Spanish Culture Ii
A.Y. 2019/2020
Learning objectives
The course aims at providing a deeper understanding of spanish contemporary culture, showing also its historic and cultural roots and highlighting long-lasting phenomena from the previous centuries. The main political, social, economical and cultural changes in Spain will be analyzed through the circumstantial examination of some historical moments and correlated cultural productions. The relationships among culture, discursive strategies, social phenomena, mass communication, production and consumption of cultural products (especially pertaining literary, visual and musical disciplines) will be studied using a humanities approach and an interdisciplinary angle. To reach this goal and facilitate the understanding of topics presented during the course, appropriate semiotic and linguistic tools will be provided.
Expected learning outcomes
The course aims at refining the ability to understand the most significant cultural changes that have characterized contemporary Spain, taking also into account its relationship with the past, whose reading and interpretation allows to understand the present and contributes at entering critically and projectually into the future. Students will acquire the necessary tools to deal with the topic under study from an interdisciplinary perspective. Moreover, they will be able to communicate with command, linguistically and content-wise, the knowledge they acquired during the course.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course cannot be attended as a single course. Please check our list of single courses to find the ones available for enrolment.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Responsible
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
The course aims to offer a general overview of contemporary Spain, from the Transition (1973-1986) to the "Indignados Movement" of May 2011, paying specific attention to some historical, social and cultural aspects that have marked the country in the last decades. The objective of the course is to highlight the elements of continuity with the past and the changes that have taken place leading to a more complex and contradictory society. To this end, a selected choice of literary, theatrical, cinematographic and musical works characteristic of the period will be analysed and commented.
The syllabus is the same for attending and non attending students.
The syllabus is the same for attending and non attending students.
Prerequisites for admission
The knowledge of Spanish is a fundamental prerequisite since the course will be held in Spanish and most of the study materials will also be in Spanish.
Teaching methods
The course adopts the following teaching methods: frontal lessons; reading and commentary of narrative and poetic texts, essays, theatre plays, songs, films, television programmes and documentaries.
Teaching Resources
The general reference books, of which students must prepare only the parts indicated by the professor, are "Letteratura spagnola contemporanea", by Danilo Manera (coord.), Marina Bianchi, Giuliana Calabrese, Alessandro Cassol, Simone Cattaneo (Milano, Pearson, 2020) and "La 'cultura X'. Mercato, pop e tradizione. Juan Bonilla, Ray Loriga e Juan Manuel de Prada" by Simone Cattaneo (Milano, Ledizioni, 2012), chapters I (pp. 13-22), II (pp. 23-44) and IV (pp. 53-85) (the book can be downloaded for free at https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/disegni/issue/view/447). Other materials will be uploaded by the professor on the online platform ARIEL. Articles and essays will be drawn mainly from the following volumes:
- José-Carlos Mainer, Santos Juliá, "El aprendizaje de la libertad. 1973-1986", Alianza, Madrid, 2000.
- AA.VV., "CT o la Cultura de la Transición. Crítica a 35 años de cultura española", Penguin Random House, Barcelona, 2012.
- David Becerra Mayor (coord.), "Convocando al fantasma. Novela crítica en la España actual", Tierradenadie, Madrid, 2015.
- Jochen Mecke, Ralf Junkerjürgen, Hubert Pöppel (eds.), "Discursos de la crisis. Respuestas de la cultura española ante nuevos desafíos", Iberoamericana/Vervuert, Madrid/Frankfurt, 2017.
- Christian Claesson (coord.), "Narrativas precarias. Crisis y subjetividad en la cultura española actual", Hoja de Lata, Xixón, 2019.
- Jorge Cagiao y Conde, Isabelle Touton (dirs.), "España después del 15M", Los Libros de la Catarata, Madrid, 2019.
Students, in addition to critical materials related to the periods and cultural phenomena included in the syllabus, will have to prepare two compulsory readings and other two that they can choose from a list of novels, combining them with other works (films, documentaries, comics, etc.) that will be indicated by the professor.
The two compulsory readings are:
- Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, "Los mares del sur", 1979 (noir novel, any Spanish edition).
- José Luis Alonso de Santos, "La estanquera de Vallecas", 1981 (theatre play, any Spanish edition).
Students can choose the other two readings from the list below:
- José Ángel Mañas, "Historias del Kronen", 1994 (any Spanish edition).
- Agustín Fernández Mallo, "Nocilla Dream", Candaya, Barcelona, 2006.
- Javier Cercas, "Anatomía de un instante", Random House Mondadori, Barcelona, 2009.
- Javier Cercas, "Las leyes de la frontera", Penguin Random House, Barcelona, 2012.
- Isaac Rosa, "La mano invisible", Seix Barral, Barcelona, 2011.
- Isaac Rosa, "La habitación oscura", Seix Barral, Barcelona, 2013.
- Isaac Rosa, Cristina Bueno, "Aquí vivió. Historia de un desahucio", Penguin Random House, Barcelona, 2016. (comic)
- Marta Sanz, "Daniela Astor y la caja negra", Anagrama, Barcelona, 2013.
- Belén Gopegui, "Quédate este día y esta noche conmigo", Penguin Random House, Barcelona, 2017.
- José-Carlos Mainer, Santos Juliá, "El aprendizaje de la libertad. 1973-1986", Alianza, Madrid, 2000.
- AA.VV., "CT o la Cultura de la Transición. Crítica a 35 años de cultura española", Penguin Random House, Barcelona, 2012.
- David Becerra Mayor (coord.), "Convocando al fantasma. Novela crítica en la España actual", Tierradenadie, Madrid, 2015.
- Jochen Mecke, Ralf Junkerjürgen, Hubert Pöppel (eds.), "Discursos de la crisis. Respuestas de la cultura española ante nuevos desafíos", Iberoamericana/Vervuert, Madrid/Frankfurt, 2017.
- Christian Claesson (coord.), "Narrativas precarias. Crisis y subjetividad en la cultura española actual", Hoja de Lata, Xixón, 2019.
- Jorge Cagiao y Conde, Isabelle Touton (dirs.), "España después del 15M", Los Libros de la Catarata, Madrid, 2019.
Students, in addition to critical materials related to the periods and cultural phenomena included in the syllabus, will have to prepare two compulsory readings and other two that they can choose from a list of novels, combining them with other works (films, documentaries, comics, etc.) that will be indicated by the professor.
The two compulsory readings are:
- Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, "Los mares del sur", 1979 (noir novel, any Spanish edition).
- José Luis Alonso de Santos, "La estanquera de Vallecas", 1981 (theatre play, any Spanish edition).
Students can choose the other two readings from the list below:
- José Ángel Mañas, "Historias del Kronen", 1994 (any Spanish edition).
- Agustín Fernández Mallo, "Nocilla Dream", Candaya, Barcelona, 2006.
- Javier Cercas, "Anatomía de un instante", Random House Mondadori, Barcelona, 2009.
- Javier Cercas, "Las leyes de la frontera", Penguin Random House, Barcelona, 2012.
- Isaac Rosa, "La mano invisible", Seix Barral, Barcelona, 2011.
- Isaac Rosa, "La habitación oscura", Seix Barral, Barcelona, 2013.
- Isaac Rosa, Cristina Bueno, "Aquí vivió. Historia de un desahucio", Penguin Random House, Barcelona, 2016. (comic)
- Marta Sanz, "Daniela Astor y la caja negra", Anagrama, Barcelona, 2013.
- Belén Gopegui, "Quédate este día y esta noche conmigo", Penguin Random House, Barcelona, 2017.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The exam consists of an individual interview, which includes questions asked by the professor, interactions between professor and students and the analysis and commentary of the works in the syllabus. It will be held partially in Spanish, in order to verify the development of adequate language skills also in the context of cultural studies. The interview also aims to verify the knowledge and understanding of the historical periods and the works studied, the ability to contextualize sociopolitical events and cultural phenomena, the expression skills, the precision in the use of specific terminology, the ability to reflect critically and personally on the proposed issues. The final grade mark is expressed on a scale up to 30, and the student has the right to refuse it (in which case it will be recorded as "withdrawn").
Midterm exams are not planned for this course.
International students or incoming Erasmus students are invited to contact the professor as soon as possible. The examination procedures for students with disabilities and/or with DSA must be agreed with the professor and the competent office.
Midterm exams are not planned for this course.
International students or incoming Erasmus students are invited to contact the professor as soon as possible. The examination procedures for students with disabilities and/or with DSA must be agreed with the professor and the competent office.
Teaching Unit 1
L-LIN/05 - SPANISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Teaching Unit 2
L-LIN/05 - SPANISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Teaching Unit 3
L-LIN/05 - SPANISH LITERATURE - University credits: 3
Lessons: 20 hours
Professor(s)
Reception:
Tuesday: from 1.00 p.m. to 3.30 p.m. Friday: from 10.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m.
Piazza S. Alessandro 1, Department of Spanish and Portuguese, 2nd floor. It is also possible to arrange a meeting on the platform Microsoft Teams by sending an e-mail to the following address: [email protected]