This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
This module addresses the multiplicity of cultures, ethnicities and languages within Spain. Looking beyond the historical division of Spain into autonomous regions, we consider the complex patterns of emigration and immigration that has led to today's plural and often conflicting society. We address questions of national versus regional identity, coexistence of cultures, and assimilation, as well as the place of Spain within wider European and global contexts. The module will concentrate on the depiction of such tensions through their expression in a variety of media, in particular, select novels and films. The issues raised and discussed will form a sound basis for students of Hispanic Studies in their understanding of the multiplicity of cultural, ethnic and linguistic communities that constitute the Spanish nation.
Total Contact Hours: 20
Essay 1 (1,500 words) – 50%
Essay 2 (1,500 words) – 50%
Indicative Reading List
Aja, E. (2006). Twenty Years of Immigration in Spain: Juridical and Sociological Perspectives 1985-2004, Barcelona: Bellaterra.
Astor, A. (2018). Rebuilding Islam in Contemporary Spain, Brighton: Sussex Academic Press.
Borrow, G. (2012). The Zincali – an Account of the Gypsies of Spain, London: CSIPP.
Gies, D.T. (1999). The Cambridge Companion to Modern Spanish Culture, Cambridge: CUP.
Holliday, A. & Kullman, J. (2016). Intercultural Communication, London: Routledge.
Pereira-Muro, C. (2014). Culturas de España, Boston, MA: Cengage.
Tremlett, G. (2012). Ghosts of Spain: Travels Through a Country's Hidden Past, London: Faber & Faber.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
Engage critically with multiple meanings of the terms 'culture' and interculturalism';
Consider these terms and the debates within the context of contemporary Spain's complex cultural geography;
Demonstrate an appreciation of ways in which ethnicities, cultures, and languages maintain difference and diversity whilst sharing common pressures, practices and goals;
Apply concepts of assimilation and difference to a range of different social and cultural contexts;
Demonstrate an understanding of Spain that informs their year abroad choices.
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