Spanish ResourcesSpanish CurriculumOff-Campus StudyAfter GrinnellHOMESpanish FacultySpanish Students
last updated 17 August 2001
benoist@grinnell.edu

 
Valérie Benoist
 

Courses Taught

106 Introduction to the Spanish Language II
Development of reading and oral-aural skills. Modern short stories and articles deal with Hispanic institutions, themes, and problems. Discussions in Spanish based on concerns of contemporary Latin America and Spain reveal current trends in Hispanic culture.



217 Intermediate Spanish
Development of language skills through reading, oral practice, vocabulary building, grammar review, and short compositions. Materials include short literary, nonliterary, and visual texts.



221 Latin American Cultures
This course is a survey of Latin American cultures that aims at giving the students a solid and broad knowledge of Latin America that will serve as a starting point to further and more specific courses about the continent. The course follows a chronological outline beginning with the pre-Columbian civilizations, following with the conquest and colonial period and the process of nation formation in the XIX century, and ending with contemporary themes.



285 Reading and Discussion of Hispanic Texts
Development of students' critical and interpretive commentary on literary and cultural texts from Spain and Spanish America. Continued emphasis on language skills. Materials include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and film.


315 Creativity and Dissidence in Modern Spanish America
A study of selected, representative works from the 1920s through the 1960s. Emphasis on texts manifesting social conscience and artistic experimentation; treatment of the culture of protest and imaginative cultural expression. Consideration of poetry, narrative, and visual arts (painting, film).


383 The Spanish American Colonial World
Esta clase examina el contacto cultural entre los europeos, los indígenas y los africanos que se inició en la América hispana a raiz del 'descubrimiento' de América y su desarrollo en los siglos posteriores (hasta el siglo XVIII). Ya que los textos coloniales hispanoamericanos son numerosos, multifacéticos (entre otros historiografía, antropología, historia del arte, y arqueología) y usualmente muy largos (es decir difíciles de acceso), el curso propone enfocarse en lecturas tan cortas como posibles y relacionarlas a través del tema de la creación de una nueva cultura híbrida. Se discutirán entre otros las cuestiones de la identidad (social, religiosa, geográfica) y de la raza y cómo se construyen y deconstruyen en la literatura colonial a través de los siglos.