The objectives of this course are twofold. The first goal is to provide students with critical and theoretical foundations for the study of gender issues in modern Latin America, through the analysis of conceptual (social, philosophical and political) texts. This part of the course entails the study of historical contexts that connect the emergence of Latin American societies to questions of imperial domination, coloniality, and modernization. The second goal of the course is to illustrate the conceptualization and the evolution of gender issues through the analysis of some representative figures and cultural processes that show differential articulation of subjects in the public sphere depending on gender. The study of the interconnections between femininity/masculinity, hetero/homosexuality and racial differences will be traced from colonial times to the present. Some instances of this critical journey will focus on topics such as gender in the new Latin American republics, gender and modernization, identity politics, human rights and intersectionality. Required readings will be critical and theoretical pieces plus some fictional works. Particular cases will be approached through analysis of political figures (Eva Peron), women artists (Frida Khalo, Ana Mendieta), literary works (Bad Girls, novel by Camila Sosa Villada; Fever Dreams by Smanta Schweblin) and films (El cuarto de Leo (2009), and Fever Dreams (2021).
Course Attributes: EN H; AS HUM; FA HUM; AR HUM
