Topics in Latin American Literature and/or Iberian Literatures & Culture (480-0-1)

Topic

Science Fiction in Latin American Literature

Instructors

Emily Maguire
847/491-2340
3-125 Crowe

Meeting Info

Kresge 3535 Span & Port Sem Rm: Mon 2:00PM - 4:50PM

Overview of class

Science Fiction in Latin America

It would not be inaccurate to say that until recently, science fiction in Latin America has been viewed as marginal the region's literary production. For much of the twentieth century, Latin American literature with non-realist elements was viewed through the lenses of the fantastic or the "lo real maravilloso" (the marvelous real). As scholars such as Rachel Haywood Ferreira and Soledad Quereilhac have shown, however, Latin America has a robust corpus of texts that can be considered science fiction dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. This course will explore the place of science fiction in Latin America in terms of both the genre's relationship to socio-cultural moments and its positioning with respect to literary canon(s) and popular culture. After considering the question of what characterizes science fiction as a separate genre, our reading will proceed chronologically. We will examine works from the fin de siglo through the 1930s, when science fiction narratives such as Antonio Tapia y Rivera's Póstumo el transmigrado, Monteiro Lobato's O Presidente Negro, and Jose Antonio Osorio Lizarazo's Barranquilla 2232 engage questions of national identity and cultural modernity; the mid-century, when writers like Clemente Palma, Jorge Luis Borges, Elena Aldunate, and Hugo Correa turn to science fiction to highlight the region's changing relationship to both capitalism and technology; and the 1960s, when Cuban science fiction writers Oscar Hurtado and Miguel Collazo use the genre explore the relationship of the intellectual to political struggle(s). We will end by looking at the "speculative turn" of late-twentieth and early-twenty-first century Latin American literature, in which science fictional and speculative elements have been taken up by mainstream Latin American literature, resulting in increasingly hybrid literary forms. Readings from this recent literary production will be drawn from the work of writers such as Rita Indiana Hernández, Michel Nieva, Liliana Colanzi, and Gabriela Wiener. In tandem with this diachronic investigation, we will examine Latin American science fiction's relationship to narratives of colonialism, scientific discourses, and ideas of utopia and dystopia. We will end by asking how recent science fictions explore questions of posthumanism, Afro/Indigenous Futurisms, and environmental crisis.

Registration Requirements

Open to all graduate students. Students outside of Spanish and Portuguese may require a permission number to register; please contact Tori McCausland (torimccausland@northwestern.edu) if you need a permission number.

Learning Objectives

• Gain an awareness of the social, political, cultural, and historical factors influencing the development of science fiction and speculative literature in the 20th and 21st centuries.
• Gain an understanding of the concept of genre, particularly as it relates to the development of science fiction. Explore the role of race, class, and gender in the construction of literary and cinematic genre.
• Students will develop their writing skills and sharpen their powers of interpretation, critique, aesthetic perception and analysis through the writing of a conference abstract, two short position papers and one 8-9-page conference paper.
• Students will develop their oral communication skills through the delivery of a 20-minute conference presentation on a chosen topic. They will gain experience in listening to others and participating in scholarly conversation.

Evaluation Method

Oral presentation of conference paper

Class Materials (Required)

• Rita Indiana, La mucama de Omicunlé. Editorial Periférica, 2015. ISBN: 978-8416291083
• Michel Nieva, La infancia del mundo. Editorial Anagrama, 2023. ISBN: 978-8433918321
• Gabriela Wiener, Atusparia. Random House, 2024. 978-8439743491

(Books can be in e-book format if preferred.)

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Please contact the department of Spanish & Portuguese to request a permission number, spanish-portuguese@northwestern.edu.