Van Der Kar: MLO3

Literary and Cultural Knowledge

This third Major Learning Outcome reflects on the literary and cultural knowledge I have gained as a Spanish major. The expectations of this MLO are to gain a reasonable understanding of the ways of thinking (ideas, beliefs, attitudes, values, philosophies), the behavioral practices (patterns of social interactions) and the cultural products - both tangible and intangible (for example, art, history, literature, music) - of Hispanic cultures.

Having chosen culture and literature as my emphasis within the Spanish major, my four semesters here at CSUMB have been full to the brim with literary and cultural knowledge thanks to the courses I took and the content related to each.

Courses that exemplify the progression of my Hispanic literary and cultural understanding include:

• SBS 348: Mayan Culture & Civilization

While this course focused more on a culture prior to its Hispanic influence, it did offer an indirect perspective of the Spanish culture and how it affected and was affected by the culture and civilization of the Mayan peoples of Central America. Through this course I became more familiar with the motives behind and the history of the Spanish conquest of the Americas and its peoples. I became more aware of the spread of Catholicism by the Spaniards. I also learned of the spread of Hispanic blood and influence through the cross-breeding between people native to the Americas and people native to Spain and elsewhere in Europe.

• SPAN 304: Introduction to Hispanic Literature

This Introduction to Hispanic Literature course consisted of studying a number of Hispanic authors and reading their works, be it short-stories, poems, or lengthy novels. Through this course I gained a more in-depth understanding of themes such as love, slavery, politics, government, daily life, amongst other common themes in Hispanic literature. By not only reading poems and short stories outside of class but by also discussing elements of the literature within the class, I found myself more comfortable with reading more difficult texts which often featured many vocabulary words unfamiliar to me.

• SPAN 310: Hispanic Children’s Literature

This course was similar to my Introduction of Hispanic Literature course except that this one emphasized literature written for a young audience. For this reason, I was thankful to go into the course with a vocabulary and comprehension worthy of understanding the content of our class readings. Through this course I learned a number of values, philosophies, beliefs, and attitudes that Hispanic children literature can often times portray in order to instill positive impressions amongst its young audience of readers.

• SPAN 321: Masterpieces of Hispanic Literature

Another course with an emphasis on the literature of Hipanic cultures, Masterpieces of Hispanic Literature was a challenging course in which difficult pieces of literature were assigned. Aside from simply reading and reviewing the literature in this class, each short story, article, or book was carefully analyzed for content, context, and literary elements. As this course focused on some of the more noteworthy pieces of Hispanic literature such as Don Quijote, I gained a fuller sense of the scope and importance of this literature, not just to Hispanic cultures, but to cultures across the globe.

Samples of works which have aided in my completion of MLO #3:

SPAN 321

   >Hoja de repaso para el examen final

   >Guía de estudiar

SBS 348

   >Notes on Mayan Agriculture

   >Final proposal

SPAN 310

   >Midterm short story reviews

   >Notes on “the Son of Africa”