Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero
Summer Program in Argentina
Pop Culture in Latin America: Intercultural Perspectives
M. Verónica Muñoz, Ph.D.
Contact: [email protected]
Language: Course taught in English
Term: Summer 2016
Course Description
This course serves as an introduction to the study of Latin America and its representations and
expressions. The course will work the culture of everyday life in Latin America, both in rural and
urban settings. It will begin challenging a popular representation of Latin America from
Hollywood, in order to respond on how Latin America is viewed as both an idea and a sociocultural construct. It will then focus on the analysis of issues such as identity, popular memory,
resistance, negotiation, as expressed through ritual, crafts, the body, social movements, films,
music, and literature. This course will examine a range of expressions of Latin American popular
culture, to include cartoons, comic strips, telenovelas, photographs, graffiti, music, tales,
testimonies, and folk art (such as Peruvian retablos, Chilean arpilleras, Panamanian molas, etc).
Methodology
This course is designed for students coming from all majors with an interest in cultural studies
and in modern Latin America. It is composed of lectures, readings, class discussion, film
screenings, and written work. All are integral parts of the course and are required for successful
completion. Readings are complementary to the lectures and focus on primary sources,
theoretical arguments, and historical interpretations. They do NOT duplicate the lectures, so
students are strongly encouraged to keep up with the readings, since they will provide a critical
source of information for success in written work and in class debates. A final individual
presentation will summarize the unique experience of Argentina popular culture.
Course Requirements
• Attendance & Participation: Regular attendance and active participation in class discussions
are essential to success in this course. Generally speaking, one class absence is an upper
limit before a student might incur point reductions. Making thoughtful comments or asking
provocative questions, in addition to demonstrating understanding of the reading, are
expected to ensure good class discussions.
• Response Papers: One of the purposes of this course is for students to think critically about
what they read & experience. Students will be required to submit three short written
assignments addressing critical themes from the materials discussed in class (readings and
cultural artifacts).
• Final Presentation: this final presentation will be a product of the student’s own research and
reflection. It must include the use of primary source documents and technology. Topics must
be chosen in consultation with the professor. Further guidelines will be provided.
• Final Exam: The exam will cover the topics and readings discussed in class. The format of
the exam will be discussed before the exam is administered.
NOTE: This syllabus (and academic calendar) may be subject to change. Students will be notified in due time.
Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero
Pop Culture in Latin America: Intercultural Perspectives
Course Calendar
Week I-Popular Culture in Latin America
1.1-Latin America from Outside
• Quentin Tarantino. From Dusk Till Dawn (movie-1994)
• Robert Rodriguez. From Dusk Till Dawn (series, episode 1-2014)
• Ramírez Berg, Charles. “Categorizing the Other: Stereotypes and Stereotyping,” (article)
1.2-Culture, Peoples- What is Pop Culture?
• Gabriel García Márquez, The Solitude of Latin America. (Nobel Prize Lecture, 1982).
• Eduardo Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America. (essay –introduction-, 1971)
• Calle 13, Latinoamerica. (song & video clip, 2010)
• Leon Gieco, Cinco Siglos Igual (song & video clip, 1992)
• Schelling, Vivian. “Popular culture in Latin America.” (article)
Week II-Popular Culture and the Mestizo Body
2.1-Latin America from Inside
• Walter Salles, Diarios de motocicleta [The Motorcycle Diaries]. (2005)
• José Carlos Mariátegui, The problem of the land (essay –selection-, 1928).
• Juan Rulfo, They have given us the land. (short story- 1945)
• Arguedas, José María. “The Pongo’s Dream.” (short story).
• Roberto Fontanarrosa. Inodoro Pereyra, el renegau (comic,
2.2-The Mestizo Body in the Arts
• Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo & Mexican Muralism (paintings selection)
• Martin Chambi-Peruvian Photographer (photography selection)
• Florencio Molina Campos- Gauchos & Blacks in Calendar Painting Selections
• Vasconcelos, José. The Cosmic Race. (essay-selection)
• Wade, Peter. “Rethinking Mestizaje: Ideology and Lived Experience.” (article)
Week III-Popular Culture on Gender and Racial Issues
3.1-Female Workers in the Border
• Bansky- Opening Sequence of The Simpsons: Money Bart (cartoon, episode 467, October
10/2010)
• Vicky Funario & Sergio de la Torre, Maquilapolis, City of Factories (documentary, 2006)
• Rosenberg, Mark. “Portrait of a Maquiladora Worker” (testimonio)
3.2-Race and the City
• Steve Dean Moore, The Simpsons: Blame it on Lisa. (cartoon, episode 284, March 31/2002)
• Jeff Zimbalist & Matt Mochary, Favela Rising. (documentary, 2006)
• Freyre, Gilberto. “Slaves in Newspaper Ads,” (journal article, 1963)
• Gauchito Gil’s Devotion in Argentina- From Bandit to Saint
Week IV-Popular Culture and Politics
4.1-Memory & Resistance
• Albertina Carri, Los rubios [The Blonds]. (2003)
• Alicia Partnoy, Little School. Tales of Disappearance and Survival. (novel/testimony, 1986)
• Nunca más [Never again]. (report, 1984).
• U-2. Mothers of the Disappeared (song, 1987)
• Hebe de Bonaffini. The Madwomen of Plaza de Mayo (Testimonio)
• Marjorie Agossin. Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Love. The Arpillera Movement in Chile
(testimonio + tapestries, 2004)
4.2-Struggles & Collective Action
• Avi Lewis, The take. (documentary, 2004)
• Bersuit Vergarabat- Se viene (song, 1998)
M. Verónica Muñoz, Ph.D.
Summer 2016
Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero
Pop Culture in Latin America: Intercultural Perspectives
•
•
•
José Martí, Our America. (essay –selection-, 1891)
Sin Patrón: Stories from Argentina's Worker-Run Factories. (testimony - 2007)
Panamanian Molas (textile selection)
•
•
Week V-Popular Culture and the City: Buenos Aires in Images
Final Presentations & Videos
Final Exam
Bibliography
AAVV. Sin Patrón: Stories from Argentina's Worker-Run Factories. La Vaca Collective: Buenos
Aires, 2007.
Agossin, Marjorie. Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Love. The Arpillera Movement in Chile.
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1996.
Arguedas, José María. “The Pongo’s Dream.” The Peru Reader. Ed. Orin Starn, Carlos Iván
Degregori, and Robin Kirk. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1995. 258-263.
Bonaffini, Hebe de & Matilde Sanchez. “The Madwomen of Plaza de Mayo”. The Argentine
Reader. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009. 429-439.
Freyre, Gilberto. “Slaves in Newspaper Ads,” [1963]. The Oxford Book of Latin American
Essays. Oxford University Press, 1997. 166-170.
Galeano, Eduardo. Open Veins of Latin America. New York: Monthly Review Press, 1997.
García Márquez, Gabriel. The Solitude of Latin America. (online, Nobel Prize Lecture, 1982).
Mariátegui, José Carlos. “The problem of the land” Seven Interpretative Essays on Peruvian
Reality. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971.
Martí, José Our America. (essay –selection-, 1891)
Partnoy, Alicia. Little School. Tales of Disappearance and Survival. San Francisco: Midnight
Editions, 1998.
Ramírez Berg, Charles. “Categorizing the Other: Stereotypes and Stereotyping,” Latino Images in
film. Stereotypes, subversion, resistance. Austin: Texas University Press, 2002.
Rosenberg, Mark. “Portrait of a Maquiladora Worker,” from Chapter 5, “Continent on the Move”
in Americas: An Anthology. Oxford University Press, 1992. 130-136.
Rulfo, Juan. “They have given us the land”. The Mexico Reader. Durham: Duke University Press,
2002. 465-469.
Schelling, Vivian. “Popular culture in Latin America.” John King (ed.). The Cambridge
Companion to Modern Latin American Culture. Cambridge University Press, 2004. 171201.
Vasconcelos, José. The Cosmic Race. Trans. Didier T. Jaén. Baltimore, MD: The Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1997. 1-40.
Wade, Peter. “Rethinking Mestizaje: Ideology and Lived Experience.” Journal of Latin
American Studies 37 (2005): 239-257.
NOTE: This syllabus (and academic calendar) may be subject to change. Students will be
notified in due time.
M. Verónica Muñoz, Ph.D.
Summer 2016