Global teaching in Modern Languages at QUB by Fiona Clark https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt Local teaching with a global outlook across the centuries. Click on a link to find an overview sample of courses that may be taught in different academic years. en-us 2020-07-02 18:45:01 UTC 2024-02-24 09:37:47 UTC hello@padlet.com Protecting Paradise - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 3 fclark19 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646244534 Studying the literature of Costa Rica, ecological impact, textiles and protest art. Students have the opportunity to complete a creative assessment, such as the 'arpillera' featured above.]]> 2020-07-02 18:50:22 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646244534 Disease and Society in Colonial Latin America - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 3 fclark19 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646245541 Studying health and medicine in indigenous and colonial Mexican society: epidemics, herbal cures, venereal disease, hospital trials.]]> 2020-07-02 18:51:58 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646245541 Encuentros Maravillosos - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 2 fclark19 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646249137 Exploring accounts of the first Spaniards to travel the Amazon river through to the ecological impact on the Amazon of technology and exploitation in the 21st century.]]> 2020-07-02 18:57:24 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646249137 Introduction to Latin American Studies - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 1 fclark19 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646251009 This course provides an introduction to Latin American history, art, culture, and literature from the 15th-21st century.]]> 2020-07-02 19:00:19 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646251009 Pictures of health - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 2 fclark19 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646253731 This course explores ex-voto and retablo art expressing experiences of miraculous cures and thanksgiving for protection from harm in Colonial Latin America.]]> 2020-07-02 19:03:52 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646253731 Potions and Poisons - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 3 fclark19 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646255125 This course studies how chocolate was both loved as a delicacy and in healthcare and feared as a substance used in curses and witchcraft in Colonial Mexico and Guatemala.]]> 2020-07-02 19:05:55 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646255125 The End of the World - Level 2 Spanish and Portuguese Studies https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646747623 This module explores Spanish dystopian narratives, such as Gómez de la Serna's 1928 story about an atomic bomb. Students discuss what these stories say about Spain's place in the world, and about the ethical dilemmas of science and technology. ]]> 2020-07-03 10:27:44 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646747623 Imperfect Heroines - Spanish and Portuguese Studies - Level 3 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646762114 This module examines the heroines populating Spanish novels from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. What was the mujer nueva? Who was the chica rara? How do the authors challenge the accepted wisdom of their day? How do they continue to challenge readers today? What has changed, really, since these novels were published, and how do these changes affect the way we read them? ]]> 2020-07-03 11:05:38 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646762114 Madrid, Spain https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646792461 Spanish Memoirs and Autobiographies of the 20th Century - Level 2 - Spanish and Portuguese Studies
Este curso opcional analizará algunos de los clásicos de la autobiografía y el memorialismo español (Rafael Alberti, Dolores Ibarruri), así como la manifestación de este género a través de otros medios (documentales, novela gráfica). Todo ello nos permitirá evaluar la conflictiva historia del siglo XX español (la República, la Guerra Civil, el exilio, la Transición a la democracia...) a través de unas obras con un fuerte contenido de memoria personal.]]> 2020-07-03 12:12:39 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646792461 Madrid, Spain https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646792913 Larra cursillo - Level 3 - Spanish and Portuguese Studies
Este cursillo, que forma parte del módulo de español del último año, se dedica a estudiar la producción del periodista romántico Mariano José de Larra (1809-1837), dedicada a representar críticamente los cambios políticos y culturales que tuvieron lugar en Madrid en un momento de fuerte proceso de cambio y conflicto entre la España tradicional y la que quería ser moderna.]]> 2020-07-03 12:13:39 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646792913 Madrid, Spain https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646838928 The Spanish Enlightenment - Level 3 - Spanish and Portuguese Studies
Este curso analiza la cultura y la literatura del período de la Ilustración durante la segunda mitad del siglo XVIII y primeras décadas del siglo XIX, en que España se debate entre tradición y modernidad, creando una cultura basada en la Razón con la que derrotar los prejuicios, la superstición y el irracionalismo.]]> 2020-07-03 13:29:42 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/646838928 Banlieue Cinema: Paris, France. French Studies, Level 3 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/649111273 Banlieue has become a charged term in the social, political and cultural spheres. This class presents a  history  of  the  concept  of  the banlieue,  including  the  origins  of  the  term  and the  connotations associated with 
it, before addressing its portrayal in film. 
Using three examples from French cinema, La Haine, Bande de filles and Divines, this filière addresses the depiction of the French banlieue in an attempt to unpick the power dynamics at play, in and out of the films, including those of gender and race.
]]> 2020-07-07 12:11:25 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/649111273 Ireland https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/653104911 CEL1004
Béaloideas na hÉireann

Déanfar mionstaidéar ar choincheap an bhéaloidis in Éirinn ón naoú céad déag ar aghaidh. I measc na n-ábhar a bhféadfaí plé a dhéanamh orthu tá: coincheap an bhéaloidis; bailitheoirí agus bailiúcháin; taighde sa ghort; béaloideas na hÉireann; an béaloideas ar an scáileán mhór; deasghnátha an bháis; piseoga agus creidimh; an bhean sí; féilte na bliana; na seanfhocail.]]> 2020-07-13 08:39:46 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/653104911 Ireland https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/653115063 CEL2026 An Gearrscéal sa Ghaeilge


Sa mhodúl seo scrúdófar an gearrscéal mar sheánra ar leith i gcanóin litríochta na Gaeilge. Déanfar mionanailís ar fhorbairt an ghearrscéil sa tréimhse ó thús an fichiú haois go dtí an lá atá innu ann. I measc na n-údar a bhféadfaí scrúdú a dhéanamh orthu tá: Pádraig Mac Piarais, Pádraig Ó Conaire, Seosamh Mac Grianna, Máirtín Ó Cadhain, Liam Ó Flaithearta, Máire Mhac an tSaoi, Síle Ní Chéileachair, Alan Titley, Angela Bourke, Biddy Jenkinson, agus go leor eile nach iad.]]> 2020-07-13 09:00:00 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/653115063 Ireland https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/653115464 CEL2020
Scannánaíocht na Gaeilge

Sa mhodúl seo scrúdófar an nasc idir an scannánaíocht agus an scéalaíocht sa Ghaeilge sa tréimhse ó thús an fichiú haois go dtí an lá atá innu ann. Déanfar mionanailís ar léiriú insintí liteartha i réimse leathan seánraí ach béim ar leith ar an scannán faisnéise agus ar an scannán eipice. Tabharfar aird ar na idé-eolaíochtaí sochpholaitiúla taobh thiar de na hinsintí seo, go háirithe orthu siúd atá le fáil i bhfoinsí litríochta agus sna meáin fhísiúla. I measc na scannán a bhféadfaí scrúdú a dhéanamh orthu tá: Oidhche Sheanchais, Mise Éire, Saoirse, Cré na Cille, Rotha Mór an tSaoil¬–The Hard Road to Klondike, Poitín, Kings, Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoire agus gearrscannáin a bhaineann leis an sraitheanna 'Oscailt' agus 'Lasair'  (An Leabhar, Aqua, Cáca Milis, Clare sa Spéir, Filleann an Feall, Lipservice, Tubberware, Yu Ming is Ainm dom).

]]> 2020-07-13 09:01:02 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/653115464 Almagro, Spain [home of Spanish Classical theatre] https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/654530761 World as Stage. Spanish and Portuguese Studies. Level 2 optional module.
Golden Age Spain boasts some of the greatest dramatists of the European Renaissance. This module focuses particularly on the work of Lope de Vega, and Calderón de la Barca; using modern film adaptations and working with e portfolio for assessment, we consider both the significance of these plays in their own time, but also what they have to say to us today. 

]]> 2020-07-14 21:14:14 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/654530761 Introduction to Iberian Studies. Spanish and Portuguese Studies. Level 1 optional module. https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/654536126 Choose this team-taught optional module if you are interested in knowing more about Spanish culture, history and art - from the Spain of Cervantes to the present day. Awarded best module in QUB in 2017 Student Union Awards. ]]> 2020-07-14 21:23:59 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/654536126 Rewriting Love in the Renaissance. Spanish and Portuguese Studies. Level 3 Optional Module. https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/655359224 What has love got to do with nation-making, national identity, imperial ambition and the elevation of the Spanish language? This modules considers the love poetry of Golden Age Spain within the larger arena of the cultural politics in which it was conceived. Particular attention is paid to the practice of imitation and recreation (and how Classical mythology is used within that). Students are encouraged to find resonance of the earlier culture in their own. ]]> 2020-07-15 18:34:11 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/655359224 Paris, France https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/658605384 Paris, City of Modernity
Level 2 French Studies
This course uses photographs, podcasts, newspaper articles, writing on urbanism, poems and novels to explore the impact of the redesign of Paris on gender, class, politics, capitalism and social experience from the nineteenth century to the present day.]]> 2020-07-20 18:56:19 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/658605384 Senegal https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/658608965 Figures de l'altérité
Level 3 French Studies
This course explores the ways in which French writers and painters in the nineteenth century represented that which was deemed alien, foreign, and exotic, including the figure of the slave brought from Francophone Africa. ]]> 2020-07-20 19:02:32 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/658608965 France https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/658628149 Ideologies of Death in Modern France
Level 3 French Studies
Using literature, podcasts, interviews and documentaries, this interdisciplinary module, drawing on important new fields such as death studies and medical humanities, explores social, cultural, ethical, religious and gendered attitudes towards dying, end-of-life care and death in France from the nineteenth century to the present day.]]> 2020-07-20 19:34:00 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/658628149 France https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/658635695 Ambition and Desire
Level 3 French Studies
This module explores the interplay of desire, power, gender relations and inequality against the backdrop of the profound social and economic changes of nineteenth-century France, including the emergence of capitalism. ]]> 2020-07-20 19:47:27 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/658635695 Belgium https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659091981 Symbolism in Word and Image
(level 2 optional)

At level 2, you will be able to take an option on art and literature in late 19th-century France and Belgium. Looking at some Symbolist texts, as well as paintings, like the one above by Fernand Khnopff showing Oedipus and the Sphinx, we will discuss how artists and writers delved into mythology and legend to find ways to express anxieties about facing a newly modern society. Does anyone know what is the riddle the Sphinx is asking here? Send me an email (c.moran@qub.ac.uk)  if you do ! If you would like to look at some more weird and wonderful Symbolist paintings, check out this site: https://www.theartstory.org/movement/symbolism/artworks/]]> 2020-07-21 08:27:27 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659091981 Paris, France https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659103039 Level 1
Introduction to French Studies 1 (Impressionism).
As part of your level 1 course, you will choose an introductory cultural  module. In first semester, you will study a two-part course on Impressionism and French Film. The Impressionism section teaches you about the history of Paris and Haussmanisation through the well-known but little understood art movement, Impressionism. You will work in small groups analysing paintings like Manet's Gare St Lazare (above). We will question why and how painters chose to represent the new city and its diverse population . Who is shown in this picture? How do we know their relationship and different  social class? If you'd like to listen/watch a bit more about Impressionism and practice your aural French (!), check out this video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPfqU7h_5BU

]]> 2020-07-21 08:54:57 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659103039 Seine-et-Marne, France https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659154913 Level 1 Optional
Introduction to French Cinema.
This course looks at cinematography and film technique and representations of war and memory. Together with an introduction to essential French Films this course presents keywords of cinema language and core concepts of film criticism. As practical examples, two acclaimed films will be studied closely: Malle's Au Revoir les enfants , filmed in Provins (see above) and Haneke's Cache set in Paris. Both great movies if you want to start watching them in the summer. ]]> 2020-07-21 11:16:04 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659154913 New York, NY, USA https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659159099
Level 2 French Film Noir
This Module looks at questions of style, plots, characters  and settings in  that most iconic and aesthetically remarkable type of movies, film noir. The Module discusses international influences in cinema and in particular French and American links. One of the Movies studied in this course in American Director Jules Dassin's Rififi, in which visual techniques and night filming bring together Paris and New York (The naked City) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBgROU2jg7Y]]> 2020-07-21 11:28:47 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659159099 Caribbean Cultures Level Three optional module French https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659358732 This module looks at a range of contemporary materials (novels, film, documentary, visual arts) to analyse the cultures of the Francophone Caribbean. The course is especially focused on issues of gender, race and language. Students are encouraged to think about the afterlives of the colonial experience in the broadest sense and to contextualise this specifically with regard to the traumas of slavery. ]]> 2020-07-21 16:20:19 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659358732 Algiers, Algeria https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659366963 2020-07-21 16:31:16 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659366963 Los Angeles, CA, USA https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659582044 Level 2 French Optional Module French Film Noir looks at transnational myths, mythologies and myth-making in Film Noir. Students will analyse the construction of international film spaces, atmospheres and characters, as well as their links with issues of identity, gender, and sexuality.]]> 2020-07-21 22:24:55 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659582044 Berlin, Germany https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659594120 Level 2 French Film Noir Optional Module highlights common styles of filming across different film traditions, retracing for example the persistence and reinvention of German expressionism in French and American Films]]> 2020-07-21 22:50:31 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659594120 New Orleans, LA, USA https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659597427
Level 3 French Module Romance & Realism in Media Cultures presents a selection of songs (Edith Piaf), Short Stories (Arsène Lupin), novel (Le Fantôme de l'Opéra)  and Films. The Film Lola Montès, by Max Ophuls,  while ostensibly following the scandalous career of  an Irish dancer  who dated Franz Liszt, married a king and was exhibited in a New Orleans Circus, makes us question issues of gender,  freedom, repression and commodification, and provides the most brilliant criticism of entertainment industries
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuLb53N-XCY]]> 2020-07-21 22:57:24 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659597427 Algeria: the clash of cultures. Level Three French https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659935443 Monuments connected to colonialism are being torn down all over the postcolonial world. As one commentator put it recently, this isn't history being rewritten, this *is* history. This course, through study of a film (La Bataille d'Alger) and a novel (La Seine etait Rouge) looks at the experience of the bloody Algerian War of Independence (1958-1962) from a multiplicity of sides. The film, controversially at the time (it was made in the immediate aftermath of the War, 1963), gives access to the viewpoint of both the Algerian paramilitaries and the French. The novel examines the memory (or the repression) of this traumatic event for subsequent generations (and especially the brutal execution of Algerian protestors on a peaceful demonstration in 1961, denied by the French state). The teenage heroes of this text rewrite the script of colonialism, to include their own story, by graffitiing over Parisian plaques and memorials. ]]> 2020-07-22 07:15:37 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/659935443 Introduction to French Studies, Level One Beyond the Hexagon https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/660376901 2020-07-22 19:21:46 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/660376901 Linguistic Variation in French https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/667915591 Level Two optional module
In this module you’ll learn about how and why the French language is spoken differently all over the world. We’ll concentrate on phonological (accent) variation and use this to explore the different varieties of French across the globe, including in Canada but also parts of Africa, the Caribbean, and the different regions of France itself.]]> 2020-08-03 11:36:23 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/667915591 Contemporary Francophone Chinese Fiction - French Studies - Level 3 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/669168194 Following the Cultural Revolution in China (1966-76) and the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, a number of Chinese artists immigrated to French-speaking countries and this module studies some of their artistic creations - short story, novel, film and essay. The social, historical and cultural background to these significant events provide the context and often the subject matter of these works. They reveal unique perspectives on the themes of migration, exile and identity, while raising questions about language, East-West power relations (Orientalism) and Chinese overseas writing.]]> 2020-08-04 15:40:53 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/669168194 Myth and Biography in Recent French Fiction - French Studies - Level 2 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/669185860 This module highlights works (books and film) which draw on history, myths or legends in narratives that combine fact and fiction and blur the boundary between biography and autobiography, leading to a hybrid genre often referred to as autofiction. Information from documents, official records, archive material and other sources appear alongside the workings of the imagination, description and characterization. By examining the uncertainties of what constitutes the real, we are introduced to some important, contemporary writers who are redefining conventional genres.]]> 2020-08-04 15:55:17 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/669185860 Brazilian Digital Culture: Trends and Topics - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 3 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/671268925 The Wall Street Journal recently called Brazil ‘the social media capital of the universe’. Beyond such media interest and hype, this module focuses on the diverse and dynamic arena of contemporary Brazilian digital culture. Topics to be covered may include trends in access to the internet, social media, free and open source software, the metaphor of cannibalism as applied to digital culture, digital culture in specific contexts such as favelas and indigenous peoples, and the role of the internet and digital technologies in Brazilian politics, broadly understood.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/midianinja/9291313083 (CC-BY-SA)
 
]]> 2020-08-06 13:28:37 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/671268925 Circulating Violence: Films about Public Security in Rio de Janeiro - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 3 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/671278930 Public security – a topic which includes but goes beyond the role of the police in society – has long been a challenge in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, and has a contested history stretching back to the nineteenth century when the first policing structure was introduced by the Portuguese. This course looks at contemporary film representations of the topic and explores how film has contributed to public debate about public security, policing, and police violence since the 2000s.
Image: still from Morro dos Prazeres by Maria Augusta Ramos

]]> 2020-08-06 13:37:32 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/671278930 Contemporary Brazil - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 3 Portuguese https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/671289343
This course focuses on the critical analysis of contemporary Brazilian culture and society as well as the country’s international visibility and emergence, drawing on interdisciplinary readings, as well as documentary films and other relevant material.

Image credit: Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil (CC BY 2.0) ]]> 2020-08-06 13:46:28 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/671289343 The Visibility of Rio de Janeiro's Favelas - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 2 Portuguese https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/671296537 This course focuses on the visibility of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas in different cultural forms, including fiction and documentary film, visual art, and digital culture (for example, digital maps and videos). It seeks to deepen students' knowledge of the urban context in Brazil, in both historical and contemporary perspective.
Image credit: cogdog on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)]]> 2020-08-06 13:51:22 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/671296537 Reading Borges's Ficciones - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 3 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/672259292 Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges was undoubtedly the most important writer in Latin American literature in the 20th century. His short but intense fictions have had an unparalleled influence on modern and postmodern culture, to the extent that the adjective ‘borgesian’ is often attributed to any text that subverts commonly held assumptions about the borders between fiction and reality, the stability of personal identity, or the  possibility of attaining secure knowledge of the universe. 
This cursillo will introduce students to Borges’s most famous collection of short stories Ficciones and to an analytic and speculative mode that many will not have experienced previously. Structured as a reading group, participants will be guided through a close reading of Borges’s tales. Amidst the knife fights, a library the size of the universe, a man with a perfect memory, and detective stories which take mystical twists and turns, participants encounter questions about the very nature of literature and its relation to reality.  Ultimately, this course aims to offer insight into this essential piece of modern Hispanic narrative as well as preparing students to ‘read’ existence at large.
]]> 2020-08-07 08:33:42 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/672259292 The Fantastic in Latin America - Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 2 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/672261725 This course looks at how the weird and wonderful worlds of fantastic fiction teach us more about South American life than is possible in strictly realistic stories. It begins with a reflection on the practice of close analysis in order to develop the tools of active reading that will allow a proper engagement with the rich tradition of lo fantástico in Spanish-speaking America. Students will then learn how the Fantastic has been theorised by critics, before using this knowledge as a lens through which to explore a range of texts by some of the region's most important cultural icons (e.g. María Luisa Bombal, Julio Cortázar) and exciting emerging authors (e.g. Samanta Schweblin, Mariana Enríquez). You will encounter a woman growing wings, a strange beast at the bottom of a river, and men unsure if they are awake or asleep, all while learning of the human and environmental violence that has haunted the Global South in the 20th and 21st centuries.]]> 2020-08-07 08:39:42 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/672261725 Inner Journeys -Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 3 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/672267642
This module introduces students to a major theme in 20th-century visual art and literature: the search for self. With Friedrich Nietzsche’s proclamation that ‘God is dead!’ ringing in their ears, many modern individuals left behind the organised systems of belief that had provided humanity with value and meaning for millennia. The spiritual crisis that resulted left what Sartre called, a ‘hole in Being’, as humanity was forced to find new answers to difficult about personal identity and the purpose of life.  While some artists left spirituality behind altogether, finding solace and meaning in artistic creation, psychoanalytic practice, or political activism, others explored new ways of engaging with religion. This renewed search for self-knowledge led to the creation of new mythologies and symbolisms that continue to inspire those seeking a vocabulary with to express themselves and their relation to the world.


This module will explore examples of this search in a variety of Hispanic Artists working across different media (painting, film, text, etc.) and inspired by a variety of disciplines (art history, religion, philosophy, psychoanalysis, etc). Examples of artists that may be studied include the Spanish-Mexican painter Remedios Varo (1911-1963), the Chilean auteur Alejandro Jodorowsky (1929-), and the Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986).

]]> 2020-08-07 08:56:38 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/672267642 Introduction to Lusophone Studies – Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 1 Optional Module mtavares10 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/675882428 This course introduces students to key concepts, movements and historical moments pertaining to the cultures, literatures and societies of the Portuguese-speaking world. One section of the module introduces students to a critical study of the rise and fall of the Portuguese empire, from Portugal’s imperial expansion in the 15th/16th centuries to the 25th of April 1974 revolution that ultimately led to the process of decolonization and the end of Portugal’s role as a colonial power. The other section of the module focuses on early European encounters with what would become known as Brazil, and introduces students to key themes which continue to be important for thinking about Brazil in the 20th and 21st centuries: the idea of Brazil as a tropical paradise, and as a site of cannibalism (whether real or figurative). This section will also focus on 20th century Brazilian cultural movements which employ cannibalism as a metaphor for thinking about cultural production.

(Image: "Navigator" by RobW - CC)]]> 2020-08-11 16:13:07 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/675882428 Lusophone African Literatures – Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 2 mtavares10 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/675891486 In this course students study key literary texts produced by authors from Portuguese-speaking countries in Africa (particularly Angola and Mozambique), focusing on the main themes explored and emphasising the specificities of the literary systems and cultures of each country. Students will be introduced to relevant historical and political aspects of these countries which will enable them to understand cultural production within its specific context. In addition, they will also develop a literary competence through the analysis and interpretation of literary texts.  

(Image: Meninos a jogar à bola na foz do Quanza by José Eduardo Agualusa)]]> 2020-08-11 16:17:56 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/675891486 Contemporary issues in the Portuguese-speaking world – Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 3 mtavares10 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/675905192 This course is devoted to a critical study of specific themes and different types of artistic production (such as documentaries, literary texts and music) within the context of the Portuguese-speaking world, enabling students to become familiar with relevant topics and current (postcolonial) theoretical analyses of ideas relating to representation, self-representation, “blood/race”, gender, identity, and nationalism.

Image: Tabu (2012) by Miguel Gomes  ]]> 2020-08-11 16:25:38 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/675905192 “Travel abroad at Home”: Representations of Portugal in Post-Revolution Cinema – Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 3 mtavares10 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/675909805 This module aims at introducing students to post-revolution cinematic representations of Portugal which engage in the reassessment of history. Providing an introduction to the country’s political-cultural history in the 20th century, and focusing on the impact of the end of the Estado Novo dictatorship, the module proposes the analysis of distinct films, by different filmmakers, that accompany the changing trajectory of the debate on national identity, not only by questioning hegemonic collective memories, but also by critically observing current realities, and reflecting on the directions that such a debate might take in the future (considering Portugal’s recent history).

(Link: Os Mutantes, 1998, by Teresa Villaverde)]]> 2020-08-11 16:28:09 UTC https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/675909805 Representations of Lusophone Africa in Postcolonial Cinema – Spanish & Portuguese Studies - Level 2 Optional Module mtavares10 https://padlet.com/fclark19/92a523eiwv2kj8xt/wish/676095245 This module aims at introducing students to postcolonial filmic representations of Portuguese-speaking African countries, mainly focusing on dominant themes and underlying the specificity of the cultures of each country. Students will be provided with historical and cultural contexts so as to be able to analyse the intersection between cultural production, political activism and the reassessment of history in the selected films.
 
(Image: INAC, Mozambique, by IW)
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