La escritura sonora: El sonido y la escucha en la literatura latinoamericana
Marco Verch | CCNull, CC-BY 2.0
Latin America has a rich and complex tradition of orality, both aural and textual. This course reads 20th- and 21st-century literature in relation to that tradition, considering how recent works build on and (perhaps more importantly) diverge from, oral practices that have been the ground of storytelling, memory making, and political interventions in the region. Throughout the semester, we will attend closely to how contemporary aural (related to the faculty of hearing) literature grapple with and contextualize important sociohistorical, political, and economic realities, such as gendered and cartel violence, ingrained corruption by political figures, ablism and differently-abled bodies, increased forced migration to North America, and ecological disasters that are increasing in frequency and severity due to climate change. In particular, our conversations will inquire into how written texts invoke or represent sound, aurality, and silence both thematically and formally—through literary devices and formal structure—as a means of indexing, critiquing, and deconstructing structures of power. Together, we will consider how literary aurality is deployed as a means of perceiving alternative epistemologies and responding to precarity, inequality, and violence of the globalized present.
Discussion of primary works will occur in Spanish and will be informed by critical readings from philosophy, literary theory, media studies, and other related disciplines. As the semester progresses, we will acquire a critical vocabulary (e.g., orality, aurality, orality-literacy binary, intermediality, audile technique, audiovisual litany, etc.) for analyzing and discussing sound and sonorities in literary texts.
CONTENT NOTE: This course will occasionally cover sensitive, mature, and charged material, including scenes of sexual violence. You may find some readings and other content difficult.
Language of instruction: Spanish
Instructor: Dr. Tamara Mitchell
Recommended pre-requisites: SPAN 221; and SPAN 301 or equivalent expertise in written and spoken Spanish.
TBD, but will likely include an oral presentation (individual or in pairs); a short essay or creative piece; a long essay or aural critical reflection (e.g., podcast episode, sonic essay, etc.); and thoughtful preparation of materials and engaged participation in class, as demonstrated by class discussion.
TBD, but many (if not all) of the texts will be provided on Canvas.