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Crosslistings: LAST 258 |
No figure has been seized upon more as a symbol of cultural and political unity than the liberator, intellectual, and founder of "americanismo" Simon Bolivar. In what is the most recent and perhaps best-known example of this, the Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has used the Bolivar legacy to present himself as the new founder, the new liberator, of his nation. In this course, we will examine not only the case of contemporary Venezuela but also the countless appropriations of Bolivar that have occurred across the Americas and in Europe in the 170 years since his death. From Sarmiento to Garcia Marquez, from the Spaniard Miguel de Unamuno to the U.S. socialist Waldo Frank, from the U.S.-led pan-americanismo of the nineteenth century to the Latin American "americanismo" of the twentieth, Bolivar has been the cornerstone of discourse. Generally speaking, Bolivar went from serving in the nineteenth century as a pillar of the liberal tradition to serving in the twentieth as the heroic foundation of liberalism's critiques. In this process, modernization, cultural discourse, and the politics of race and gender played definitive roles. To consider all this, we will examine a number of re-writings of Bolivar's life and works, focusing on the dynamic process in which literary, cultural, and political traditions have been formed around him. A wide range of texts will be examined, including letters, essays, poems, novels, screenplays, and films.
COURSE FORMAT: Seminar
Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA SPAN Grading Mode: Graded
Prerequisites: SPAN226 OR SPAN221 OR SPAN223 OR SPAN224 Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-19-2004
Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459