Cultural History of Latin America: Ciudad, Paisaje y Arquitectura

(4 Credits)

The purpose of this course is to study Latin American cities, landscape and architecture as they appear in aesthetic representations, from the 19th century to the present, paying special attention to Argentinean and Brazilian examples. Historical analysis will be used better to understand present day cultural formations. To this end, we will explore the spatial and landscape designs from the Argentinean pampa that led to the conception of Sarmiento’s civilización-barbarie dichotomy, especially through the intellectual networks established by Victoria Ocampo with Le Corbusier and the poet Elizabeth Bishop in Brazil with Lota de Macedo Soares; we will follow the (political) history of the creation of the Palermo parks; and we will trace the aesthetic and political writings of the River Plate from 19th century to the present.