Hispanic Culture and Civilization: An Interdisciplinary Effort

Abstract

Despite the recent media reports about the Iran-Contra hearings, about the riots in Panama and Haiti, the economic crisis in Mexico, Brazil and Peru, etc., it is still rare to find persons among the general public who truly appreciate and understand the contrast and diversity that exists among our so-called sister republics to the South of us. This malaise which permeates our society has been compounded by the fact that we Americans fail to appreciate other cultures because we have the tendency to compare everyone else with ourselves. At Central Virginia Community College we initiated in the early 1970's a program based on the premise that the conscientious study of the Spanish language should include the study of the culture of our neighbors to the South. Therefore, a proposal was submitted to the Community College System office for the approval of an introductory Hispanic Culture and Civilization course. No special funding was required and the Department of Community Colleges approved and endorsed the course by including it in the State Curriculum Guide. The pilot course was offered during the academic year, 1972-73. Spanish 234-235-236 was designed to increase further the students, oral proficiency and comprehension and, at the same time, to enhance their knowledge and appreciation of the culture, customs and literature of Spain and the Latin American nations. The introductory course emphasized Latin American life and civilization and served primarily as an elective. This modest effort proved to be quite effective and successful. The first offering attracted 14 students, ten of whom took it in conjunction with their second year language course (SPAN 201-202203); the other four had already completed two years of Spanish and took the course as an elective in Humanities. Five faculty members were invited as visiting guest lecturers: two from History, one from English (literature), one from Government, and one from Arts. All of them enthusiastically and readily accepted. We used the reinforced method, i.e., at a particular given point in the course the guest lecturer would come before the class to reinforce the material covered in the text and by my own lectures. For instance, at the beginning of the course one of the History professors gave a presentation on the early civilizations of the Americas; the other History instructor lectured on Spain at the time of the discovery of the New World. The Art instructor gave two lecture-slide presentations: one on preColumbian art and one on Hispanic architecture. The English instructor discussed the expansion of Spanish literature; and finally, the Government instructor lectured at the end of the course on comparative governments in modern Latin America.