Spanish Culture Ii
A.Y. 2025/2026
Learning objectives
The course aims to explore the history of Spanish culture, highlighting its political and cultural roots and the long-term phenomena which, starting from the Middle Ages and Modern Age, led to the current cultural context. The major political, social, economic and cultural developments in the history of Spain are analysed in a diachronic perspective, with a focus on particular historical moments and their related cultural productions. The course examines interrelations between culture, discourse strategies, political and social phenomena, creation and consumption of cultural products, to identify common areas between the different cultures observable on Spanish soil in the Middle Ages as well as in the Modern Age. To this end, students will be equipped with the necessary language and semiotic tools, with a view to facilitating their acquisition of the course contents.
Expected learning outcomes
The course aims to facilitate an understanding of cultural shifts in medieval and modern Spain, by describing it as a heterogeneous environment where contacts and relations with other European and extra-European countries played a role in shaping culture. This will enable students to understand Spanish culture in a broader diachronic perspective and to interpret today's Spanish cultural context. Students will also develop critical thinking and project skills enabling them to further explore contemporary Spain, an environment where cultural heterogeneity is a key factor to take into account for inclusion practices. Students will be equipped with the tools to refine their interdisciplinary and diachronic understanding of Spanish culture, and to identify the underlying relations within a heterogeneous cultural context. Moreover, they will be able to use the cultural competence acquired through the course to further study inclusion practices. Finally, students should be able to communicate the contents of the course, with proper command of the language.
Lesson period: Second semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Lesson period
Second semester
Course syllabus
Course Title: "Media Revolution and Psychiatric Revolution from the Democratic Transition to the Present. A Comparative Approach between Spain and Italy"
The course analyzes in a comparative perspective the revolutionary spirit that characterized the period from the democratic Transition to the present. Firstly, it will delve into the impact on the public sphere of the shift from a culture of the word to a culture of the image. Secondly, in this context, it will focus on the proliferation of the debate on mental health, analyzing the irruption of the psychiatric legacy into the cultural and literary world.
CONTENS
- 20th-Century History of Spain: A Short Overview;
- The Democratic Transition: Coordinates and Cultural Legacy;
- The Media Revolution
· From a Word-Based to an Image-Based Culture;
· The Spectacle-ization of Information;
· TV and Consensus in the Path Towards Democracy;
· "Video-politics" between Spain and Italy;
· The Representation of the Female Body: Construction and Deconstruction of a Model;
· Current Perspective and New Media;
- Psychiatric revolution
· Body, Illness and Literature;
· The Psychiatric Revolution in 20th-Century: Spain and Italy;
· The Irruption of the Psychiatric Legacy into the Cultural World;
· Manifest Dissidence: Reportages, Novels, Interviews, and Manifestos;
· Mental Illness in Theatre and Cinema;
· Poetry Between Testimony and Denunciation: Leopoldo María Panero and Alda
Merini;
- Current Perspective: The Debate on Mental Health and Art as a Therapeutic Device;
· Perspectives from Illness: Rosa Silverio;
· The Psychiatris-Poet: María Paz Otero
The course analyzes in a comparative perspective the revolutionary spirit that characterized the period from the democratic Transition to the present. Firstly, it will delve into the impact on the public sphere of the shift from a culture of the word to a culture of the image. Secondly, in this context, it will focus on the proliferation of the debate on mental health, analyzing the irruption of the psychiatric legacy into the cultural and literary world.
CONTENS
- 20th-Century History of Spain: A Short Overview;
- The Democratic Transition: Coordinates and Cultural Legacy;
- The Media Revolution
· From a Word-Based to an Image-Based Culture;
· The Spectacle-ization of Information;
· TV and Consensus in the Path Towards Democracy;
· "Video-politics" between Spain and Italy;
· The Representation of the Female Body: Construction and Deconstruction of a Model;
· Current Perspective and New Media;
- Psychiatric revolution
· Body, Illness and Literature;
· The Psychiatric Revolution in 20th-Century: Spain and Italy;
· The Irruption of the Psychiatric Legacy into the Cultural World;
· Manifest Dissidence: Reportages, Novels, Interviews, and Manifestos;
· Mental Illness in Theatre and Cinema;
· Poetry Between Testimony and Denunciation: Leopoldo María Panero and Alda
Merini;
- Current Perspective: The Debate on Mental Health and Art as a Therapeutic Device;
· Perspectives from Illness: Rosa Silverio;
· The Psychiatris-Poet: María Paz Otero
Prerequisites for admission
B2 level in the Spanish language;
Knowledge of the historical and cultural landscape of 20th-century Spain.
Knowledge of the historical and cultural landscape of 20th-century Spain.
Teaching methods
Frontal lessons supported by supplementary activities and/or material (critical texts, analysis of
literary texts and/or documentary sources, multimedia testimonies, images...). Dialogue, critical
reflection, and active participation will be strongly encouraged and, at times, required.
literary texts and/or documentary sources, multimedia testimonies, images...). Dialogue, critical
reflection, and active participation will be strongly encouraged and, at times, required.
Teaching Resources
REQUIRED READINGS/MATERIAL FOR ATTENDING AND NON-ATTENDING STUDENTS
· Notes;
· Slides/material preparred and uploaded by the lecturer;
· Two insights to choose among the following:
Media Revolution
BERDÓN, Pablo, "Una transición pendiente. La preocupación de las diputadas ante la
representación femenina en la publicidad televisiva (1982-1989)", Historia y
Comunicación Social, 27(1), 2022, pp. 19-30. (online)
CORONADO RUIZ, Carlota; GALÁN FAJARDO, Elena, "¿Tontas y Locas?: género y movimientos
sociales en la ficción televisiva sobre la transición española", Historia y Comunicación
Social, Vol. 20, Núm. 2, 2015, pp. 327-343. (online)
GUARINOS, Virginia, "El teatro en TVE durante la Transición (1975-1982). Un panorama con freno y marcha atrás", in Antonio Ansón Anadón et. al. (eds.), Televisión y literatura en la
España de la transición (1973-1982), Institución "Fernando el católico", Zaragoza,
2010, pp. 97-118. (online)
MARTÍN JIMÉNEZ, Virginia, "La importancia de la televisión en la difusión del feminismo durante la transición española", en Asunción Esteban Recio, et. al. (eds.), Cuando luchar es
sobrevivir: Resistencia(s) de las mujeres frente a los totalitarismos, Granada,
Comares, 2022, pp. 261-280. (ask the lecturer)
MORCILLO GÓMEZ, Aurora, "De cuerpo presente. El cuerpo nacional y el cuerpo femenino en la Transición", Alcores 19, 2015, pp. 151-171. (online).
Psychiatric revolution
CONSEGLIERI, Ana; VILASANTE, Olga, "Las mujeres que escribieron en el Manicomio Nacional de Leganés tras la Guerra Civil Española, 1939-1952", História, Ciências, Saúde -
Manguinhos, v.31, 2024, pp. 1-17. (online)
IRISARRI, Fabiola, "Contracultura y antipsiquiatría. El caso de 'Ajoblanco'", en Rafael Huertas
(ed.), Psiquiatría y antipsiquiatría en el segundo franquismo y la transición, Madrid,
Catarata, 2017, pp. 162-191. (ask the lecturer)
JAÉN ÁGUILA, Fernando, "Poesía y medicina. Los sonidos de la enfermedad", Academia de
Ciencias Médicas de Bilbao, 119 (3), 2022, p. 189-193. (online)
PANERO, Leopoldo María, "Prologo", in Edward Lear, El ómnibus, sinsentido, ed. y trad. Leopoldo María Panero, Madrid, Visor, 1972, pp. 7-11. (ask the lecturer)
SAONA, Margarita, "Signos vitales: una estética de la poesía de la enfermedad", Espinela. Revista de literatura, 11, 2023, pp. 6-13. (online)
VALIÑO VÁZQUEZ, Noelia, "La psiquiatría del primer franquismo: una historia del olvido de la salud mental", Cultura de los Cuidados, 68, 2024, pp. 153-164. (online)
· Secondary Critical Bibliography
ADAGIO, Carmelo; BOTTI, Alfonso, Storia della Spagna democratica. Da Franco a Zapatero,
Milano, Paravia Bruno Mondadori Editori, 2006.
· Notes;
· Slides/material preparred and uploaded by the lecturer;
· Two insights to choose among the following:
Media Revolution
BERDÓN, Pablo, "Una transición pendiente. La preocupación de las diputadas ante la
representación femenina en la publicidad televisiva (1982-1989)", Historia y
Comunicación Social, 27(1), 2022, pp. 19-30. (online)
CORONADO RUIZ, Carlota; GALÁN FAJARDO, Elena, "¿Tontas y Locas?: género y movimientos
sociales en la ficción televisiva sobre la transición española", Historia y Comunicación
Social, Vol. 20, Núm. 2, 2015, pp. 327-343. (online)
GUARINOS, Virginia, "El teatro en TVE durante la Transición (1975-1982). Un panorama con freno y marcha atrás", in Antonio Ansón Anadón et. al. (eds.), Televisión y literatura en la
España de la transición (1973-1982), Institución "Fernando el católico", Zaragoza,
2010, pp. 97-118. (online)
MARTÍN JIMÉNEZ, Virginia, "La importancia de la televisión en la difusión del feminismo durante la transición española", en Asunción Esteban Recio, et. al. (eds.), Cuando luchar es
sobrevivir: Resistencia(s) de las mujeres frente a los totalitarismos, Granada,
Comares, 2022, pp. 261-280. (ask the lecturer)
MORCILLO GÓMEZ, Aurora, "De cuerpo presente. El cuerpo nacional y el cuerpo femenino en la Transición", Alcores 19, 2015, pp. 151-171. (online).
Psychiatric revolution
CONSEGLIERI, Ana; VILASANTE, Olga, "Las mujeres que escribieron en el Manicomio Nacional de Leganés tras la Guerra Civil Española, 1939-1952", História, Ciências, Saúde -
Manguinhos, v.31, 2024, pp. 1-17. (online)
IRISARRI, Fabiola, "Contracultura y antipsiquiatría. El caso de 'Ajoblanco'", en Rafael Huertas
(ed.), Psiquiatría y antipsiquiatría en el segundo franquismo y la transición, Madrid,
Catarata, 2017, pp. 162-191. (ask the lecturer)
JAÉN ÁGUILA, Fernando, "Poesía y medicina. Los sonidos de la enfermedad", Academia de
Ciencias Médicas de Bilbao, 119 (3), 2022, p. 189-193. (online)
PANERO, Leopoldo María, "Prologo", in Edward Lear, El ómnibus, sinsentido, ed. y trad. Leopoldo María Panero, Madrid, Visor, 1972, pp. 7-11. (ask the lecturer)
SAONA, Margarita, "Signos vitales: una estética de la poesía de la enfermedad", Espinela. Revista de literatura, 11, 2023, pp. 6-13. (online)
VALIÑO VÁZQUEZ, Noelia, "La psiquiatría del primer franquismo: una historia del olvido de la salud mental", Cultura de los Cuidados, 68, 2024, pp. 153-164. (online)
· Secondary Critical Bibliography
ADAGIO, Carmelo; BOTTI, Alfonso, Storia della Spagna democratica. Da Franco a Zapatero,
Milano, Paravia Bruno Mondadori Editori, 2006.
Assessment methods and Criteria
The assessment will consist of an oral examination aimed at verifying the knowledge and skills
acquired. Questions will assess knowledge of the context and the ability to analyze it critically using texts and sources; competence in text analysis and interpretation; and the ability to compare and connect texts, sources, works, and cultural movements.
Students may choose to take the exam in Italian or Spanish.
The final mark will be expressed on a scale of thirty (in 30ths).
A partial written examination is scheduled at the end of the course.
The examination methods for students with disabilities and/or with Specific Learning Disorders
(SLD) must be agreed upon with the professor, in consultation with the relevant Office.
acquired. Questions will assess knowledge of the context and the ability to analyze it critically using texts and sources; competence in text analysis and interpretation; and the ability to compare and connect texts, sources, works, and cultural movements.
Students may choose to take the exam in Italian or Spanish.
The final mark will be expressed on a scale of thirty (in 30ths).
A partial written examination is scheduled at the end of the course.
The examination methods for students with disabilities and/or with Specific Learning Disorders
(SLD) must be agreed upon with the professor, in consultation with the relevant Office.
L-LIN/05 - SPANISH LITERATURE - University credits: 6
Lessons: 40 hours
Professor:
Maffei Maria