~ Constructing Contemporary Spain ~
What is it that makes Spain "Spain"? What images and/or stereotypes make up our imagined collage of this country? How do we define its cultures and its cultural production? This course takes a critical look at our own constructions of Spain and "Spanish," seeking to build a more complex understanding of its cultures, while providing tools to facilitate future explorations. We will consider historical circumstances and current rewritings of the past that define contemporary Spain, such as the experience and cultural memory of the Spanish Civil War, the Franco Regime, and the Spanish Transition to democracy. We will also discuss changing concepts of gender and sexuality in the twentieth century, nationalisms and historical autonomies, migrations, and identity.In addition to understanding the construction of contemporary Spain, one of the main goals of the course is to provide you with tools to analyze cultural materials and manifestations, to “read” culture critically in this course and enable you to apply those tools in contexts beyond the classroom.
In analyzing Spanish culture, we will work primarily through Spanish films and literature. “Literature” will be taken broadly to include fiction and poetry, newspapers and magazines, and critical articles. We will also use music, the visual arts, and architecture as we sketch a new picture of Spain.
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