This blog has as a subtitle "A place for professors of Spanish Literature to complain about or defend the field." I haven't heard much concerning either of these topics. Surely one of you has a gripe about the profession you'd like to share with us.
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How about the fact that the president of my esteemed university has a housing allowance that's bigger than my annual salary?
How about the fact that I feel like one of those circus riders who rides a team of horses, one foot on the back of each horse, and the two are gradually pulling farther apart. I'm referring to language instruction vs. literary/cultural analysis, of course.
I think language vs. literary/cultural analysis is a false dichotomy so I have no complaints about teaching 101 through 202 or even advanced grammar.The basis of literary theory in the twentieth century comes from a linguist. I also use language courses to engage students in other issues such as identity and power.This way I can engage myself as well as them if I think about language more than a skill or simply as a medium of communication or just a class any student needs for graduation.
Our pay is an absolute injustice compared to the administrators'.
Dave's comments are well taken. I must confess, though, that I have never tackled issues of identity and power in SPAN 101. I have enjoyed my stints in 101, but I must say that once you've spent a semester or three not teaching any lower division language at all, having to go back (like I may have to do if my underenrolled seminar doesn't acquire some warm bodies over the weekend) is tough to contemplate.
I really just raise questions rather than tackle them. We do some reading, in English, on language and racial identity. I just try to get students to think about language in relation to race or identity and other things beyond grammar. Sure, it gets boring after a while. I teach four sections of beginning Spanish a year and two advanced courses, either literature or one lit and one intermediate or advanced language course. The beginning classes are also a place to recruit majors and minors--at least try to stimulate some interest for taking more classes.
I find the idea of trying to sensitize students to the structures of power inherent in language difficult. In Utah, for instance, I started out my Span. Lit. Survey with a reading on cannon formation, and though they seemed to get it at the time, any residue it might have left evaporated immediately. They were back to "what are the great works?" if not "tell me what's going to be on the test". In language classes I have never attempted it. I must say, the idea intrigues me.
When I brought it up, though, I was thinking more of my role in the university vs. my experience in the classroom. I was really talking more about the fact that at least in my university, the administration looks on me as a service provider, and the service I provide is teaching/administering a lower division language program. Little credence is given to any intellectual integrity I may possess as a scholar of literature/culture.
canon formation, that is.
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