Juana Gamero de Coca
Associate Professor of Spanish
Email: jgamero@middlebury.edu
Phone: work802.443.5287
Office Hours: Mon 8:00-9:00am; Mon & Wed 11:00-12:00pm.
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Juana Gamero de Coca teaches courses on Spanish language, literature, and culture. A native of Alburquerque (Badajoz), Spain, she received a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2004 and, just a few months later, was teaching within Middlebury’s Spanish and Portuguese department. In addition to her doctorate, she holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree from New Mexico State University. Her research interest includes 20th and 21st Century Spanish culture and narrative with a focus on gender.
Gamero de Coca is interested in the connection between literature, her field of interest and discipline and the different social realities that the literary texts intend to grasp. She is the author of the books Nación y género en la invención de Extremadura: Soñando fronteras de cielo y barro (Mirabel, 2005) and La mirada monstruosa de la memoria (Libertarias, 2009). Currently she is working in her third book about the representation of gender violence in Hispanic literature.
Courses
Courses offered in the past four years.
▲ indicates offered in the current term
▹ indicates offered in the upcoming term[s]
FYSE 1325 - Heterosexual Relationships
Men and Women: Love and Hate in Heterosexual Relationships
This is a seminar on literature, gender politics, and cultural history. We will read a selection of influential literary and philosophical texts on marriage, romance, troubled relationships, and the struggle for power between men and women spanning classical Athens to present, and we will review characters from history, mythology, and popular culture who have influenced our ideas and attitudes about heterosexual relationships. We will discuss theoretical readings by Plato, Freud, McKinnon, and Pateman; and literary works by Aristophanes, James Ellroy, Alice Sebold, Kawabata, Lispector, and Juan Bonilla.
Fall 2010
INTL 0703 - LAS Senior Thesis
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.
Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Fall 2013
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.
Spring 2009
SPAN 0304 - Ideas and Cultures of Spain
Ideas and Cultures of Spain
An analysis of major sociopolitical and cultural elements in representative Spanish texts, from the Middle Ages to the present. Works to be discussed will illustrate cultural elements that bear upon the formation of present day Spanish civilization. (SPAN 0220 or equivalent) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Fall 2010, Fall 2011
SPAN 0315 - Hispanic Film
This course will provide an introduction to the cinema of Spain and Spanish America. We will study, among other topics: the idiosyncrasies of film language in Hispanic cultures, the relationships between text and image, representation of history, culture and society. Films from Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Spain, and other countries will be included in the course. Selected readings on film theory and social and political history, as well as various literary works. In Spanish (SPAN 0220 or placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
AAL LIT LNGSpring 2012, Fall 2012
SPAN 0328 - Spain in the Globalized World ▲
Spain in the Globalized World
In this course we will look at the historical, cultural, and social development of 21st century Spain and its full integration into the Globalized World. One of the main goals of the course will be to provide an array of opportunities to practice oral expression, reading, and writing in the Spanish language. Topics will include Europeanization, the challenge of regional/national identities, and contemporary social issues such as the changing roles of: the family, women, religion, sexual attitudes, and immigration. We will engage these themes through the analysis and discussion of a wide variety of materials such as literary texts, essays, and films. Readings and films will include: Crematorio by Rafael Chirbes, La ciudadanía se moviliza: Los movientos sociales y la globalización en España by Joseph Pont Vidal, and También la lluvia by Icíar Bollaín. (SPAN 0220 or placement)
Fall 2013
SPAN 0372 - Writing Memory In Spanish Lit
Writing Memory in Contemporary Spanish Literature
In this course we will explore the politics of memory in Spain during the Transition to democracy. There are numerous reasons why the Transition to democracy in Spain depended on the erasure of memory and the invention of a new political tradition. But, the question is: What are the Spanish people supposed to do with their memory? This is where the role of the Spanish artist becomes so important: we see that memory has been an object of reflection for an extremely large number of film directors and fiction writers, who have shown that the return of the repressed is inevitable. Works may include fiction by Almudena Grandes, Loriga, Gopegui, Dulce Chacón, Saura, Ericé, etc. We will also read theoretical texts by Pierre Nora, Natalie Zemon, Chandra Talpade, Raymond Williams, among others (At least two courses at the 0300-level or above or by waiver) 3 hrs. lect./disc.
Spring 2009, Fall 2012
SPAN 0458 - Love in Modern Spain
Narratives of Love in Modern Spain
This is a course in contemporary Spanish literature, gender politics, and cultural history. We will review characters from history, mythology, and popular culture that have influenced our contemporary ideas and attitudes toward love, men, women, marriage, and sexual equality (e.g. Eva, Venus, Helena de Troya, Don Juan, etc.). Readings will include fiction by Zorrilla, Pardo Bazán, Adelaida García Morales, Belén Gopegui, Muñoz Molina, and Javier Marías. We will also read texts by Plato, Sigmund Freud, Robert Solomon, Shulamith Firestone, Drucilla Cornell, Carol Anne Douglas, Judith Butler, among others. (Senior majors with at least two Spanish courses numbered 0350 or above, or by waiver.) 3 hrs. sem.
Spring 2011, Spring 2012
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 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Winter 2013, Spring 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 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014
SPAN 1007 - Spain 1975 to Present
Spain 1975 to the Present
According to a recent worldwide study conducted by UNESCO, Spain is the western country where the most profound social and material changes have occurred in the last 30 years. We will look at the historical, cultural, and social development of Spain from the death of Franco in 1975 to the present. Also, one of the main goals of the course will be to provide an array of opportunities to practice oral expression in the Spanish language. We will do so through the analysis and discussion of a wide variety of materials: literary texts, essays, films, music, and visual arts. Topics will include Europeanization, the challenge of regional/national identities, and contemporary social issues such as the changing role of women, religion, sexual attitudes, and immigration. (SPAN 0300, SPAN 0304, or SPAN 0305)
Winter 2011
WAGS 0444 - Sex, Violence, and Culture
Sex, Violence, and Culture
In this course we will critically investigate the historical and contemporary manifestations of sexual violence within their cultural, biological, and individual expressions. We will also examine how gender--as a powerful category that shapes the way we see others and others see us-can be used to create a context for the justification of gender-based violence. Discussion and analysis of a wide variety of materials, including literary texts, essays, films, music, and videos, will form the basis of our exploration of the representation of sexual violence in Hispanic literature. Readings will include literary texts by authors Antonio Muñoz Molina, Roberto Bolaño, and Juan Bonilla, as well as theoretical texts by Fausto-Sterling, Katz, Brownmiller, Jensen, and O'Toole. (Two Spanish courses numbered 0350 or above, or by waiver.) 3 hrs. sem.
Spring 2013
