Please note: you are viewing unit and programme information
for a past academic year. Please see the current academic year for up to date information.
| Unit name |
Spiritual Children - Daily Life in the Catholic Missions of Colonal Spanish America |
| Unit code |
HISP20081 |
| Credit points |
20 |
| Level of study |
I/5
|
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
|
| Unit director |
Dr. Williams |
| Open unit status |
Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None
|
| Co-requisites |
None
|
| School/department |
Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies |
| Faculty |
Faculty of Arts |
Description including Unit Aims
In many parts of the Americas, 'indigenous peoples' first experience of European expansion and colonisation took place within the confining context of Catholic missions. In all such regions - California, Florida, and Paraguay, among others - the arrival of Spanish missionaries invariably opened a period of rapid and painful change, affecting a wide range of customs and practices that had formerly ordered and defined daily life. This unit explores the ideas that shaped the religious programmes devised by missionaries (principally Jesuits and Franciscans), the strategies they developed to control and convert native populations, and the ways in which Indian peoples contested, and/or negotiated, the codes of behaviour prescribed for them. To this end, the unit examines key aspects of daily life prior to, and within, the missions - including religious belief and practice, marriage and sexuality, politics and leadership, music, art and architecture, labour and the economy, gender relations, and crime and punishment.
Aims:
- To introduce students to a significant body of knowledge of a complexity appropriate to second year level. The content matter will normally include one or more of the following: literature; social, cultural or political history; linguistics; cultural studies; film, television or other media.
- To facilitate students engagement with a body of literature, including secondary literature, texts, including in non-print media, primary sources and ideas as a basis for their own analysis and development. Normally many or most of these sources will be in a language other than English and will enhance the development of their linguistic skills.
- To develop further skills of synthesis, analysis and independent research, building on the skills acquired in units at level C.
- Some options may prepare students for the experience of the Year Abroad.
Intended Learning Outcomes
Successful students will:
- be knowledgeable about a significant cultural, historical or linguistic subject related to the language they are studying;
- be skilled in the selection and synthesis of relevant material;
- be able to evaluate and analyse relevant material from a significant body of source materials, usually in a foreign language, at a high level;
- be able to respond to questions or problems by presenting their independent judgements in an appropriate style and at an high level of complexity;
- be able to transfer these skills to other working environments, including study at a foreign university and on work placements during the year abroad.
Teaching Information
1 x 2hr slot weekly.
Assessment Information
A written assignment of 2,000 words and a two-hour exam (50% each).
Reading and References
- Deeds, S. M., Defiance and Deference in Mexicos Colonial North: Indians under Spanish Rule in Nueva Vizcaya (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003).
- Galgano, R. C., Feast of Souls: Indians and Spaniards in the Seventeenth-Century Missions of Florida and New Mexico (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005).
- Ganson, B., The Guaran� Under Spanish Rule in the R�o de la Plata (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003).
- Hackel, S. W., Children of Coyote, Missionaries of Saint Francis: Indian-Spanish Relations in Colonial California, 1769-1850 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2005).
- Saeger, J. S., The Chaco Mission Frontier: The Guaycuruan Experience (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 2000).
- Sandos, J. A., Converting California: Indians and Franciscans in the Missions (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004).
- Weber, D. J., B�rbaros: Spaniards and Their Savages in the Age of Enlightenment (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2005).
