SPAN305

Spanish Civilization is a comprehensive course on the history and art of Spain throughout the centuries aimed at making students aware of their own identity as historical subjects, their academic backgrounds and biases, as well as their own agency in redefining historical narratives. Specifically focused on the study of political discourses and cultural productions (paintings, architecture, literary works) in Spain from the medieval ages until the 21st century, the course questions historiographic labels, traditionally given to specific periods and concepts, in order to analyze the agenda behind them. From the use of the term “Reconquista” (reconquest) that privileges the Christian perspective of the Arabic conquest to the discourse of illness and need for an “iron doctor,”, that set the ideological background of the dictatorships in the twentieth century, students will be exposed to documents of philosophical and political nature from different centuries that cultivated those conceptions. The course is conducted entirely in Spanish.