Ecocritical Perspectives 2019 Syllabus

The University of Chicago Autumn 2019
Department of Romance Languages and Literatures
Ecocritical Perspectives in Latin American Literature and Film
Meetings: Tuesdays, 2-4:50 p.m.
Instructor: Victoria Saramago, Assistant Professor of Brazilian Literature
Email: saramago@uchicago.edu
Telephone: 773-834-6406
Office hours: Wieboldt Hall 226, Wednesdays 10:30-11:30a.m., Thursdays 2-3p.m., or by

appointment.
1. Description
This course provides a survey of of ecocritical studies in Latin America. Through novels, poems,
and films, we will examine a range of trends and problems posed by Latin American artists
concerning environmental issues from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Readings also include works of
ecocritical criticism and theory that have been shaping the field in the past decades. Taught in
Spanish.
2. Objectives
At the end of the course, students will be able to:
→ Identify major trends, authors, and works of Ecocritical Studies;

→ Understand and discuss modalities and specificities of Ecocriticism in Latin America;
→ Draw connections between Ecocriticism and a range of areas, theories, and disciplines, such as
Anthropology, Postcolonial Studies, Feminist Theory, and studies on the Anthropocene, among
others;
→ Have a comprehensive view of environmental literature and film produced in Latin America.
3. Required Materials
The following works are required:
→ José Eustasio Rivera, La vorágine. Madrid: Cátedra, 2012.
→ Rita Indiana. La mucama de Omicunlé. Cáceres: Periferica, 2015.
Students are strongly encouraged, but not required, to buy:
→ Ken Hiltner (ed.). Ecocriticism: The Essential Reader. London and New York: Routledge, 2015.
All the remaining materials will be available on Canvas and/or on reserve at the library. Texts in
Portuguese will be also available in English or Spanish.
4. Calendar
Week 1: 10/01
Introduction
→ Gisela Heffes, “Para una ecocrítica latinoamericana: entre la postulación de un ecocentrismo
crítico y la crítica a un antropocentrismo hegemónico” in Revista de Crítica Literaria
Latinoamericana, Año 40, No. 79 (2014), pp. 11-34.
→ Jorge Furtado, “Ilha das Flores” [“Isle of Flowers]. Casa de cinema de Porto Alegre, 1989.
(Available on Canvas and we will watch it in class.)
→ Charles and Ray Eames. “Powers of 10.” Pyramid Films, 1977. (Available on Canvas and we
will watch it in class.)
Week 2: 10/08
What is nature? What is nature in Latin America?
→ Alexander von Humboldt. Chapters 1 and 2 from “Estepas y desiertos” in Cuadros de la
naturaleza. Trad. Bernardo Giner. Madrid: Gaspar Editores, 1876, pp. 1-46.
→ Luis Cardoza y Aragón. “Biografía de un paisaje” in Maelstrom: films telescopiados. In Poesía
completa y alguna prosa. México, D.F.: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1977, pp. 79-85.
→ Raymond Williams. “Ideas of Nature” in Problems in Materialism and Culture. London: Verso,
1980, pp. 67-85.
→ Mary Louise Pratt. “Alexander von Humboldt and the reinvention of America” in Imperial Eyes:
Travel Writing and Transculturation. 2nd. ed. London and New York: Routledge, 2006, pp. 109-
140.
→ First written assignment for research/creativity project due
Week 3: 10/15
Forests, wilderness
→ José Eustasio Rivera, “Primera parte” in La vorágine. Madrid: Cátedra, 2012.
→ Werner Herzog. Aguirre, the Wrath of God. Filmproduktion, 1972.
→ Claudia Leal, “From Threatening to Threatened Jungles.” in A Living Past: Environmental
Histories of Modern Latin America. Edited by John Soluri, Claudia Leal, and José Augusto Pádua.
New York, Oxford: Berghahn, 2018. pp. 115-137
→ William Cronon. “The trouble with wilderness; or, getting back to the wrong nature” in
Ecocriticism, pp. 102-119.
Week 4: 10/22
The Rubber Boom and Neo-Colonialism
→ José Eustasio Rivera, “Segunda parte” y “Tercera parte” in La vorágine. Madrid: Cátedra, 2012.
→ Jennifer French, “La vorágine: dialectics of the rubber boom” in Nature, Neo-Colonialism, and
the Spanish American Regional Writers. Hanover: Dartmouth, 2005, pp. 112-153.
→ Second written assignment for research/creativity project due
Week 5: 10/29
Perspectivism and multinaturalism
→ Davi Kopenawa and Bruce Albert. Selections from A queda do céu [The Falling Sky]. São
Paulo: Cia das Letras, 2015.
→ Ciro Guerra. El abrazo de la serpiente. Diaphana Films, 2015.
→ Eduardo Viveiros de Castro. “Perspectivismo e multinaturalismo na América indígena” in A
inconstância da alma selvagem. São Paulo: Cosac & Naify 2002.
Week 6: 11/05
Activism, commitment, manifestos
→ Homero Aridjis. Selected poems and essays
→ Selections from El Grupo de los 100’ writings
→ Elizabeth Burgos, Rigoberta Menchú, Capítulos I, II, IX, X. Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú y así
me nació la conciencia. 20. ed. México, D.F., Buenos Aires, Madrid: Siglo XXI, 2007. pp. 21-28,
73-83.
→ Nicanor Parra. Ecopoemas in Obras completas & algo +. vol 1. Barcelona: Círculo de Lectores,
2011, pp. 89-93; 173-184.
→ José Emilio Pacheco. “Séptimo sello” in Irás y no volverás. México D.F.: Fondo de Cultura
Económica, 1973, p. 63.
→ Joan Martínez Alier, selections from El ecologismo de los pobres: conflictos ambientales y
lenguajes de valoración. Barcelona: Icaria, 2005.
→ 4pm: Screening of Amazônia Groove (Bruno Martinho, 2018). Director Bruno Martinho
will discuss the film after the screening.
→ Third written assignment for research/creativity project due
Week 7: 11/12
The Anthropocene: Fictions of Climate Change
→ Rita Indiana. La mucama de Omicunlé. Cáceres: Periferica, 2015.
→ Andermann, Jens. Selections from Tierras en trance: arte y naturaleza después del paisaje.
Santiago de Chile: Metales Pesados, 2018.
→ Dipesh Chakrabarty. “The climate of history: four theses,” in Ecocriticism pp. 335-352.
→ Visit by Jens Andermann
Week 8: 11/19
Feminist Theory, Ecofeminism
→ Anacristina Rossi. La loca de Gandoca. San José: EDUC, 1992.
→ Carolyn Merchant. “Nature as female,” Ecocriticism, pp. 10-34.
→ Greta Gaard. “Ecofeminism Revisited: Rejecting Essentialism and Re-Placing Species in a
Material Feminist Environmentalism.” Feminist Formations, Vol. 23, Issue 2 (2011), pp. 26-53.
→ Research/creativity draft project due
Week 9: 11/26
Place, planet, globalization
→ Alejandro González Iñárritu. Babel. Paramount Vantage/ Mars Distribution, 2006.
→ Marcos Loayza. Planeta Bolivia. Alma Films, 2016.
→ Andrés Bello. “Silva a la agricultura de la zona tórrida” in Poesías de Andrés Bello, Madrid:
Dubrull, 1882, pp. 21-34.
→ Ursula Heise. “From the blue planet to google earth: Environmentalism, Ecocriticism, and the
imagination of the global” in Sense of Place, Sense of Planet: the Environmental Imagination of the
Global. New York: Oxford UP, 2008, pp. 17-67.
Week 10: 12/03

Research/creativity project presentations
Conclusion
→ December 10: Final paper due
5. Evaluations
a) Final paper - 30%

The final paper must be a scholarly work related to one or more materials and topics discussed in
class. For graduate students, the paper should be 14-17 pages long, follow MLA or Chicago styles,
and use at least four secondary sources. For undergraduate students, the paper should be 10-12
pages long, and use at least two secondary sources. Paper topics can be same as the
research/creativity project.
b) Research/creativity project - 30%

Students will develop a project related to the course topic whose progress will be shared with other
students over the quarter. The goal of the project is open: students may develop a paper, a
presentation, a blog, a journalistic article, a book review, a local intervention, a grant proposal, a
video, an artistic project, etc. Graduate students are required to choose projects related to their
professional plans. Other types of projects may be accepted with the instructor’s approval. All
students are strongly encouraged to discuss their projects with the instructor during office hours,
especially in the first weeks of the quarter. Every other week, students will discuss their progress in
groups of 3. Students are expected to submit to their group and to the instructor the following
materials:
- Week 2: Theme, type of project, and main questions;
- Week 4: Primary bibliography and preliminary research (2-3 paragraphs);
- Week 6: Annotated list of secondary sources/interlocutors (minimum of 4 for undergraduate
students and 8 for graduate students)
- Week 8: draft of the complete project;
- Week 10: Students will present their project to the whole class.
This schedules may be adjusted to meet the demands of specific projects. If students wish to adopt a
different schedule, they must create and propose a new one by October 15. Students who want to
change their project topic must do so by October 15 as well. Minor changes to the topic and the
schedule may be done throughout the quarter with instructor’s approval.
c) Presentation of the research/creativity project - 10%

On the last day of classes, students will present their project to the whole class. Presentations should
last about 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes of debate. (Times may vary depending on class
enrollment.)
d) Attendance and participation in class and on online forum - 30%
6. Attendance, Late Work, and Plagiarism Policies
a) Students are expected to attend all classes, arrive on time, and participate in discussions and
activities.
b) From the moment they are enrolled in the course, students are allowed to have one unexcused
absence during the quarter. Each additional unexcused absence will affect the final grade by 3%.
Four or more unexcused absences will result in automatic failure for the course.
c) Three late arrivals of 15 minutes or more will count as an absence.

d) Absences can be excused if students present a signed and stamped letter from their doctor or
academic advisor attesting the circumstances that prevented them from attending the class. Such
letters will be accepted for up to one week after the absence.
e) Students must submit the written assignments on Canvas for their research/creativity projects by
Monday before classes at 11:59pm. The final paper must be e-mailed and/or submitted on Canvas
by 11:59pm on December 10.
f) Late deliveries will be accepted by the third day after the due date, with one third of a letter grade
deduction (e.g. an A would be become an A- and so on). After this second deadline, late
deliveries will no longer be accepted.
g) Any case of confirmed plagiarism will result in an F for the assignment where it occurred. Two
or more cases of confirmed plagiarism will result in automatic failure for the course.
7. Disabilities
Students with disabilities who need accommodations should contact me as soon as possible, as well
as the Student Disability Services at disabilities@uchicago.edu or 773-702-6000, so that any needed
arrangements can be made in a timely fashion.

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The University of Chicago Autumn 2019

Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

Ecocritical Perspectives in Latin American Literature and Film

Meetings: Tuesdays, 2-4:50 p.m.

Instructor: Victoria Saramago, Assistant Professor of Brazilian Literature

Office hours: Wieboldt Hall 226, Wednesdays 10:30-11:30a.m., Thursdays 2-3p.m., or by

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

→ Identify major trends, authors, and works of Ecocritical Studies;

The following works are required:

→ José Eustasio Rivera, La vorágine. Madrid: Cátedra, 2012.

→ Rita Indiana. La mucama de Omicunlé. Cáceres: Periferica, 2015.

Students are strongly encouraged, but not required, to buy:

Week 10: 12/03

a) Final paper - 30%

b) Research/creativity project - 30%

c) Presentation of the research/creativity project - 10%

d) Attendance and participation in class and on online forum - 30%

6. Attendance, Late Work, and Plagiarism Policies

c) Three late arrivals of 15 minutes or more will count as an absence.

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