Courses

Crosslistings: FNDL 27970, GNSE 27970/37970

Françoise de Graffigny’s novel, "Letters of a Peruvian Woman" (1747-1752), was one of the greatest critical and commercial successes of the French Enlightenment. By adopting the voice of a captured Incan princess, Graffigny presents a startling critique of European colonialism, social inequalities, and gender hierarchies, while also exploring the problems of cultural appropriation, translation, and the construction of individual identity. We will study the novel in dialogue with related readings from the period, including the political philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and the feminist writings of Marie Olympe de Gouges and Mary Wollstonecraft. We will also explore Graffigny's text  in relation to the evolution of the European novel and its representations of non-European societies (Montesquieu and Diderot), as well as indigenous accounts of colonialism (Garcilaso de la Vega). 

The course will be conducted in English. French readings will be available in both English translation and the original French. Students taking the course for FREN credit will read French works in French and complete written assignments in French.

Prerequisites
For French credit, FREN 20500, 20501 or an introductory-level literature course taught in French. No prerequisites for GNSE or FNDL students.

Crosslistings: CMLT 28302, LACS 28300, RDIN 28300

In this course, we will study key manifestations of the Afro-Hispanic Caribbean poetic tradition, from its earliest known expressions in the nineteenth century to present-day practices in hip-hop and reguetón. The course examines what is meant by Afro-Caribbean poetics, the tropological systems and thematic repertoires that have characterized it, how these have transformed over time, and the extent to which this poetry has served as a vehicle for exploring the cultural and racial identities of the region and as an instrument of resistance to various forms of extreme violence. The course will also introduce the concepts and methods necessary for poetic analysis. Materials to be studied will include the work of enslaved and free Afro-descendants in the late period of Spanish colonialism in the Americas (Plácido and J. F. Manzano); the experimental approaches of the Negrista avant-garde (Nicolás Guillén and Luis Palés Matos); feminist reformulations of these traditions (Nancy Morejón, Mayra Santos); and the music of contemporary artists such as Calle Trece, iLe, and Bad Bunny.

Taught in Spanish.

Prerequisites
SPAN 22005 is recommended.

Crosslistings: HLTH 28700

In this course, we will explore a selection of Spanish early modern texts that foreground disability and bodily difference in their narratives. Through our analysis of these texts, we will examine how early modern Spanish authors constructed and challenged notions of difference in relation to the cultural, social, and political context of their time. Moreover, we will reflect on how these representations, produced before the notion of a "normal body" came into being, inform our understanding of human diversity and social inclusion. Critical readings from disability literary studies will provide us with the necessary theoretical and conceptual tools for understanding and analyzing the texts. We will read literary works of diverse genres written by canonical authors of the period, such as Miguel de Cervantes, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón, Tirso de Molina, and Mateo Alemán.

Taught in Spanish.

Crosslistings: CMLT 28815/41815, NEHC 18815/41815

This course aims to examine the representation of the Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962) in the work of Algerian and French writers. It will consider a corpus of testimonial texts, novels, and poetry in relation to the memory of the war, its traumatic experiences, and various forms of anticolonial struggle and insurgency. We will analyse the narrative, discursive, and poetic strategies used by authors to explore individual and collective memories and elaborate a politics of resistance and transformation in the Algerian context. Studied authors include Maïssa Bey, Assia Djebar, Leïla Sebbar, Mouloud Feraoun, Jean Sénac, Laurent Mauvignier, and Joseph Andras.

All readings and in-class discussions will be in English. Students will have the option to write either in English or in French.

Prerequisites
For undergrads, instructor consent and a literature course in any language are required.

Crosslistings: GNSE 29117, LACS 29117, RDIN 29117, TAPS 28479 

What is performance? How has it been used in the Americas in precolonial, colonial, and post/neocolonial contexts? This course is an introduction to theatre and performance in Latin America and the Caribbean that will examine the intersection of performance, politics, and social life. We ask: how have embodied practice, theatre and visual art been used to negotiate ideologies of race, gender and sexuality?  What is the role of performance in relation to systems of power? How has it negotiated dictatorship, military rule, and social memory?

1. The goals of the course are:
   to give students an understanding of foundational texts in Performance Studies
2. to give students an overview of the history of performance and theatre practices in Latin America
3. to introduce students to some important performance artists in Latin America.

Crosslistings: FREN 29301, LACS 29299

This course examines the concept of language identity (i.e., the language[s] people employ to represent themselves) in multilingual Creolophone communities, particularly in Haiti. This course also examines the relationships between language identity, learning, language use, and literacy development in these societies. By the end of the course, students will be able to explain: 1) what language identity in multilingual Creolophone community reveal about speakers and their language attitudes; 2) how context and mode of communication can impact language identity and language use; 3) literacy acquisition and achievement in Creole communities; and 4) how Creolophones’ learning and literacy development are affected by language policies and ideologies. A final project will require students to design and conduct a preliminary sociolinguistic study based on students’ interests in the French-Creolophone world.
Taught in English.

Prerequisites
Knowledge of French and Kreyòl will be helpful, but not required.

Crosslistings: LACS 33444

Through a comprehensive study of the works of the Cuban writer José Martí, this seminar will explore key issues in the processes of cultural modernization that accelerated in Spanish America toward the end of the nineteenth century. This period witnessed the final collapse of the Spanish empire (with the loss of its last colonies, Cuba and Puerto Rico, in the War of 1898), the emergence of the United States as a new imperial power, the end of legal slavery, and the rise of an industrial, urban, and militant proletariat (a touchstone for a new conception of “social war” and of the political). All of this unfolded alongside a series of radical transformations in the cultural sphere, affecting literary aesthetics, the relationships among art, politics, and the market, and experiences of migration and exile. Martí’s writing, produced largely in the United States, stands as a symptom and archive of this period. We will examine the arc of Martí’s work, from his early writings and revolutionary poetry to his journalistic chronicles, culminating in his campaign diary, written in the heat of the final Cuban war of independence (1895) and an emblematic testimony to a life poised between art and politics, between desire and moral imperatives.

Taught in Spanish. Open to advanced undergraduates with consent of instructor.

This course is open to all RLL students and will be run as a workshop. The primary goal is to work on the Qualifying Paper with the objective of producing a piece of work that might, with subsequent revision, be submitted to an academic journal for publication. This course is also appropriate for anyone who wants to work on a dissertation proposal or chapter. We will cover all aspects of professional writing, from abstracts and grant proposals to revising manuscripts after readers' reports.

Prerequisites
Open only to RLL students.

This course provides students with a foundation in foreign language acquisition and sociolinguistic research pertinent to foreign language teaching, introduces current teaching methodologies and technologies, and discusses their usefulness in the classroom. 

Designed primarily with RLL students in mind but open to others.