Unit name | Crime and corruption in contemporary Hispanic literature |
---|---|
Unit code | HISP20097 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
Unit director | Professor. Jo Crow |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
In recent years, crime and corruption have been enormous social and political issues in Mexico and Venezuela. While these are often understood only in terms of overarching statistics, this unit explores how fiction offers a more personal, individual viewpoint on these issues. Although Spain does not have the same reputation for crime and corruption, the popularity of crime fiction in Spain today, often with a political twist, suggests these are important issues for the Spanish reading public. We will compare different literary genres, from humour to detective fiction, asking how each example offers a different perspective, while also finding connections between genres and between countries.
This unit aims to:
By the end of the unit, students will demonstrate:
1. An understanding of the key social and political issues in Mexico, Venezuela and Spain covered in the unit.
2. An understanding of different literary genres and how they are used to explore crime and corruption in Hispanic literature.
3. Ability to respond in a rigorous and analytical manner to the issues/debates raised by the unit and to interrogate these critically.
4. Ability to engage in close analysis of literary texts.
5. Critical awareness of theoretical scholarship in the field of study and ability to explain this in both oral and written form as appropriate to level I.
6. Ability to carry out independent research as appropriate to this level of study.
1 x seminar per week
1 x lecture per week
Group presentation (15 minutes) and individual write up max. 1000 words (30% - 15% group mark for presentation, 15% for individual write-up); extended essay max. 2500 (70%), both assessing ILOs 1-6.