HISTORY 465/565E

History of Spain: Modern Spanish Cultural Studies

Spring 2006

 

Lectures: T/Th 2-3:15 p.m. in Harvill 102                                                                                                     Dr. David Ortiz Jr.

Office Hours: T/W/Th 10:30-11:30 a.m., 4:00-5:00 p.m. & by appt.                                                        Social Sciences 237B

Office phone: 626-8419 w/v.m.                                                                                                                         davido@u.arizona.edu

 

This course will study contemporary Spanish cultural life in an effort to identify the various elements that contribute to Spain’s cultural distinction.  We will begin by identifying Spanish culture as an historical entity, created, shaped, and developed over time by the people, events, and projects of Spain’s recent past.  In the process, we will attempt to answer questions about what constitutes culture and how it is manifested in Spanish life.  How does Spanish regionalism articulate with, challenge, or change notions of ‘Spanish’ culture?  Spain is a member of the European Union (since 1986) and, as such, must subordinate some of its national interests to the interests of the EU.  How does Spain’s role in the EU change perceptions of what constitutes Spanish culture?  Is Spanish culture an entity that now requires maintenance and defense?  We will consider those questions and debate their answers during the semester as we immerse ourselves in Spanish cultural studies.

 

Required Texts

(465E & 565E)

Helen Graham & Jo Labanyi, eds., Spanish Cultural Studies

Carrie B. Douglass, Bulls, Bullfighting, and Spanish Identities

Barry Jordan & Rikki Morgan-Tamosunas, Contemporary Spanish Cinema

(565E only)

Barry Jordan & Rikki Morgan-Tamosunas, eds., Contemporary Spanish Cultural Studies

Jo Labanyi, ed., Constructing Identity in Contemporary Spain

 

Course Outline

 

Week 1:                                  Introduction

Jan. 12

 

Week 2:                                  Spain, El Desastre, and Modernisms post 1898

Jan. 17-19                               Readings: Graham & Labanyi, pp. 1-70, 79-94.

 

Week 3:                                  Out of step – the Republic and Modernization

Jan. 24-26                               Readings: Graham & Labanyi, pp. 95-166. Quiz 1.

 

Week 4:                                  Franco and Authoritarianism

Jan. 31-Feb. 2                        Readings: Graham & Labanyi, pp. 167-214, 223-255; Douglass, Introduction. Quiz 2.

 

Week 5:                                  Opening the Regime

Feb. 7-9                                  Readings: Graham & Labanyi, pp. 257-303; Douglass, Chapter 1. Quiz 3.

 

Week 6:                                  Democratic Transition

Feb. 14-16                              Readings: Graham & Labanyi, pp. 311-368, 373-380; Douglass, Chapter 2. Quiz 4.

 

 

Week 7:                                  European Spain

Feb. 21-23                              Readings: Graham & Labanyi, pp. 381-418; Douglass, Chapters 3 & 4. Quiz 5.

 

Week 8:                                  Performance Culture:  The Bullfight

Feb. 28-Mar.  2                      Readings: Douglass, pp. 117-211. Quiz 6.

 

Week 9:                                  MIDTERM

Mar. 7-9                                 EXAMS

 

Week 10:                                                SPRING

Mar. 14-16                                             BREAK 

 

Week 11:                                                The Spanish Film Industry

Mar. 21-23                                             Readings: Graham & Labanyi, pp. 71-78, 215-222, 304-310, 369-372; Jordan

& Tamosunas, Introduction. Quiz 7.

 

Week 12:                                                Luis Bunuel’s Las Hurdes (1933-30mins) & Un Chien andalou (1929-16 mins)

or Viridiana (1961-90mins)

Mar. 28-30                                             Readings: Jordan & Tamosunas, Chapter 1. Quiz 8.

 

Week 13:                                                Carlos Saura’s ¡Ay Carmela! (1990 – 102 mins.)

Apr. 4-6                                                  Readings: Jordan & Tamosunas, Chapter 2.

 

Week 14:                                                Bigas Luna’s Jamón, Jamón (1992 – 95 mins.)

Apr. 11-13                                              Readings: Jordan & Tamosunas, Chapter 3. Quiz 9.

 

Week 15:                                                Pedro Almodóvar’s Mujeres al borde de un Ataque de Nervios (1988 – 90 mins.)

Apr. 18-20                                              Readings: Núria Triana Toribio, “A Punk called Pedro: la movida in the films of Pedro

Almodóvar,” in Jordan & Tamosunas, Contemporary Spanish Cultural Studies,

pp. 274-282.

 

Week 16:                                                Pedro Almodóvar’s Todo Sobre Mi Madre (1999 – 101 mins.)

Apr. 25-27                                              Readings: Jordan & Tamosunas, Chapter 4. Quiz 10.                                  

 

Week 17:                                                Final Exam Review

May 2                                                     *Film Summary Due*

 

FINAL EXAM IS SCHEDULED FOR 2:00-4:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, 9 MAY 2006 IN HARVILL 102.

 

Attendance – I do not take attendance, but the pace of the course is such that students who do not attend regularly or who come to class unprepared will have a very difficult time passing this course.  My lectures will be interspersed with frequent, open classroom discussion of the readings and issues raised by the readings.  Students are expected to meet assignment deadlines, prepare their reading assignments conscientiously, and participate intelligently in classroom discussions.

 

Etiquette – In class - Students are required to treat each other and the instructor with respect.  New codes of conduct regarding classroom behavior (see ABOR 5-308 & 5-401) are in place to facilitate a learning environment.  Disruptive behavior (cell phone use, refusing to be seated, talking during lectures, sleeping, eating, newspaper reading, entering late or leaving early without authorization, etc.) is behavior that obstructs teaching or learning in my classroom.  I take disruptions of this sort very personally and will take immediate action to curtail such behavior in this classroom.

 

Extra-class - When writing an academic paper a student must use footnotes or endnotes, the purpose of which is to credit the source of the information used in the paper.  It is absolutely essential to footnote statements, especially quotations, which are not the result of your own creative endeavor.  I encourage students to organize group study sessions; all written work must be the result of each student’s individual effort.  Violation of either of these class norms will be regarded as plagiarism – a subversion of the code of academic integrity and student code of conduct (see ABOR 5-303, 5-308, 5-401).  I further regard this as a failure of personal honesty.  The minimum penalty for plagiarism is failure of this course.

 

Grading – Students who wish to take this class for Spanish major or minor field credit must see me as soon as possible to make arrangements for a slightly different assignment schedule. Otherwise, the student’s final grade for the course will be based on the following:

Quizzes – 25% of your grade.  These will be quizzes on the lectures/readings.  No make-ups are allowed.  The average of all quizzes will be computed to arrive at an overall grade.

 

Midterm Exam – 25% of your grade.  The Midterm Exam will consist of a practical exam (multiple choice, true-false, chronological jumble, matching) and an essay exam.  There will be no make-ups for the midterm exam, barring extraordinary circumstances.

 

Film Summary – 20% of your grade.  The film summary (5-6 pages) will be based on your review of one of the films shown in class.  I will provide a guide for writing your film summary.  The film summary is due on 2 May 2006 and will not be accepted after 5:00 p.m. on that date.

 

Final Exam – 30% of your grade.  The final exam will follow the format of the midterm exam and the quizzes.  There will be no make-ups for the final exam, barring extraordinary circumstances.

 

Important Note:  All assignments must be submitted in order to earn a passing grade for this course.

 

 

History 565E – There is a graduate section of this class.  Graduate students will have a more extensive reading list, in addition to the readings assigned for the undergraduate course.  Graduate students are expected to attend the undergraduate lectures regularly and meet with the instructor on a group basis, bi-weekly, in order to discuss regular course readings and their additional readings.  The schedule of readings for 565E is as follows:

 

Weeks 1-4 – read Graham & Labanyi and Holguín, “’National Spain Invites You’: Battlefield Tourism during the Spanish Civil War,” American Historical Review, vol. 110, no. 5, Dec. 2005, pp. 1399-1426.

Weeks 5&6 – read Douglass, Compitello, “The Culture of Flexible Accumulation in Post-Cambio Madrid,” Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, vol. 3, 1999, pp. 199-219; and Coffey, “Spanish Cultural Studies in the Undergraduate Classroom,” Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, vol. 3, 1999, pp. 251-267.

Weeks 7-10 – read Jordan & Tamosunas (cultural studies), Schmidt-Nowara, “‘This Rotting Corpse’: Spain between the Black Atlantic and the Black Legend,” Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, vol. 5, 2001, pp. 149-160; and Mariscal, “The Role of Spain in Contemporary Race Theory,” Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, vol. 2, 1998, pp. 7-22.

Weeks 11&12 – read Jordan & Tamosunas (contemporary cinema), Celaya, “Identidades lesbianas en España,” Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, vol. 2, 1998, pp. 63-86; and González-Millán, “El exilio gallego y el discurso de la restauración nacional,” Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, vol. 6, 2002, pp. 7-24.

Weeks 13-17 – read Labanyi, and Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, vol. 7, 2003, Special Section: Nationalisms, Vilarós, “Brokering Postnationalist Culture,” pp. 111-116; Epps, “Before Postnationalism: Supernationalism, Modernisme, and Catalonia,” pp. 133-160; Loureiro, “Imperfect Past: Globalization, Nationalism, and the Vanishing Intellectual,” pp. 161-172; Moreiras-Menor, “Regionalismo crítico y la reevaluación de la tradición en la España Contemporánea,” pp. 195-210; Vilarós, “The Passing of the Xarnego-Immigrant: Post-Nationalism and the Ideologies of Assimilation in Catalonia,” pp. 229-246.

 

Graduate students will write response papers (5 pages maximum) on their readings, an annotated bibliography, and a final paper (the topic of which will be determined in consultation with the instructor).  Graduate student grading will be as follows; Meetings/Engagement 20%, Response papers 20%, Annotated Bibliography 25%, Final paper 35%.  As in HIST 465E, all assignments must be submitted in order to earn a passing grade for this course.  The schedule of written assignments for 565E is as follows:

 

Week 4 – 2 February by 5 p.m. – first response paper.

Week 6 – 16 February by 5 p.m. – second response paper.

Week 9 – 9 March by 5 p.m. – annotated bibliography.

Week 11 – 23 March by 5 p.m. – third response paper.

Week 12 – 30 March by 5 p.m. – fourth response paper.

Week 17 – 2 May by 5 p.m. – fifth response paper.

Week 18 – 9 May by 5 p.m. – final paper.

 

IMPORTANT ADDENDA: Students with special circumstances that could impair their ability to meet course requirements must make their situations known to the instructor prior to exam and assignment due dates.  This course may present very controversial subject matter (sexuality, ethnicity, gender, etc.).  Censorship is not consistent with the goals of this class or my own beliefs about a university education. Students unwilling to engage with readings, lectures, film, video, music or discussions of such issues, for whatever reasons, should drop this course.  Remaining in this course constitutes student acceptance of all of the above class norms.