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Professor of Spanish
Email: fernande@middlebury.edu
Phone: work802.443.5792
Office Hours: on leave academic year
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Miguel Fernández is professor of Spanish in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. He holds a B.A. (1985) and an M.A. (1989) from Middlebury College and a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins University (1999). Miguel's primary field of study is 19th-century Argentine literature with a focus on the gauchesca. He is a co-director and editor for Latin American literature and cultures of Decimonónica, a journal of 19th-century Hispanic cultural production. His teaching and research interests include 19th- and 20th-century Latin American literature and cultures; intersections between literary, cultural, and historical discourses; literature and the environment; literature and evolutionary thought; and Spanish language pedagogy. He is currently on leave, working on a project on Hispanic Theatre.
Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
LITS 0510 - Independent Essay Project
SPAN 0105 - Accelerated Basic Spanish
Accelerated Basic Spanish
This accelerated course is designed to reinforce, in one semester, the basic linguistic structures that students need in order to reach the intermediate level of proficiency in Spanish. Strong emphasis will be given to reading and composition. SPAN 0105 is designed specifically for students with 2-3 years of high school Spanish, but who have not yet achieved intermediate proficiency. (Placement test required) 5 hrs. lect./disc.
Spring 2009, Spring 2011
SPAN 0210 / SPAN 0220 - Intermediate Spanish I
Intermediate Spanish I
A course designed to consolidate the skills attained in SPAN 0101, SPAN 0102, and 0103 or the equivalent (0105). A grammar review will accompany an intensive component of readings, discussions, and compositions. (SPAN 0103, SPAN 0105, or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Fall 2009, Spring 2010
SPAN 0300 - Intro to Hispanic Literature
An Introduction to the Study of Hispanic Literature
This course in literature and advanced language is designed to introduce students to literary analysis and critical writing. The work will be based on the reading of a number of works in prose, drama, and poetry. Frequent short, critical essays will complement readings and provide students with practice in writing. This course is required for Spanish majors. (SPAN 0220 or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Fall 2011
SPAN 0305 - Ideas & Cultures of SP America
Ideas and Cultures of Spanish America
An analysis of major sociopolitical and cultural elements present in representative Spanish American texts, from the pre-Columbian period of the conquest to the present time. Works to be discussed will illustrate cultural elements that bear upon the formation of present day Spanish American civilizations. (SPAN 0220 or equivalent) fall: 4 hrs. lect./disc.; spring: 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Fall 2010
SPAN 0311 - Hispanic Theater ▲
Hispanic Theatre
In this course we will explore a broad selection of dramas from Spain and Spanish America. We will focus on close readings of plays, considering, where relevant, their historical and cultural contexts. Emphasis will also be placed on the development of critical vocabulary and writing skills in Spanish. Texts will be selected from various periods from the Middle Ages to present day. Authors include: Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderón, sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Tirso de Molina, Alarcón, Castellanos, Gambaro, García Lorca, Mihura, Díaz, Solórsano. Satisfies the College writing requirement. (SPAN 0220 or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Spring 2012, Fall 2013
SPAN 0351 - Science & Latin Am Lit
Science and Latin American Literature
In 1959, British novelist and scientist C.P. Snow argued that the breakdown in communication between the sciences and the humanities was a major obstacle to solving the world's problems. In this course we will explore the intersections of Snow's “two cultures,” science and literature, in Latin American narrative. We will examine how works of literature are informed by scientific thinking, how they reflect attitudes toward science and technology, and how the discourse of science functions within their discursive fields. By looking at narratives that engage evolutionary theory, mathematics, chaos theory, quantum physics, medicine, and cybertext, this course will explore the relations of culture, literature, the sciences, and technology in Latin America. Readings will include works by Sigüenza y Góngora, Borges, Cortázar, Bioy Casares, García Márquez, Giardinelli, Paz Soldán, and Iparraguirre. This course satisfies the IS advanced language requirement in Spanish. (At least two Spanish courses at the 0300 level or above, or by waiver) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Spring 2011
SPAN 0384 - Environment in Span Am Fiction
Place and the Environment in Spanish American Fiction
This course reconsiders the role of place and the environment in a series of Spanish American novels in which the physical setting plays a significant role. We will explore the different ways in which the natural world has shaped a sense of place-bound identity and how Spanish American identities have been tied to the natural landscape; how the prairies, the jungle, the mountains, the desert, and the water contributed in shaping individuals and a sense of place. Topics include the influence of Romanticism and idealized landscapes, the autochthonous novel and regionalism, reactions to modernization, how human history is implicated in natural history, ecocriticism of the 1990s, and our own experiences of wilderness and wildness. Authors may include Isaacs, Rivera, Quiroga, Carpentier, Vargas Llosa, García Márquez, Sepúlveda, and Ferré. Satisfies the IS advanced language requirement in Spanish. (At least two Spanish courses at the 0300 level or above, or by waiver) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Spring 2010, Fall 2011
SPAN 0475 - Literatura Gauchesca ▲
Literatura Gauchesca
In this course we will examine the roots of the culture of the Río de la Plata region through the study of gauchesca literature. We will concentrate on issues of the formation of national identity; city vs. Pampa; written vs. oral texts; the transformation of the gaucho from vagabond to national myth; and the use of literature as a political tool. Authors include Hidalgo, Pérez, Ascasubi, del Campo, Hernández, Gutiérrez, Güiraldes and Borges. (Senior majors with at least two Spanish courses numbered 0350 or above, or by waiver) 3 hrs. sem.
Fall 2013
SPAN 0488 - Borges
Borges
This course will be a detailed analysis and discussion of representative works of Jorge Luis Borges, with additional readings from major literary and cultural sources. We will discuss examples of Borges's poetry, short stories, essays, and translations. The Argentine author's work will serve as a gateway to such topics as literary theory, the role of the author, reproduction and teratology, philosophy, modernity and post-modernism, genre and subterfuge. (Senior majors with at least two Spanish courses numbered 0350 or above, or by waiver.) 3 hrs. sem.
Fall 2010
SPAN 0500 - Independent Study ▲ ▹
Independent Study
The department will consider requests by qualified juniors and senior majors to engage in independent work. (Approval only)
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012, Winter 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
SPAN 0705 - Senior Honors Thesis ▲ ▹
Senior Honors Thesis
The department will award honors, high honors, or highest honors on the basis of a student's work in the department and performance in SPAN 0705. (Approval only)
Spring 2009, Fall 2009, Winter 2010, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Winter 2011, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Winter 2012, Spring 2012, Winter 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
Recent Publications
"La naturaleza humana y el altruismo en el Martín Rivas de Alberto Blest Gana: Una lectura darwiniana." Nueva Revista del Pacífico 52 (2007).
"¡Viva el salvagismo!: The Representation of Amerindians in Argentine Satirical Newspapers during the Years of National Organization (1852-1880)." Colorado Review of Hispanic Studies 4 (2006): 127-45.
"Refashioning José Hernández Through Francisco F. Fernández's Solané: The Shifting Political Ideologies Among Federalist Reformists." Hispanófila 143 (2005): 87-109.
Personal Web Site
http://community.middlebury.edu/~fernande/