Latin American Spanish (MA)
A.Y. 2024/2025
Learning objectives
The course offers an in-depth overview of the main literary phenomena in Hispano-American contexts, with particular attention to the relationship between aesthetics and politics, between literary and artistic texts, and historical-political contexts of reference. The aim is to provide highly innovative tools and models for the analysis of the structures and forms of narration, applied in particular to the problems of translation, including intersemiotics, and literature teaching.
Expected learning outcomes
Knowledge and skills: the student acquires specialized skills in the analysis of contemporary Hispanic American texts and contexts, with particular attention to literary phenomena that intertwine the aesthetic and political dimensions. He or she recognizes independently the literary value of the main texts, in their structural, stylistic and gender specificities. Applied skills: the student is able to use the main critical analysis tools with properties, problematizing them and integrating them with the most current and innovative approaches. Moreover, he refines the communication and reworking skills of the acquired contents, both in written and oral form, he learns to work in a team also with the use of multimedia technologies, he develops the critical spirit and the ability to question traditional theories and methodologies.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
During the course, a sample of contemporary Latin American artistic and literary productions will be examined through the interdisciplinary perspective of cultural criticism. After contextualizing the main critical theories to address the study of Latin American cultural complexity, literary, cultural and artistic practices that contribute to articulating dissident archives and constructing alternative memories of the recent past will be analyzed.
The main objectives will be to 1) examine the main cultural and literary forms, aesthetic and stylistic procedures that describe and figure the historical and cultural processes of contemporary Latin America; 2) analyze the relationship between artistic and literary materialities and the configuration of new identity imaginaries (political, ethnic, sexual, generational).
The methodology, which combines teaching and learning, includes presentations of the contexts and main theoretical debates by lecturers and peer tutoring sessions, in which students will carry out practical work based on the analysis of the different textualities under study (novels, films, performances, testimonies...).
Participation in Units A and B involves following the readings and intervening in class based on the texts to be discussed each day. It is essential to follow the texts in each session and participate in the collective discussions.
UNIT A
1. Latin American literature as object of study; interpretations of Latin American identity: 20th century.
Essays by Antonio Cornejo Polar and Ana Pizarro.
2. Notions of center and periphery, modernity and coloniality.
Essays by Beatriz Sarlo and Aníbal Quijano.
3. Indigenous epistemologies: state of the art.
Essays by Arturo Escobar and Miguel Rocha Vivas.
4. Memory and testimony
Essays by Carolina Pizarro and José Santos
5. Culture and market in the post-autonomy era.
Essays by Josefina Ludmer and Florencia Garramuño
UNIT B.
1. Artivism and narr-actions: the state of affairs
Essays by Nelly Richard
2. Geological writing and appropriation
Essays by Cristina Rivera Garza
3. Feminisms of the South
Essays by Francesca Gargallo and María Lugones
4. Cuir decolonial
Essays by Diego Falconí and Gabriele Bizzarri
5. Trans and extra-canonical writing: new paradigms
Essays by Tomás Albaladejo and Jorge Locane
UNIT C
Introduction to scientific research and workshops in peer tutoring
The main objectives will be to 1) examine the main cultural and literary forms, aesthetic and stylistic procedures that describe and figure the historical and cultural processes of contemporary Latin America; 2) analyze the relationship between artistic and literary materialities and the configuration of new identity imaginaries (political, ethnic, sexual, generational).
The methodology, which combines teaching and learning, includes presentations of the contexts and main theoretical debates by lecturers and peer tutoring sessions, in which students will carry out practical work based on the analysis of the different textualities under study (novels, films, performances, testimonies...).
Participation in Units A and B involves following the readings and intervening in class based on the texts to be discussed each day. It is essential to follow the texts in each session and participate in the collective discussions.
UNIT A
1. Latin American literature as object of study; interpretations of Latin American identity: 20th century.
Essays by Antonio Cornejo Polar and Ana Pizarro.
2. Notions of center and periphery, modernity and coloniality.
Essays by Beatriz Sarlo and Aníbal Quijano.
3. Indigenous epistemologies: state of the art.
Essays by Arturo Escobar and Miguel Rocha Vivas.
4. Memory and testimony
Essays by Carolina Pizarro and José Santos
5. Culture and market in the post-autonomy era.
Essays by Josefina Ludmer and Florencia Garramuño
UNIT B.
1. Artivism and narr-actions: the state of affairs
Essays by Nelly Richard
2. Geological writing and appropriation
Essays by Cristina Rivera Garza
3. Feminisms of the South
Essays by Francesca Gargallo and María Lugones
4. Cuir decolonial
Essays by Diego Falconí and Gabriele Bizzarri
5. Trans and extra-canonical writing: new paradigms
Essays by Tomás Albaladejo and Jorge Locane
UNIT C
Introduction to scientific research and workshops in peer tutoring
Prerequisites for admission
The course is held in Spanish. The materials and the bibliography of the examination presuppose skills in literary history, use of terminology and critical and textual analysis acquired in previous courses.
Teaching methods
The course adopts the following teaching methods: collaborative seminar lectures involving the careful reading on a weekly basis of the materials under analysis, for proper participation in the classroom discussion. In the second part of the teaching, attending students, coordinated by tutors, will form working groups with foreign colleagues in order to: analyze critical materials; produce texts and posters that will be evaluated in itinere by the lecturers; practice critical thinking and learn research methodologies. The course is articulated through co-presence sessions (joint class) via Zoom, for which special schedule flexibility is requested.
Teaching Resources
The bibliography provides an initial orientation to the course topics. During the first collaborative lectures, the course content and final bibliography will be negotiated. The materials presented here are not intended to be final, but will be supplemented during the lectures with films, performances, blogs and further study materials.
All primary and secondary bibliography texts will be made available in full through Teams at the beginning of class.
All primary and secondary bibliography texts will be made available in full through Teams at the beginning of class.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of an individual interview, which includes questions asked by the teacher, interactions between teacher and student and the analysis and commentary of one or more passages taken from the works in the program. The interview, in Spanish language, lasts about 20 minutes. The interview aims to verify the knowledge of the texts studied, the ability to contextualize authors and works, the ability to analyze the text, the ability to exposition, the accuracy in the use of specific terminology, the ability to reflect critically and personally on the proposed themes. The final grade is expressed in thirtieths, and the student has the right to reject it (in which case it will be recorded as "withdrawn"). For the students attending, there will be introduced in itinere tests, at the end of the different modules, and presentations of written and oral group work.
Other information:
International students or Erasmus incoming students are invited to contact the teacher of the course in advance.
Examination procedures for students with disabilities and/or DSA must be agreed with the teacher, in agreement with the competent office. The course is valid until February 2026.
Other information:
International students or Erasmus incoming students are invited to contact the teacher of the course in advance.
Examination procedures for students with disabilities and/or DSA must be agreed with the teacher, in agreement with the competent office. The course is valid until February 2026.
L-LIN/06 - LATIN AMERICAN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES - University credits: 9
Lessons: 60 hours
Professor:
Scarabelli Laura
Professor(s)