Latin American Critical Theory

SPA4716.01
Course System Home Terms Spring 2024 Latin American Critical Theory

Course Description

Summary

Oddly, perhaps, theory itself, despite its own premises, its ethical veneer and visceral critical posture, has never quite overcome the traditional, global division of intellectual labor. It is applied, and alterity is nominally, similarly, embraced, thus paradoxically resulting in a cultural neo-imperialism that all the while overtly denies its own imperialist practices. The title of this course, to quote Neil Larsen’s lengthier plea for an escape from such an awkward impasse, “simply means exiting, however momentarily, the hegemonic, secular-poststructuralist terms of a language-game in which ‘Latin-America’ has come to signify, always already, only one thing – a thing, that, by constantly evoking the periphery as omni-presently ‘other,’ makes its intellectual experience into something, ironically, always the same.” The content will simply be comprised of readings by critical theorists working within Latin America, an apparently atypical process. Conducted in Spanish. Advanced.

Prerequisites

7 terms of Spanish at Ź, or permission of the instructor (contact jpitcher@bennington.edu).

Please contact the faculty member : jpitcher@bennington.edu

Instructor

  • Jonathan Pitcher

Day and Time

Academic Term

Spring 2024

Credits

4

Course Level

4000

Maximum Enrollment

12