Transcript title

Culture Lit of Americas

Credits

4

Grading mode

Standard letter grades

Total contact hours

40

Lecture hours

40

Recommended preparation

WR 121Z.

Course Description

Interdisciplinary study of representative literary and historical texts (and other media) from Hispanic and Afro-Caribbean cultures of traditional, colonial and post-colonial origin.

Course learning outcomes

1. Build knowledge of language arts and cultures different from one’s own:
a. Situate individual Latin American texts within national or regional categories (e.g., Mexico, Meso-America, the Caribbean and Columbia, Andean region, and the Southern Cone) and identify shaping features of their cultural history (e.g. the effects of the Spanish Conquest; patterns of conflict and acculturation created by the mix of European, African, and indigenous cultures and values, urban and rural structures, Catholic and syncretized folk beliefs, rich and poor, conqueror and vanquished/ruler and ruled).
b. Identify distinctive characteristics, genres, and periods of traditional, modern and "Boom" literature, the few Indigenist texts, and film.
c. Analyze and evaluate significant ways that Latin American texts reflect or represent their specific contexts (e.g. cultural values and beliefs, intellectual and creative traditions, historical patterns of cross-cultural conflict and acculturation, biographical backgrounds, social and political realities).
d. Evaluate the limitations and benefits of studying Latin American works in cross-cultural translation (i.e. across one or more different languages and cultures, across written or cinematic systems and media).
2. Apply this knowledge to cross-cultural comparative analysis
a. Identify and analyze significant cross cultural differences and similarities between "official" story and real story, among different Latin American works, between Latin American language arts/cultures and one’s own.
b. Examine the effects of individual and culturally-determined factors (such as race, gender, class, nation, biases of information sources, prior cross-cultural experiences) in one’s own and others’ responses to Latin American texts and cultures.
c. Identify topics of personal interest, unanswered questions, controversial claims and alternative viewpoints arising from one’s comparative study for further research and investigation.
3. Construct and communicate persuasive cross-cultural interpretations
a. Formulate responses and interpretations using varied strategies and resources (e.g., active reading/viewing skills; self-reflection, critical and empathetic thinking, oral discussion and writing, multiple perspectives, comparative analysis, and interdisciplinary knowledge).
b. Create persuasive cross-cultural interpretations of Latin American texts that integrate ethnorelative perspectives and analytical criteria appropriate to Latin American language arts and their cultural contexts.
c. Explain, support, and illustrate one’s points using relevant, well-selected evidence textual evidence.

General education/Related instruction lists

• Cultural Literacy
• Arts and Letters