Portuguese 397P - ST- Multiple Linguistic Worlds

The main objective of this new course is to investigate how questions of multilingualism and translation emerge in Spanish and Portuguese American writings. We will start by looking at the ways in which America has been the scene of multiple encounters between communities speaking different languages and examine how writers both in English and in other languages have represented these collective language encounters. We will proceed to consider the particular language encounters between English and Spanish/Portuguese, and ask how certain texts reflect the inhabiting of multiple linguistic worlds. By studying a number of texts representing these particular language encounters we will attempt to identify the distinctive linguistic elements of these texts and, very importantly, the role of cultural and linguistic translation within this body of writing. The course will introduce the students to a multidisciplinary approach which combines sociolinguistics, translation theory and discourse analysis in order to explore a wide range of genres such as memoir, prose, personal essays and diary entries produced by the Spanish and Portuguese American diaspora. Through readings, papers, in-class presentations, translation exercises and discussions we will examine in which specific ways the intricacies of the authors' experiences as immigrants, refugees, and sojourners happen through the paths of translation and language movement.