The Female Gaze: 20th-21st Century Iberian Literature and Visual Culture

What is gazing in Literature, Photography, and Film? Is there such a thing as a "female gaze"? In this course, we will explore the concept of "the gaze" in Modern and Contemporary Iberian Literature and Visual Culture from a gender perspective and a multimedia approach. We will examine narrative, photographic, and cinematic works produced in Spain and Portugal from the 1930s to today by major authors such as Mercè Rodoreda, Lídia Jorge, "Colita", Icíar Bollaín, or Carlos Saura, among others. We will pay attention to perspective and positionality to explore how women gaze and are gazed as new technologies and ways of seeing evolve. Students will learn to visually analyze cultural artifacts and to compare how different media and forms question notions of gender and (in)visibility. Students will improve their interpretative and communication skills in Spanish. Taught in Spanish. Non-majors may write in English.