New Fall MALAS Graduate Seminar! Comix and History, aka #eyegasm22

New Fall MALAS Graduate Seminar! 

Comix and History, aka #eyegasm22

Graduate students can take an MA-level version of this class! More info here: https://sunspot.sdsu.edu/schedule/sectiondetails… or write Professor Bill Nericcio at bnericci@sdsu.edu

A great sequence from Marjani Satrape's EMBROIDERIES (Translated from the French by Anjali Singh) ... one of the comix volumes in my Fall class at #SDSU ... The class is called #eyegasm22 and is focused on visual culture, comix, history, autobiography, and more ... book info here https://amzn.to/3JWdicu class info here https://eyegiene.sdsu.edu/2022/fall/

New MALAS Seminar Fall 2022: Techniques of the Novel with Professor Matt de la Peña!

ENGL 573/MALAS 600A.02  

Techniques of the Novel

Matt de la Peña, Wednesdays 3:30 to 6:10, Storm Hall 316

 

Writing a novel is a long, messy, exhilarating, frustrating, and profoundly beautiful undertaking. Most novel writers get lost at some point during the journey and fear they no longer know where the story is going. Author Denis Johnson didn’t see this as a problem. “You get in your teacup and take your oar and strike off for Australia,” he once said, “and if you wind up in Japan, you’re ecstatic.” In other words, novel writing is about the journey, not the destination. Similarly, a good novel doesn’t set out to provide answers, it asks interesting questions while following interesting characters. 

In this course we will honor the mystery of the novel, while also studying techniques all writers should be exposed to as they take on this work. We will examine published novels, explore how-to philosophies and generate original creative materials. In addition to our course texts, I will bring in other literature to help spark discussion and/or help initiate generative exercises. We will explore many of the tools in our novel-writing toolboxes, such as character, setting, scene, POV, pacing, plot/theme and revision. You will be required to offer both written and oral feedback to your classmates during workshop. Our focus in this class will be craft, but there will also be some discussion of the marketplace and the business side of the writing life.

Matt de la Peña is the #1 New York Times Bestselling, Newbery Medal-winning author of seven young adult novels (including Mexican WhiteBoy and We Were Here) and seven picture books (including Patchwork and Last Stop on Market Street). In 2016 he was awarded the NCTE Intellectual Freedom Award. Matt received his MFA in creative writing from San Diego State University and his BA from the University of the Pacific where he attended school on a full basketball scholarship. In 2019 Matt was awarded an honorary doctorate from UOP.

Section Details:

Course	MALAS-600A
Course Title	TECHNIQUES OF NOVEL
Section	02
Schedule #	34442
Units	3.0
Session	FALL CAMPUS
Seats	2/3
Meetings	Seminar   1530-1810   W   SH-316   M. DE LA PENA
Full Title	Interdisciplinary Study in Liberal Arts and Sciences: Cultural Studies
Description	MALAS seminars are divided into four general areas with content that varies semester to semester. Each course may be repeated once with new content. See Class Schedule for specific content. Maximum credit six units for MALAS 600A.
Prerequisite	Graduate standing.
Footnotes	09   Stacked with ENGL 573. Not open to students currently enrolled in or with prior credit in ENGL 573 "Techniques of Novel." ZL   The following student levels are allowed: Graduate.

New MALAS Course for Fall 2022

https://www.facebook.com/Classics.Humanities.SDSU/photos/a.339227932916390/2011338409038659/

Posted by MALAS, the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences at SDSU on Thursday, June 30, 2022

More info here: https://sunspot.sdsu.edu/schedule/sectiondetails?scheduleNumber=34249&period=20224&admin_unit=R

SDSU MALAS LECTURE SERIES! The [Mexican-] American Revolution With Myriam Gurba and Alex Espinosa

Something wickedly cool coming to SDSU this week! The [Mexican-] American Revolution -- a mini-lecture series from @sdsumalas @SDSUPress, @sdsu IRA funding (Instructionally Related Activities Fund) ... #mextasy at #sdsu

Featuring Mexy superheroes @lesbrains + @alex_esp pic.twitter.com/BpFYsieIJr

— William Nericcio (@eyegiene) April 24, 2022

Art Department and MALAS @ SDSU Professor Kim Stringfellow Opens a New Exhibition at UNLV

MALAS, the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts and Sciences at SDSU collaborating professor, Kim Stringfellow, has a dazzling...

Posted by William Nericcio on Monday, February 28, 2022

MALAS and SDSU Press Along with the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park Present : CARLOS SOLORIO, Beyond Transfronterizo Lens, A Cultural Photo Exhibit

Photographer and cinematographer Carlos Solorio, MALAS Alum and SDSU Press contributing artist, in a one man photography show at the Centro Cultural de la Raza in Balboa Park.

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

MALAS in Association with SDSU Press and the AGLSP: Publishing and the Humanities, A Streaming Lecture Event ...

Save the date! Monday, March 21 at 6pm CST -- The 21st Century Labyrinth: Humanities Degrees and Publishing Careers...

Posted by Amy Danzer on Wednesday, February 23, 2022

Unessays! MALAS Graduate Student Work Showcased!

click to enlarge!

From: Kristal Bivona <kbivona@sdsu.edu>

Date: Wed, Feb 16, 2022 at 4:04 PM
Subject: flyer for student art exhibition
To: William Nericcio <memo@sdsu.edu>

Hey there,

Now that we're back on campus, I planned this event for the students from MALAS 600d / ANTH 529 / BRAZ 496 last semester to show their final projects. It's open to all and the flyer is attached. Please come by if you're around and share with the other MALAS students. Thanks!

Abrazos,

-- 

Kristal Bivona, Ph.D. 

Assistant Director, Behner Stiefel Center for Brazilian Studies

Lecturer, College of Arts and Letters

San Diego State University

Pronouns: she/ela/ella

Visit the Digital Brazil Project

How to Prepare Sharing Your Work at an Academic Conference: MALAS's Carson Poole on her AGLSP 2021 Conference Experience

by Carson Poole 

2nd Year MALAS Graduate Student, SDSU

As the deadline for 2022’s AGLSP Conference, Biblio-TECHa is now open, I was asked to reflect on my experience at 2021’s (virtual) conference. The theme of last year’s conference was “Unmute Yourself: Voice, Representation, and Power”. 

I believe I was the only student from SDSU in attendance, with Dr. Nericcio acting as my panel’s moderator. The topics addressed in the panels were diverse, entertaining, and very well thought out. Since it was a Liberal Studies conference, the topics for presentations were across the map: several people presented on music analysis or music history, others presented on business theory, and some presentations were on literature. 

My experience was really smooth and stress-free for being my first time presenting at a conference. I recorded my material and had a live (Zoom) Q&A with other panelists after my video was played. The Q&A made me nervous initially, because I wasn’t sure if anyone would ask me an “over my head” kind of question, but the other panelists were very kind, respectful, and open to discussion. 

Over the course of the three-day conference, I learned a lot about topics well outside of my own expertise, which made my academic-nerd heart sing. The panels transitioned smoothly, with breaks in between. Everything ran without any major hitches, save for a few accidentally muted mics. The challenges of a Zoom conference are very different than an in-person one, so I can’t give much in the way of advice on public speaking in front of other people in a conference hall, but if you are confident in your material then the speaking part will come easier. 

Carson Poole at Balboa Park, San Diego

As far as my preparation for the conference, I had already entered into my application with a clear topic idea. I had prepared a rough abstract beforehand and tidied it up before submitting it. The abstract was honestly the hardest part of my application—summing up my work in such a limited space was a challenge. As this conference was virtual, I had to record my material in a 15-minute video, which was nice because I could make multiple takes and revise as I went. 

For an in-person conference like this year’s will be, I think recording it beforehand might be something worth doing as it helps to fine-tune the content of the speech. If you’re thinking of applying, go for it! The experience was a very rewarding one for me and I think it would be the same for you.

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar with Professor Andrés Aguilar! Community Activism Through Arts Practice!

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar with Professor Andres Aguilar! 

Community Activism Through Arts Practice! 

More info here: https://sunspot.sdsu.edu/schedule/sectiondetails?scheduleNumber=22285&period=20222&admin_unit=R

click to enlarge

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar! MEDIA AND CONFLICT with Professor Gilad Halpern!

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar! MEDIA AND CONFLICT!!!

More info here!

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar: Parábolas ópticas / Optical Parables : Latin American/Latinx Literature, Art, Photography, & Cinema with Professor Bill Nericcio

New Spring 2022 MALAS Seminar: Parábolas ópticas / Optical Parables : Latin American/Latinx Literature, Art, Photography, & Cinema with Professor Bill Nericcio 

Note that the course can be taken in three "flavors" depending on what program you are with (or your curricular needs) at SDSU:

MALAS-600A

 

 

01

 

39125

 

LATINX/LATINAM CULTURES

  

0930-1045

 

TTH

 

NE-271

C LT-594

 

 

01

 

20640

 

LATINX/LATINAM CULTURES

  

0930-1045

 

TTH

 

NE-271

LATAM-580

 

 

02

 

39155

 

LATINX/LATINAM CULTURES

  

0930-1045

 

TTH

 

NE-271

Comparative Literature 594 | MALAS 600A | LATAM 580   

Parábolas ópticas | Optical Parables    

Latin American and Latinx Lit, Art, Photography & Cinema  

9:30am to-10:45 T/TH | NE-271  Professor William Nericcio

This is a Comparative Literature class, a MALAS seminar, and a Latin American Studies class, but it should appeal to any and all folks who are curious about the literatures and cultures of the Americas working their magic both north and south of the U.S./Mexico border).

The title of the class comes from a 1931 photograph by Manuel Álvarez Bravo entitled “Optical Parable/[Parábola Opticas]” – you can see a facsimile of it here opposite (and a self portrait of Bravo below). The photo can be read as a deep semiotic meditation on the nature of visual representation; but it can also be read as a joke, a bit, a gag – a photo of an optometrists shop printed in reverse (literally, a sight gag).      

This dialectic between the deeply intellectual and the comedic will run through our class as we probe texts that are literary, photographic, painted, filmed, streaming, and more.   

No expertise in Latin American or Latinx (Chicana/o/x, Boriqua/o/x, etc) literature or culture is expected or presumed nor should anyone worry if they’ve never studied film, photography, graphic narrative, or art at the collegiate level. The only requirement or prerequisite for this class is curiosity and a little drop of imagination!     

The final lineup of works is still a little in flux. Readings / Screenings / Art include works by Alfonso Cuarón (y tu Mamá tambien), Myriam Gurba (pictured below), Hector Ortega, Gabriel García Márquez, Flor Garduño, Junot Diaz, Cristina Rivera Garza, Raoul Peck, Gilbert Hernandez, Tina Modotti, Orson Welles (!), Alex Espinoza, yours truly, Salvador Plascencia, and other surprises!

New MALAS Seminar Spring 2022 -- Meso American Ceramics with Carlos Figueroa-Beltran

MALAS 600 MESOAMERICAN CERAMICS

Carlos Figueroa-Beltran 

MALAS 600C/LATAM 580 

MESOAMERICAN CERAMICS  is a course that explores the cross-section of art, archaeology, and ethnohistory through the study of the ceramics of Mesoamerica, a vast territory that spanned from Sinaloa in northwestern Mexico to El Salvador.

This course examines the iconography, context, and function of the visual arts of the Mesoamerican world, with the idea of developing works of art inspired by the Mesoamerican civilizations from pre-contact times to the present. 

Through this study, we hope to inspire a new work of art for the campus, created by students from both Latin American Studies and the Ceramics Area in the School of Art and Design, discussing issues of appropriation and representation as we explore ancient works as inspiration for a contemporary work of art.

 

My name is Carlos Figueroa-Beltran. I work at the Center for Latin American Studies as a lecturer and graduate advisor. My academic background varies from archaeology, anthropology, ethnohistory, intercultural studies, and environmental sciences. As an archaeologist, I have excavated several sites in Mesoamerica, such as Teotihuacan and Tenochtitlan (the ancient capital of the Aztec empire).