Feb
23
So far, so good…
Posted by: Brian | February 23, 2009 | Comments Off on So far, so good…
So far, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this course. It’s definitely lived up to my expectations. I’ve found the readings for this class interesting, and rather diverse. However, I enjoyed reading the more literary readings, such as the folk tales or the Borges reading, and wish there was a bit more balance between the academic and literary readings. But, maybe I’m speaking too soon! It is, after all, only half way through the semester.
I also like the way the course has been organized. Although we did spend quite a bit of time defining culture and “the people” in general terms before jumping into Latin American-specific popular culture, I felt this was necessary in order to understand the rest of the course.
I have found the readings & discussions we’ve had on mestizaje and racial mixture particularly interesting. Looking forward in the course, I see we have a few more lectures on this topic, and I am definitely looking forward to learning more about it. I feel like it’s a very complex topic, with many different arguments for and against it. I also enjoyed reading the article by Vasconcelos. It was different from your conventional, university-assigned reading in that we were encouraged to challenge the author’s arguments and ideas, and not just agree with them.
While the readings have been great, I also enjoyed the use of video and youtube clips that were used at the very beginning of the semester. I find I learn better when a variety of different media is used (such as writing, music, video). Hopefully there will be more of this later on in the course!