Department of Spanish and Portuguese

Prerequisite:  S280 or S310 or Consent of the Department

This course offers an overview of the cultural histories of Spanish-speaking countries from pre-Columbian times to the contemporary world, focusing on key moments of cultural and societal transformations. Special attention will be given to visual culture, including architecture, sculpture, painting, photography, and film as we study how a diversity of cultures, languages, religions, and worldviews have coalesced, both at war and peacefully, across time and contributed to the formation of the multifaceted character of what today are the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America and Spain.

We will discuss the continuities and discontinuities between past and present, looking at not only how the past affects the present but also how the present recreates or imagines the past. We will explore the development of notions of race, ethnicity, religion, class, and gender, as well as concepts relevant to Latin American and Iberian histories such as convivencia, imperialism, colonialism, nationalism, mestizaje, and indigenismo. Learning about diversity within the Spanish-speaking world while developing critical and analytical skills in Spanish will help improve your linguistic and cultural competence and prepare you for 400-level courses in Spanish. This course is conducted in Spanish.

This class:

• gives you a broad understanding of the cultural histories of Spanish-speaking peoples.
• gets you ready for study abroad.
• helps you hone your reading and writing skills in Spanish,
• gives you ample opportunity to debate and discuss your ideas in Spanish,
• prepares you for advanced classes in Spanish, and
• empowers you to be a more critical and creative thinker across the board, no matter your major or career plans.

HISP-S 324    #8013    11:30A-12:45P     MW     GA 0013    Prof. Alejandro Mejias- Lopez

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