Final Papers:  Final papers will be e-mailed to me by Tuesday, April 10th at 11:59 PM.  If you need an extension on the paper, I may be able to arrange something.  Do not be afraid to ask for an extension if you need one.  Feel free to get in touch with me before the due date if you want me to look over a draft or you need extra help.  I can also accept papers in Spanish.

Blog Posts:  If you have missed blog posts throughout the term, you have until the Final Exam date to complete them (April 17th).  All blog posts must be completed to get the full 20% blog mark.  The blog posts are marked as done/not done.

Exam Period Office Hours:  I can hold office hours on the date of the exam from 12:30-3:00, I am also reachable by e-mail and Skype if necessary.    Please remember my office is now in the LAST office (Liu Institute 209)

Final Exam: The final exam will cover all of the cultural material we studied in the last 3/4 of the course (NOT the theoretical stuff from the first 1/4).  Including Chilean protest art against the regime, music, the No Campaign and the film “No”,  Argentine Comics, Nuevo cancionero, Rock nacional, The official story, and Cuban music and the film Strawberry and chocolate. All of the power points from the lectures are posted here on the blog. You should have an idea of the art’s context and how it intervenes in the major social issues taking place in the artist’s respective countries during the 1970s and 1980s.  The exam will be broken up into three parts:

Identify/long answer questions:  You will be given a selection of either questions or artworks to identify and discuss in paragraph format (to a maximum of 5).  Try to give as detailed a discussion as possible with reference to historical circumstances.

Essay 1:  Comparisons

You will be given a selection of artworks from different countries and asked to write a minimum 300 word essay comparing them to each other.  Discuss their similarities, differences and impact.

Essay 2:  Topics and Trends

In the second essay you will be given a choice of topical questions related to the larger movements and trends that these artworks participated in and asked to write a 300 word essay.

Hi All

Here are the notes and the blog question on Fresa y chocolate:

Sexuality-in-Cuba

For the blog.  Discuss your impressions of the film in the comment section.  Explain how David and Diego’s characters represent the two opposing faces of the Revolution.

Hi Everyone

Here are the lecture notes on Nueva Trova.

Nueva-Trova-2

For the blog, discuss the relationship between Nueva Trova musicians and the Cuban Revolutionary Government.  How do they compare with Nueva canción and other musical movements throughout the region.

Here are the songs we listened to

Vieja Trova

Nueva Trova

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_TioYcCEPI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=tkvuru_jPgM

Novisima trova

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2lne8dLPM4

Hi Everyone

On Thursday, you will present a brief summary of the points in your listicles in class. Your presentations should be no longer than 15 minutes, with a couple of minutes after for Q and A.  Since we have a large number of students in this class, some groups may need to present their listicles next Tuesday.  If you are in a group presenting next Tuesday because of time constraints, you will still need to hand in the copy of your listicle this Thursday.  You can have up until 11:59 PM to e-mail me the article itself, but it must be in on time.

Everyone in your group should contribute more or less equally to this project, that is the idea behind the five-point listicles.  Each member creates one.  I have had a few groups come up to me and mention that one or two members are doing all of the work, while the rest are not.  This is unfair.  Therefore any group members who aren’t contributing to their group will only be given 75% of the group’s grade.  If you are in a group where this is happening, please let me know.  

There’s a change to the Final Essay minimum length.  It is now 10 pages, not 15, though if you want to write more you are welcome to.  Please note that the final essay due date is Tuesday, April 10th at 11:59 PM.  E-mail me your papers at Barbara.fraser@ubc.ca.

If you haven’t gotten your proposal back yet please let me know.

Also my office location has changed.  I am now located in the LAS office (Liu Institute #209) My office hours are the same.

Hi Everyone

This week we watched the second half of The Official Story and started our discussion on Cuba.  There are no blog posts for this weekend, since we are doing the Cracked Presentations next week on Thursday.  Here are the copies of the lecture notes:

The-Official-Story

Cuba-and-the-United-States

The Cuban Revolution

Tuesday we will talk about Nueva Trova. Here is a reading  which will give you some background on the movement and its progression through the various decades of Castro’s regime.  If you are not able to get through all of it this weekend, that’s okay.

See you next week.

Barbara

MARCH 20TH UPDATE: Kanopy, the new film streaming service that’s free for universities, does have a copy of the film.  Here is the link:  You may need to sign in with your CWL to get access to it.  

Hey guys

Before we get into this week’s lessons. Is there any of you who did not get your Transculturation Essays back? I have had a few people who didn’t receive the files. Please e-mail me and let me know.

This week we looked at the Rock Nacional movement and listened to some great 70s and 80s music. We also looked more in depth at the Dirty War and watched the first half of the film La historia oficial. I do not have an online streamed copy to send to you, so you might need to dig around the internet and/or Netflix and find a copy if you haven’t watched it yet.

Here are the class notes for today. I will post the music links from Tuesday below.

The Dirty War
The Official Story
Here is the link to Julio Strassera’s closing arguments during the Trial of the Juntas.

For the blog, choose a Rock Nacional song we listened to and discuss it in detail. What did you find interesting about the lyrics, composition or context of the music?

Please remember that to get the full 20% mark for the blog posts all of them need to be done. I will allow you until the day of the final exam to complete them.

Here’s what we listened to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rjjxoas-uNU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73cKa0KpcI4

Hi all

Since I posted the notes for both Rock Nacional and Nuevo Cancionero I will post the music we listened to here.  There is no blog question for this weekend, however make sure to read the article on Rocknacional, which we will discuss in class on Tuesday.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Jo5mBZZGqU

“Cracked” is a popular culture/humor website with an intellectual bent. Their articles, many of which are reader-submissions, cover a wide-range of topics dealing with society, culture and popular art.  Their articles tend to be written in a five-point “listicle” format in which information about culture is condensed and presented in an amusing and interesting manner.  The site also includes image macros, called “Photoplasties” which create meme style information graphics, sometimes for the sake of humour and sometimes to present interesting or unusual information.

In this project you will work together in groups of 4-5 to collaborate on a either a five-point Cracked style “listicle” or a set of 10 photoplalsties which you will also present in class in a 15 minute presentation, as well as hand in to me afterward.

Cracked articles use a 5 point “listicle” format for presenting information in a condensed manner. Thus, each group member ideally should be responsible for one entry. Information included in the article must be sourced and a bibliography of sources included at the end of your article/macros.  The presentations will be held in-class on the 29th of March.  You can e-mail your articles to me at Barbara.fraser@ubc.ca

Here are some Cracked articles on similar themes we discuss in class.

5 Things Movies Get Wrong About Dictatorships
Life as an American Punk Band in China
5 Shockingly Progressive Policies from Dictatorships
6 Ugly Facts of Life from Communist Cuba
Famous Things You Are Picturing Wrong (Pictofacts)

Here are the groups we have so far:

Anya Elias
Ximena Kuzma Mongrut
Fernando Castillo
Silas Latchem
Gustavo Villela

HyunJin Min,
Laura Garcia,
Bianca Gobalesa,
Sarah Drew
Alberto Montilla

Daniel Provost
Liam Doll
Jose Pablo Montoya
Brendan Currie O’Brien
Alister Langlois

Liz Vermunt
Jacob Fischer Smith
Melissa Funes
Vlad Chibiskov
Natan Villarreal
Sarah Lytle

Mackenzie Cole,
Eric Swanson,
Joe Whysker,
Jackson Vesey

Chris Grant
Kianna Trovik
Liam Sasky
Ruze Guvenc
Zahraa Janjua

The rest of you will need to let me know who you would like to work with.  Those who haven’t gotten a group or haven’t attended class enough to know whom you would like to work with should get in touch with me and I will try to put you with someone.

Hi all

This Thursday we are going to begin discussing two musical protest movements in Argentina: Nuevo Cancionero and Rock Nacional.  Here are the lecture notes for both

Musical Resistances in Argentina

Musical-Resistances-in-Argentina 2

Also, here is a reading on Rocknacional which we will discuss next Tuesday.

Hi All

Here are this week’s lecture notes as well as the links to the comics and cartoons we saw.  Once again, sorry that last class was delayed because I missed a ferry connection.  However we did manage to go through the comic genre pretty thoroughly.

Please remember Tuesday the 6th’s class is cancelled because I have to fly to New York for an On Campus interview.  On Thursday the 8th I will give out information about the Cracked Listicle Project.  If you have a group of people you are already interested in working with, send me an e-mail with their names.  (Your group should have no more than 5 people).  Otherwise we will put the groups together on the 8th.  We will be presenting the listicles on the 29th.  Final essays will be due April 10th.

Argentina-and-Peronismos

The LAST 100 page has several speeches by Evita Perón including the one in which she demurred running for president and then “caved” to the pressure of the people.  As well as her radio address in which she renounced her candidacy.  You can check those out under “More resources”

Comics in Argentina

Here are the links to the comics we saw:

Humor

Mafalda

Clemente

Super Clemente Rescata a la Mulatona (YouTube video Spanish Only)

Las Puertitas del Sr. Lopez

(And also, because I mentioned it in class, the TV Tropes entry for Woobie) 

Sci Fi:

El Eternauta

Also did you know that the comic Cyber Six was originally made in Argentina by Carlos Trillo, before the rights were sold to a Japanese company and turned into a TV series?

Well it was!

So for this weekend’s blog, discuss your opinion on the relationship between comics and culture.  Are comics merely forms of brain-rotting escapism?  Or are they, as Oscar Masotta explains, inseparable from their historical moment and context?  Discuss one comic you found particularly incisive in its comments on Argentine society.

Interesting topics for research papers and or Cracked Project:

Comparison between Lisa Simpson and Mafalda (any influences there?)

Representation of Childhood in Mafalda

Representation of Race/Class in Clemente (I saw you all cringing there)

Evita Peron’s use of the media (link with some of the themes of No?)

Transgenderism in Cyber Six

The Sci-fi genre in Argentine literature and popular culture (Borges/Cortázar etc.)