Latin American Civilization and Culture

Description
The objectives of this course are, mainly, the initiation and understanding of this discipline by the students through the principal stylistic languages which have defined LatinAmerican reality. The wealth and extension of which make it necessary for us to delimit the sections in direct correspondence with the cultural environment which allows us, on the one hand, a greater understanding of the artistic events, and on the other, a better assimilation of the historical content which surround the artistic production and which are of a priority nature in the syllabus.

Content
1.- Presentation and introduction to the course
2.- Beginnings of the presence of Spain in America
3.- The geographical  environment
4.- The first Mesoamerican and Andean cultures
5.- The pre-Hispanic cities
6.- The pre-Hispanic architecture
7.- The pre-Hispanic sculpture
8.- The pre-Hispanic decorative arts
9.- Contact with the European world
10.- The beginnings of transculturation
11.- The colonial city
12.- Convent and conversion architecture
13.- The great cathedrals and civil architecture
14.- Mozarabic in America
15.- Baroque in latin-America
16.- The plastic arts in the XVI to XVIII centuries
17.- Latin-American art from the XIX and XX centuries
18.- Latin-America and the XXI century

Activities
a) Talks on some central themes which affect the understanding of the reality of presentday Latin-America, along with a DVD viewing of which will complement the talks given by the teacher and a guided visit to the Monastery of San Jerónimo.
b) As a consequence of this the students will do as piece of written work, 5 pages long, related to one of the class topics. The last day to hand in the work will be the day of the final exam.

Assessment
The final mark will be based on the sum of the following:
a) Attendance, attention and participation in class (30% ).
b) The above-mentioned piece of work ( 0% ).
c) Mid-term and final exams, 25 % each, consisting of a written commentary of selected slides from the theory-practical content of the syllabus and also a theoretical question.