Module 3: Nation, Borderlands, and Magical Realism

Class 15

Topic

• National projects in post-independence Latin America

Homework to do before class

1. Read: The Slaughterhouse (El matadero), Esteban Echeverría (1838-40). Spanish original version.
2. Complete: Reading comprehension guide

Class materials

• TBD

Class 16

Topic

• Civilization or barbarism?

Homework to do before class

1. Read:  
   • Facundo: Or, Civilization and Barbarism, Domingo F. Sarmiento (1845). Chapter 5: “Life in the Argentine Republic“
   • The Gaucho, Martín Fierro, José Hernández (1872)

Complete: Reading guide and discussion prompts

Class materials

• TBD

Class 17

Topic

• What is Latin America? José Martí’s “Our America”

Homework to do before class

1. Read: “Our America” (“Nuestra América”), José Martí. Published in El Partido Liberal (Mexico City), March 5, 1892
2. Complete: Reading guide and discussion prompts

Class materials

• TBD

Class 18

Topic

• The “new” land and the Indigenous communities

Homework to do before class

1. Read: “They have given us the land“, Juan Rulfo [Spanish]
2. Complete: Reading guide and discussion prompts

Class materials

• TBD

Class 19

Topic

• Fantastic literature

Homework to do before class

1. Read: “The South,” Jorge Luis Borges [Spanish]
2. Complete: Reading guide and discussion prompts

Class materials

• TBD

Class 20

Topic

• Magical realism

Homework to do before class

1. Read: “The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World” (“El ahogado más hermoso del mundo”), Gabriel García Márquez (1968). [Spanish]
2. Complete: Reading guide and discussion prompts

Class materials

• TBD

Class 21

Topic

• Magical realism

Homework to do before class

1. Read: Like Water for Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate), Laura Esquivel. (Chapters 1-5)
2. Complete: Reading guide and discussion prompts

Class materials

• TBD

Class 22

Topic

• Magical realism

Homework to do before class

1. Read: Like Water for Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate), Laura Esquivel. (Chapters 6-9)
2. Complete: Reading guide and discussion prompts

Class materials

• TBD

Class 23

Topic

• Magical realism

Homework to do before class

1. Read: Like Water for Chocolate (Como agua para chocolate), Laura Esquivel. (Chapters 10-12).
2. Watch film: Like Water for Chocolate, dir. Alfonso Arau, 1992.
3. Complete: Reading guide and discussion prompts

Class materials

• TBD

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