This course explores Andean culture through traditional and popular music, dance, folklore, media, film, painting, sculpture, arts, and crafts. Students will build a basic notion of what is considered “Andean” in art and culture by examining a series of case studies that look at the following characteristics of Andean cultures: duality, the search for cultural and national identities, a particular conception of time and space, rituals, religious images, and the popular fiestas.
Prerequisites:
Advanced Spanish Level
Method of presentation:
Lectures, discussions, student presentations and field visits.
Required work and form of assessment:
Attendance at all course sessions and field trips is mandatory, and students must read all assigned readings before class in order to participate fully in class discussion. Final grades are based on the following: class participation and discussion (20%); mid-term exam (30%), three- to four-page essay (30%), and an oral presentation (20%).
The three- to four-page essay is an analysis of a traditional or contemporary object/work of art of the Andean world. The essay must have at least three references and include a page of bibliography. The oral presentation will elaborate on one of the course topics. It should be about 20 minutes and include a written synopsis for the instructors; the use of visual aids, such as videos, slides, or any other graphic information is also highly recommended.
content:
Week 1. Introduction: syllabus and instructors presentation. What is culture? What are Andean cultures?
Reading: Néstor García Canclini, Culturas Híbridas.
Week 2. Culture and Duality.
Pre-hispanic and contemporary dualities among the cultures of the Andes. Ritual and common objects. Field study: Museo del Banco Central Del Ecuador, CCE, Quito
Reading: Pablo Mogrovejo, Pablo Iturralde, Duales y Recíprocos.
Week 3. Gods and God.
Culture and Arts of the Andes since the Spanish domination. Images in religious art: architecture, sculpture, painting.
Field study: “La Compañía” church
Reading: Frank Salomon, “Matando al Yumbo”
Week 4. National and cultural identities in the Andean countries. Foreign influences vs. traditional values.
Case study: Scientific missions and local traditions in the XIX century.
Week 5. The “American” Voice and Being “American”.
César Vallejo, Modernism and Avant-Garde. The new language of photography: portraits from Perú by
Martín Chambi.
Reading: César Vallejo, Trilce y Los Heraldos Negros (poems).
Week 6. Social Realism and Indigenism.
Comparative analysis between César Dávila’s short story Cabeza de Gallo and the paintings of the Andean muralists: Kingman, Guayasamín, Miguel Alandia Pantoja, Walter Solón Romero, José Sabogal. Reading: César Dávila, Cabeza de gallo
Week 7. Revision and discussion on the studied topics.
Mid-term Exam.
Week 8. The invention of “folklore”.
Handcrafts as design: rescuing motives and colors from the realm of traditional objects to that of art and contemporary handcrafts.
Field study: visit to “Folklore” by Olga Fisch, a store/museum of ancient and contemporary Andean handcrafts.
Reading: Paulo de Carvalho-Neto, Diccionario del Folklore Ecuatoriano (fragments)
Week 9. “The myth of the eternal return.”
The concept of time and space of the Andean cultures through a study of their textile traditions. Reading: José Sánchez Parga, Textos textiles en la tradición cultural andina.
Week 10. The rituals.
From food to dance and colors.
Case study: Los difuntos. The colada morada and guaguas de pan tradition.
Reading: Juan Martínez Borrero, “Fiesta y comunicación visual: la ubicuidad de los símbolos”.
Week 11. From vals to pasillo, valsesito and yaraví.
European music within Andean music. The guitar and the requinto. Music for dancing and music for singing.
Reading: Juan Mullo, La guitarra en Ecuador, 2005 (unpublished)
Week 12. Realismo Mágico (Magic Realism)
Painting, sculpture and literature. Images from Botero and Endara Crow. Reading: Speech by Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel Prize of literature.
Week 13. Realismo Mágico (cont.)
Reading: Los Funerales de la Mamá Grande, Gabriel García Márquez
Week 14. The city: new urban identities.
The new Latin-American cinema. Documentary Films.
Film: Metal y Melancolía, Heddy Honigmann, Holanda, 1992.
Week 15. General Conclusions.
Required readings:
De Carvalho-Neto, Paulo. Diccionario del Folklore Ecuatoriano. Quito: Casa de la Cultura Ecuatoriana, 2001.
Dávila Andrade, César. Cabeza de gallo. Quito: El Conejo, 1986.
García Canclini, Néstor. Culturas Híbridas, estrategias para salir de la modernidad. México: Grijalbo, 1990.
García Márquez, Gabriel. Los Funerales de la Mamá Grande. Bogotá: Oveja Negra, 1984.
Martínez Borrero, Juan. “Fiesta y comunicación visual: la ubicuidad de los símbolos.” Detrás de la imagen, un estudio sobre la iconografía popular en el Azuay. Quito: BCE, 1992.
Mogrovejo, Pablo and Pablo Iturralde. Duales y Recíprocos. Quito: 2004.
Mullo, Juan. La guitarra en Ecuador. 2005 (unpublished, currently in press)
Pazos, Julio. Arte de la Memoria, sustentos de la vida diaria. Quito: Paradiso, 1998.
Salomon, Frank. “Matando al Yumbo.” Norman Whitten, Ed. Transformaciones culturales y etnicidad en la Sierra Ecuatoriana. 1993.
Sánchez Parga, José. Textos textiles en la tradición cultural andina. Quito: IADAP, 1995.
Vallejo, César. “Trilce y Los Heraldos Negros.” Sombrero, abrigo, guantes y otros poemas. Bogotá: Norma, 1992.
Recommended readings:
Andrade, Jaime, et al. Arte Popular del Ecuador. Quito: Abya-Yala, 1989.
Garganigo, John, et al. Huellas de las literaturas hispanoamericanas. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2002.
Marín, Gladys. La experiencia Americana de José María Arguedas. Buenos Aires: Fernando García, 1973.
Stone-Miller, Rebecca. Art of the Andes. London: Thames & Hudson, 1995.
Andean Popular Arts
This course explores Andean culture through traditional and popular music, dance, folklore, media, film, painting, sculpture, arts, and crafts. Students will build a basic notion of what is considered “Andean” in art and culture by examining a series of case studies that look at the following characteristics of Andean cultures: duality, the search for cultural and national identities, a particular conception of time and space, rituals, religious images, and the popular fiestas.
Advanced Spanish Level
Lectures, discussions, student presentations and field visits.
Attendance at all course sessions and field trips is mandatory, and students must read all assigned readings before class in order to participate fully in class discussion. Final grades are based on the following: class participation and discussion (20%); mid-term exam (30%), three- to four-page essay (30%), and an oral presentation (20%).
The three- to four-page essay is an analysis of a traditional or contemporary object/work of art of the Andean world. The essay must have at least three references and include a page of bibliography. The oral presentation will elaborate on one of the course topics. It should be about 20 minutes and include a written synopsis for the instructors; the use of visual aids, such as videos, slides, or any other graphic information is also highly recommended.
Week 1. Introduction: syllabus and instructors presentation. What is culture? What are Andean cultures?
Reading: Néstor García Canclini, Culturas Híbridas.
Week 2. Culture and Duality.
Pre-hispanic and contemporary dualities among the cultures of the Andes. Ritual and common objects. Field study: Museo del Banco Central Del Ecuador, CCE, Quito
Reading: Pablo Mogrovejo, Pablo Iturralde, Duales y Recíprocos.
Week 3. Gods and God.
Culture and Arts of the Andes since the Spanish domination. Images in religious art: architecture, sculpture, painting.
Field study: “La Compañía” church
Reading: Frank Salomon, “Matando al Yumbo”
Week 4. National and cultural identities in the Andean countries. Foreign influences vs. traditional values.
Case study: Scientific missions and local traditions in the XIX century.
Week 5. The “American” Voice and Being “American”.
César Vallejo, Modernism and Avant-Garde. The new language of photography: portraits from Perú by
Martín Chambi.
Reading: César Vallejo, Trilce y Los Heraldos Negros (poems).
Week 6. Social Realism and Indigenism.
Comparative analysis between César Dávila’s short story Cabeza de Gallo and the paintings of the Andean muralists: Kingman, Guayasamín, Miguel Alandia Pantoja, Walter Solón Romero, José Sabogal. Reading: César Dávila, Cabeza de gallo
Week 7. Revision and discussion on the studied topics.
Mid-term Exam.
Week 8. The invention of “folklore”.
Handcrafts as design: rescuing motives and colors from the realm of traditional objects to that of art and contemporary handcrafts.
Field study: visit to “Folklore” by Olga Fisch, a store/museum of ancient and contemporary Andean handcrafts.
Reading: Paulo de Carvalho-Neto, Diccionario del Folklore Ecuatoriano (fragments)
Week 9. “The myth of the eternal return.”
The concept of time and space of the Andean cultures through a study of their textile traditions. Reading: José Sánchez Parga, Textos textiles en la tradición cultural andina.
Week 10. The rituals.
From food to dance and colors.
Case study: Los difuntos. The colada morada and guaguas de pan tradition.
Reading: Juan Martínez Borrero, “Fiesta y comunicación visual: la ubicuidad de los símbolos”.
Week 11. From vals to pasillo, valsesito and yaraví.
European music within Andean music. The guitar and the requinto. Music for dancing and music for singing.
Reading: Juan Mullo, La guitarra en Ecuador, 2005 (unpublished)
Week 12. Realismo Mágico (Magic Realism)
Painting, sculpture and literature. Images from Botero and Endara Crow. Reading: Speech by Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel Prize of literature.
Week 13. Realismo Mágico (cont.)
Reading: Los Funerales de la Mamá Grande, Gabriel García Márquez
Week 14. The city: new urban identities.
The new Latin-American cinema. Documentary Films.
Film: Metal y Melancolía, Heddy Honigmann, Holanda, 1992.
Week 15. General Conclusions.