SPAN0084: Landscape and the Environment in Latin American Culture (19/20)

Latin America and the Caribbean contain over fifty percent of the globe’s biodiversity, and thus itsfate has a strong bearing on the future of the planet. From the perspective of humanity, acceleratingenvironmental changes already—and will increasingly—exacerbate neo-colonial, racialized andgendered inequalities. This module examines a range of twentieth-century Latin American texts, withan emphasis particularly on representations of landscape, or issues relating to ecology andenvironmental crisis. A range of theories and methodologies associated with the analysis ofrepresentations of landscape and the environment will be introduced including:ecocriticism, green studies, world ecological studies, and posthumanist philosophy. Themodule focuses on primary texts including Don Segundo Sombra by R. Güiraldes, Los pasosperdidos by A. Carpentier, La casa verde by M. Vargas Llosa, El camino de Ida by R. Piglia, Lasconstelaciones oscuras by P. Oloixarac, and Museo animal by C. Fonseca.