Assignments, evaluation, and Course policies
General requirements and objectives: This course depends heavily on students' thorough preparation of the assigned materials and active participation in class discussions and/or online activities. Throughout the semester, you will be asked to familiarize yourself with the required texts, contextual information, and critical dialogues through careful analysis of assigned readings, lectures, and additional materials. More importantly, you will be expected to develop your own critical assessment of the texts and concepts discussed in the course.
Evaluation: Your final grade will be based on the following criteria:
Participación
Pruebas (3)
Ensayo 1
Ensayo 2
Although--technically--it is only worth 15% of your grade, consistent attendance, preparation and--whenever appropriate--active participation are absolutely essential to the successful completion of the course. In fact, your written work will be evaluated based on your ability to engage with and interpret the fundamental issues presented through the assigned texts, lectures and discussions.
15%
30%
20%
35%
PRUEBAS (10% each)
There will be three quizzes administered over the course of the semester. Each of these will assess students’ understanding of critical terms and concepts (cumulatively) as well as the readings and class discussions covered in that unit (e.g. since the most recent quiz). You will be expected to accurately identify and reproduce certain factual information presented in the course, yet the quizzes will predominantly assess your ability to draw connections and build on the materials discussed in the readings, class sessions, and any required online forums. The quizzes may include fill in the blank questions, short answer questions, identification and explanation of quotations, and mini essays. Unless otherwise indicated, all quizzes will be administered online. Quizzes must be completed and submitted on Moodle before a specified deadline (date AND time).
ENSAYO 1 (20%)
For your first essay (approximately 5-7 pages), you should identify a particular component of gender or sexuality from the assigned work by one of the following authors/directors: Bombal, Poniatowska, Peri Rossi, Valenzuela, Taymor, Sepúlveda, Leguizamo, Gutierrez Alea, Padura. Focusing on a particular scene or passage in the work, your essay should:
1) explain the component and how it functions in the work
2) analyze how and why this component changes, develops, or evolves—or, perhaps, how and why it fails to change, develop, or evolve—over the course of the selected work
3) carefully examine how the component fundamentally and crucially alters our understanding of the work (what can we see or understand about what the text means that we could not truly appreciate without examining this element)
ENSAYO 2 (35%)
Your second essay will be due at the end of the semester and should be an in-depth examination of the relationship between gender/sexuality, difference, and transformation in one of the assigned works. You may select any assigned literary/artistic work (e.g. novel, short story, film, performance, song, music video, image) from the course except the one you analyzed in your first essay. Additional details will be provided later in the semester, but your final paper should be approximately 10 pages in length and carefully analyze how the particular treatment of gender/sexuality in the work you have selected promotes and/or impedes making meaningful connections across boundaries of difference.