Visual Culture in Latina/o America and Spain (350-0-1)
Instructors
Alejandra Uslenghi
847/467-1713
3-113 Crowe
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-440: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM
Overview of class
This class explores the photographic representations of major social and historical events in Latin America from the turn of the 19th century through out the 20th century. We will look at when and how photography became a medium of visual expression in Latin American culture; we will examine questions on the construction of a shared Latin American identity; and how different kinds of photographs (journalistic, ethnographic, territorial surveys, documentary, artistic) work as cultural interpretive tools. We will also practice how to write critically about photographs in relation to historical and literary works, learn about major photographers and how their images were produced, circulated and now participate in a larger historiography of the medium. We will put emphasis on the study of photographic themes that are singular to the Latin American experience: colonialism, revolution, native society, modernization, politics and self-determination. Prerequisite: SPANISH 250-0, 251-0, 260-0, or 261-0.
Registration Requirements
Prerequisite: SPANISH 250-0, 251-0, 260-0, or 261-0.
Learning Objectives
1. Observe the forms, genres, and styles of literary and artistic expression in Latin American visual culture from the 19th century to the present, identifying the relations between important events in Latin American history and their visual expression across media. Key moments are focused on the visual construction of coloniality, ethnicity, indigeneity, nationality, and cultural identity.
2. Gain awareness of the social, political, cultural, and historical factors influencing artistic expression, the relations between the artist and the public, and the potential of creative art to challenge or to affirm social and cultural norms. This will include discussions on how particular photographers and writers have represented the distant past and how photography and literature informs our understanding of the present.
3. Appreciate how literature and the arts reveal the differences and diversity, as well as the continuity and unity of human cultures. Key topics in this category include how diverse photographic practices have participated in the formation of a discourse and imaginary of a given subject (nationhood, revolution, gender, and racial identity.)
4. By emulating the subtleties of literature and the Arts, students develop their Spanish writing skills and sharpen their powers of interpretation, critique, and aesthetic perception. This involves summarizing arguments; generating questions and hypotheses; contextualizing and synthesizing analyses of assigned course texts and images in short writing assignments and a final portfolio.
Class Materials (Required)
Course package will be available on Canvas course site.
Class Materials (Suggested)
The Latin American Photobook (ed. Horacio Fernández), NY, Aperture, 2011
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: 1 course from SPANISH 250-0, SPANISH 251-0, SPANISH 260-0, or SPANISH 261-0