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Latin America: Language and Literature

Code: 43017
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Spanish Language, Hispanic Literature and Spanish as a Foreign Language OP 0

Contact lecturer

Name :
Assumpció Rost Bagudanch
Email :
assumpcio.rost@uab.cat

Teaching staff

Fernanda Bustamante Escalona

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

Knowledge of Spanish language grammatical concepts (phonetics and Phonology, morphosyntactic and lexical-semantic concepts), as well as Spanish-American literary issues. It is assumed that the students have a near-native level in Spanish (C2) and that they are able to manage scientific literature on Linguistics and Literature in Spanish.

Objectives

LINGUISTIC SECTION OBJECTIVES:

The core aim is that the students became aware of the linguistic situation in Latin America and what this implies in terms of Spanish linguistic variation, as well as in terms of its relationship with the native languages. More specifically, there are three important purposes to achieve:

  • to know the most relevant features of American Spanish in all aspects of the language;
  • to develop skills which allow to recognize, analyze and interpret oral and written texts of different geographical varieties of Spanish; and
  • to apply the methodology employed in the course to the analysis and comparison of different aspects of American Spanish linguistic variation.


LITERATURE SECTION OBJECTIVES:

The aim is to introduce students to 21st-century Latin American literature and culture. From an interdisciplinary perspective, and considering new critical and thematic approaches emerging from the Global South, heterogeneous Latin American cultural objects (literature, music, film, performing arts, urban interventions, video clips, etc.) will be addressed. At the same time, reflection will focus on the relationship between representation, body/bodies, identity/identities, and culture(s), and the political and discursive potential of cultural productions will be examined.

Objectives:

  • To introduce 21st-century Latin American literary productions and some representative aesthetic proposals.
  • To explore the relationship between literature and cultural and political production, as well as Latin American activisms.
  • To introduce theoretical categories that have emerged in recent years in Latin America: writings of urgency, writings of disappropriation, geological writings, literature outside itself.


Likewise, this course seeks to contribute to the achievement of the following General Competences of the UAB: G04. “To act within one’s field of knowledge by evaluating inequalities based on sex/gender”; and G01. “To introduce changes in methods and processes within one’s field of knowledge in order to provide innovative responses to the needs and demands of society.” In this way, the course adopts a gender and post/decolonial perspective and aims to make use of innovative teaching methodologies.

Learning outcomes

  1. Seleccionar un tema relacionat amb l'àmbit d'estudis del màster i explicar sumàriament què es coneix en relació amb ell.
  2. Formular un pla d'acció per ampliar la informació sobre el tema seleccionat.
  3. Argumentar per escrit i oralment unes conclusions.
  4. Elaborar el guió d'una exposició oral sobre qualsevol tema relacionat amb l'àmbit d'estudis del màster.
  5. Emmarcar tipològicament els principals fenòmens característics de la llengua espanyola i relacionar-los amb fenòmenos similars d'altres llengües.
  6. Identificar les diferents variants discursives que es produeixen en l'àmbit hispanoparlant.
  7. Anotar adequadament un text literari per a què el comprenguin lectors amb diferents graus de formació.
  8. Identificar trets estilístics i tècniques literàries comunes en diferents tradicions literàries i culturals.
  9. Aplicar les tècniques i mètodes propis del comentari literari de textos
  10. Predir les conseqüències teòriques que implicaria la introducció de noves idees en un esquema ja establert.
  11. Proposar una forma d'integrar les idees procedents d'altres disciplines al tractament d'un fenomen lingüístic o literari determinat.
  12. Defensar la pertinència dels propis judicis en relació amb el tema objecte d'estudi.
  13. Elaborar un estat de la qüestió d'un tema lingüístic i d'un tema literari de l'àmbit d'estudi del mòdul.
  14. Identificar la presència de fenòmens socials i històrics a la producció literària de l'Amèrica llatina.
  15. Identificar trets estilístics i tècniques literàries comunes en diferents tradicions literàries i culturals de l'Amèrica Llatina.
  16. Identificar els trets lingüístics que configuren les varietats de l'espanyol a l'Amèrica Llatina.
  17. Aplicar les tècniques i mètodes propis del comentari lingüístic de textos.
  18. Adaptar el contingut d'una exposició, oral i escrita, a les característiques de l'auditori.
  19. Aplicar la metodologia de treball apresa a l'anàlisi d'un tema lingüístic i d'un tema literari relacionats amb l'àmbit d'estudi del mòdul.
  20. Interpretar críticament la bibliografia reunida sobre els àmbits d'estudi del mòdul.
  21. Elaborar un esquema explicatiu sobre un problema lingüístic o literari de l'àmbit del màster i reformular-lo en funció de la introducció de noves idees.
  22. Argumentar la pertinència dels propis judicis sobre un tema determinat de l'àmbit del màster.
  23. Redactar un treball conforme a les normes de presentació acadèmiques.

Contents

LINGUISTIC SECTION


1. Introduction

1.1 Linguistic variation

1.1.1 Variation, standard and norm

1.1.2 Basic concepts: heritage languages, bilingualism and ELE

1.2 The linguistic domain of American Spanish

1.2.1 Common features of American Spanish

1.2.2 The varieties of American Spanish


2. Phenomena of North and Central American Spanish

2.1 Spanish in the USA and Mexico

2.2 Spanish in Central America


3. Phenomena of Caribbean and South American Spanish

3.1 Caribbean Spanish

3.2 Andean Spanish

3.3 Spanish in the Southern Cone region



LITERATURE SECTION CONTENTS


  1. 21st-century Latin American narratives and aesthetics: an approach
  2. Critical artistic practices: an approach to the relationship between representation, art, literature, politics, and activism
  3. Writings of urgency and necro-writings from narrative and cultural productions surrounding femicide
  4. Writings of disappropriation and geological writings from texts addressing the violences and mourning of forced disappearance
  5. Literature outside itself and the archive through hybrid texts related to ecofiction

Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Personal (personal time spent studying and readings) 45 1.8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
Directed (master classes, seminars) 36 1.44 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23
Supervised (personal tutoring scheduled with teachers) 25 1 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 22

The modality of the classes will be on-site. The active participation of students will be encouraged through practical exercises, comments and discussion of mandatory readings.

The compulsory texts of the subject will be uploaded to the virtual campus more than 15 days in advance so that the students can arrive with them read to the classes.


Note: 15 minutes of one class session, within the schedule established by the faculty or the degree program, will be set aside for students to complete the teaching performance evaluation surveys and the course or module evaluation surveys.

Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Essay on Literature topics 25% 20 0.8 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
Essay on language topics 25% 20 0.8 1, 3, 13, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23
Partial exam: Language 25% 2 0.08 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23
Partial exam: Literature 25% 2 0.08 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 22, 23

EVALUATION in the LANGUAGE SECTION (50%):


The assessment will consist of two activities:

  1. An individual or in pairs work, which can include an oral presentation, on the topics covered in the classes, as detailed at the beginning of the subject (30%).
  2. A written test on the contents of this part of the subject, as explained on the first day of class (20%).



EVALUATION in the LITERATURE SECTION (50%):

  1. One assignment (30%).
  2. A written exam on the theoretical and literary contents of this section of the course (20%).


The dates and requirements of the respective assessments for both sections (whether individual or group-based, oral or written, in staggered or single submissions) will be indicated on the first day of classes and will be available on the Virtual Campus.


Exchange students who request to take an exam in advance must submit a written document from their home university to the instructor justifying their request.



SINGLE ASSESSMENT: Both in the language and literature part, it will consist of the delivery of a work and the realization of a written test. Each part will be valued at 50% of the final grade


Grade REVIEW procedure:

At the time each assessment activity is carried out, the instructor will inform students about the procedure and date for reviewing grades.


Requirements to PASS the course:

• Students must have completed all the scheduled assessments for both sections within the established deadlines. Those who participate in only one block or in just one activity from each block will be considered “not assessed.”

• Obtaining an overall average grade of 5 or higher across all activities.


In the event that a student commits any type of irregularity that may lead to a significant alteration of the grade of an assessment activity, the activity will be graded with a 0, regardless of any disciplinary proceedings that may arise from it. In the event that multiple irregularities are verified in the assessment activities of the same course, the final grade for the course will be 0.



GENERAL ASPECTS


  • Plagiarism: All works must be original. Total or partial copying of materials already published on any medium is not allowed. In case of presenting non-original material without indicating its origin, the qualification of the activity or work will be automatically failed (0), and the evaluation will not be recoverable.


  • Use of AI: For this subject, a restricted use of AI is allowed for support tasks (bibliographic search, translation, graph generation). Students must identify which parts of their work have been generated with AI and which specific tools have been used. Any use that exceeds these possibilities will be considered fraudulent and may fail of the activity, which will not be recoverable.


  • Missing spelling is penalized: 0.25 each.

Bibliography

BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY in LANGUAGE SECTION:

  • Aleza Izquierdo, Milagros & José Mª Enguita Utrilla (coords.). 2010. La lengua española en América: normas y usos actuales. Universitat de València. [http://www.uv.es/aleza/esp.am.pdf]
  • Alonso, Amado. 2016. Estudios lingüísticos: temas hispanoamericanos. Daniel M. Sáez Rivera (ed.). Athenaica Ediciones Universitarias.
  • Alvar, Manuel (dir.). 1996. Manual de dialectología hispánica: El español de América. Ariel.
  • Bosque, Ignacio & Violeta Demonte. 1999. Gramática descriptiva de la lengua española. Espasa Calpe.
  • Buesa Oliver, Tomás & José Mª Enguita Utrilla. 1992. Léxico del español de América: su elemento patrimonial e indígena. MAPFRE.
  • Eckkramer, Eva Martha (ed.). 2021. Manual del español en América. De Gruyter.
  • Enguita Utrilla, José Mª. 2004. Para la historia de los americanismos léxicos. Peter Lang.
  • Escobar, Ana M. 2010. Variación lingüística en español. En José Ignacio Hualde, Antxon Olarrea, José M. Escobar i Catherine E. Travis (eds), Introducción a la lingüística hispánica, 391-444. Cambridge University Press.
  • Frago, Juan Antonio. 2003. El español de América. Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Cádiz.
  • Granda, Germán de. 1994. Español de América, español de África y hablas criollas hispánicas: cambios, contactos y contextos. Gredos.
  • Hualde, José Ignacio, Antxon Olarrea, i Erin O'Rourke (eds.). 2012. Handbook of Hispanic Linguistics. Wiley-Blackwell. [caps. 1, 2, 4, entre altres que s’aniran indicant]
  • Kany, Charles. 1962. Semántica Hispanoamericana. Madrid.
  • Lipski, John. 1996. El español de América. Cátedra.
  • Moreno Cabrera, Juan Carlos. 2000. La dignidad e igualdad de las lenguas. Alianza.
  • Moreno de Alba, José G. 2001. El español en América. Fondo de Cultura Económica.
  • Moreno Fernández, Francisco. 2009. La lengua española en su geografía. Arco/Libros.
  • Moreno Fernández, Francisco. 2020. Variedades de la lengua española. Routledge.
  • Ossenkop, Christina & Otto Winkelmann (eds.). 2018. Manuel des frontières linguistiques dans la Romania. De Gruyter.
  • Moreno Fernández, Francisco & Rocío Caravedo (eds.). 2023.Dialectología hispánica. The Routledge Handbook of Spanish Dialectology. Routledge.
  • Palacios, Azucena (coord.). 2008. El español de América. Contactos lingüísticos en Hispanoamérica. Ariel.
  • Quesada Pacheco, Miguel Ángel. 2010. El español hablado en América Central. Iberoamericana.
  • Ramírez Luengo, José Luis. 2019. Breve historia del español de América. Arco Libros. 4ª edición.
  • RAE-ASALE. 2009, 2011. Nueva gramática de la lengua española. Espasa Libros. 3 vols. i 1 DVD.
  • Vaquero de Ramírez, María. 2003. El español de América I. Pronunciación. Arco Libros. 3ª edición.
  • Vaquero de Ramírez, María. 2011. El español de América II. Morfosintaxis y Léxico. Arco Libros. 4ª edición.

Online resources:

Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española: http://www.asale.org/

Centro Virtual Cervantes: https://cvc.cervantes.es/.


Complementary papers, books and tools will be provided in Campus Virtual.


BASIC BIBLIOGRAPHY LITERATURE SECTION


  • ATENCIO, Graciela (2011), “Feminicidio-femicidio: un paradigma para el análisis de la violencia de género” [en línea], Feminicidio.net. Disponible en: <http://www.feminicidio.net/sites/default/files/seccion_feminicidio_paper_02.pdf>
  • AZNAR, Yayo y IÑIGO, María (2007), “Arte, política y activismo”, en Concinnitas, Revista Do. Instituto de Artes de Universidad de Río de Janeiro, año 8, vol. 1, n.º 10, julio 2007, pp. 65-77.
  • BUTLER, Judith (2002), Cuerpos que importan. Sobre los límites materiales y discursivos del sexo. Traducción de Alcira Bixio. México: Paidós.
  • BUTLER, Judith (2006), Vida precaria. El poder del duelo y la violencia. Buenos Aires, Paidós.
  • COLOMBI, Beatriz (coord.) (2021), Diccionario de términos críticos de la literatura y la cultura en América Latina. Argentina, CLACSO. Disponible en https://www.clacso.org/diccionario-de-terminos-criticos-de-la-literatura-y-la-cultura-en-america-latina-2/
  • DOMÍNGUEZ, Nora (2019), “Escrituras de la urgencia. Otra vuelta sobre arte, política y feminismo”. Gualichos, vol. 1 (18), pp. 7-18.
  • FELSHIN, N. (2001), "¿Pero esto es arte? El espíritu del arte como activismo", en BLANCO, P. & CARILLO, J. (eds.), Modos de hacer. Arte crítico, esfera pública y acción directa. Universidad de Salamanca, pp. 73-94.
  • FUENTES, M. (2020), Activismos tecnopolíticos: Constelaciones de performance. Argentina: Eterna Cadencia.
  • GALLEGO CUIÑAS, Ana (ed.) (2021), Novísimas. Las narrativas latinoamericanas y españolas del siglo XXI. Madrid: Iberoamericana.
  • GARRAMUÑO, Florencia (ed.) (2015), Mundos en común. Ensayos sobre la inespecifidad en el arte. Buenos Aires: FCE.
  • GERBER, Verónica (2019), La compañía. Ciudad de México: Almadía.
  • GOLUBOV, Nattie (ed. y coord.) (2024), Arte-factos Para los estudios literarios. Ciudad de México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
  • HILL Collins, Patricia; BILGE, Sirma (2019), Interseccionalidad. Madrid, Ed. Morata.
  • LAGARDE y DE LOS RÍOS, Marcela (2011), "Prefacio: claves feministas en torno al feminicidio. Construcción teórica, política y jurídica", en Fregoso, Rosa-Linda (coord.), Feminicidio en América Latina. México: UNAM, pp. 11-42.
  • LUDMER, Josefina (2007), «Literaturas postautónomas», en CiberLetras: revista de crítica literaria y de cultura, n.º 17. http://www.lehman.edu/faculty/guinazu/ciberletras/v17/ludmer.htm
  • LUGONES, María (2008), “Colonialidad y género”. Tabula Rasa, Bogotá, n.º 9, julio-diciembre de 2008, pp. 73-101.
  • MBEMBE, Achille (2011), Necropolítica. Tenerife, Melusina ed.
  • MIGNOLO, Walter (2010), “Desobediencia Epistémica (II), Pensamiento Independiente y Libertad De-Colonial”, en Otros logos. Revista de estudios críticos, año 1, n.º 1, pp. 8-42. Disponible en http://www.ceapedi.com.ar/otroslogos/revistas/0001/mignolo.pdf
  • MOUFFE, Chantal “Prácticas artísticas y políticas democráticas en una era pospolítica”, en Prácticas artísticas y democracia agonística, Barcelona, MACBA, pp. 59-72.
  • MOUFFE, Chantal (2011), En torno a lo político. Buenos Aires. Fondo de Cultura Económica.
  • POBLETE, Juan (ed.) (2021), Nuevos acercamientos a los estudios latinoamericanos: cultura y poder. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires: CLACSO y México, UNAM. Disponible en <http://biblioteca.clacso.edu.ar/clacso/se/20211006114458/Nuevos-acercamientos.pdf>.
  • RIVERA CUSICANQUI, Silvia (2011), Ch´Ixinakax Utxiwa. Una reflexión sobre prácticas y discursos descolonizadores. Editorial Tinta Limón.
  • RIVERA GARZA, Cristina (2020), Los muertos indóciles. Santiago de Chile: Los libros de la mujer rota.
  • RIVERA GARZA, Cristina (2021), El invencible verano de Liliana. Barcelona: Random House.
  • RIVERA GARZA, Cristina (2022), Escrituras geológicas. Madrid: Iberoamericana-Vervuet.
  • RUSELL, Diana E.H (2006). "Introducción. las políticas del feminicidio”, “Cap. 2. Definición del feminicidio y conceptos relacionados”, en Feminicidio: una perspectiva global, México: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México–CEIICH, pp. 57-72 y 73-96.
  • SEGATO, Rita (2016), La guerra contra las mujeres. Madrid, Traficantes de sueños. Disponible en: https://www.traficantes.net/sites/default/files/pdfs/map45_segato_web.pdf
  • URIBE, Sara (2012), Antígona González. Oaxaca: sur+ ediciones. https://poesiamexa.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/antc3adgona-gonzc3a1lez.pdf
  • VVAA (2009), Diccionario de Estudios culturales latinoamericanos. México: Siglo XXI. Disponible en http://elpaginaslibres.files.wordpress.com/2009/12/diccionario-de-estudios-culturales-latinoamericanos.pdf


In the Virtual Campus, other works, articles and essays of interest to students and for open consultation will be made available

Software

  • Boersma, P., D. Weenink & A. Shchupak (2026). Praat: doing phonetics by computer. Version 6.4.67, retrieved 21 May 2026 from https://praat.org.
  • Microsoft Teams.

Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(TEm) Theory (master) 1 Spanish first semester afternoon