Paradoxes of Global and Local Development in the Film Verónico Cruz. La deuda interna: A Hybrid Discussion Group in Spanish for Specific Purposes

Abstract

The detrimental effects of neoliberalism accompany globalization. The paradoxes generated by the global-regional gap have revealed local cultures’ double vulnerability to national and international development. Miguel Pereira fictionalizes this complex phenomenon in the film Veronico Cruz. La deuda interna (Argentina, 1988). Inspired by the autobiographical narrative of Fortunato Ramos, a rural teacher and artist, the film denounces the sociohistorical and economic inequality suffered by the Qulla culture in Jujuy. In the context of Latin American studies, rooted in Pereira’s fiction, we propose a non-credit hybrid workshop in advanced Spanish for Specific Purposes (SSP) at the University of Ottawa, which was also presented at the II JEFE-Vi Conference, Vienna University of Economics and Business- WU, 2019. This 16-hour discussion group is based on Michael S. Doyle and Bruce Fryer’s studies, and it implements some principles of andragogy (Knowles) and suggestopedy (Lozanov). Through the themes explored (necessity, consumer needs, the vicious circle of poverty, globalization, technology), it aims to sensitize participants to the global economic development and its impact on the fragile Qulla culture in Jujuy, Argentina. To facilitate participants’ examination of social inequality, it applies the neologism minori’ethage. Students’ self-assessment process is based on the entries in their learning contracts and diaries, as well as their in-class and online participation.