SPAN502

SPAN502

Gender and Sexuality in the Early Modern Stage

Cross-listed with SPAN495

Commedia dell'arte troupe by unknown artist, c. 1580; in the Musée Carnavalet, Paris.

Expect to read some of the most outstanding theatrical plays of the early modern period from a comparative perspective, bringing together texts from various literary traditions. In this course students will explore both the common themes and diverging practices of the Spanish, French, Italian, English and Novohispanic stages. The seminar will examine baroque theatricality, meta-theatricality, stagecraft and the distinct treatment of women in the performance space, while paying particular attention to the varied ways that gender, sex and sexuality are represented. Readings might include plays by Shakespeare, Cervantes, Racine and Calderón; Caro Mallén de Soto, Sor Juana and Aphra Behn; Marlowe, Molière, Machiavelli and Tirso; Lope de Vega, Corneille, Ruiz de Alarcón and Middleton, among other.

Language of instruction: Spanish

Instructor: Elizabeth Lagresa-González

Recommended prerequisites: SPAN 221; and SPAN 301 or equivalent expertise in written and spoken Spanish

Grading Breakdown

Participation and Preparation 10%
Weekly Posts 15%
Response Papers (1. 10%, 2. 15%) 25%
Critical Pres. & Disc. 15%
Leading Discussion 10%
Final Comparative Essay 25%

Readings

  • Ignacio Arellano, Historia del teatro español del siglo XVII. Madrid: Cátedra, 2008.
  • Ignacio Arellano and José Antonio Rodríguez Garrido, El teatro en la Hispanoamérica colonial. Madrid: Iberoamericana, 2008.
  • Francisco Ruiz Ramón, Historia del teatro español (desde sus orígenes hasta 1900). Madrid: Cátedra, 2011.
  • Malveena McKendrick, Theatre in Spain, 1490-1700. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989.
  • Teresa Scott Soufas, Dramas of Distinction: Plays by Golden Age Women. Lexington: The U of Kentucky P, 1997.
  • Daniel Gerould, ed. Theatre/Theory/Theatre. Wisconsin: Hal Leonard Corp., 2000.
  • Henry Bial and Sara Brady, eds. The Performance Studies Reader. New York: Routledge, 2016.

FREN513

Arts narratifs autochtones au Québec

Depuis le début des années 2000, les arts narratifs autochtones au Québec connaissent un essor important. Dans leurs textes littéraires et œuvres cinématographiques, les créatrices et créateurs issus des Premiers Peuples mettent en avant des demandes de justice, de guérison et de récupération des savoirs autochtones. Si notre époque actuelle continue d’être marquée par le colonialisme de peuplement, la création et l’art de raconter (le storytelling), peuvent-ils constituer des interventions qui dérangent les systèmes qui oppriment ? Pour bien y répondre, nous nous pencherons sur les débats historiques et contemporains sur la langue, la race, la souveraineté et l’exploitation des ressources naturelles au Québec, afin de contextualiser la production des arts narratifs autochtones et de mieux comprendre les épistémologies qui les sous-tendent. La sélection d’œuvres d’écrivain.es et de cinéastes de différentes nations (Innu, Wendat, Cris, Mohawk, Abénaquis, Anishnaabe et Inuit), qui s’expriment dans différents genres littéraires (histoire orale, récit de vie, autofiction, théâtre, nouvelle, poésie) et cinématographiques (archives visuelles, documentaire, long métrage, court métrage, nouveaux médias), mettra en lumière la grande diversité des arts narratifs autochtones au Québec. Nos discussions seront ancrées dans des méthodologies de recherche autochtones et nous accorderont une attention particulière aux questions de la positionnalité et des stratégies d’engagement éthique avec les textes.

Language of instruction: French

Instructor: Isabella Huberman

Grading Breakdown

Participation active (20%)
Animation d’un atelier théorique (20%)
Dissertations (2 x 15%)
Le colloque =
Proposition de communication (5%)
Communication (25%)

Readings

Lectures théoriques

  • Marie-Hélène Jeannotte, Jonathan Lamy et Isabelle St-Amand, Nous sommes des histoires: réflexions sur la littérature autochtone, Montréal, Mémoire d’encrier, 2018
  • Sélection d’articles affichés sur Canvas

Œuvres

  • An Antane Kapesh, Eukuan nin matshimanitu innu-ishkueu / Je suis une maudite sauvagesse, Montréal, Mémoire d’encrier, 2019 [1976]
  • Naomi Fontaine, Shuni, Montréal, Mémoire d’encrier, 2019
  • Émilie Monnet, Okinum, Montréal, Les Herbes rouges, 2020
  • Virginia Pésémapéo Bordeleau, Ourse bleue, Montréal, Éditions Pleine lune, 2007

FREN410

Le siècle des Lumières en France

Lecture de la tragédie L'orphelin de la chine de Voltaire dans le salon de Madame Geoffrin.

Ce qu’on appelle aujourd’hui le « siècle des Lumières » fait l’objet d’interprétations multiples et même contradictoires. Si la métaphore de la lumière évoque le passage d’un âge obscur à une époque éclairée par le pouvoir de la raison et la libre circulation des idées, la défense de ces nouvelles valeurs s’est faite aux prix de confrontations, d’attaques et de débats qui ont profondément marqué le ton et l’esprit de la production écrite du temps. Partout en Europe, et particulièrement en France, on a vu les « philosophes » se livrer à une remise en question des valeurs morales, esthétiques et politiques héritées du passé, et revendiquer en toutes choses l’usage d’un esprit critique et indépendant. Bien que les philosophes des Lumières aient été loin de former un groupe homogène et de se ranger derrière une seule et même vision de la société idéale, ils ont ceci en commun d’avoir tous voulu contribuer par leurs œuvres à l’ébranlement des préjugés et à l’élaboration d’une conscience moderne dont nous mesurons, encore aujourd’hui, les effets.

À travers la lecture de quelques textes représentatifs de l’esprit du temps, ce cours vise à offrir un survol des idées et des valeurs qui en sont venues à être étroitement associées au siècle des Lumières en France. L’étude de ces idées et des formes esthétiques employées pour leur diffusion sera l’occasion de questionner la représentation que notre présent aime à se faire de cette période et le poids de son héritage dans l’ordre actuel des connaissances et des idéologies.

Language of instruction: French

Prerequisites: Either (a) all of FREN 311, FREN 321 or (b) all of FREN 328, FREN 329 and one of FREN 225, FREN 402

Grading Breakdown

3 Essays = 15% x 3
Midterm Exam =25 %
Final Exam= 30%

Readings

Montesquieu, Lettres persanes
Voltaire, Candide
Rousseau, Discours sur les arts et les sciences
Diderot, Supplément au voyage de Bougainville
Olympe de Gouges, Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne

RMST402

Think Like a Forest: A Dialogue Between Premodern Worldviews, Environmental Humanities, and Indigenous Knowledges

Guillaume de Machaut: Poetical Works 1350-55 Manuscript (Ms. français 1586), 300 x 210 mm (folio size) Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris (https://www.wga.hu/html_m/zgothic/miniatur/1351-400/1french/french15.html)

How do we think? Are we aware of the kind of thinking we entertain? What kind of world do our individual and collective, conscious or unconscious thought-processes generate? Do we even have a choice in the orientation of our thinking patterns, and if we do, does it matter to know we can choose how to think?

Recent scientific research on plants and forests has shown that plants are dynamic, ever-evolving creatures that know how simultaneously to respond to their own inner pattern while remaining adaptive to the environment; beings that know how to grow in resilience and flexibility by developing a vast web of relations, both visible and invisible. In becoming who they are, plants also generate and foster complex ecosystems around them: they support communities of deeply interconnected yet also wildly diverse living species, including our own. In other words: plants have developed the ability to foster life, by giving to their environment more than what they take from it for their sustenance. Without plants and their way of being, we humans would simply not exist.

At the same time, anthropology has taken a new turn since accepting the hypothesis that our way of relating to the “other-than-“, or “more-than-”, human ways of being can change dramatically if we relinquish the claim that thinking is a function uniquely pertaining to the human brain. How do we re-attune ourselves to a thinking-living planet, and possibly to a thinking-living cosmos?

Somewhat like an old-growth forest, pre-modern Europe produced a vast corpus of texts and images that mirror and teach an organic way of thinking and of becoming. In this course we will deepen our understanding of these expressions of ecologically-oriented, transformative worldviews. Our approach will be complemented and supported by select readings in contemporary environmental humanities, and in (mostly) North-American Indigenous perspectives on education as path to wholeness.

We will discuss:

  • The Romance of the Rose (excerpts); Tristan and Isolde; The Grail Legend (excerpts);
  • Lady Philosophy and/as Mother Nature embodying feminine wisdom from Antiquity to the 
Middle Ages;
  • St Francis, Hildegard of Bingen, Dante Alighieri;
  • Botticelli’s mythological paintings; Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and other paintings;

Montaigne’s education of the mind through rootedness in the body and the heart.

Language of instruction: English

Prerequisites: No prerequisites. Recommendation: Second-year standing or higher.

Grading Breakdown

30% 3 Reading Responses (10% each)
25% 1 Mini-essay
35% 1 Final Exam Paper
10% Participation + Discussion
100% Total

Readings

Each week there will be multiple readings, combining excerpts from Medieval texts and articles or excerpts from current critical literature. Given the large number of resources available on the Internet and through the UBC library, most texts will be accessible in electronic format via Canvas, with the exception of:

The Romance of Tristan and Iseult, retold by J. Bédier, tr. H. Belloc. Dover Publications.

ISBN 0486440192

We will be reading articles, web postings and excerpts from numerous books, all accessible at a later date via Canvas.

RMST400

Romance Linguistics

This course examines linguistics with an emphasis on the contemporary varieties of the Romance language family. Five main domains of linguistics will be covered: phonetics and phonology, morphology, syntax and sociolinguistics. This will provide a broad understanding of the major similarities and differences between the Romance languages. Although the focus will be on French, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian, attention will also be paid to lesser-known varieties (for instance, Romance-based Creoles, regional languages of France, minority languages in Spain, etc.). We will also be particularly interested in topics such as language variation and change, language contact, multilingualism, standardization, and language attitudes. The course will be interactive and based on numerous written exercises, in class and at home, that will allow the students to explore more precisely the different variations of the Romance languages.

Language of instruction: English

Prerequisites: Second-year standing. A beginners knowledge (CFER A1) in at least one of the Romance languages is highly recommended.

Grading Breakdown

Coming soon

Readings

There is no required handbook for this course, all relevant material will be provided in class and on Canvas.

RMST350

Italian Food Cultures

Cross-listed with ITAL380

Italy is world-renowned for its food cultures and Italians put great care into food preparation, consumption, and appreciation. It’s no wonder that Italian food-related themes permeate the country’s cultural life and beyond. This course examines cultural representations of Italian or Italian-derived foods and the role that they play in articulating larger social issues in contemporary Italy, including regionalism, anti-globalization, family history, gender and sexual identities, Italian American food, tourism in Italy, and immigration to Italy. Through studying primary texts such as films and literature, students are encouraged to form a complex picture of Italy’s relationships with food cultures in a global context. Oral presentations, as well as a final project (in the format of a critical essay, a short film, a multimedia project, or creative writing), are the main tools of assessment of learning outcomes. Participation in seminar-style, group discussions in class is essential to developing critical and analytical skills for these assessment activities. The course assumes no prior knowledge of Italian. But it requires a passion for Italian food and culture!

The course is particularly recommended to students at 2nd year standing or higher.

Language of instruction: English

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Grading Breakdown

Final project: 35%
Prospectus: 15%
Four "Culinary Stories" (improvised oral presentations) and written reports: 40%
Class participation, regular attendance, and professionalism: 10%

Readings

Coming soon

RMST459

The Strongman, the Latin Lover, and other Italian Masculinities

Cross-listed with ITAL409

This course offers an overview of diverse Italian masculinities as they are represented in Italian literature and culture. What does it mean to be a man in Italy? How do diverse concepts of Italian manhood come into being? How are they constructed and circulated through literary and cinematic texts? What do these texts tell us about Italian society? And how are these male types challenged in the Italian cultural domain?

We will probe these questions by studying the depictions of Italian virilities in memoirs, novels, public speeches, news articles, films, and television programs from the 18th century to the present, with a focus on the 20th and 21st centuries. Male types and ideals that we will examine include the self-made man, the strongman, the fascist new man, nationalist soldiers, the inetto (schlemiel), the Latin Lover, libertines, and gay men. To delve further into these texts, we will also study a selective number of influential theories from Masculinity and Gender Studies.

Through this course, we will gain a historical and critical understanding of men and gender dynamics in Italian culture. This course is designed to develop your critical thinking, as well as speaking and writing skills in the context of Italian masculinities. No prior knowledge of the Italian language or Italian culture is required.

Language of instruction: English

Prerequisite: No prerequisites

Note: Credit will be granted for only one of ITAL 409 or ITST 419 or RMST 459. Students who plan to minor in Italian must take this course as ITAL and will be expected to do part of their reading and assignments in the Italian language. ITAL 409 may be taken twice, with different content, for a total of 6 credits.

Grading Breakdown

Critical essay 1: 25%
Critical essay 2: 25%
Final oral presentations: 20%
Two improvised oral presentations and written reports: 20%
Class participation, regular attendance, and professionalism: 10%

Readings

Coming soon

ITAL234

Italian Mafia Movies

Cross-listed with RMST202

The association of the mafia with Italy is one of a handful of prevailing cultural metaphors about the country that unfailingly provoke a broad spectrum of impassioned responses from both Italians and non-Italians. This course argues that cinema has fundamentally shaped our perceptions and emotions about the mafia. We trace the lineaments of a cinematic genre born from the American and Italian milieus: the mafia movie. Diverse theses about Italian-origin organized crime, including the Cosa Nostra, Camorra, ‘Ndrangheta, Banda della Magliana, and others, are proposed in these films, which sometimes highlight anti-mafia activities and individuals. We conduct formal film analysis while attending to the socio-historical and cultural contexts of the production of the films or the historical periods depicted in the films. The guiding question of the course is not whether these filmic representations accurately depict the mafia and their contestations. Rather, we seek to unravel the representational complexities, intentions, and agendas of the movies and of the genre. In this way, we gain a cinematic key to understanding Italian mafia which complements relevant historical and empirical studies.

Language of instruction: English

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Grading Breakdown

Critical essay 1: 25%
Critical essay 2: 25%
Four improvised oral presentations and written reports: 40%
Class participation, regular attendance, and professionalism: 10%

Readings

Coming soon

RMST100

Italian Fashion Cultures

Cross-listed with ITAL110

Milano Fashion Week & Design, 02/2011 | Source: Flickr (Mat's Eye)

In 2022, Italy’s newly-elected, right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, re-named a previous trade ministry as the “Ministry for Business and Made in Italy,” thereby invoking a key marker of Italian commercial, group, and cultural identity. Since the end of the WWII, the garment and accessories sector has been traditionally recognized as a pillar within the Made in Italy industries.

“Italian Fashion Cultures” examines both the national history of Italian fashion since the post-WWII period and its global dimensions. The course delineates the dynamics among the country’s fashion capitals (Florence, Rome, and Milan), with a focus on the apparel sector’s growth during the 1950s-1970s. We also probe how and why Italian fashion has developed in response to the clothing sector’s exigencies and creative tension with France, the United States, and China.

The course highlights ready-to-wear and fast fashion, the two most significant categories of the fashion world today. Cultural appropriation, decoloniality, and sustainability are examined throughout the course in relation to the course’s primary texts, including fashion journalism, websites, social media, advertising, literature, films, and artworks.

Students are encouraged to consider three central questions:

(1) how clothing is represented in the primary texts to influence the audience’s cognitive and affective knowledge;

(2) how fashion helps forge individual, brand, national, and other cultural identities;

(3) given the ubiquitous presence of fashion branding, how these narratives articulate the Made in Italy cachet to consumers?

The course does not assume student’s prior knowledge of Italy or Italian fashion. Oral presentations and a final project (in the format of a critical essay, a short film, a multimedia project, or creative writing) are the main tools of assessment of learning outcomes. Regular attendance in class lecturing and participation in group discussions and in-class activities are essential for developing critical and analytical skills for these assessment activities.

Language of instruction: English

Prerequisites: No prerequisites

Grading Breakdown

Final project: 35%
Prospectus: 15%
Three “Fashion Stories” (improvised oral presentations) and written reports: 30%
Final oral presentations: 10%
Class participation, regular attendance, and professionalism: 10%

Readings

Coming soon

FREN395A

La représentation de Lyon dans les médias

This course is an experiential learning and immersive summer intensive 3 weeks course that takes students outside the classroom to engage in the course material in a real world setting, through visits of Lyon and the complex connections between art and the real world. We will work towards opening up your understanding of the variations of the French language in a local cultural context (Lyon patois). With an approach that is hands-on, collaborative and inclusive, the course develops comprehension and the mobilisation of knowledge such as savoir-faire, savoir-être and specific elements related to as study abroad program such as intercultural and interpersonal skills.

Offered in French and in Lyon (France), this course explores the vibrant literary and media culture of Lyon, through documents such as poems, graphic novels, comics, documentaries and movies. The course’s assignments will be submitted on Canvas and will reflect a diversity of format in respect to the Universal Design approach, from individual to group work, from text analysis to writing your own journal of your experience in Lyon with an exposure to drawings and creative writing with local experts.

Required readings:

1) Author: Collectif
Title: Chroniques des quartiers de Lyon
Publisher: Lyon capitale
Date of publication: 2019
ISBN: 978-2-490160-00-6
Site: https://www.lyoncapitale.fr/produit/chroniques-des-quartiers-de-lyon

2) Author: MAULAN Fachri
Title: Trabouler
Publisher: Libel
Date of publication: 2020
ISBN: 978-2-491924-02-7

3) Author: Paul Fournel
Title: Le bel appétit
Publisher: P.O.L
Date of publication: 2015
ISBN: 978-2-8180-3630-3

4) Author: Étienne Lécroart
Title: À table
Publisher: Lajouanie
Date of publication: 2014
ISBN: 978-2370470034

Other texts and media will be posted on Canvas or distributed in class.

Recommended readings:

Author : Bernard Poche
Title : Lyon tel qu’il s’écrit
Publisher: Presses Universitaires de Lyon .
Date of publication : OER 2020 [2015]
OER: https://books.openedition.org/pul/8436?lang=fr

Language of instruction: French

Recommendation: CEFR A2 French proficiency level. For example: One of FREN 202 or equivalent.