Students access different Hispanic news media links on the Internet and bring to class current issues for class discussion. These issues may be used as entries in the students' personal portfolios. Through discovery they begin a self-awareness process of their own personal and cultural identity and that of the Latinos in this society. This course examines Latin American civilization and culture, including not only Spanish America, but also those of Haiti and Brazil. Aspects of the geography, early and present history of every country, and the parallel economic, political, social, intellectual and cultural conflicts and issues that have affected, in one way or another, the character of its people.
Students do daily presentations on assigned topics.
This course is an introduction to Spanish American Literature written from the pre-Colombian period to the 20th Century. Students are encouraged to offer their personal perspectives, derived from their cross-cultural experiences, with regards to the social, cultural and historical framework from which a particular work was produced. Students are required to write a research paper. The goal of this course is to achieve a general understanding about the social, cultural, and intellectual implications that the autobiographical discourse of a selected group of Latin American women writers exposes in the writings of the self. For the theoretical component of the course the students are encouraged to either explore various feminist issues and approaches, or address a topic that particularly interests them.