This course will provide insight into Latin American political and cultural history by viewing key nineteenth and early twentieth-century texts in the context of ideas about nation, nation-building processes and the emergence of the modern nation-state. We will explore political attempts to forge a nation in the wake of Independence, the social and cultural implications of these efforts for communities within the former colonies, and the widening gap between “state” and “nation”. A critical examination of the texts will reveal these tensions and the existence of diverse notions of nation and ethnicity. These issues will also be viewed in the context of aesthetic developments in Latin America. [Note: This course is taught in Spanish.] Prereq: SPAN 228
