SPN 422 - Books and the Body: Hispanic Literature and Medicine

Course unit(s): 1
Meets GAR (students beginning prior to Fall 2024): Meets general academic requirements HU and DE.
Prerequisite(s): SNC 303 Spanish for Heritage Speakers II , SNC 304 Texts & Contexts or permission of instructor.
A healthy body and an unhealthy body might seem to be universal concepts, but each culture has a unique way of seeing both. With an eye at preparing students to provide or advocate for culturally competent healthcare to Hispanic immigrant and LatinX patients and their families, this course will present texts from across the Spanish-speaking world, and will explore evolving notions of the body, the representation of specific conditions and diseases, and the role of healers. The practice of medicine in a culturally and linguistically diverse society will provide a framework for the texts we read and the projects we do. Medical texts offer not only snapshots of scientific understandings specific to a context and community, but also a glimpse at the creative processes that inform the healers. Literary texts can do the same, but also introduce an element of ambiguity that complements the apparent certainty of scientific evidence. Drawing our source texts from Spain and, especially, Latin America, this course invites students to engage with multiple representations of health and healthcare to improve communication between medical providers and advocates and the Hispanic and LatinX communities. Literature opens a unique window into a time, into a place, into a culture; for health professionals in our ever-more diverse society, Spanish-language literature offers unique insight into the mindset and cultures of Hispanic immigrant and LatinX patients and their families. We will read texts spanning different centuries and geographical regions, opening windows to evolving understandings of the body, medical technologies, and period-specific ideologies. While the charms and oddities of past centuries may seem insufficient reason to struggle with poetry and novels in a second language, the course objectives are designed to draw the XXI century reader in to the deeper issues these texts raise.