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Race, Nation, and Popular Culture in Latin America

Course Description

Exploration of how Latin Americans see themselves through the lens of popular culture. Studying festivals, dances, theater, and a variety of forms of public performance serves the purpose of reflecting on the specific way Latin Americans have constructed race, gender, class, and nation. In addition, the course pursues the goal of introducing the students to different concepts and methodologies developed in the humanities and social sciences and applying them to specific Latin American cases.

Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Integrate theoretical concepts in writing and discussion. Select and explore in depth a theme. Demonstrate ability for independent research. Write with scholarly assurance and polished style. Graduate students will be assigned a reading and writing load comparable to a graduate seminar. Read a scholarly monograph and write a reaction paper weekly. Periodically meet with the instructor and other graduate students to discuss the course's contents. Prepare an annotated bibliography on one specific topic selected by the student. Produce a research paper based on primary and secondary sources.

Athena Title

Race Nation Pop Culture in LA

Prerequisite

Any HIST course or ENGL 1101 or ENGL 1101E or ENGL 1101S or ENGL 1102 or ENGL 1102E or ENGL 1102S or POLS 1101 or POLS 1101E or POLS 1101H or POLS 1101S

Semester Course Offered

Offered every year.

Grading System

A - F (Traditional)

Student Learning Outcomes

  • By the end of this course, students will be able to arrive at conclusions about the history of race, nation, and culture in Latin America by gathering and weighing evidence, logical argument, and listening to counter argument.
  • By the end of this course, students will be able to write stylistically appropriate papers and essays. Students will be able to analyze ideas and evidence, organize their thoughts, and revise and edit their finished essays.
  • By the end of this course, students will be able to identify how the history of popular culture in Latin America has shaped social and cultural identities and attitudes toward race, gender, and nation, encouraging them to understand diverse worldviews and experiences.
  • By the end of this course, students will be able to apply appropriate methodological approaches to their analysis of primary sources and to organize their evidence to show historical continuities and discontinuities.
  • By the end of this course, students will be able to generate their own research question or topic, locate suitable primary and secondary sources, and synthesize their ideas in novel ways.
  • By the end of this course, students will be able to initiate, manage, complete, and evaluate their independent research projects in stages and to give and receive constructive feedback through the peer review process.

Topical Outline

  • 1. Theoretical Overview: a. Ritual and Performance Theory b. Social Construction of Race c. Nation-formation discourse d. Modernity e. Mestizaje f. Gender analysis
  • 2. Colonial Period 1520-1810 a. Display of caste and social hierarchy in religious processions and royal festivals b. Carnival: ritual of inversion or reinforcement of status? c. Enlightenment reform: theater and funerals
  • 3. Independence and Romantic Period 1810-1870 a. National dances and patriotic festivals in the birth of the new nations b. Foundational Narratives and popular literature
  • 4. The Era of Progress 1870-1910 a. Latin American as European outpost b. Modern entertainment: opera, circus, and vaudeville c. National culture between cosmopolitanism and nativism d. Argentine Tango: the first “Latin dance craze”
  • 5. Popular Nationalism 1910-1960 a. Mestizo nationalism as hegemonic discourse b. Mexican Revolution from murals to tamales c. Stage carnival: the appropriation of blackness in Brazil and Cuba d. Creation of national entertainment industries e. The electronic media and the birth of “Latin” music f. Representation of gender and race in the “golden age” of Latin American cinema g. Latin American as seen from Hollywood
  • 6. Counterculture and Revolution 1960-1980 a. Idioms of class struggle and anti-imperialism in pop culture b. Rock en Español and protest songs c. Tropicalia and New Cinema in Brazil d. Radical folklore
  • 7. Globalization 1980-2000 a. Multiculturalism as neoliberal nation-formation discourse b. Telenovelas a Latin America global phenomenon c. Commodification of marginality in music: Bachata, Techno-cumbia, regaton d. Latin American cinema as art-house specialty

Syllabus

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