Graduate Course Descriptions,

Fall 2008

 

MLL 503 GX (M only 2:30-5:00 PM). “Introduction to Foreign Language Teaching: Theory and Practice” Dr. Eduardo Negueruela

This course provides an introduction to foreign language teaching pedagogy and methods for in-service instructors of university language courses at the elementary and intermediate levels.

Students will be introduced to the teaching of language as a sociocultural activity, where meaning making through written and oral communication as wells as culture understanding through focusing on literacy (the teaching of texts as rich repositories of culture that bring historical and social relevance to the learning of new languages) are the priorities in the curriculum.

Specifically, we will consider major theoretical constructs and teaching approaches in the field of language teaching (communicative language teaching, literacy-based approaches, task-based learning), basic teaching techniques (lesson planning, task design, use of the target language, grammar teaching, utilization of written and oral authentic materials in the classroom), reflective teaching approaches (teachers as learners of teaching, dynamics of classroom communication, the importance of teachers’ beliefs in teaching practices), and testing, evaluation and assessment (contextualized test design, portfolios, and grading criteria development).

The goal of the course is to provide experiences to bridge pedagogical theory and classroom practice through an ongoing cycle of theoretical discussion and practical application of theory using activities such as classroom discussion, workshops, observation of a foreign language class, peer feedback, and other reflective and collaborative activities.

 

The course is a prerequisite for other coursework in applied linguistics and sociolinguistics in our department.  This course will provide the theoretical foundation and experiential learning activities that are essential for your success in your first semesters of teaching foreign language courses at the university level.

 

 

MLL 505 TX  (T 5 - 7:30 PM) “Introduction to Literary Theory” Dr. George Yúdice

 

This course examines the development of the aesthetics of literature and associated artistic modes (e.g., performative arts), in their historical contexts. There are too many aesthetic approaches to cover them all; hence, the course will dwell on those tendencies most influential in recent decades. In each case, we shall investigate such fundamental issues as: what is the nature of representation? what is the domain of literary reference? what is the status of the author and reader? what does literary representation share with other representative modes (politics, religion, other cultural forms)? how do identity questions (class, race, coloniality, nation, gender, sexuality) manifest themselves in language and representation? Etc. The goal of this course is to prepare MLL graduate students for literary analysis throughout their course of study.

 

 

FRE 613 RX (T 2 -4:30 PM) « Homotextes du classicisme au crépuscule des Lumières » Dr. Ralph Heyndels

Ce cours sera consacré à l’étude de l’homosocialité et de l’homoérotisme dans la littérature française des 17ème et 18ème siècles. Il comprendra une réflexion théorique sur la notion même d’homotextualité et sur son usage heuristique pour l’étude de textes littéraires antérieurs à l’avènement de la catégorie d’ « homosexualité » telle qu’elle est aujourd’hui entendue, ainsi que le repérage et l’analyse critique de cette homotextualité dans une série d’œuvres de la période considérée, chez Racine, Diderot, Laclos, Crébillon, Prévost, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Sade, Constant, entre autres.

NB. Le cours satisfait le réquisit du 17ème et du 18ème siècles.

 

FRE 625 S (T-TR 3:30-4:45 PM) “French for Reading Knowledge” Prof. Celita Lamar

A course designed to develop the ability to read French texts with the use of a dictionary, this course focuses on learning grammatical structures and vocabulary in a sequence that enables students to quickly progress to deciphering French texts.

There will be weekly quizzes that focus on vocabulary acquisition and new structures and a midterm translation passage (date tends to be later that the official UM midterm date) to evaluate progress in applying the principles learned thus far.

The final examination is a timed translation with a dictionary, similar to the exam administered by the department each semester.  Although the course is non-credit and the grade received does not affect the student’s grade-point average, the « passing grade, » equivalent to a pass on the departmental exam, is B- or higher. 

 

Textbook :  Edward M. Stack, Reading French in the Arts and Sciences, plus supplementary readings related to your field of study.  For most of the students who take this course, these would consist of some type of literary criticism or texts in History or Art History.

 

FRE 675 RY (TR 2:00-4:30 PM) “Literature and the State in the Twentieth-Century French Caribbean” Dr. Marc Brudzinski

 

Throughout the twentieth century, writers from Haiti, Martinique, and Guadeloupe have invented and adapted various literary movements articulated around artistic, cultural, and political concerns.  Some of the most important among these are Indigenism and the literature of the Duvalier dictatorship, in both of which there are political questions playing a large role in the production and reception of literary works.  Within the same span of time, we also see movements such as Surrealism and Negritude, whose relationship to state politics is less clear.  Through a chronological reading of French Caribbean literature of the twentieth century, we will examine how literature interacts with the state and with other political structures both local and international.  Over the course of our investigation, we will pose the following related questions: To what extent does the difference in political status between Haiti and the French Caribbean departments affect their theoretical and literary production?  How do you read a manifesto?  How have the different places in question spoken to each other?  How do these French Caribbean literary phenomena compare with similar ones in Europe, Latin America, and other parts of the Caribbean?  For students new to Francophone Caribbean Studies, this course will introduce major movements of twentieth-century Haitian, Martinican, and Guadeloupean literature through canonical works in different genres.  It will, as well, build on theoretical work done from other geographic areas on the relationship between culture and state, and between artistic creation and political action.  For students with academic experience in the area, this course will contextualize and problematize traditional literary history through readings of theory and non-canonical literary works.  Among the authors to be studied: Aimé Césaire, Suzanne Césaire, Marie Vieux Chauvet, Maryse Condé, Frankétienne, Yanick Lahens, Jean Price-Mars, Jacques Roumain, Jacques Stephen Alexis.

 

SPA 633 J (M W 5:00-6:15 PM) “La pugna por la inscripción del amerindio durante los siglos coloniales” Dr. Viviana Diaz Balsera

En este curso se estudiarán figuras y momentos críticos en la pugna por la inscripción del amerindio durante los siglos coloniales, con énfasis en México.  Examinaremos cómo se  representa e imagina el pasado pre-hispánico del sujeto amerindio en función de su presente colonial.

El curso examinará el modo en que en el siglo dieciséis algunos cronistas misioneros del   escriben sus etnohistorias sobre el reciente pasado indígena desde construcciones providencialistas o antropológico-humanistas del nuevo sujeto cristiano amerindio.  Otros cronistas se apartan ya de estos modelos al identificar resistencias culturales que fracturan la utopía colonial del devenir de un universalismo cristiano.

En el siglo diecisiete consideraremos ripostas mestizas y criollas que intentarán apropriar y redefinir el pasado pre-hispánico en un esfuerzo por crear grandes historias locales que pudieran avalar las aspiraciones criollas a que sus patrias fueran consideradas reinos legítimos y autónomos bajo la corona española.  No obstante, muchos de estos mismos criollos representarán a los indígenas coloniales como miserabiles: sujetos híbridos y marginales, destituidos del prestigio de sus ancestros pre-hispánicos e incluso de las primeras generaciones de nuevos cristianos amerindios.  En otros autores, también criollos, estudiaremos la inscripción subalterizante del amerindio en el siglo diecisiete como reconocimiento tácito de una agencia cultural indígena que la dominación colonial nunca podría someter del todo.

Historiadores como Corneille de Pauw, Guillaume Thomas Raynal y William Robertson desafían la credibilidad de las fuentes y saberes hispanos sobre las antigüedades amerindias y sus logros politicos en el siglo de las luces. El imperativo a responder al ataque ilustrado producirá por parte del sujeto criollo una nueva lectura del pasado amerindio menos subordinada a lo preternatural, pero que a su vez supondrá una crítica y resistencia al nuevo colonialismo de la racionalidad ilustrada francesa e inglesa.   Concluiremos el curso con una respuesta peninsular a la racionalidad ilustrada sobre la intervención española en América. Irónicamente, la misma terminará ratificando la  posición de Francia e Inglaterra respecto a la deficiencia del poder colonial español de imponer orden y control sobre el amerindio tras siglos de presencia en tierras americanas. 

 

SPA 636 O (T & TR, 10:00-12:30PM  for 7 weeks) “Latin American Avant-Garde Narrative” Dr. Hugo Achugar

In this Seminar we will discuss the Latin American Avant-Garde, concentrating on its "narrative."  We will expressly avoid the term “novel” or “short story” since one of the issues we will analyze is precisely the status of narrative within the avant-garde.  We will cover mainly Spanish American authors but we will make some references to Brazilian works.  An introduction to multiple conceptualizations of the avant-garde will be discussed in class, as well as some manifestoes, both from Latin America and Europe (specially those that had some relevance to the Latin American Avant-garde).  Among other writers, we will study narrative by Pablo Neruda, Vicente Huidobro, Arqueles Vera, Felisberto Hernandez, Roberto Arlt, Salvador Novo, and César Vallejo.

Please note this is a seven-week seminar that meets twice a week.  Papers will be due at the end of the semester.