Module Catalogue 2024/25

Pre Requisite Comment

This module is not available to students who have previously taken LAS2032.

Co Requisite Comment

This is a Stage 4 module available to students taking Level D Spanish (SPA4081) or equivalent.

Aims

In consonance with the overall aim of the degrees offered in the SML, to contribute to students’ broad-based knowledge of aspects of the history, politics, society and culture of a variety of Hispanic countries, focusing on the culture of the Hispanophone Caribbean and its diasporas.

Outline Of Syllabus

This module introduces students to a selection of key imaginaries of the Caribbean. Students will be able to re-examine preconceived images and stereotypes of the region through a consideration of the area's geographical openness, racial hybridity, cultural intermixture, violent history, and diasporic movements. They will study the diverse, creative reworkings of and resistances to these central imaginaries produced by artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, and performers from the Hispanophone Caribbean.

The material has been organised into interrelated topics chosen from the following: Delicious 'Discoveries'; Slavery and the Plantation; The Marvellous and the Monstrous; Rhythm and music; Diasporic dilemmas.

The material has been chosen to encourage students to reflect critically on the intersections of culture, history, and politics, but also to encourage close attention to form, medium and genre. The module is therefore comparative in spirit, as reflected by assessment. The module is taught in English, with primary and secondary materials in Spanish, offering students the opportunity to build on their language skills whilst also consolidating their ability to analyse a variety of cultural forms.

Intended Knowledge Outcomes

- Identify and recall a number of key theoretical and cultural debates within and about the Caribbean.
- Distinguish between the historical and cultural influences on different parts of the Caribbean and its diasporas, particularly the Hispanophone Caribbean.
- Demonstrate critical perspectives on issues of race, national identity, colonisation and neo-colonisation, the consumption of culture, and cultural identity.
- Analyse and compare different forms, media, and genres, with particular attention to their representational strategies and characteristics, forms of production, circulation and consumption.
- Demonstrate awareness of their own (political, historical, geographical, social) position in relation to the course content and dominant images of and stereotypes about the Caribbean.

Intended Skill Outcomes

•       Linguistic skills in written work, including the deployment of specialist critical and scholarly lexis and discourse.
•       Ability to take notes from books, journals, and primary texts in both English and the target language.
•       Ability to argue opinions convincingly.
•       Ability to make critical use of secondary material (criticism and theory) to analyse primary material and develop personal interpretations, expressed in verbal and written forms.
•       Ability to create an accurate and consistently-formatted reference list.
•       Recognise and apply appropriate analysis techniques, vocabulary and theories to film, visual art, photography, literature, and music from the Hispanophone Caribbean.
•       Ability to write well-argued and analytical essays in English.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

All knowledge outcomes are addressed by the mix of lecture materials, seminar delivery, and guided independent study. The module is taught in English with primary materials in Spanish, and assessed in English.

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities:
- 1 x 2-hour scheduled seminar per week over 10 weeks. These in-person live seminars can migrate online without undue disruption, if necessary. These sessions will allow for in-depth analysis of primary sources using contextual and conceptual material provided by the lecturer. They will prioritise student-led discussion and presentations, and students will benefit from peer feedback as well as guidance from the seminar leader.
- 1 x 1-hour drop-in surgery at the end of the semester will allow students to ask questions about assessment and receive guidance before/ while writing their final assessed essays.
- 15 hours’ worth of lecture materials. Recordings and activities provide key context and concepts for each topic. Distribution of lecture materials will vary from week to week, reflecting the need for more guidance at the start of a topic, for example.

Guided Independent Study:
- Guided study activities include directed research and reading; online discussion; student-led group activity; and independent study. Students are expected to work independently on most of these activities, but with directions from the seminar leader to ensure students use this time effectively to practice critical thinking and analysis (e.g. through online discussion), and to prepare for group presentations and seminar discussion.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The written reflection prompts students to consolidate the contextually and conceptually-informed comparative analyses developed in group presentations and seminar discussion. It also ensures that they engage carefully with theoretical and conceptual frameworks. This activity is formative in week 5, and assessed in week 7. By using central concepts from the module as prompts for this written reflection, these smaller assessments help students build up to the final assessed essay, which similarly uses open, conceptual prompts on which students are required to build a contextualised comparative analysis of two or three primary sources (films, visual art, literature, music, performance etc.) from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and/or its diasporas. The essay also assesses the analytical and argumentative skills the students develop through seminar discussion and group presentations.

General Notes

N/A