Chile

This course provides a study of Latin American films from the late nineteenth century to the present day and reflects on various political, social, and cultural scenarios of the countries in which these films are set. It critically analyzes the thematic and formal proposals of the films, as well as the aesthetic concepts used in the visual imagery associated with Latin America. The course examines the common problems and historical moments that were projected through film in silent cinema, new cinema of the 1960s and 1970s, and finally, in contemporary works.

This course seeks to develop verbal and written skills at the advanced level. By the end of the course, students will be able to communicate freely with native speakers. Textual analysis and formal academic writing are required. Various aspects of Chilean culture are also examined. * Units reduced to correspond with UC quarter units for comparable course work.

The course focuses on five prominent Chilean authors who write fiction based on historical Chilean women. It explores the relationship between literature and historical reality, with writers assuming very different ways of understanding that relationship. Topics include: the new historical novel in Chilean literature; representation of the female historical subject in the current Chilean novel; the concepts of popular consciousness, memory, and transtextuality; the relationship between history and memory.

The course offers an introduction to optimal structural design. It discusses conceptual tools and computing resources and also stresses the design of elastic structures. Topics include: classical structural optimization; mathematical preliminaries; geometric optimization; homogenization method; evolutionary optimization.