{"id":530,"date":"2017-01-31T19:21:19","date_gmt":"2017-02-01T01:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/?p=530"},"modified":"2020-10-15T18:23:56","modified_gmt":"2020-10-15T23:23:56","slug":"spanish-272-spring-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/medinavi\/2017\/01\/31\/spanish-272-spring-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"SPANISH 272. SPRING 2017. Cultural Heritage of Latin America \u201cPolitics of Life and Death in Latin American Literature and Film\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Cultural Heritage of Latin America<\/b><\/span><\/h1>\n

\u201cPolitics of Life and Death in Latin American Literature and Film\u201d<\/b><\/strong><\/span><\/h1>\n
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Scene from Machuca.<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Scene from La teta asustada<\/em>.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Life and death have been key concepts for the social organization of all civilizations. In Latin America, for example, the concept of death and afterlife became an element of contention between Pre-Colombian cultures and European colonizers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Death was also a recurrent topic during the Romantic Period (XIX century,) when authors were often inspired by topics of love and nationalism. Later, in the popular literary movement known as the Latin American<\/i> Boom (1960s-1970s<\/i>,) led by writers such as Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez (Colombia,) death and the supernatural were often employed as vehicles to address and represent political turmoil, racial oppression, and economic crisis. \u00a0These concerns are also present in films set in the 1980s and 1990s, where the directors address (directly or indirectly) histories of dictatorship, genocide, civil war, or violence.<\/span>
\n In this class we will examine how the topics of life and death can illuminate a discussion of the concerns, historical events, and political contexts of different parts and social groups of Latin America. We will focus on the following question: How do stories of life and death speak about: social values; gender, sex, and class struggles; and multicultural identities, through Latin American literature and film? Students will analyze a variety of literary and non-literary texts: novel [Juan Rulfo\u2019s Pedro P\u00e1ramo<\/i> (Mexico), Maria Luisa Bombal\u2019s La amortajada <\/i>(Chile),] film [Claudia Llosa\u2019s La Teta Asustada <\/i>(Per\u00fa,) Andr\u00e9s Wood\u2019s Machuca<\/i> (Chile),] poetry \u00a0[C\u00e9sar Vallejo\u2019s \u201cLos heraldos negros\u201d (Peru),] and short story [Emilio D\u00edaz Valc\u00e1rcel\u2019s \u201cLa muerte obligatoria\u201d (Puerto Rico.)] Cultural materials such as media, art, advertisement, photography, and cartoons will sometimes inform class discussions.<\/span><\/p>\n