Showing papers in "Hispania in 2011"

Predicting Changes in Cultural Sensitivity among Students of Spanish during Short-Term Study Abroad.

Abstract: Short-term study abroad programs of less than a semester are becoming increasingly popular among undergraduate students in the United States. However, little research has examined the changes in students' cultural sensitivity through their participation in such programs or what factors may predict growth and improvement in such areas. This study measured students' cultural sensitivity before and after a six week study abroad program and found a small but significant increase in students' cultural sensitiv- ity, with time spent interacting with native speakers while abroad predicting such increases. Interestingly, students' skill in oral Spanish, motivation, and relationship with a host family did not predict improvements in cultural sensitivity. Results also suggest that there may be an optimal amount of interaction with native speakers that is beneficial for gaining cultural sensitivity for students abroad.

The Effects of Community Service Learning Projects on L2 Learners' Cultural Understanding

Abstract: This small-scale study investigates the effects of community service learning (CSL) projects or a cultural presentation on the development of the cultural understanding of low- and high-intermediate L2 students. Fifty-two learners in four sections of two Spanish classes in Canada participated in the study. The participants also completed pre- and postquestionnaires which explored their attitudes towards the target language and culture. The results show that, after completing their CSL or cultural presentation projects, the CSL learners had more positive attitudes towards the target language and culture than those who worked on the presentation. In addition, the high-intermediate CSL participants saw an increase in their self-confidence as L2 speakers. However, this was not the case with the low-intermediate CSL students, whose CSL experience may have been inhibited by their L2 proficiency and problems in the delineation of their CSL duties.

Measuring Language-Related Outcomes of Community-Based Learning in Intermediate Spanish Courses.

Abstract: This pilot study investigates whether requiring participation in community-based learning can motivate intermediate level Spanish learners to engage in more frequent interaction in Spanish outside of the classroom and course requirements. Using the theoretical framework of willingness to communicate in a second language, this study combines both quantitative and qualitative methods to measure university-level, intermediate Spanish learners' attitudes and behaviors regarding oral communication in Spanish before and after experiencing three consecutive quarters of community-based learning. By using the lens of second language acquisition theory to examine language-related outcomes for students in these courses, this study addresses a critical need within the scholarship of Spanish community-based learning and provides a theoretically motivated model for the assessment of language-related outcomes of programs utilizing this pedagogy.

Gómez de Avellaneda's Sab: A Modernizing Project

Abstract: Following critics of Gomez de Avellaneda, who have recognized her contribution to national discourses of the nineteenth century, this article calls for a new look at her novel Sab. Through an analysis of the spatial, narrative, and discursive representations of "civilization and barbarism" in the novel, this study shows the author proposing a modernizing project that transcends Cuba. Avellaneda's project is significant for understanding her transatlantic influence and reflects the complexities of her position as woman writer and colonial Other.

Language Learners as Teachers: Integrating Service-Learning and the Advanced Language Course.

Abstract: The aim of this paper is to illustrate the applications of service-learning pedagogy for an advanced Spanish language course through a case study conducted at Rollins College, a comprehensive liberal arts institution in Winter Park, Florida. The paper discusses diverse theories on service-learning pedagogy, explaining how and why this teaching method should be implemented given the changing expectations for institutions of higher education in general as well as for today's foreign language programs. Additionally, the paper evaluates how the course objectives of the subject of the case study have been enhanced by its partnership with Junior Achievement of Central Florida, including reflections and responses from the student participants themselves, as well as an analysis of the program's limitations and areas for future improvement.

Approaches to Grammar Instruction in Teaching Materials: A Study in Current L2 Beginning-level Spanish Textbooks

Abstract: This study explores how grammar instruction is conceptualized and applied in published Spanish materials. It sought to answer the following questions: What are the approaches to grammar instruction in current, college-level, beginning Spanish textbooks? How do they reflect current perspectives on grammar teaching? Six widely adopted Spanish textbooks were examined. The chapters presenting the Spanish preterite were arbitrarily selected for the analysis, which examined the presentation of explicit informa- tion and language data as well as the types of activities offered for learners to begin the acquisition of the grammatical feature. The results showed that although most of the textbooks still follow traditional approaches to teaching grammar, there is evidence indicating that textbooks are incorporating teaching perspectives based on what is known about L2 acquisition. This article addresses the central role of the profession in the development of published materials that aim at the acquisition of grammar.

Spanish Heritage Language Learners' Allocation of Time to Writing Processes in English and Spanish

Abstract: This study brings together previous research on writing processes and Spanish heritage language (SHL) learners to obtain a clearer picture of these learners' writing behaviors in English and Spanish. Following a cognitive-oriented framework, the study explores planning time, execution time, monitoring time, accuracy, and fluency. Twelve SHL learners in a third-year Spanish class at a university in the US Southwest participated in the study. Screen-capture software recorded their behaviors while they responded to similar prompts in Spanish and English. Results indicated that participants spent significantly more time planning between sentences in their Spanish responses. Nevertheless, they showed more fluency (word output, mean sentence length, and words per minute) and accuracy in English than in Spanish. These findings, along with the participants' more limited experience with academic writing in Spanish, suggest that SHL curricula should draw upon any previous Spanish writing experience students may have had and move from informal to more academically oriented assignments.

L2 Speaking Self-ability Perceptions through Multiple Video Speech Drafts

Abstract: The present study examines the effect of self-evaluation on Spanish oral performance of nine second-language university students in an intermediate conversation course. Participants were asked to submit multiple drafts of digital video recordings of themselves practicing language functions throughout a semester. Participants also reflected on their individual speaking performances using a retrospective self-evaluation after watching each recording. Themes identified in the self-evaluations served as the basis for a teaching training intervention. The results of the self-evaluations and questionnaires demonstrated that learners perceived increased ability in and awareness of their own speaking skills through progressive speech draft submissions and analysis of peers' samples. All participants valued the process-oriented approach and the training intervention employed in the course. The findings support the use of videos, self-evaluations, and training interventions as effective tools in second-language speaking courses to improve speaking abilities.

Ideario sociopolítico y valores estamentales de los pecheros abulenses y salmantinos (ss. XIII-XV)

Abstract: This paper sustains that the pecheros (serfs) living in the boroughs south of the Duero River generated a discourse and certain specific values contrary to those of the urban gentry. In particular, the boroughs of Salamanca, Alba de Tormes, Avila and Ciudad Rodrigo are studied. For this discourse to be able to take shape, the necessary conditions were the early and acute social stratification, an extensive area of rural commoners and the strong leadership of the pecheros ’ representatives. They were able to speak for broad strata of the organized population and to devise coherent ideas and programs. The main points of their ideas are analyzed here in relation to urban society, the rural milieu, justice and the use of violence.

«La prisión del rey»: voces subalternas e indicios de la existencia de una identidad política en la Castilla del siglo XV

Abstract: The concept of identity is quite controversial. In this article I will deal with the notion of political identity in a particular way: identity as a shared structure for the understanding of a specific set of social relations. From this point of view the very existence of an extended political identity does not depend on institutional development issues, nor can it be solely measured by its implications in terms of social conflict. It seems clear that a political identity defined in these terms is quite difficult to analyse considering the particular conditions offered by medieval documentary evidence. Trying to prove the existence and crystallisation of such political identity in 15 th century Castile, this article carries out a comparison of a series of texts taking as a reference point a concept repeated in all of them (the topos of the prisoner king). The analysis goes on to focus on the particular conditions which allow for the crystallization of such an identity through a communication system that is at least partly autonomous.

Las metáforas conceptuales como estrategias comunicativas y de aprendizaje: Una aplicación didáctica de la lingüística cognitiva

Abstract: La competencia comunicativa (Hymes 1972) supuso un punto de inflexion en la investigacion sobre adquisicion de segundas lenguas. Entre las diferentes subcompetencias que un usuario de una segunda lengua debe utilizar, algunos autores como Canale y Swain (1983) han enfatizado el papel de la competencia estrategica. Esta consiste en la habilidad del hablante para solucionar problemas en la comunicacion. En un sentido mas amplio, las estrategias del aprendizaje de la lengua incluyen tambien los diferentes recursos del estudiante para retener, procesar y aplicar la informacion que recibe en el aula (Oxford 1990). Este articulo propone el uso de metaforas conceptuales como herramientas para el desarrollo de la competencia estrategica. Ya que las metaforas conceptuales suponen una asociacion entre dos dominios conceptuales e implican una extension de significados, el trabajo con las metaforas en clase es util para desarrollar la inteligencia metaforica (Littlemore 2001). Su adquisicion supondria una habilidad para interpretar, procesar y crear metaforas que podria ser de gran utilidad para desarrollar estrategias memoristicas, cognitivas y de compensacion (Hijazo-Gascon 2009). Ademas, se propone una aplicacion de la teoria presentada por medio de una unidad didactica basada en las metaforas para expresar emociones en espanol como segunda lengua.

El voseo chileno: Una visión desde el análisis de la variación dialectal y funcional en medios de comunicación

Abstract: El presente estudio se centra en el analisis del voseo en interacciones conversacionales desarrolladas en programas de radio de Chile En concreto, se analizan aspectos internos y externos, con especial enfasis en la variacion dialectal y funcional de este rasgo El corpus se compone de 108 horas de audio, en donde se ha evaluado la variacion funcional (registro de los programas) y dialectal (categorias de sexo, edad, procedencia y nivel cultural) De acuerdo con los resultados, a nivel extralinguistico se constata una correlacion entre la variable funcional y el voseo, dado que las ocurrencias de este rasgo se dan especialmente en los programas de radio de tipo informal En las variables de sexo y grupo etario, se comprueba la mayor incidencia de voseo en hombres y en el grupo generacional adulto joven En relacion al factor geografico, se concluye que los hablantes de la zona centro presentan mayor promedio de voseo con respecto a las zonas norte y sur del pais Por ultimo, se esgrime que el factor de nivel cultural no se encuentra correlacionado con la ocurrencia de voseo, ya que no se observa una diferencia significativa entre la frecuencia de uso expresada por hablantes cultos y semicultos

A Frequency-based Analysis of the Norms for Spanish Noun Gender

Abstract: The teaching of the Spanish noun gender system to students is based on a set of generalizations that the last phoneme, or sound, of a noun is an excellent predictor of the gender of that noun (Bull 1965). These generalized norms have been refined over the years and can be found in most textbooks. The norms are taught to students who then apply them to nouns and can deduce the gender of the noun. However, students still have difficulty determining the gender of nouns accurately, a fact which may indicate that the rules for gender assignment are inadequate. This article examines the pros and cons of the current set of generalizations and applies them to a set of highly frequent Spanish nouns. As a result of this analysis, a newly refined set of generalizations based on frequent nouns is proposed. These new generalizations may be easier for students to learn and correctly apply to deduce the gender of Spanish nouns.

Contextos de instrucción y su efecto en la comprensión auditiva y los juicios gramaticales: ¿Son comparables cinco semanas en el extranjero a un semestre en casa?

Abstract: El presente estudio exploratorio analiza el impacto de dos modalidades de instruccion—-inmersion (cinco semanas en Espana) y no-inmersion (un semestre en Estados Unidos) en relacion a las variables audicion y gramatica. Participaron 39 estudiantes de espanol (21 control y 18 experimental) que hicieron una prueba de comprension auditiva y otra de juicios gramaticales al principio y al final del estudio. El analisis estadistico muestra que cinco semanas intensivas de inmersion produjeron beneficios linguisticos equivalentes, en terminos de adquisicion gramatical y comprension auditiva, a un semestre en contexto de no inmersion, y que el reconocimiento de estructuras se relaciona fuertemente con el nivel de comprension auditiva del alumno. El estudio apunta a los beneficios de los programas de verano en el extranjero al acelerar el proceso de adquisicion, la posibilidad de adquirir incidentalmente gramatica potenciando la audicion y la importancia de la comprension auditiva en la adquisicion de lenguas.

Textbook Activities among Heritage and Non-heritage Portuguese Learners

Abstract: Over the past four decades, scholars have debated the pedagogical and sociolinguistic needs of heritage language learners. It is widely accepted that these learners present several characteristics that are different from those of foreign (or non-heritage) language learners. However, scholars have also pointed to similarities between the two groups of learners, especially in terms of linguistic production. This paper contributes to the discussion about the needs of the two groups of learners by investigating how they carry out activities from a Portuguese language textbook. Looking at two types of activities (speaking and writing), learners' perceptions of textbook exercises are analyzed. The article also discusses interactions within each distinct group. While differences were found between the two groups of learners, several similarities were also evident. Based on these results, pedagogical suggestions are offered in the concluding section of the article.

Carpentier, Collecting, and Lo Barroco Americano

Abstract: Throughout his life, Alejo Carpentier was a tireless collector of paintings, sculpture, musical recordings, and folklore objects. In light of Carpentier's Swiss birth and many years of residence outside of Cuba, the act of collecting plays a crucial role in defining the relationship between the author and Latin American culture in his life and work. This article first examines the significance of Carpentier's drive to collect objects from Latin America. It then argues that while Carpentier's fascination with collecting originates in surrealist techniques of juxtaposing incongruent items for artistic impact, his accumulation of objects ultimately fuels his conception of lo barroco americano . Finally, it demonstrates the centrality of collecting in Carpentier's novelistic work, most importantly in Los pasos perdidos (1953).

Los Discursos del género en español como lengua extranjera: a propósito de Pedro Almodóvar

Abstract: En este trabajo presentamos la explotacion didactica de dos peliculas del director de cine Pedro Almodovar para ser utilizadas con estudiantes de Espanol como Lengua Extranjera (E/LE) de nivel avanzado. Con este corpus se pretende introducir y discutir la construccion cultural del genero en la decada de los 80 que este cineasta plasma en ?Que he hecho yo para merecer esto!! y en La ley del deseo . Centramos nuestro trabajo en la importancia axiologica y linguistica que tienen los discursos del genero para el aula de E/LE, asi como en su potencial para el desarrollo de un conocimiento transcultural mas profundo de la lengua estudiada.

¿Fue el sector eléctrico un gran beneficiario de «la política hidráulica» anterior a la Guerra Civil? (1911-1936)

Abstract: The discussion on the hydraulics policy in the 20th century is a classic of Spanish historiography, and has been expanded thanks to productive investigations on hydraulic policy in some basins. Over the course of the last 20 years, our understanding of these past events in the electrical industry and the contribution of infrastructure from the Spanish economy has improved greatly. Thus, the pre-civil war period has been shown to be the most relevant phase of expansion of hydroelectricity in Spain. From 1911 to 1936, 90 percent of the electricity produced in Spain was water-powered and it represented 25 percent of the total energy consumption in the country. We also know that in Spain, like in other countries equipped to take advantage of hydroelectric power, public grants were awarded in order to build reservoir infrastructure under the Gasset Law and during the dictatorship. We know the importance of this aid in France and Italy, but its total impact in Spain is unknown. This article tries to clarify this issue and the first three sections are dedicated to exploring the opportunity and finality of said aid, while the next two sections examine its application. Direct and indirect procedures are used to break down the exact nature of aid received by the hydroelectric companies. The conclusion reached is that public backing for the construction of reservoirs and dikes was, during this period, as slight as the period of industrialist orientation of Spain’s hydraulic policies was short.

España como mercado. Oportunidades de negocio, desarrollo económico y franquismo

Abstract: This article offers a perspective of the strategies adopted by the main industrial powers during the 1950s and 1960s to penetrate the Spanish market. Under the influence of the Cold War, international cooperation between the United States of America and Western Europe and the emergence of a developing country, foreign corporate groups sought support from their governments to conquer new business opportunities in Spain. Despite the entrance barriers, the 50s bore witness to how these groups adopted positions based on the conviction that Franco’s regime would eventually end up giving way to economic liberalism, thus returning Spain to the international economy, hence multiplying expectations on investments and profit. An outward- looking vantage point helps to understand the complexity of an economy that was subject to the intervention of an authoritarian state while in a stage of accelerated growth. External relationships were forged based on market strategies.

La visión ginocéntrica en Mientras los hombres mueren de Carmen Conde

Abstract: El articulo aplica al poemario Mientras los hombres mueren (1953), escrito por Carmen Conde, la teoria de la vision ginocentrica elaborada por John Wilcox, la cual senala el espiritu autonomo y autodeterminista de la mujer. Conde ha creado un espacio habitado por una voz poetica femenina que se convierte en un documento social ilustrativo de la posicion de la mujer durante la Guerra Civil Espanola. Los poemas revelan la construccion de un espacio discursivo femenino que proyecta la imagen de la mujer como instrumento de paz. Para internalizar las atrocidades belicas, Conde crea este espacio, en el cual quedan transferidos la pasividad y el silencio que habian marginado y callado a la mujer. La exclusion de lo masculino en este espacio ofrece una revision del papel util y constructivo de la mujer que se ha apropiado de su esencia femenina no como defensa, sino como arma de guerra.

Synchronous Narratives in Spanish: The Simple Present/Present Progressive Aspectual Contrast

Abstract: The purpose of this work is to examine the aspectual differences between the usage of simple present and the progressive forms in Spanish in the context of synchronous narratives (i.e., events that participants narrate at the same time they are watching video clips of the events). To that end, the study examines the distribution of verbal morphology in 368 synchronous narratives produced by 23 native Spanish speakers. Each participant described sixteen scenes. The findings suggest that tense selection in synchronous narratives is influenced by the interaction of discourse principles of foregrounding and backgrounding (Hopper 1979) and the inherent temporal characteristics of verbal predicates (i.e., lexical aspect) to encode aspectual distinctions. Thus, the context of synchronous narratives imposes constraints on discourse: punctual and telic events serve to foreground the plot and evoke the use of the simple present, as the preterite does in narratives in the past. Conversely, the progressive is used with atelic and durative events that provide the background of the present time frame narrative in a manner analogous to the imperfect in the past.

Structuring Conversation: Discourse Markers in Cervantes's Entremeses

Abstract: Due to the recent shift in the linguistic pragmatics literature from the analysis of isolated speech acts to the focus on phenomena which affect the global meaning of a message, discourse markers (DMs) have become a frequent research topic. Despite their popularity, the evolution and development of these forms is often neglected in investigations on the topic. In the present study, I analyze one class of DMs known as information structurers in early modern Spanish through an examination of a set of short farces, or entremeses, published in the early seventeenth century. My research focus is threefold: I begin by identifying which DMs of this class appear in the entremeses; second, I offer a description of the employment of these forms in comparison with their uses in modern Spanish; finally, based on the results of the empirical data, I evaluate the register to which these theatrical works can most properly be said to belong. The findings of this study support the argument that these entremeses are most appropriately classified as approximations of oral varieties of the language of their time.

La enseñanza de fonética y fonología a través de analogías y metáforas

Abstract: Segun los estandares de los Program Standards for the Preparation of Foreign Language Teachers (ACTFL/NCATE 2002), es esencial que los futuros maestros de lengua extranjera posean un conocimiento detallado de las propiedades foneticas de ese idioma. Para ello, es imperativo que los estudiantes tomen clases de fonetica y fonologia que incluyan actividades de concienciacion linguistica que los ayuden a darse cuenta de las diferencias entre los sistemas linguisticos de la primera y la segunda lengua y que no solo incluyan una mera correccion de errores de pronunciacion. En este articulo propongo que, con un poco de imaginacion, se puede hacer la fonetica y la fonologia para subgraduados una clase accesible y divertida. Algunos de los conceptos y abstracciones que tanta dificultad suelen presentar para los estudiantes (fonema, alofono, semivocal, etc.) pueden ser facilmente explicados a traves de analogias y metaforas de la vida real que haran no solo que los estudiantes los comprendan mejor, sino que tambien los recuerden por mas tiempo. A la vez, y a traves de estas analogias, podemos contribuir a que los estudiantes vean la lengua como un sistema y no como una lista de reglas abstractas e interconectadas que tienen que aprender de memoria.

Index to Hispania Volume 94 (2011)

Abstract: Acuna-Zumbado, Eduardo. Gabriella infinita: Un hipermedia narrativo metamórfico y multiforme ............................................. 25 Azevedo, Milton M. The Great War and Remembrance in José Leon Machado’s Memória das Estrelas sem Brilho ....... 396 Biasetti, Giada. El poder subversivo de La casa de la laguna y La niña blanca y los pájaros sin pies: La centralización de la periferia ................................................. 35 Enslen, Joshua. Vinicius de Moraes and “Pátria minha”: The Politics of Writing in Postwar Brazil ............................................ 416 Fraser, Benjamin. Toward Autonomy in Love and Work: Situating the Film Yo, también within the Political Project of Disability Studies ..................................................... 1 Gago, Dora. Sinais de Espanha na obra de Jorge de Sena ....................................... 273 García Loaeza, Pablo. La conquista del Río de la Plata: Adversidad, esperanza y escritura .............................................. 603 George, Jr., David R. Cañas y barro de Vicente Blasco Ibáñez: La adaptación oportuna ............................................................. 577 Gómez, Juan Manuel. Fortune and Responsibility in Calderón’s La gran Cenobia ................................................. 63 Guijarro-Ojeda, Juan R., and Raúl RuizCecilia. Los discursos del género en español como lengua extrajera: A propósito de Pedro Almodóvar .............. 13 Ibarra, Rogelia Lily. Gómez de Avellaneda’s Sab: A Modernizing Project ................ 385 Irizarry, Estelle. De docta ignorantia: Las trampas de la historia y los historiadores en El silencio de Galileo de Luis López Nieves .................................................. 266 Kelly, Megan L. Wringing Life from the Dead: Rhetoric of the Nation in the Eulogies for Miguel de Cervantes ............................ 628 Maier, Linda S. A McOndo Writer’s Take on Literature in the Era of Audiovisual and Digital Communication: The Case of Alberto Fuguet’s Las películas de mi vida ..................................................... 406 Marsh, Eleanor. En clave femenina: Mujer e intertextualidad en la Historia del Abencerraje y la hermosa Jarifa ........ 615 Mills, Steven. Reflective Mindreading: Theory of Mind and the Search for Self in Antonio Machado’s Soledades ........... 589 Nalbone, Lisa. La visión ginocéntrica en Mientras los hombres mueren de Carmen Conde ..................................... 229 Namorato, Luciana. A tentação do silêncio em Ela não sabe gritar (ou A hora da estrela), de Clarice Lispector ................ 50 Poole, Kevin. Berceo’s Sacrificio de la misa: The First Spanish Liturgical Textbook .. 74 Rogers, Charlotte. Carpentier, Collecting, and Lo Barroco Americano ....................... 240 Sández, Laura V. El árbol de la ciencia y Tiempo de silencio: “El problema de España” en un tiempo de anestesia...... 252 Wade, Jonathan. Personajes que se le olvidaron a Montalvo: La caracterización femenina en Capítulos que se le olvidaron a Cervantes ............................................ 637

Monasterios y redes sociales en el Bierzo altomedieval

Abstract: This article analyses the influence of monasteries on the creation of social networks based on the specific case of the El Bierzo region. Six monasteries were chosen (Santa Leocadia de Castaneda, Santos Cosme y Damian de Burbia, San Salvador de Barcena, San Pedro de Montes, Santiago de Penalba, and San Julian de Samos) in order to study three different parameters: the social agents that interacted with the monasteries, the shaping of the monastical estates and the geographical scale of their domains. As a result of this analysis, a typology based on the way in which the social networks were organized (monasteries of local scale, monasteries with religious prestige, and monasteries linked to the monarchy), has been clearly identified. Additionally, it highlights the existence of a decentralized social pattern in which the different aristocratic groups coexisted without fierce competition because they developed on a local-regional scale, in which the monasteries served as stage for their power.

Asking for a Letter of Recommendation in Spanish and English: A Pilot Study of Face Strategies

Abstract: This pilot study examines the face work in two students' e-mail requests for letters of recommendation, to investigate whether and how the type and amount of face work differs in requests written in English and Spanish by native speakers of each language. The results do not conform to those of previous comparisons of requestive behavior between the two languages, which predict more direct strategies in Spanish. This may be due to the fact that previous studies have relied largely on elicited data. The present paper points to the need to conduct a larger scale study using natural data, in order to find out what factors will hold across a more sizeable corpus, and to highlight the complexity of individual differences.

Reclutar caciques: la selección de las elites coloniales filipinas a finales del siglo XIX

Abstract: This work assesses the local elections in an indigenous municipality in the late 19th century Philippines. From a micro-historical and comparative approach, the paper during Spanish colonial rule. Therefore, the municipal sphere was one of the few real power spaces for the indigenous elite within the colonial political-administrative structure established in the Asian archipelago by Spaniards. The indigenous political leaders - appointed by the Spanish colonial authorities for diverse political, economic and religious reasons - played a crucial role in building resistance or allegiance to the metropolitan government in the oriental dominions. These are the main lines of a study that also compares the electoral process in the Philippine colonial territories with the strategies for political control of metropolitan power. The examination of analogies and dissimilitude is a central theme, as is the analysis of the strategy employed by the State in the power struggle between the insular elite, its causes and its consequences.

A McOndo Writer's Take on Literature in the Era of Audiovisual and Digital Communication: The Case of Alberto Fuguet's Las películas de mi vida

Abstract: Alberto Fuguet, one of the leaders of the McOndo writers who seek cultural direction from the United States and exploit mass-media formulas, is a polarizing figure in contemporary Latin American culture. His most recent full-length novel, the semi-autobiographical Las peliculas de mi vida (2003), has led many to conclude that Fuguet is simply a pawn of North American cultural hegemony rather than a true literary groundbreaker. This study, however, argues that Las peliculas de mi vida epitomizes Fuguet's pivotal position at the confluence of a global shift from a logo-centric to an audiovisual- and digital-centered culture, and reveals his use of pop culture as a strategy to make a place for his writing within the literary canon. Highlighting Las peliculas de mi vida within the context of his aesthetics, this article will explore Fuguet's seemingly contradictory status as both cultural agent provocateur and heir to Latin American literary tradition. Furthermore, it will refute the notion that Fuguet is a lackey of US cultural imperialism and show that he seeks to craft his own identity.