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CS92PROD
Orientalism: Spain and Africa


SPAN 250
Fall 2014
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: COL 231
Certificates: Middle Eastern Studies
Course Cluster: African Studies

Over the past several decades, North African and Middle Eastern cultures have become conspicuously important within the Spanish cultural arena. Translations of writers from Lebanon to Morocco abound in Spanish bookstores. Spanish writers have begun addressing North African and Middle Eastern issues with greater frequency, especially in their novels. The dramatic rise in the African immigrant population in Spain during the 1980s and 1990s, meanwhile, has been matched by a rise in press coverage of issues pertaining to Africa and the Middle East. These factors constitute the point of departure for our historical overview of the treatment of Islamic cultures in modern Spain, from early 19th century to the present. Guided by Edward Said's seminal essay, ORIENTALISM, we will assess the extent to which (and the process by which) Spain passes from the Orientalized subject of European Romanticism (painting, literature, music) to an Orientalizing European power in the late 20th century. In doing so, we will seek to relate the representation of Islamic cultures in Spanish literature and painting to social, political, and economic factors, most important of which was Spain's military invasion into Morocco in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We will also survey changing attitudes among Spanish intellectuals with regard to the Islamic world and toward Spain's Islamic heritage, the result, perhaps, of 20th-century modernization and, most recently, of Spain's full integration, after Franco's death, into Europe's military and political structures. The tools for this study include works of literature primarily, but we will also focus on painting, historical essays, newspaper articles, and film.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RLAN
Course Format: LectureGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (AFST-MN)(COL)(HISP)(MUST-MN)(RMST)
Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above

Last Updated on NOV-06-2024
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