SPAN 384 - Latin America’s Revolutionary Century

Throughout the twentieth century, Latin America was one of the epicenters of insurgent and revolutionary struggles in the world. These represented, regardless of their ideological differences, the entry of the equality principle in national spaces that had mostly imagined and structured themselves as two-tiered societies in which a large segment of the population-Indians, minorities, and even women-had been, for all practical purposes, systematically excluded. By focusing on the cultural production (novels, films, essays, etc.) related to four revolutionary constellations-the Mexican and Cuban Revolutions, the Central American guerrillas, and the Zapatistas-this course aims to explore and analyze the languages of insurgency and counterinsurgency, the figure of the revolutionary and guerrilla fighter as a political subjectivity, and the relation between politics and aesthetics. Primary texts will be supplemented with historical and theoretical readings.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I
Prerequisite(s): For Spanish credit: SPAN 321 or equivalent
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): LIT 397
Notes: This course serves as the junior seminar for 2024-25.
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical, in English or a foreign language, or works of the visual or performing arts).