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CS92PROD
Beyond Machu Picchu & Macondo: Real and Imaginary Worlds in Latin American Letters
SPAN 273
Spring 2021
Section: 01  
Crosslisting: LAST 273

Latin American writers and intellectuals have long conceived of their particular literary and cultural practices in connection to individual spaces and sites, both real and imagined. In this course we will examine why and how they have done so, looking not only at well-known if not legendary ones such as Machu Picchu and Macondo, invented, respectively, by Neruda and García Márquez in certain moments of their careers, but also the América and Gran Colombia of Simón Bolívar, the New York City of the Cuban intellectual José Martí (1880s) and Nuyorican writer Tato Laviera (1970s), as well as Violeta Parra's other Chile, César Aira's Colón (Panamá), Fernando Vallejo's Medellín (Colombia), and Mayra Montero's eroticized Caribbean. In each case we will be concerned with understanding the relationship between local, national, and hemispheric history and the new imaginarios created by the author/intellectual in question in the context of north-south relations. Topics to be considered within this critical framework will include the Wars of Independence, industrialization in the late 19th-century, the construction of the Panama Canal (1904--1914), the Cold War (1947--1991), Latino identity in the context of Puerto Rico and New York City, the drug wars, and sexual identity. When possible, films and short videos will be used to help build knowledge of historical context.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RLAN
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Student Option
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Requirement for: (HISP)(LAST)(RMST)
Past Enrollment Probability: 75% - 89%

Last Updated on OCT-11-2024
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