of your language skills in this course. |
| Instructor(s): Ospina,María Times: .M.W... 10:50AM-12:10PM; Location: FISK413; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 8 | JR major: 2 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 1 | JR non-major: 1 | SO: 2 | FR: 1 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 5 | 1st Ranked: 1 | 2nd Ranked: 1 | 3rd Ranked: 2 | 4th Ranked: 1 | Unranked: 0 |
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