Celebrar el arte y la interpretación como prácticas capaces de abordar los desafíos sociales es lo que propone Doris Sommer en este libro. Para refrescar el compromiso de las humanidades con el mundo más allá de las aulas, a lo largo de los capítulos ofrece muestras de proyectos reformistas que inspiran fe en lo posible porque logran metas que hubieran sido inalcanzables sin arte.Los casos incluyen iniciativas de arriba hacia abajo –como los de Antanas Mockus, ex alcalde de Bogotá,...

Celebrating art and interpretation that take on social challenges, Doris Sommer steers the humanities back to engagement with the world. The reformist projects that focus her attention develop momentum and meaning as they circulate through society to inspire faith in the possible. Among the cases that she covers are top-down initiatives of political leaders, such as those launched by Antanas Mockus, former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, and also bottom-up movements like the Theatre of the Oppr...

Knowing a second language entails some unease; it requires a willingness to make mistakes and work through misunderstandings. The renowned literary scholar Doris Sommer argues that feeling funny is good for you, and for society. In Bilingual Aesthetics Sommer invites readers to make mischief with meaning, to play games with language, and to allow errors to stimulate new ways of thinking. Today’s global world has outgrown any one-to-one correlation between a people and a language; ...

Amalia is one of the most popular Latin American novels and, until recently, was required reading in Argentina's schools. It was written to protest the dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas and to provide a picture of the political events during his regime, but the book's popularity stemmed from the love story that fuels the plot. Originally published in 1851 in serial form, Marmol's novel recounts the story of Eduardo and Amalia, who fall in love while he is hiding in her home. Am...

Amalia is one of the most popular Latin American novels and, until recently, was required reading in Argentina's schools. It was written to protest the dictatorship of Juan Manuel de Rosas and to provide a picture of the political events during his regime, but the book's popularity stemmed from the love story that fuels the plot. Originally published in 1851 in serial form, Marmol's novel recounts the story of Eduardo and Amalia, who fall in love while he is hiding in her home. Am...

Originally published in 1992, Nationalisms and Sexualities addresses questions of how notions of identity are shaped by discussions of nationalism and sexuality. The book looks at a variety of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives, on a wide range of geographical regions and historical moments. The volume departs from social scientific paradigms that treat nation and sexuality as discrete and autonomous entities. Its contributors respond instead to emerging issues that redefin...

Das eine Mal, als mir die potenzielle Liebe meines Lebens am Wasserspender auflauerteDer 17-jährige Ollie Di Fiore verbringt die Sommerferien mit seinen Eltern in North Carolina, um seiner kranken Tante unter die Arme zu greifen. Doch schon sein erster Einsatz als Babysitter für seinen kleinen Cousin und seine Cousine droht in einer Katastrophe zu enden. Rettung naht in Form von Will Tavares – gutaussehend, charmant und ein wahres Wunder im Umgang mit kleinen Kinde...

Responding to the pressures of current theoretical trends toward models of cultural globalization, the essays collected here bring a historical focus to literary studies. They suggest that only by exploring the particularities of regional historical cultures can the multiple meanings of American identities be understood.Representing a broad range of contemporary criticism, this volume features many short essays by the most well-known and respected Latin Americanists, each devoting a...

“Cultural agency” refers to a range of creative activities that contribute to society, including pedagogy, research, activism, and the arts. Focusing on the connections between creativity and social change in the Americas, this collection encourages scholars to become cultural agents by reflecting on exemplary cases and thereby making them available as inspirations for more constructive theory and more innovative practice. Creativity supports democracy because artistic, administrative, and...