SPAN 4374

Last Updated

  • Schedule of Classes - September 9, 2021 7:14PM EDT
  • Course Catalog - September 9, 2021 7:15PM EDT

SPAN 4374
Oil, Ghosts, and Beauty Queens

Course information provided by the 2020-2021 Catalog.

Benedict Anderson famously argued that nations are "imagined political communities." Following Anderson's claim, this course explores the different mechanisms at play in the act of imagining the nation and the ways in which art defines how a nation imagines itself. We will focus on Venezuela, and on the images that have historically defined its national identity: oil, ghosts, and beauty queens. As we discuss contemporary works of Venezuelan literature, film, and performance, we will ask: How do natural resources shape a nation's identity? What role does the past play in the coming together and coming apart of revolutions? How do notions of masculinity, femininity, and beauty define political power? And, finally, who gets to participate in the imagining of the nation, and who gets excluded?


Distribution Category (LA-AS, ALC-AS)

When Offered Spring.

Breadth Requirement (GB)

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Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session. 

  • 4 Credits Stdnt Opt

  • 16608 SPAN 4374   SEM 101

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  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Conducted in Spanish.
    Enrollment limited to students who are able to attend in-person classes in the Ithaca area.