Span 4301 - Print and Power in 19th-Century Latin America

Institution:

Washington University in St Louis

Subject:

Description:

Open to advanced undergraduate and graduate students, this seminar covers one of the most fascinating periods in Latin-America history and cultural production, spanning from the eve of the wars for independence to eve of the Mexican Revolution (1800-1910). Several reasons make this period and the connections between print media or print culture and power worthwhile. This long century was the most war torn in the region's history. Not only did writers engage issues of war on what was almost a daily basis, but war generated a wealth of new modes of literature. Debates on the slave trade and abolition also occurred during the 1800s, and largely in writing. And while places such as Lima, Peru, and Mexico City were established printing centers during the Iberian occupation of the Americas, true printing revolutions were not widespread until during and after the wars for independence. One of the results to emerge during the first third of the century was that writing and print media gave legitimacy to incipient republican states, wedding print to power in new ways. And by the end of the century, educators and state bureaucrats teamed up to push for public primary education and literacy as components of progressive, "civilized" nations. Add to this the visual technologies and an overall surge in new forms of symbolic communication through print, and it is easy to see why this period offers such a rich backdrop for observing how print and power fit into the landscape we now know as Latin America. We pay special attention to themes including writing as a legitimizing force, writing and nation building, and the intersection of print with war, race, identity formation, modernity, and ideologies. Readings include archival materials, wartime and popular poetry, novels by authors such as Jorge Isaacs and Ignacio Altamirano, writings by Simon Bolivar and Domingo Sarmiento, and modernista poetry and prose. Historical and theoretical selections guide our analysis of primary sources. Prerequisites: Span 307D and Span 308D and at least two 300-level literature courses taught in Spanish. One-hour preceptorial for undergraduates.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.wustl.edu

Phone Number:

(314) 935-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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