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Global Iberias: Themes (Rethinking the Portuguese and Spanish Speaking Worlds)

Key information

  • Module code:

    4AASA054

  • Level:

    4

  • Semester:

      Spring

  • Credit value:

    15

Module description

This module offers a thematic approach to selected literary, cultural and socio-political processes from across the Spanish and Portuguese speaking-worlds we call Global Iberias.

Encompassing Spain and Portugal, Latin America, and Lusophone Africa and Asia, lectures and seminars explore questions of power and creativity, and introduce students to the key concepts for the discussion of social movements, urban regeneration, colonialism and postcolonialism, and literary and cultural movements and ideas, from Modernism and Futurism to Magical Realism.

Overall, the module will provide students with core conceptual, interpretative, methodological, and presentation skills for the study of the cultures and societies of the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds.

Assessment details

3 short assignments (500-800 words each) targeting analysis, synthesis, critical thinking(40%); 2000-word coursework essay (60%)

Educational aims & objectives

This module will engage students in the study of critical topics and debates on the breadth of cultural interactions in the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds, taking on a multidisciplinary approach which reflects the unique breadth of expertise of the members of staff in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. From a selection of key concepts and themes relevant to this field, it will identify cultural, political and geographical flows, circulations, exchanges, and transformations between the Spanish and Portuguese-speaking territories across the Iberian Peninsula, Latin America, Lusophone Africa, as well as their diasporas. It will stimulate comparative approaches to the study of the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds across time, from the medieval and early-modern periods to the present day. It will also provide students with conceptual, interpretative, methodological, and presentation skills essential to the study of the history, literatures, languages, and cultures of the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds.

Learning outcomes

On completion of this module, the student will be able to demonstrate the following intellectual, transferable and practicable skills appropriate to a Level 4 module:

A. Knowledge and Understanding of the following areas:

  1. The history of, and the historical connections and discontinuities between the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds (including the Iberian Peninsula, LatinAmerica, Lusophone Africa) from the Middle Ages to the present day;
  2. Important conceptual categories used in critical discourses about the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds (e.g. Nation, Nationalism, Europe, Imperialism,Colonialism, Cultural Hybridity, Contact Zones, Otherness);
  3. The cultural diversity of the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds, through a study of a variety of cultural objects critically explored in the seminars (historical sources, literary works, visual arts, film, music)
  4. Methodologies of literary, cultural and historical analysis

B. Intellectual skills:

  1. Analysis of cultural objects with some guidance, using different approaches and techniques appropriate to the subject and discipline;
  2. Critical examination of secondary literature and important ideas to develop an argument with some guidance;
  3. Critical evaluation of sources and material to support conclusions, reviewing its reliability, validity and significance;
  4. Ability to apply appropriate knowledge and skills in addressing questions relevant to the history and culture of the Hispanic and Lusophone worlds.

C. The student will develop important transferable and practical skills. By the end of the module it is expected that the student will be able to:

  1. Operate in complex and unpredictable contexts, requiring selection and application from a range of methods and activities;
  2. Act autonomously, with some supervision or direction, within agreed guidelines;
  3. Interact effectively within a team/learning group, recognise, support or be proactive in leadership, negotiate and manage conflict;
  4. Manage their own learning, with some guidance, using the full range of resources for the discipline(s);
  5. Select and manage information, competently undertaking reasonably straight-forward research tasks with some guidance;
  6. Take responsibility for their own work and criticise it.

Teaching pattern

1h lecture, 1h seminar per week

Suggested reading list

Students are encouraged to explore areas of interest in the literatures, cultures, societies, politics and social movements of Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Latin America, Lusophone Africa, and their diverse diasporas

Module description disclaimer

King’s College London reviews the modules offered on a regular basis to provide up-to-date, innovative and relevant programmes of study. Therefore, modules offered may change. We suggest you keep an eye on the course finder on our website for updates.

Please note that modules with a practical component will be capped due to educational requirements, which may mean that we cannot guarantee a place to all students who elect to study this module.

Please note that the module descriptions above are related to the current academic year and are subject to change.