#CaribeDIY: DIY Aesthetics and Alternative Markets in the Hispanic Caribbean

Recent artistic and cultural productions in the Hispanic Caribbean and its diaspora reflect upon conditions of dislocation, neglect, and decay. They resituate the trinomial “building, dwelling, thinking” (Heidegger) in the tropics to foreground the tensions between precarity and excess that have imprinted their stamp in the region. What aesthetic, political, and social projects emerge from recycling and ruination? What are their emancipatory possibilities? Or, on the contrary, are they themselves condemned to reproduce the logics of the market and its multiple forms of violence? In this course we will examine literary and cultural practices from the Hispanic Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic), from the 1970s to the present, which can be loosely grouped under the concept of do-it-yourself or DIY. Some of the major themes include: intellectuals and materiality; technological disobedience; alternative publics and the rise of cartoneras; migration and objecthood; material poetics, gender, and sexual dissidence; autogestión, collective utopias, and the commons; digital cultures and new media; post-nationalism and decolonial approaches. As a final capstone project, all students will complete two requirements: a short final paper and a DIY audiovisual or digital project (a zine, video, artwork, or sound recording, etc.) inspired by the techniques studied. Previous experience on the latter is not necessary, but willingness to experiment in a self-directed manner is essential. (Spanish 0220 or by placement) 3 hrs. lect./disc.