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CS92PROD
Contact Zone: Introduction to Amazonian Narratives
SPAN 289
Spring 2024
Section: 01  

Often, the Amazonian region has been considered a marginal space within the territorial limits of Perú, Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil. However, this territory is and has been key for these nations' past, present, and future. Beyond its outstanding biodiversity, the Amazon rainforest has housed for various centuries multiple and diverse native and non-native linguistic and ethnic groups. From the original Yanomami inhabitants to the contemporary European descendant citizens of Iquitos, the Amazonian territory has been a zone of contact where multiple cultural and cosmological views interact. In this class students will engage with a variety of materials, including literary works, travel diaries, films, and photographs that explore the Amazon rainforest: modern odysseys (La Vorágine), shape-shifting ghost stories (Las tres mitades de Ino Moxo), accounts of guerrilla warfare in the jungle (Naturaleza común), and apocalyptic prophecies (A queda do céu). By analyzing the literary and audiovisual archive resulting from multiethnic and multilingual interactions in the region, students will examine the role of the Amazon and its inhabitants in shaping the modern Latin American nations surrounding it. They will acquire a comprehensive understanding of the Amazonian region, its cultural diversity, and the complex issues it faces, such as racial and ethnic clashes, resource extraction, and the existential threat this poses to both human and non-human beings inhabiting it.
Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA RLAN
Course Format: SeminarGrading Mode: Graded
Level: UGRD Prerequisites: None
Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (HISP)(HRAD-MN)(RMST)
Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above

Last Updated on MAR-28-2024
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