Although designed for American students, this course requires an intermediate knowledge of the Spanish language, allowing students to analyze in depth the cultural manifestations studied throughout the course. It is highly recommended to have a basic knowledge of contemporary Spanish history.

The course is designed so that students will acquire and develop the following competences: recognize, describe and evaluate cultural expressions in their historical contexts; and to present an analysis both orally and in a written form. More specifically, this course will allow students to acquire and develop their knowledge of a crucial period in Spanish history, which will ultimately allow them to better understand Spain today and its cultural policies.

We will study the cultural production within the historical and social frames of Spain since the second half of the 20th century, a period of its history during which significant changes occurred, until nowadays. We will also study the cultural manifestations supported by the cultures of both "high culture" and the popular culture: we will analyze newspapers, political speeches, photography, propaganda posters, academic texts and cartoons; we will listen to popular songs; we will watch movies, documentaries, televised news reports and commercials; we will also have two trips to the Reina Sofia Museum where the Spanish Civil War, the Late-Francoism, and the Transition towards Democracy will be studied through the artists´work. There will be a strong emphasis on the role of women and the evolution of their role in society, analyzing various cultural products that bear witness to these changes. Among the cultural manifestations that will be analysed in this course we may mention "El Guernica", Spanish soccer, bullfights, turistic posters, Easter celebrations (Holy Week), Educational Models, Inmigration and Youth Urban Movements. Bibliografía. Antología de textos preparada por la profesora, a partir de la bibliografía detallada abajo Alderman, Liz, ¿Young and educated in Europe, but desperate for jobs¿, Diario ¿New York Times¿, 2013 Ballesteros, Isolina, Cine (ins)urgente: textos fílmicos y contextos culturales de la España Postfranquista, Boyd, C.P, ¿History, politics and culture, 1936-1975¿. In Graham, Helen &Labanyi, Jo, Spanish Cultural Studies. An Introduction, Oxford U.P., 1995. Calvo Serraller, ¿El Guernica, un icono contra la dictadura¿, Diario ¿ABC¿, 2011 Crolley, Liz, ¿Football and fandom in Spain¿. In Barry Jordan and Rikki Morgan-Tamosunas (eds.), Contemporary Spanish Cultural Studies: London: Arnold, 2000 Cohen, David, ¿El Guernica censorship controversy in USA, 2003 De Lora, Pablo ¿De toros y Argumentos¿, Diario ¿El País¿, 2010 García Cifuente, Teresa, Fotografía de Ouka Leele, los personajes del bosque, Museo del Traje, 2008 Huete Machado, Lola, ¿Emigrantes otra vez¿, Diario ¿El País¿, diciembre 2011. Kelly, D, ¿Selling Spanish Otherness since 1960¿. In Barry Jordan and Rikki Morgan-Tamosunas (eds.), Contemporary Spanish Cultural Studies: London: Arnold, 2000 Otero, Luis, La Sección Femenina, EDAF, 1999 Peláez Benítez, Ana, Tàpies, Hirst y el sentido del Arte, Claves de razón práctica, otoño 2011 Taberna, Helena, Documental ¿Extranjeras¿, Lamia producciones audiovisuales, 2003 Varela, Casilda, El gen Genovés, Revista Telva, noviembre 2011 Vargas Llosa, ¿La última corrida¿, Diario ¿El País¿, 2010