GAUCHOS IN THE SOUTH AND COWBOYS IN THE NORTH:
NAVIGATING CULTURAL MYTHOLOGIES

Aquí también. Aquí como en el otro
Confín del continente, el infinito
Campo en que muere solitario el grito
Aquí también el indio, el lazo, el potro
Jorge Luis Borges, "Texas"

How often is the gaucho invoked as a reminder of the Argentine state's needs to police its citizenry? And why was marginalizing the gaucho seen as necessary for the creation of the modern Argentine State? How much of United States foreign policy owes its genesis to the simplicity of cowboy legends? And has a "wild west" mentality colored the way that the U.S. approaches to Argentina? Do the myths of the gaucho and the cowboy continue to influence laws and moral order in their respective cultures?

Course Description

This three-week interdisciplinary seminar will offer a comparative look at myths that have grown up around the Argentine gaucho and his counterpart in the United Status, the cowboy. We will examine the way in which these iconic images have affected national identity, and how they have been used by the state to galvanize populations to action. Through film, poetry, fiction and short readings in sociological texts, we will filter the evolving discourse of gauchos and cowboys through different regimes and eras of American history.

Short readings which will include excerpts from Martin Fierro by José Hernandez, Facundo by Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Juan Moreira, by Eduardo Gutierrez, The Cowboy Way by John Carlson, and The American Cowboy by Joe Frantz and Julian Choaste, Jr. Music, film and television clips from Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and The Magnificient Seven (among others) will also be utilized.

Profesor Martín Böhmer
Master en Derecho (LL.M.), Universidad de Yale, Estados Unidos.
Especialización: Derecho y Políticas Públicas.

Profesor Michael D. Dinwiddie
M.F.A., Dramatic Writing, Tisch School of Arts, New York University , Estados Unidos.
Especialización: American and African American Culture, Dramatic Writing at the GALLATIN School of individualized Study, New York University

Fechas: sábados 27 de septiembre | 4, 11, 18 y 25 de octubre. (Conferencias en inglés 18 y 25).
Lugar: Villa Ocampo - Elortondo 1837 (altura Av. del Libertador 17.400) San Isidro.
Horario: 9 a 12:15.

Fechas: lunes y miércoles 13 y 15 - 20 y 22 de octubre (Conferencias en inglés).
Lugar: Universidad de San Andres - Sede Centro: 25 de Mayo 586 (y Tucumán)
Horario: 18:30 a 21:15

Para más información:
Lic. Cecilia Colli
Coordinación General del Programa
Universidad de San Andrés
Vito Dumas 284 – Victoria
Tel.: 011 4725-7011
Email: ccolli@udesa.edu.ar

Auspician: