Popular Culture and Political Repression in Spain and Latin America

Exploration of a significant body of Spanish and Latin American fiction produced under repressive political regimes. Course explores how fictional characters and real people use popular culture as a coping mechanism in societies which impose severe political and social limitations on acceptable behavior. Also address uses of popular culture in democratic contexts including the US and draw comparisons to its uses under dictatorship. Authors include Cervantes, Galdós, Borges, Marsé, and Puig.