Module SPAN3261: Exploring the Visual and Popular in Latin American History and Literature

Department: Modern Language and Cultures (Spanish)

SPAN3261: Exploring the Visual and Popular in Latin American History and Literature

Prerequisites

• Spanish Language 2A (SPAN2011) OR Spanish Language 2A [for students taking a year abroad] (SPAN2131) OR Spanish Language 2B (SPAN2111) OR Spanish Language 2B [for students taking a year abroad] (SPAN2121), OR an equivlent qualification to the satisfaction of the Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative.

Corequisites

• Modern European Languages, Combined Honours and all Joint and 'with' programmes: Spanish Language 4 (SPAN3011). Other: see Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative.

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None.

Aims

• To provide a comparative perspective on visual and literary production in Latin America.
• To introduce students to the advanced study of visual and literary cultural forms in this context.
• To develop students' research skills through a module that is research-based and research-oriented as well as research led.

Content

• The module is designed to expand student knowledge of Latin American visual and literary culture.
• In the first term it focuses on visual culture in Mexico, specifically photography and documentary film related to the Mexican Revolution (1910-20) to raise issues around concepts such as race, the gaze, power and memory.
• In the second term, it explores how various (popular) cultural forms are engaged within the works of the Latin American literary authors Mario Vargas Llosa and Manuel Puig, asking what the effects of such an engagement are and how they can be understood through the concept of postmodernism.
• The module thus serves to break down barriers between different forms of cultural expression and requires students to think through important aspects of visual, cultural and literary theory and practice, such as the contrast between high and low culture, the truth value associated with different media, questions of identity and representation, the postmodern self, and literary and linguistic expression, both in Latin American and in more general terms. It is aimed at final year students and, as such, engages with and develops an advanced understanding of key critical and theoretical issues, as well as demanding a knowledge of cultural and historical context.

Learning Outcomes

• A critical undetstanding of visual and literary production in Latin America.
• A critical understanding of the historical and cultural contexts in which the visual artefacts and literary texts were produced.
• A critical understanding of the methodologies and theoretical paradigms appropriate to the interpretation of the visual artefacts and literary texts.

• The ability to interpret image and text-based forms in terms of their formal/aesthetic properties.
• The ability to interpret image and text-based forms in terms of their contexts of production.
• The ability to critically evaluate and apply a range of methodologies to perform the above analyses.

• Enhanced range and fluency of expression in English.
• The ability to formulate arguments coherently and to present them in written and oral form.
• The ability to use methodological paradigms and to think independently.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The module will be taught by means of plenary sessions and seminars in which the issues raised in plenaries are subject to more in-depth discussion.
• Weekly reading in preparation for plenaries and seminars will foster the acquisition of the relevant subject-specific knowledge and this knowledge will be further enhanced as students debate issues surrounding Latin American visual and literary culture. Such debate will allow students to develop their analytical capacities and to explore a range of methodological approaches with due attention to issues of historical and cultural specificity.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

None.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University