INTRODUCTION TO SPAIN
COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The course will provide a broad overview of Spanish civilization and
culture, from its prehistory to the present day.
Spain’s significance in the history of thought and deed will be
examined in wider international contexts, particularly those pertaining
to Western Europe and the Americas.
Students will survey Spanish culture in its many diverse
representations, examining cultural expressions in terms of their
perceived universality and authenticity.
Topics will be linked to questions of politico-cultural identity in
contemporary Spain.
Essential Reading*
Abbreviation Text
SAH Carr, Raymond, ed. Spain: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
CC Gies, David T, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Spanish Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013.
NS Hooper, John. The New Spaniards. London: Penguin, 2006. Instituto Universitario
de Investigación en Estudios Norteamericanos
* Other material, including online material, will be provided, and further reading (see below) will be necessary to complete the course. However, it is essential that students purchase the above texts as soon as possible. They are available in electronic formats.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Date Subject Reading
Spanish Culture: An Introduction
CC “Modern Spanish Culture:
An Introduction” Civilization and its
Discontents
CC “What does it mean to study
modern Spanish Culture?” First Humans and
Humanities: Cave Dwellers and Cave Art in Prehistoric
Spain
SAH ‘Prehistoric and Roman Spain’
Blood and Sandals: Roman Spain
“Seneca”, The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/seneca/
The Light in the Dark: the “Three
Cultures” in the Middle Ages
SAH ‘The Early Middle Ages, 700-1250’
SAH ‘The Late Middle Ages, 1250-1500’
The Age of Empire I: The Spider of El
Escorial
SAH‘Vicissitudes of a World Power, 1500-1770’
The Age of Empire II: from Alcalá to
Everywhere
SAH ‘The Improbable Empire’
Everyone Expects the Spanish Inquisition:
the Holy Office on Heresy, Torture and
Death
Documentary: ‘The Spanish Inquisition’, The History Channel
(Available on YouTube) SAH, passim
Ad maiorem Dei gloriam: The Jesuits
from Alcalá to the Vatican
‘The Life of St Ignatius of Loyola’
http://norprov.org/spirituality
The Spanish Holocaust: the Civil
War and its Repercussions
SAH ‘Liberalism and Reaction, 1833-1931’
CC ‘History, Politics and Culture, 1875-Present’
SAH ‘Spain from 1931 to the Present’
‘Miss Canary Islands’: Generalísimo Francisco Franco
CC ‘History, Politics and Culture, 1936-1975’
NS ‘Legacies, Memories and Phantoms’
Tierra y Libertad Philip French ‘For whom the bell
continues to toll’
The Observer, 1st October 1995
[available online] Philip French ‘Idealism and
illusions’,
The Observer, 8th October 1995
[available online]
Mid-TermExams Revision of Previous Material
All Spaniards are More Equal than Others: Orwell in
Spain
George Orwell: ‘Spilling the Spanish Beans’ [Online Text]
Culture Clashes I:
The Basques et al
NS ‘The Basques’ CC ‘The Basque Country’ Culture Clashes II:
Catalonia and Galicia
CC ‘A Cultural Mapping of Catalonia’
NS ‘The Catalans’ and ‘The Galicians’
The Power of Art: Picasso
CC ‘Painting and Sculpture in Modern Spain’
NS ‘A Cultural Revolution’ The Power of
Literature: Cervantes
Don Quixote (First Part of the Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La
Mancha), Chapters I-V El Quijote on Film:
GrigoriKozintsev’s
ДонКихот
BosleyCrowther, ‘Don Quixote
(1957),’ New York Times,
January 21st 1961 [available
Stuart Jeffries, ‘Can Anyone
Lend me $40m?’ The Guardian,
July 19th, 2002 [available online]
Historical Alcalá: A Walking Tour
‘University and Historic Precinct of Alcalá de Henares’ http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/876 Student Presentations I Independent Research Student Presentations II Independent Research Cock-and-Bull: Spanish Blood Sports
NS ‘Changing Traditions:
Flamenco and Bullfighting’ An Intangible
Heritage: Flamenco
CC ‘Spanish Music and Cultural
Identity’ The Beautiful Epoch:
Spanish Cinema I
Andrew Pulver ‘A Short History
of Spanish Cinema’, The
Guardian, 29th March
2011[available online] The Beautiful Epoch:
Spanish Cinema II
CC ‘Culture and Cinema to 1975’ and ‘Culture and Cinema,
1975-1996’ Sex and the Single
Spaniard: Sex and Sexualities in Contemporary Spain
NS ‘Men and Women: Machismo
Meltdown’
NS ‘Sex: from Francoist Prudery
to Gay Marriage’
Guiri! Travelers in Spain
Independent Research
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course provides an overview of Spanish culture and civilization through readings, lectures, seminars and cultural activities. ‘Spanish culture and civilization’ is taken to denote developments in the arts, philosophy, politics, economics, media, entertainment and gastronomy in various non-Portuguese regions of the Iberian peninsula from the arrival of the first hominids to the present day. Students will develop a consistent and coherent knowledge of the region’s history in order to examine and critically evaluate these developments. Ideas, behaviours and traditions will be analysed in order to understand cultural patterns within Spain and cultural interactions without, particularly in regard to the rest of Western Europe and the Americas.
The coursecombines lectures and seminars. No knowledge of Spanish is assumed, and sessions will be conducted in English. The instructor may gradually introduce vocabulary and expressions in Spanish where translation fails to convey appropriate cultural or semantic import. Students will be encouraged to take the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and appreciation of Spanish culture through participation in a variety of cultural activities. The course will develop self-directed learning, critical analysisand independent research skills.
The course will focus on the development of:
Competence 1 Knowledge and understanding of Spanish culture and civilization
Competence 2 Awareness and appreciation of historical and cultural sensitivities
Competence 3 Comprehension of Spanish history within wider international contexts
Competence 4 Analyses of cultural interactions between American and Spanish
societies
Competence 5 Personal and interpersonal skills, such as observation, debate, critical
analysis and self-directedresearch.
ATTENDANCE
Attendance is compulsory. If a student is absent for more than the allotted quota
(two classes), their final grade will be lowered by 10%for each further absence not authorized by a medical doctor or the program director. Only two absences will be accepted with no justification.Absences will not be justified by family visits, personal trips or illnesses without a medical note.
Students may not be allowed to participate in a class or visit if they arrive ten
minutes, or more than ten minutes, late. If a student is continuously late, they will
be penalized with a “half absence” and/or exclusion from a class or visit.
Attendance in a class or a visit does not immediately provide the student with course credit. Active participation and written assignments are also required.
EVALUATION 1. Class participation 10% 2. Mid-term exam 25% 3. Final exam 30% 4. Final Assignment 25% 5. Homework 10% CLASS PARTICIPATION
Students must participate actively in class.
Students are expected to ask questions and present their ideas based on their reading and observations.
There will be debates on different subjects covered in class.
Students must pay attention to contemporary developments relevant to the course content.
Class participation will be graded according to:
Demonstration of the fulfillment of reading requirements;
Demonstration of independent thought and critical analysis;
Demonstration of preparation for class visits;
Participation in class debates; and
The posing of insightful and relevant questions. HOMEWORK: WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS
Students must submit written reports of selected readings, lectures or visits.
Assignments must demonstrate independent thought and original critical analyses.
Assignments must be submitted in hard copy, double-spaced, using Times New Roman or Arial fonts (size 12), with the work not to exceed three pages in length.
Any précis of reading materials will not be accepted.
Overly long, electronic or handwritten work will not be accepted.
Plagiarized work, or partly plagiarized work, will result in automatic failure.
Further details of specific assignments will be provided in class by the instructor.
NB: Mid-term exams will be held on TUESDAY 25TH FEBRUARYandfinal
READING LIST
Required Reading:
Selected chapters from:
Carr, Raymond, ed. Spain: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Gies, David T, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Modern Spanish Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Hooper, John. The New Spaniards. London: Penguin, 2006. Recommended Reading:
Barton, Simon. A History of Spain. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
Beevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939. London: Cassell, 1999.
Carr, Raymond. Modern Spain: 1875-1980. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Cervantes, Miguel de. Don Quixote. Trans. Edith Grossman. London: Ecco, 2003. Graham, Helen, and Jo Labanvi.Spanish Cultural Studies: An Introduction: The Struggle for Modernity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996.
Hill, Fred James. Spain: An Illustrated History. New York: Hippocrene, 2000. Mitchell, David. Travellers in Spain.Fuengirola, Malaga: Santana, 2004. Orwell, George. Homage to Catalonia. London: Penguin, 2000.
Preston, Paul. Franco: A Biography. London: Fontana Press, 2011.
Preston, Paul. The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain . London: HarperCollins, 2012.
Williams, Mark. The Story of Spain. Malaga: Santana, 2010.
Williams, Raymond. Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society. London: Fontana, 2010.
Further Reading: Arribas, A.The Iberians. London: 1963.
Balfour, Sebastian. Dictatorship, Workers and the City. Oxford: 1989. Balfour, Sebastian. The End of the Spanish Empire. Oxford: 1997.
Balfour, Sebastian and Paul Preston, eds. Spain: Dictatorship to Democracy. London: 1981.
Baxter Wolf, Kenneth, trans. Conquerors and Chroniclers of Early Medieval Spain. Liverpool: 1990.
Ben-Ami, S. Fascism from Above: The Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. Oxford: 1983.
Brenan, Gerald. The Spanish Labyrinth.Cambridge, 1936.
Callaghan, William J. Church, Politics, and Society in Spain, 1750-1874. London: 1984.
Carr, Raymond. Spain, 1808-1975. Oxford: 1982.
Christian, William. Local Religion in Sixteenth-Century Spain.Princeton, 1978. Collins, Roger. Law, Culture and Regionalism in Early Medieval Spain.Aldershot, 1992.
Collins, Roger. Early Medieval Spain: Unity in Diversity, 400-1000. London: 1995. Conversi, Dainel. The Basques, the Catalans and Spain. London: 1997.
Coverdale, John F. The Basque Phase of Spain’s First Carlist War. Princeton, 1984. Cunliffe, B and S. J. Keay, eds. Social Complexity and the Development of Towns in Iberia. London: 1995.
Curchin, L. A. Roman Spain: Conquest and Assimilation. London: 1991. Dominguez Ortiz, A.The Golden Age of Spain, 1516-1659. London: 1971.
Elliot, John H. Spain and its World, 1500-1700: Selected Essays. New Haven, 1989. Fernàndez Castro, Ma. C. Iberia in Prehistory. Oxford: 1995.
Kamen, Henry. Spain in the Later Seventeenth Century, 1665-1700. London: 1980. Graham, Helen. Socialism and War: The Spanish Socialist Party in Power and Crisis, 1936-39. Cambridge, 1991.
Goodman, David C. Power and Penury: Government, Technology and Science in Philip II’s Spain. Cambridge, 1988.
Jackson, G. The Making of Medieval Spain. London: 1972. Harrison, R. J. Spain at the Dawn of History. London: 1988. Hennessy, C A M. The Federal Republic in Spain. Oxford: 1962.
Herr, Richard. The Eighteenth-Century Revolution in Spain.Princeton: 1958. Herr, Richard. An Historical Essay on Modern Spain.Berkeley, 1974.
Heywood, Paul. The Government and Politics of Spain. London: 1995. Highfield, R. ed. Spain in the Fifteenth Century, 1369-1516. London: 1972. Hillgarth, J N. The Spanish Kingdoms, 1250-1516. 2 vols. Oxford: 1976, 1978. Hilt, Douglas. The Troubled Trinity: Godoy and the Spanish Monarchs. London: 1987.
James, Edward, ed. Visigothic Spain: New Approaches. Oxford, 1980. Kamen, Henry. Philip of Spain. New Haven: 1997.
Kamen, Henry. Spain 1469-1714. A Society of Conflict. London: 1991. Kamen, Henry. The War of Succession in Spain, 1700-15. London: 1969. Keay, S. J. Roman Spain. London: 1988.
Kennedy, Hugh. Muslim Spain and Portugal: A Political History of al-Andalus. London: 1996.
King, P D. Law and Society in the Visigothic Kingdom. Cambridge: 1972. Lomax, D. W. The Reconquest of Spain. London: 1978.
Lovet, Gabriel H. Napoleon and the Birth of Modern Spain.2 vols. New York: 1965. Linehan, Peter. History and the Historians of Medieval Spain. Oxford: 1993.
Liss, Peggy K. Isabel the Queen. Oxford and New York, 1992. Lynch, John. Bourbon Spain, 1700-1808. Oxford, 1989.
MacKay, Angus. Spain in the Middle Ages: From Frontier to Empire, 1000-1500.
London: 1997.
O’Callaghan, J. F. A History of Medieval Spain. London: 1975.
O’Neill, John P. ed. The Art of Medieval Spain AD 500-1200. New York: 1993. Payne, Stanley G.The Franco Regime, 1936-1975. Madison: 1987.
Phillips, Carla R. Six Galleons for the King of Spain: Imperial Defense in the Early Seventeenth Century. Baltimore, 1986.
Preston, Paul. The Coming of the Spanish Civil War: Reform, Reaction and Revolution in the Second Republic. London: 1994.
Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War. London: 1986.
Preston, Paul. The Triumph of Democracy in Spain. London: 1986.
Richardson, J. S. Hispaniae: Spain and the Development of Roman Imperialism. Cambridge: 1986.
Richardson, J. S. The Romans in Spain. Oxford: 1996.
Ringrose, David. Spain, Europe and the Spanish Miracle, 1700-1900. Cambridge: 1996.
Shubert, Adrian. A Social History of Modern Spain. London: 1990.
Stradling, R. Europe and the Decline of Spain: A Study of the Spanish System 1580-1720. London: 1981.
Stradling, R. A. Philip IV and the Government of Spain, 1621-65. Cambridge, 1988. Thompson, I. A. A. War and Society in Habsburg Spain.Aldershot, 1992.
Townsend, Joseph. A Journey Through Spain in the Years 1786 and 1787. 3 vols. London: 1791.
Ullman, Joan Connelly. The Tragic Week: A Study of Anticlericalism in Spain, 1875-1912. Cambridge, MA: 1968.
