Course Catalogue

View Specification Document | Reading List

This course explores representations of tourism in contemporary Spanish culture as a way to better understand social and political change in Spain from the 1950s up to the present day. It combines a national and transnational perspective which highlights the contradictory and fluid nature of the notion of 'Spanish difference' in relation to the rest of Europe. Through a focus on diverse theoretical perspectives including politics and economy, tourism studies, gender studies, migrations, nationalisms and urban studies, students will explore the sociocultural and political continuities and discontinuities in the different periods in Spain's recent history, namely late Francoism, the early democratic period, the 1990s economic boom after Spain's admission into the European Union in 1986 and the post-2008 recession.

20 x 1 hour sessions over both semesters.

Available to all students fulfilling requirements for honours entry into Honours Spanish and by arrangement to visiting students or students of other Single Honours programmes who qualify under the University's 25% regulation.

None

None

The standard assessments for this course are:

■ Short piece of writing (750 words) suitable for a particular audience - 20%

■ Oral Presentation suitable for a general audience (5-minute podcast) - 10%

■ Essay (3000 words) - 70%

If required, for instance where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, the following alternatives are available:

■ There is no alternative to the short piece of writing, podcast, or essay, but an extension to the deadline can be offered as reasonable adjustment (students should follow the usual process for extensions).

Further reasonable adjustments may be provided where necessary. Students are encouraged to consult with the course convenor. 

This course aims to:

■ introduce students to the key role played by tourism-led dynamics in the social, economic, political and cultural transformations experienced in Spain since the 1950s.

■ enable students to analyse the interactions between tourism and the fluid notion of 'Spanish difference' in twentieth and twenty-first century Spain.

■ explore tourism as a relevant social and cultural issue in Spain and in the global context, thus positioning Spain within a broader context of European and global socio-cultural change.

■ enable students to develop critical skills to analyse different types of texts and media, including film and documentary, literature and comic art.

■ develop students' skills in practical areas that might be directly applicable to a career in journalism and similar types of writing/communications jobs.

By the end of this course students will be able to:

■ clearly communicate sophisticated ideas on cultural representations of tourism, thus being able to discuss a wide range of interpretations about the impact of tourism in Spain.

■ critically analyse the interactions between tourism and the main periods of contemporary Spanish history, including early Francoism, late Francoism, the democratic period and the post-2008-crisis period.

■ synthesise theoretical arguments from the fields of Tourism Studies, Gender Studies, Urban Studies and studies of Nationalism.

■ express complex ideas about tourism in written and oral form in a way that makes them accessible to a wider public audience.

■ develop a series of transferable skills such as critical analysis of cultural products, critical understanding of the diverse nature of cultural media (i.e. film, literature and comic art), communicating arguments in written form, oral presentation skills.