Course Description

This course aims at providing a review on the social representations and discourses about Spanish identity/identities developed in different areas of the arts and the media from desarrollismo (modernization) during Francoism to the new democratic period. Artistic works and media practices will be understood here as expressions and constituents of social imaginaries. The theoretical framework of the social imaginaries allows the discussion about issues of identity and identification from the perspective of people and social groups as “world-making” collectivities, with clear political implications for a presumably post-ideological and post-identity era. An in-depth analysis of an extensive collection of works/media practices will disclose, then, the struggle for hegemony between discourses and counterdiscourses on Spanish identity/identities for the last half a century of history in the Spanish state. Tensions around endogenous (domestic) and exogenous (foreign) concepts of Spain and Spanishness as a consequence of globalization trends and processes will also be considered. 

Course Goals and Methodology

The main goals of this course are to:

• understand artistic works/media commodities as “nation-building” discourses and identity markers.
• apply critical terms and methodology to the analysis of cultural representations.
• explore the ideological-political dimensions of artistic works/media commodities.

The methodology of the course will be based on lectures, guided screenings, readings, discussions, and student oral presentations on different topics.

Learning Objectives

Through this course, students will:

• Define basic concepts from the field of cultural and media theory.
• Debate and reach conclusions about Spanish art & media works in a wider cultural and social context.
• Gain positive appreciation for Spanish culture.
• Raise awareness about difference (ethnic, racial, [sub]-national, sexual, political and cultural) through the analysis of media representations.
• Overcome the effects of cultural stereotyping.
• Evaluate media products under a critical perspective encompassing the political/ideological.
• Enhance intercultural awareness towards similarities and differences between Spanish and U.S. history and culture.

Course Requirements and Grading

Your final grade will be calculated as follows:

● Participation (20%)

● Cinema-forum (10%)

● Discussions (10%)

● Oral presentation (15%)

● Reading journal (20%)  

● Final exam (25%) 

Course contents

1. Theories of the social imaginaries.
2. The birth of Spanish consumer culture.
3. The Transition period and the reconstruction of Spanish identity.
4. La Movida and the Golden Age of Spanish pop music.
5. From Almodóvar to Amenábar: Spanish cinema and ‘glocal identities’.
6. Spanish identities in the current global environment.

Required Texts

There is no textbook required for this course. Therefore, students are not expected to purchase any material. The instructor will post the class material on Blackboard. To log in, you need to sign in on https://campusvirtual.upo.es.  The contents of the course are mainly but not only based on the following academic sources:  

● Albritton, D. (2014). Prime risks: The politics of pain and suffering in Spanish crisis cinema. Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 15(1-2), 101-115.

● Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined communities. Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism. London & New York: Verso.

● Caro, A. (2014). Understanding advertising to transform society. Cuadernos.info, 34, 39-46.

● Chislett, W. (2013). Spain: What Everyone Needs to Know. Oxford: University Press.

● De Riquer i Permanyer, B. (1995). Towards a consumer society and the making of a mass culture & Changes in attitudes and behavior. In Graham & Labanyi (Eds.), 265-268.

● Fisher, M. (2009). Capitalist realism: Is there no alternative?. Ropley: Zero Books.

● Foucé, H. & del Val, F. (2013). La Movida: popular music as the discourse of modernity in democratic Spain. In Martínez & Foucé (Eds.), 125-134.

● Gaonkar, D. P. (2002). Toward new imaginaries: An introduction. Public Culture, 4(1), 1-19.

● Gies, D. T. (Ed.) (1999). The Cambridge Companion to Modern Spanish Culture. Cambridge: University Press.

● Graham, H. & Labanyi, J. (1995). Spanish cultural studies: An introduction. Oxford: University Press.

● Jordan, B. (2000). How Spanish is it? Spanish cinema and national identity. In Jordan & Morgan-Tamosunas (Eds.),68-78.

● Jordan, B. & Morgan-Tamosunas, R. (Eds.) (2000). Contemporary Spanish Cultural Studies. London: Arnold.

● Juliá, S. (1999). History, politics, and culture, 1975-1966. In Gies (Ed.), 104-114.

● Longhurst, A. (2000). Culture and development: the impact of 1960s ‘desarrollismo’. In Jordan & Morgan-Tamosunas (Eds.),17-28.

● López, I. & Rodríguez, E. (2011). The Spanish model. New Left Review, 69, 5-29. 

● Marc, I. (2013). Submarinos amarillos: transcultural objects in Spanish popular music during late francoism. In Martínez & Foucé (Eds.), 115-124.

● Martínez-Expósito, A. (2008). Posthumous tales of One, Great, Free nation: Spanishness in post-Franco Spanish Film. Athenea Digital, 14, 143-158.

● Martínez, S. & Foucé, H. (Eds.) (2013). Made in Spain. Studies in popular music. New York: Routledge.

● Palacio, M., Ibañez, J. & Bret, L. (2015). A new model for Spanish cinema, Authorship and globalization: The films of Javier Rebollo. Journal of Spanish Cultural Studies, 16(1), 29-43.

● Rodríguez, S. (n. d.). Advertising in Spain: A history. Bookstyle.net, 142-149.

● Sabanadze, N. (2010). Globalization and nationalism. The cases of Georgia and the Basque country. Budapest & New York: CEU Press. ● Tinnell, R. G. (1999). Spanish music and cultural identity. En Gies (Ed.), 287-297.

● Triana-Toribio, N. (2000). A punk called Pedro: la Movida in the films of Pedro Almodóvar. In Jordan & Morgan-Tamosunas (Eds.), 274-282.

● Triana-Toribio, N. (2003). Spanish National Cinema. London: Routledge.

● Tucker, R. C. (Ed.) (1978). The Marx-Engels reader (2nd  ed.). New York & London: W. W. Norton & Company.

● Viñas, A. (1999). Breaking the shackles from the past: Spanish foreign policy from Franco to Felipe González. In Balfour, S., Preston, P., & Preston, P. P. (Eds.), Spain and the great powers in the Twentieth century (pp. 253-276). UK: Routledge.    

On Cultural Theory and Spanish Cultural Studies:  

● Barker, C. (2011). Cultural Studies: Theory and Practice (4th ed.). London: Sage.

● Barry, P. (2009). Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory (3rd ed.). Manchester: University Press.

● Biddle, I. & Knights, V. (2007). Music, National Identity and the Politics of Location: Between the global and the local. Aldershot, England & Burlington, VT: Ashgate.

● Costa, J. (2018). Cómo acabar con la contracultura. Una historia subterránea de España. Madrid: Taurus.

● Edgar, A. & Sedgwick, P. (2002). Cultural Theory: The Key Concepts. London & New York: Routledge.

● Edgar, A. & Sedgwick, P. (2002). Cultural Theory: The Key Thinkers. London & New York: Routledge.

● Encabo, E.  (Ed.)  (2015).  Reinventing Sound:  Music and Audiovisual  Culture. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.

● Labanyi, J. (Ed.) (2000). Constructing Identity in Contemporary Spain. Theoretical Debates and Cultural Practice. Oxford: University Press.

● Labrador Méndez, G. (2017). Culpables por la literatura. Imaginación política y contracultura en la transición española (1968-1986). Madrid: Akal.

● Lenore, V. (2018). Espectros de la movida. Por qué odiar los años 80. Madrid: Akal.

● Martínez, G. (Ed.) (2001). Franquismo pop. Barcelona: Reservoir Books.

● Martins, L. M. (Ed.) (2014). New Readings in Latin American and Spanish Literary and Cultural Studies. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 

*Course content subject to change