Week 1: Introduction

 Hello everyone!

My name is Jordan and I am a third year student in the Bachelor of Arts program majoring in Film Studies. I am originally from Toronto, Ontario and decided to go to UBC because I liked the environment here, as it's much different than Toronto. In my three years living here I have really enjoyed my time, especially the beaches and the ocean! 

This is my first literature course at UBC. I generally do not read for pleasure during the school year as I feel like I don’t have enough time so I am very interested to see how I will be able to manage my time with this course. Being in film studies, I have a huge appreciation for Latin American cinema, (Roma is one of my favorite movies ever!). With this being said, I don’t think I have ever had much exposure to Latin American literature, so I am very excited to expand my knowledge with this. Hopefully I can use some of the techniques I have gained in film studies and Latin American films and apply it to the analysis of Latin American literature. 

Since I have never been in a literature course before I am expecting to potentially struggle with the time management aspects and overall organization. Although, I have heard rave reviews about our Professor and his teaching style, so I am very excited for this “choose your own adventure” aspect of the course. I have read through the descriptions of some of the novels and they all sound really interesting. I have always had a love for short stories and poetry, so I am interested to see what literature we come across in this course and how it differs from pieces that I’ve read in the past and typically of European descent. 

I am also looking forward to collaborating in smaller groups within the class as I find it more beneficial to help each other understand the texts, as I’m sure some of them are a little complicated. I think the idea of “choosing your own adventure” will be really interesting because most likely we will never collaborate with the same group of people more than once, which will just make the interactive and analysis component so much more engaging. I am also looking forward to all the different drink pairings for the term, I think this is such a fun idea and can’t wait to try them all! 

My question for the class is does anyone have any recommendations for Latin American content such as TV shows, films, documentaries? I am always looking for new suggestions!


Comments

  1. Alison JonesJanuary 15, 2023 at 12:27 PM

    Hi Jordan!
    You should definitely watch "La Reina del Sur" on Netflix if you ever get the chance. Its definitely very tele-novela style but super entertaining to watch if you are into dramas, and if not vice has some amazing documentaries about a lot of countries in South America and events that are occurring within them.

    Alison

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