FRW5765 SPW5195: Comparative Caribbean Literature and Performance
Reggae, salsa, Carnival: the Caribbean region is globally renowned for its performance practices and representations of performance events are ubiquitous in the region's literature. This course is an introduction to the intellectual, cultural, and literary history of the Caribbean region organized around the question: What aspects of these rich traditions of performance do Caribbean writers seek to activate when they include detailed descriptions of performances in their texts? Since performance is the thematic and methodological focus of the course, we will develop a working knowledge of performance studies, research performance practices of the Caribbean, and consider how interaction between the two can provide an approach to comparative Caribbean literary studies. This course is multi-lingual and we will read Anglophone, Francophone, and Hispanophone literary works. Discussion will be conducted in English and all texts will be available in English translation as well as the original Spanish and French and students who can read in the original are expected to do so.
SPN3400: Spanish Reading and Conversation
This is the second course of a two-semester sequence designed to develop communicative proficiency and accuracy in the Spanish language while providing a deeper understanding of Hispanic cultures. Students will practice more complex language tasks while they come to know more about the Spanish-speaking world’s culture, history, and daily life in its complexity and diversity. Students will read short cultural texts and watch films to learn the rudiments of textual analysis, participate in conversation related to personal, literary, or cultural themes, and write short compositions on these topics.