Of the many images of Latin America, one in particular catches our attention: when the area is always on the brink of chaos and dismemberment, torn by the constitutive violence of its social system and the calamities of drug trafficking and substance abuse. This course explores this image, how it is constructed by historical accounts, reports from the media and political analysis, and, primarily, how it is interpreted through literature and the arts. Our so-called high culture has always thrived in close proximity to its drug of choice, be this caffeine for the Romantics or cocaine for contemporary writers with punk intonations. Violence is another fascination, a social or political force that the arts try to fend off or unsuccessfully neutralize. We will interrogate these interactions, in the hope of better understanding the productivity of what our culture deems as “evil.”
Prerequisites:
None
Learning outcomes:
At the end of the semester, students should be able to:
• Recognize how literature and the arts intervene with social and political problems.
• Critically evaluate the literary and artistic representations of drugs, drug consumption and violence.
• Compare and contrast this kind of approach with the way this topic is portrayed in the media.
• Become aware of the stereotypes and preconceptions some of these representations may be disseminating.
• Analyze concrete cases and texts and be able to discriminate their specific artistic procedures.
Method of presentation:
Lecture, debates, student presentations, individual and group analysis.
Required work and form of assessment:
Class participation and presentations (25%): students must attend every class. This means they should prepare the material in advance, ask questions, engage in discussions and share their thoughts with the class.
Midterm (30%): A guided paper of about 10 pages. Final (30%): A guided paper of about 10 pages.
Reaction papers (15 % total): 2-page papers on the topics of each class.
content:
Week 1. Introduction to the course. Literature and Evil. How do we represent evil? Is there an evil literature? What are the dangers of representing violence?
Required Readings:
• Bataille, Georges. Literature and Evil. (Genet: pp. 173-208)
• Eagleton, Terry. On Evil (Introduction, pp. 1-18)
• Zizek, Slavoj. Violence. Profile Books, 2009
Week 2. Ghosts of the Lettered City. Intellectuals and literati. Civilization and authority. Civilization and barbarism. From the “good savage” to the “bárbaro”
Required Reading:
• Rama, Ángel. The Lettered City (“The city of protocols”, pp. 17-49)
• Fernández Retamar, Roberto. “Caliban” (whole article)
• Echeverría, Esteban. “The Slaughterhouse”
• Samiento, Domingo. Facundo (chapter 1, pp. 45-58; chapter 2, pp. 59-71)
Week 3. Ghosts of the Lettered City II. Present day Latin America
Required Reading:
• Franco, Jean. Decline and Fall of the Lettered City (Introduction, “Killing them softly” and “cultural revolutions”, pp. 1-20, 21-57, 179-234)
• Bolaño, Roberto. Distant Star (chapters 1, 2, 3, pp. 0-46)
Week 4. Political Violence in the arts
Required Reading:
• Gallo, Ruben. New Tendencies in Mexican Art. Introduction (pp. 1-17); Urbanism (pp. 116-126)
• Margolles, Teresa. “Agua de Cadáver” y “Vaporización” (pictures of her work with corpses and human remains)
• Gil, Vicente. “Auto-retratos” (portraits of political assassinations)
Week 5. Social exclusion and its discontents
Required Reading and Videos:
• Images from the Soldati incidents in Buenos Aires
• Davis, Mike. Planet of Slums (chapters 1, 2, 6, epilogue)
Field work: interviews
Week 6. Narco-violence in Latin America
Required Reading and Videos:
• Vallejo, Fernando. Our Lady of the Assasins (novel) (pp.2-45)
• Maillé, Emilio. Rosario Tijeras (film)
• Arana, Ana. “How Street Gangs Took Central America”
Midterm Questions
Week 7. Narcoviolence in Latin America II
Required Reading and Videos:
• Meirelles, Fernando. Cidade de Deus (film)
• Bustos, Adriana. Antropología de la mula (socioartistic piece on the history and sociology of cocaine traffic in Latin America)
Visit of artist Adriana Bustos
Midterm exam due
Week 8: MIDSEMESTER BREAK
Week 9. Thinking on Drugs Required Reading:
• Benjamin, Walter. “Hashish in Marseille”
• Derrida, Jacques. “The Rhetoric of Drugs”
• Ronell, Avital. Crack Wars (“Towards a Narcoanalysis”)
Week 10. Legal Drugs in Latin America History
Required Reading:
• Ortíz, Fernando. Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar (pp. 3-93; 282-309)
• Weinberg, Bennett Allan y Bonnie K. Bealer, The World of Caffeine. The Science and Culture of the World’s Most Popular Drug. New York: Routledge, 2001. (Overview pp.ix-xxi; pp.125-212)
Field Work: coffee and coffee houses in Buenos Aires
Week 11. Hallucinogens and the Anthropological Imagination
Required Reading:
• Castaneda, Jorge. Don Juan’s Teachings
• McDermott, Richard. Reasons, “Rules and the Ring of Experience: Reading Our World into Carlos
Castaneda's Works” (whole article)
• Zentner, Joseph. “Pathways to the Supernatural” (whole article)
Week 12. Cocaine in and out of fiction
Required reading and videos:
• Gootenberg, Paul. “Between Coca and Cocaine: A Century or More of US-Peruvian Paradoxes” (whole article)
• Taussig, Michael. My cocaine museum (Author’s note pp.ix –xix; 1-29)
• My Father, Pablo Escobar, the Most Notorious Drug Lord in History (documentary)
• Fogwill, Vera. Las mantenidas sin sueños (movie).
Week 13. Paco Wars
Required reading and videos:
• Taylor, Guy. “Paco: Drug War Blowback in Argentina” (whole article).
• Rafecas, Diego. Paco
Visit of a journalist
Week 14. Final considerations. What happens to art and literature when they welcome drugs and violence?
• Bruguera, Tania. Presentation at Hemisférico Bogota, 2009 (a performance piece on the ubiquity of cocaine).
• Margolles, Teresa. Cards for cutting cocaine
Drugs & Violence In Latin American Literature And Arts
Of the many images of Latin America, one in particular catches our attention: when the area is always on the brink of chaos and dismemberment, torn by the constitutive violence of its social system and the calamities of drug trafficking and substance abuse. This course explores this image, how it is constructed by historical accounts, reports from the media and political analysis, and, primarily, how it is interpreted through literature and the arts. Our so-called high culture has always thrived in close proximity to its drug of choice, be this caffeine for the Romantics or cocaine for contemporary writers with punk intonations. Violence is another fascination, a social or political force that the arts try to fend off or unsuccessfully neutralize. We will interrogate these interactions, in the hope of better understanding the productivity of what our culture deems as “evil.”
None
At the end of the semester, students should be able to:
• Recognize how literature and the arts intervene with social and political problems.
• Critically evaluate the literary and artistic representations of drugs, drug consumption and violence.
• Compare and contrast this kind of approach with the way this topic is portrayed in the media.
• Become aware of the stereotypes and preconceptions some of these representations may be disseminating.
• Analyze concrete cases and texts and be able to discriminate their specific artistic procedures.
Lecture, debates, student presentations, individual and group analysis.
Class participation and presentations (25%): students must attend every class. This means they should prepare the material in advance, ask questions, engage in discussions and share their thoughts with the class.
Midterm (30%): A guided paper of about 10 pages. Final (30%): A guided paper of about 10 pages.
Reaction papers (15 % total): 2-page papers on the topics of each class.
Week 1. Introduction to the course. Literature and Evil. How do we represent evil? Is there an evil literature? What are the dangers of representing violence?
Required Readings:
• Bataille, Georges. Literature and Evil. (Genet: pp. 173-208)
• Eagleton, Terry. On Evil (Introduction, pp. 1-18)
• Zizek, Slavoj. Violence. Profile Books, 2009
Week 2. Ghosts of the Lettered City. Intellectuals and literati. Civilization and authority. Civilization and barbarism. From the “good savage” to the “bárbaro”
Required Reading:
• Rama, Ángel. The Lettered City (“The city of protocols”, pp. 17-49)
• Fernández Retamar, Roberto. “Caliban” (whole article)
• Echeverría, Esteban. “The Slaughterhouse”
• Samiento, Domingo. Facundo (chapter 1, pp. 45-58; chapter 2, pp. 59-71)
Week 3. Ghosts of the Lettered City II. Present day Latin America
Required Reading:
• Franco, Jean. Decline and Fall of the Lettered City (Introduction, “Killing them softly” and “cultural revolutions”, pp. 1-20, 21-57, 179-234)
• Bolaño, Roberto. Distant Star (chapters 1, 2, 3, pp. 0-46)
Week 4. Political Violence in the arts
Required Reading:
• Gallo, Ruben. New Tendencies in Mexican Art. Introduction (pp. 1-17); Urbanism (pp. 116-126)
• Margolles, Teresa. “Agua de Cadáver” y “Vaporización” (pictures of her work with corpses and human remains)
• Gil, Vicente. “Auto-retratos” (portraits of political assassinations)
Week 5. Social exclusion and its discontents
Required Reading and Videos:
• Images from the Soldati incidents in Buenos Aires
• Davis, Mike. Planet of Slums (chapters 1, 2, 6, epilogue)
Field work: interviews
Week 6. Narco-violence in Latin America
Required Reading and Videos:
• Vallejo, Fernando. Our Lady of the Assasins (novel) (pp.2-45)
• Maillé, Emilio. Rosario Tijeras (film)
• Arana, Ana. “How Street Gangs Took Central America”
Midterm Questions
Week 7. Narcoviolence in Latin America II
Required Reading and Videos:
• Meirelles, Fernando. Cidade de Deus (film)
• Bustos, Adriana. Antropología de la mula (socioartistic piece on the history and sociology of cocaine traffic in Latin America)
Visit of artist Adriana Bustos
Midterm exam due
Week 8: MIDSEMESTER BREAK
Week 9. Thinking on Drugs
Required Reading:
• Benjamin, Walter. “Hashish in Marseille”
• Derrida, Jacques. “The Rhetoric of Drugs”
• Ronell, Avital. Crack Wars (“Towards a Narcoanalysis”)
Week 10. Legal Drugs in Latin America History
Required Reading:
• Ortíz, Fernando. Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar (pp. 3-93; 282-309)
• Weinberg, Bennett Allan y Bonnie K. Bealer, The World of Caffeine. The Science and Culture of the World’s Most Popular Drug. New York: Routledge, 2001. (Overview pp.ix-xxi; pp.125-212)
Field Work: coffee and coffee houses in Buenos Aires
Week 11. Hallucinogens and the Anthropological Imagination
Required Reading:
• Castaneda, Jorge. Don Juan’s Teachings
• McDermott, Richard. Reasons, “Rules and the Ring of Experience: Reading Our World into Carlos
Castaneda's Works” (whole article)
• Zentner, Joseph. “Pathways to the Supernatural” (whole article)
Week 12. Cocaine in and out of fiction
Required reading and videos:
• Gootenberg, Paul. “Between Coca and Cocaine: A Century or More of US-Peruvian Paradoxes” (whole article)
• Taussig, Michael. My cocaine museum (Author’s note pp.ix –xix; 1-29)
• My Father, Pablo Escobar, the Most Notorious Drug Lord in History (documentary)
• Fogwill, Vera. Las mantenidas sin sueños (movie).
Week 13. Paco Wars
Required reading and videos:
• Taylor, Guy. “Paco: Drug War Blowback in Argentina” (whole article).
• Rafecas, Diego. Paco
Visit of a journalist
Week 14. Final considerations. What happens to art and literature when they welcome drugs and violence?
• Bruguera, Tania. Presentation at Hemisférico Bogota, 2009 (a performance piece on the ubiquity of cocaine).
• Margolles, Teresa. Cards for cutting cocaine
Final questions
Week 15. Final exam due