Spanish 381 - El desierto: Capital, Surveillance, Nomadism

(Offered as SPAN 381, ARCH 381, ARHA 389 and LLAS 381) Antithetic to urban order and western culture, the desert has been a racialized space for the indigenous other in the Americas. Considered barbaric and lawless in the nineteenth century, today the desert is a militarized environment, a surveilled territory, and a site for nuclear extractivism. The desert has a visual history that speaks through different media, from oil painting to experimental cinema, from performative actions to thermal imaging and digital activism. This class will critically explore this unsuspected visual history of the Americas. Conducted in Spanish.

Requisite: SPAN 301 or consent of the instructor. Spring semester. Visiting Professor Ferrari.

How to handle overenrollment: null

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Emphasis on visual analysis, in class discussions and written work. Students will work as independent researches and in groups.