Arts Oneb: Authority and Resistance

ArtsONEb is an invitation to unpack why “authority and resistance” has concerned some of the most noteworthy thinkers and revolutionary actors of the past and defined recent thematic trends in the arts, politics, and beyond. It is an opportunity to actively engage in a dialogue – both through conversation and written work in an academic context – about the value of looking to the past to better comprehend present circumstances and even to project future occurrences.  See the current course syllabus for my section here: Authority and Resistance Syllabus 2017

History of Courses Taught

The University of British Columbia

First Year Programs, Arts One

  • Authority and Resistance

Department of French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies

  • Spanish 491 Directed Study on Colonial Literature
  • Spanish 405a/505 Latin American Guerrilla Literature
  • Spanish 406 Gender Representations in Latin American Literature
  • Spanish 401 Translation
  • Spanish 365 Introduction to Spanish American Literature (1820s-present)
  • Spanish 364 Spanish-American Literature (up to 1820s)
  • Spanish 312 Latin American Literature in Translation (Taught in English)
    • Exploring Politics through Literature
    • Violence: Latin American Testimonial Narrative and Documentary
  • Spanish 280: Snapshots of Revolution in Spanish America (Taught in English)
  • Spanish 222 Hispanic Cultural Expressions
  • Spanish 221 Introduction to Hispanic Literature and Methods of Literary Analysis
  • Spanish 202 Intermediate Spanish II
  • Spanish 201 Intermediate Spanish I
  • Spanish 102 Novice Spanish II
  • Spanish 101 Novice Spanish I

The University of Arkansas at Little Rock

Department of International and Second Language Studies 

  • Spanish 3312 Mass Media and Society in Spanish American Literary and Cultural Texts
  • Spanish 4362 From Literature to Film in Spanish American Literature
  • Spanish 4361 (Re)Writing Revolution (Latin America)
  • Spanish 3335 Culture and Popular Culture of the Americas
  • Spanish 3332 Introduction to Hispanic Literature

Michigan State University

The Centre for Integrative Studies in the Arts and Humanities

  • IAH 211C Identity Politics and Human Rights in 20th Century Literature on the Revolution
  • IAH 203 Latin America and the World

Department of Spanish and Portuguese

  • Spanish 310 Basic Spanish Grammar
  • Spanish 250 Intensive Review of Intermediate Spanish I & II
  • Spanish 202 Second Year Spanish II
  • Spanish 201 Second Year Spanish I
  • Spanish 150 Intensive Review of Elementary Spanish I & II
  • Spanish 102 Elementary Spanish II
  • Spanish 101 Elementary Spanish I

Lansing Community College

Department of Communications

  • Spanish 121 Elementary Spanish I
  • Spanish 116 Conversational Spanish II

 

Presentations

Here, I’ve included a sampling of original class sessions, influenced by inquiry-based teaching methods and other technologies that I have designed for UBC students on different topics, relevant to their coursework and other aspects of their degree programs.

Arts Oneb: Authority and Resistance Lectures and class meetings

Spanish Language and Hispanic Studies Classes

In the Classroom

My teaching has been informed by a number of methods and approaches and is often enhanced by technology. I primarily employ a Communicative Approach that incorporates other teaching methods such as Jean-Pol Martin’s Learning by Teaching Method and other inquiry-based and collaborative learning models that are complemented by Power Point and Prezi presentations, music and film, discussion-oriented platforms and blogs, podcasts, interactive lecture tools and games.  Also, since I have found that learning through reading and writing helps to foster a(n) (inter)disciplinary community in the classroom, my pedagogy actively engages students of all levels in the curriculum with such practices.

The collection of class presentations (PPT) and in-class activities included in this section demonstrate my student-centered and collaborative approach to teaching and learning, which tends to privilege active (rather than passive) learning practices.  In my classrooms, students are required to think, answer and pose questions, collaborate regularly with classmates, lead classroom activities (Discussion Leader Sessions), and moderate class discussions both in the classroom and online through a class-based discussion forum.  This varied, but highly interactive approach to teaching in general creates a learning environment that promotes the “five C’s” that have greatly contributed to my success as an educator up to this point: communication, context-based learning. cross-cultural and disciplinary connections, community, and comfort – not in the warm, fuzzy way, but in the sense of creating an environment driven by active participation, mutual respect, and an easy expression of ideas.

 

In-class Assignments and Activities

Language Classes

Literature and Culture Classes

 

 

 

 

Arts One b: Authority and Resistance

Spanish 406: Gender and the Politics of Space in Spanish America (S. XVII-S. XX)

In SPAN 406, students will evaluate how different Spanish American authors from the 17th – 20th centuries explore the idea of gender as a category of analysis in literature situated in diverse enclosed spaces (the convent, the jail cell, the psychological institution, and others). More specifically, we will evaluate how selected authors promote or move away from the “normative” codes of gender present in society and if and when such codes incorporate and/or compete with other identity categories such as race, class, and ethnicity, and so on. As one of the overarching goals of the course is to engage students in scholarly dialogues on gender, students will explore the construction, performance, and variations of gender through critical and theoretical approaches to the topic and in relation to the literary corpus of the course.

Spanish 280: Snapshots of Revolution in Spanish America

Revolutions challenge the status quo. Revolutionary leaders think differently. They imagine change in times of conflict. Span 280 is an introduction to major icons, concepts, practices, and discourses of revolt and revolution in Latin America from 1910-present. We will read first-hand accounts of “Revolution” written by and about some of the most prevalent rebel leaders – Emiliano Zapata, Che Guevara, Gioconda Belli, Omar Cabezas, and the rebel formerly known as Subcomandante Marcos – while studying the intersections of literary, political, and cultural production (music, art, and film) in Mexico, Cuba, and Nicaragua. See the Term 2 2019 Syllabus Spanish 280 here.

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