Spanish and PortugueseReading Latin America From Without: Decolonial Lenses
SPAN 697-301
Prof. Ashley Brock
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This course invites reflection on some of the ethical binds of studying and teaching Latin American literature from a position of exteriority. The recognition that our classroom in Philadelphia is outside of Latin America by most definitions will serve as our point of departure, but we will take an expansive approach to the concept of “without” –encompassing geographic distance, gaps in cultural and linguistic proficiency, and lack (of access, knowledge, and belonging)— one that necessarily challenges cartographic borders and monolithic understandings of Latin America. We will engage conversations surrounding Latinamericanismo, World Literature, translation and translatability, ethnographic paradigms of knowledge, and the virtues and limitations of affective and embodied reading practices, among other topics. Throughout, we will turn to theoretical as well as primary texts that ask us to reflect critically on the site(s) of knowledge production and the role of literature, the lettered elite, academic scholarship, and pedagogy in upholding or interrupting colonial power relations.
Dissertation Prospectus Workshop
SPAN 698-301
Prof. Ericka Beckman
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This course aims to develop awareness about what constitutes effective scholarly prose in Spanish. It proposes to hone the student's handling of writing as a vehicle for the expression of intellectual thought, but also to develop a consciousness of the rhetorical strategies that can be used to advance a critical argument effectively. Extensive writing exercises will be assigned; these will be followed by intense and multiple redactions of the work originally produced. The ultimate goal is for students to develop precision, correctness, and elegance in their written work. Students will also work on a class paper written previously, with a view to learning the process of transforming a short, limited expression of an argument into a publishable article. Course by permission of instructor.