# SPANISH 070 - Introduction to Latin American Studies: Aesthetics, Politics, and Anxieties Semester: Spring | Year offered: 2027 | Link: [Course Website](https://locator.tlt.harvard.edu/course/colgsas-116263/2026/spring/16252) The photographic installations of the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the debates sparked by the farcical intervention in images of national heroes like Emiliano Zapata, or even the hyper-aestheticization of narco culture on social media, in films, and series, all serve as evidence that the politics of a region cannot be understood without its art, literature, and culture. In the recent history of Latin America, there are multiple instances where aesthetics and politics have intertwined in order to create and find new meanings for the issues plaguing the region. If a citizen participates in both the action of being governed and the action of governing, there is no doubt that aesthetics, understood as the formal exploration of the distribution of the sensible, as Rancière would say, is a productive space for analysis to understand Latin American intellectual and political traditions. In this course, we will panoramically explore the relationship between aesthetics and politics throughout the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries in Latin America. By studying cinema, literature, art, music, and more, the objective is to offer students an approach to how art and culture bear witness, often in a more visceral and affective way than is possible from a purely historiographical or sociological approach, to what politics cannot resolve. We will analyze and discuss Latin American productions based on key aesthetic concepts (manifesto, declamation, performance, documentary, etc.), in order to trace and outline the anxieties plaguing both art and contemporary Latin American criticism. --- [### Alejandra Vela Martínez ](/people/alejandra-vela-martinez) On Leave Spring 2025 Assistant Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures (Spanish) Spanish Undergraduate Advisor - Fall 2025 Academic Degrees: Ph.D., New York University (Latin American Literature), M.A., Columbia University (Hispanic Cultural Studies); B.A., Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Letras Hispánicas) Research Interests: 20th-21st Century Mexican Cultural... ![Alejandra](/sites/g/files/omnuum8296/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/2025-04/screen_shot_2023-08-01_at_5.33.10_pm-2.png?itok=AoXnJHEQ) See also:- [ 70-100 ](/class-categories/70-100) - [ Alejandra Vela Martinez ](/instructor/alejandra-vela-martinez) - [ Spanish ](/language/spanish) - [ Spring 2027 ](/term/spring-2027)