University of Barcelona

This course examines, from an interdisciplinary and procedural perspective, the fundamental concepts related to the social and cultural dimensions of language including linguistic communities, language contact, multilingualism, determinants of linguistic behavior, and sociolinguistic change and evolution.

This course examines foundations of Latin-American literature, from pre-Columbian texts to modernist authors and their works. It covers: pre-Columbian literature; chronicles of the Indies; the baroque era in Latin America; the Enlightenment and Romanticism; Modernism, poetry and prose.

This course explores literature and thought in the Spanish enlightenment. Topics include: conditions and limits of the enlightenment as a form of critical regerationism in 18th century Spain; aesthetics of the enlightenment and the role of neoclassicism; enlightenment reformism in the Spain of Charles III and Charles IV; reformism theater; evolution of narrative forms throughout the 18th century.

The course examines the collective nature of social, cultural, psychological, and historical processes. Topics include: social psychology, research, and psychosocial intervention; identity; social interaction: aggression, altruism, and interpersonal attraction; attitude; influence, conformity, and obedience; groups, social movements, and social institutions.

This course provides a study of twentieth-century Latin American literature. Topics include: modernism and post-modernism (José Martí, Rubén Darío, Delmira Agustini y Leopoldo Lugones); avant-garde literature (Vicente Huidobro, Cesar Vallejo, Pablo Neruda, Oliverio Girondo, Alejandra Pizarnik); thought, creation, and criticism (Jorge Luis Borges); Simon Bolivar in literature; novels of the Mexican Revolution; the Latin American Boom; post-modern fiction (Rosario Ferré, Elena Poniatowska, Rosario Castellanos, Juan José Saer, Fernando Vallejo).

This course is divided into two parts. Part one examines Spanish narrative prose of the 19th and 20th centuries, taking as thematic reference the city of Barcelona and its writers. Part two explores Latin American culture through representative artistic works (music, writing, painting, and film) and their socio-cultural and artistic framework.