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Module tutors: Prof Kirsty HooperLink opens in a new window, Dr Michela ColettaLink opens in a new window, Dr João Vicente FaustinoLink opens in a new window, Dr Daniel Cabezas Campillo

Core Questions

• How does the variety of Spanish spoken across different regions reflect and shape cultural and linguistic identities within Hispanic communities, especially in relation to other languages?​
• How do writers working between languages, such as Latinx authors, navigate and express their identity through literature? â€‹
• How do language, literature, and cultural practices in Hispanic societies frame narratives of human-nonhuman relations and climate change?
• How can contemporary artistic practices help societies confront difficult histories, challenge historical amnesia, and contest the idealisation of authoritarian rule? What is the role of language in these processes?

Module Overview

This module will equip you with an understanding of the cultural and sociolinguistic diversity of the Hispanic world, and a strong grounding in the literary and cultural analysis of texts that address this diversity. The module has four sections:

1. Writing Across and Between Languages. In this section we will discover how writers who live and work between languages use their work to explore questions of language and identity. With a focus on poetry and short-form writing, we'll look at how US and British Latinx writers have used literature to understand and shape their identities; how different writers have approached the challenges of writing in a language that isn't their own ('exophonic writing'); and how Spanish and English fit into the rich linguistic culture of the Philippines.
   
   
2. Multispecies Identities in Latin American Culture. How do modes of relating to other-than-human life change over time and space? How are identities co-constituted across species and what does that tell us about who we are? The module’s opening section explores these questions through Latin American multispecies storytelling. We will read and discuss short fiction about fantastical, psychological, and ecological intersections between humans and non-humans. A selection of writings will include early-twentieth-century narratives set in the Argentine tropical forest, anti-anthropocentric short stories from Brazil, and contemporary storytelling rooted in indigenous Amazonian oral traditions.
   
   
3. Contested Pasts, Contested Presents. This section explores contemporary debates surrounding the legacy of twentieth-century dictatorships in Spain, Chile, and Argentina, while also drawing comparative insights from the case of Brazil. We examine the distinct historical contexts of these regimes and trace the evolving ways in which they have been remembered, represented, and contested over time. Our primary focus, however, is contemporary: we investigate how artists engage critically with these legacies and how cultural production contributes to ongoing debates about national identity, memory, justice, and historical responsibility.
   
   
4. TBC.

Assessment