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go back to the "Home" pageDEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND FOREIGN STUDIES
SPRING 1999 37.210.02 M&Th 2:10-3:25 Room Ward 204
Latin America: History, Art, Literature/A 3:2
(A bi-lingual Gen Ed course; this section taught in Spanish)
I. Instructor: Dr Jack Child, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence and Professor of Spanish and Latin American Studies, Department of Language and Foreign Studies. Office: 342 Asbury; telephone: 885-2385. Call at home if urgent (202-363-1111). Office hours: Mon, Thur 3:30-4:30. Email: jchild@american.edu.
TA: Daniela Penabad 202-965-5902 Email:Penabadd@hotmail.com
This course uses Lotus Learning Space which can be accessed via HTTP://domino.american.edu (Go to Learning Central, then access the course by its title). If you have any technical problems contact: Nicholas Nader, 885-2219; email: nnader@american.edu.
For an English language Web site version of this course, see: /jchild/LAHAL_home.html.
II. Course statement: This undergraduate General Education course explores the history of Latin America through the words of the writer, the brush of the painter, the pen of the cartoonist, and the lens of the photographer. It will include the Latin (Spanish/Portuguese +Islamic), the African, and the Indigenous cultural heritages in Latin American history, and it will seek to show how these strands have combined to produce a unique Latin American culture. The relationship to Anglo-America, and especially the United States, will also be explored on a cross-cultural basis. The major objective of this course is to study Latin America as a unique culture-area using an interdisciplinary approach (history, art, and literature). History will be the basic discipline used to organize the course; art and literature will be used to illustrate and provide windows of insight into that history with visual and written images. The course relies heavily on educational media (slides, videos, CD-ROMs) and new technologies (daily questions and Exam reviews on the Web Site). This year, for the first time, the course will be offered in two different languages in two different sections, as part of the "Languages across the Curriculum" initiative of AU's Experimental College. Section 01 (Prof. Temes) will be taught in English and Section .02 (Prof Child) in Spanish at a third-year level.
III. Relationship to the General Education Program:
Course 37.210, "LATIN AMERICA: HISTORY, ART, LITERATURE" is a second level course in Curricular Area III (the International and Intercultural Experience), in the University's General Education Program. This dimension of the curriculum is designed to develop an informed understanding of the diversity of the world's cultures and the critical issues which challenge policy makers in our increasingly interdependent world. Each second level course builds on and extends concepts and skills introduced in a designated foundation course in the same or a related discipline. In order to complete the International and Intercultural Experience with course 37.210, "LATIN AMERICA: HISTORY, ART, LITERATURE", you must have previously completed one of the following foundation courses in Area III: 23.150: Third World Lit OR 33.140: Cross-cultural Comm OR 03.110: Culture- Human Mirror. Pre-requisite: three years of college Spanish or permission.
The rationale for the linkages to each foundation course is as follows:
23.150: Third World Lit: the course uses Latin American literature as a key element.
33.140: Cross-cultural Comm: the course emphasizes the unique features of various Latin American cultures and how they relate to other cultures.
03.110: Culture- Human Mirror: the course examines the contribution that various Latin American cultures have made to the cultural pluralism of the contemporary world (including the US).
IV. Course requirements and evaluation:
a. Mid-term exam (worth 20%), on Thursday 11 March.
b. Final exam (worth 25%), on Thursday 10 May, 2:10-4:40 PM (from the mid-term on).
c. Report on a Latin American painter (worth 10%, due Thursday 15 April). You will prepare a written report on a Latin American painter which you will select from the 14 painters presented in class and on the CD-RoM computer program, "Latin American Painters" (if you prefer a painter other than one of these 14, please see me first). The emphasis will be to place the individual in the historical, social, and political context of her/his period. Your report should be about 8 pages, including sources, which must be properly identified. The paintings (and identification of the painters) will also appear in the mid-term and final exams, and I encourage you to use the CD-ROM for review and selection.
d. Short reaction paper (approximately 4-5 pages) on your individual visit to the Latin American Museum of Modern Art, 18th St. and Constitution, tel 458-6016 (call first to confirm that they are open). Worth 10% and due Monday 1 March. Other museums are available (please consult first).
e. Unannounced quizzes on the assigned daily readings (10%).
f. Computer exercises (10%). This course uses Lotus Learning Space software on a Web site, and 10% of your final grade involves responding on the Web to the discussion question posed for each class session. The Web site also includes 15-20 questions on the readings for each class session, and if were to have a quiz that day the quiz questions would be remarkably similar to those on the Web. You can earn extra credit by answering these 15-20 questions per class session (in Spanish) and turning in a printout of your answers at the mid-term and final exam. We will have a computer orientation session in the Anderson Computer Lab on Thursday 28 January. The Lotus Learning Space version of the course can be accessed via HTTP://domino.american.edu (Go to Learning Central, then access the course by its title). If you have any technical problems dealing with Lotus Learning Space contact our assigned OIT assistant: Nicholas Nader, 885-2219; email: nnader@american.edu.
For an English Web version of the course: /jchild/LAHAL_home.html.
g. Participation grade (15%). This grade will be based on how much and how well you participate in class by making comments, asking and answering questions, and joining in the class dialogue. Attendance will affect this grade, since if you are not present you obviously cannot participate. The participation grade includes brief written exercises in connection with class simulations.
h. The writing assignments: as I am sure you know, the General Education Program stresses writing skills. You will have several opportunities to use these writing skills in the written assignments described above, which will be graded on the basis of content as well as style, organization, grammar, etc. I expect these assignments to be typed, and in compliance with the standards set out in the College Writing courses you have taken. There will be one grade for content and one for form. You may resubmit your paper if your "form" grade is low. The course's teaching assistant will provide you with guidance and comments on your paper, but does not grade your paper (that is my responsibility).
i. Attendance policy: I expect regular attendance, but I understand that you may be absent from time to time for various reasons (please keep me informed). You are responsible for making up all the work you miss. An unreasonable number of absences (especially if unexplained) will inevitably affect your participation grade (see "g").
j. Late work will be penalized unless you obtain my permission in advance. I will approve Incomplete contracts only in exceptional cases.
k. Academic integrity. As scholars, we are all held to the University's Academic Code of Ethics. Academic dishonesty in exams and quizzes, and plagiarism (presenting the words or ideas of others as your own) will not be tolerated. All exams and quizzes are "closed book". All papers are individual work, although I encourage you to discuss and share sources prior to writing.
l. Videos. In the "Study assignments" which follow, you will find a series of video tapes listed. These are optional, and they serve to add a rich visual dimension to the course. You can see these video tapes at your convenience in the Library's Media Services (basement).
m. "Community Service Learning Project". You have the optional opportunity of doing a Community Service Project (37.294) in connection with this course. This would earn you one credit, Pass/Fail, for doing a total of 40 hours of approved field work over the semester in the local Hispanic community. A written journal is due the last week of class (Mon 3 May).
n. Extra credit project (6-8 page reaction paper, or completion of additional computer projects, including your own web page): ask me about this possibility after the Mid-term exam, especially if you are weak in other graded portions of the course, such as participation.
V. Required texts (available through the Campus Store):
Jack Child, America Latina: Historia, Arte, Literatura (ALHAL), (Spanish), 1998. $14.50.
(an English version is available in the bookstore and on Library Reserve #4242).
John A. Crow and Edward Dudley, El Cuento, 1984. $29.00.
VI. Recommended Texts (available in the Bookstore):
E. Bradford Burns, Latin America: A Concise Interpretive History (6th edition, 1994).
Marta Traba, Art of Latin America, 1900-1980.
VII. Other books and bibliographic sources on Library Reserve:
Ades, Dawn, Art in Latin America: The Modern Era.
Chase, Gilbert, Contemporary Art in Latin America.
Day, Holliday T., Art of the Fantastic: Latin America 1920-1987.
| Date | Child |
Burns | Traba | McNees/Other |
| 1: Th 21 Jan | - |
- | - | Course intro |
| 2: M 25 Jan | Ch 1 | I | ||
| 3: Th 28 Jan | Computer orientation. | |||
| 4: M 1 Feb | Ch 1 | I | Optional video: "Mayas" (VIC 27). Go to the Library's Media Resource Center on your own. | |
| 5: Th 4 Feb | Ch 1 | I | Optional video: "Incas" (VIC 124). Go to the Library's Media Resource Center on your own. | |
| 6: M 8 Feb | Ch 1 | II | ||
| 7: Th 11 Feb | Ch 1 | II | ||
| 8: M 15 Feb | Ch 2 | II | Geography computer exercise due. Do't forget to write the paragraph as described on your answer sheet. | |
| 9: Th 18 Feb | Ch 2 | II | ||
| 10: M 22 Feb | Ch 2 | II | ||
| 11: Th 25 Feb | Ch 3 | III | ||
| 12: M 1 Mar | Ch 4 | III | Museum reaction paper due. | |
| 13: Th 4 Mar | Ch 4 | III | ||
| 14: M 8 Mar | Ch 4 | III | ||
| 15: Th 11 Mar | MID-TERM EXAM; Review all | |||
| 16: M 22 Mar | Ch 5 | IV | Optional video: "The Yankee Years" (VIC 417, part 1). Go to the Library's Media Resource Center on your own. | |
| 17: Th 25 Mar | Ch 5 | IV | ||
| 18: M 29 Mar | Ch 6 | IV | ||
| 19: Th 1 Apr | Ch 6 | IV | ||
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Ch 7 | IV | Optional video: "Art and Revolution in Mexico"(VHS 740). Go to the Library's Media Resource Center on your own. | |
| 21: Th 8 Apr | Ch 7 | IV | McNees stories: pp. 60-76; 78-87 | |
| 22: M 12 Apr | Ch 8 | V | McNees stories: pp. 164-169; 322-326. Optional video: "Castro" (VIC 417, part 2). Go to the Library's Media Resource Center on your own. | |
| 23: Th 15 Apr | Ch 8 | V | McNees stories: pp. 164-169; 322-326. PAINTER REPORT DUE | |
| 24: M 19 Apr | Ch 9 | V | McNees stories: pp. 88-93; 154-158 | |
| 25: Th 22 Apr | Ch 9 | V | McNees stories: pp. 184-194; 224-232; | |
| 26: M 26 Apr | Ch 10 | V | McNees stories: pp. 184-194; 224-232 | |
| 27: Th 29 Apr | Ch 10 | I | McNees stories: pp. 270-182; 328-346; | |
| 28: M 3 May | 355-62 | I | McNees stories: pp. 270-182; 328-346. Optional video: "Antarctia: Frozen Ambitions" (VIC 1204). Go to the Library's Media Resource Center on your own. | |
| 29: M 10 May | FINAL EXAM, 2:10 to 4:40 PM | |||
| Also: optional Final Exam Part II at "Casa Mayo y Perrichola", details TBA. | ||||