Brian Cope

Biography

Courses Taught

Beginning Spanish
Intermediate Spanish
Readings in Spanish Peninsular Cultures
Poetic Lives, Poetic Lines: An Introduction to Spanish Poetry
Hispanic Film
Cervantes and Don Quijote
Don Juan in the Spanish Cultural Imaginary
Fate, Freewill, and Entrapment in Modern Spanish Narrative
Spanish Existentialist Writers and Filmmakers
Diversity, Intersectionality, Otherness (FYS)

Teaching Philosophy

I design my courses to take students on a journey of sustained inquiry and discovery that challenges them to continue to grow as Spanish speakers and to practice critical thinking. My courses provide a structured path to their established learning goals, and I support my students by giving them the necessary tools, guidance, motivation, and encouragement to succeed. I believe that learning entails trial and error and that with the right balance of hard work, discipline, and planning everything is attainable.

Selected Publications & Presentations

“The Rebranding of Don Juan Tenorio as a Social Misfit in Tristana,” in Approaches to Teaching Benito Pérez Galdós. New York MLA: (forthcoming)
“Las raíces filosóficas de la actitud crítica de Unamuno,” in Actas del XXI Congreso de la Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas.Madrid: Iberoamericana / Vervuert. (forthcoming)
“San Manuel Bueno, mártir as Literary Artifact,” in Approaches to Teaching Miguel de Unamuno. New York: MLA, 2020. 143-152.
“Atributos escépticos y nietzscheanos de Pachico Zabalbilde de Paz en la guerra de Unamuno” in Perspectivas actuales del hispanismo mundial. Christoph Strosetzki. Vol. II. Munster: Readbox Unipress, 2019. 173-184.
“La arquitectura epistemológica de La forma del silencio de María Luisa Puga,” in María Luisa Puga y la (re)construcción del espacio. Mexico City: Editorial de la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana de México, 2018. 91-116.
“Unamuno y Montaigne: una aproximación a Niebla desde la Apología a Raimundo Sabunde,” in Hispanismos del mundo: diálogos y debates en (y desde) el Sur. Leonardo Funes. Buenos Aires: Miño y Dávila, 2016. 99-107.
“Incongruent Visions: Documentary Incursions into the Debate Over Illegal Immigration.” Vanderbilt e-Journal of Luso-Hispanic Studies 8 (Fall 2012): 13-22.
“Unamuno’s San Manuel Bueno, mártir: Philosophical Skepticism in a Time of Political Upheaval.” Revista de Estudios Hispánicos 1 (Spring 2011): 177-199.
“Synchronicity in Julio Medem’s Los amantes del Círculo Polar: Poeticizing Coincidence in a Taoist Vernacular.” Anales de la literatura Española Contemporánea 36.1 (Winter 2011): 33-53.
“The Convergence of Mysticism and Psychosis in Almodóvar’s Hable con ella.” Ojáncano 37 (Spring 2010): 21-40.
“The Hellenic Origins of Unamuno’s Skepticism and Niebla’s Skeptical Parody of Cartesianism.” Hispanic Review 77.4 (Autumn 2009): 471-493.

Independent Study Advising

“Ciclo de la Historia Repetida: El Juego de Espera de los “Dreamers,” by Fernanda Bañuelos, spring 2024. (double major with Education)
“Joder… Aquí vienen los delinquents. Una exploración de dos películas de Eloy de la Iglesia: Colegas y El pico,” by Hannah Grosman, spring 2023. (double major with Education)
“Nativism, another word for racism? A study of how anti-immigrant sentiments create animus towards the Latinx Community,” by Elizabeth Suárez, spring 2021. (double major with Political Science)
“Miguel de Cervantes, Platón, y Francisco de Goya: La conexión entre la fantasía y la realidad,” by Dezmond Morrow, spring 2021.
“La libertad y sus acontecimientos: un enfoque en el existencialismo y el uso de la
libertad dentro de artefactos culturales,” by Carlos Hernández, spring 2020. (double major with Education)
“Moral Obligations: Towards a Just System of Immigration,” by Mayra López, spring 2019. (double major with Philosophy)
“Fronteras entretejidas: texto, textil, y la formación de una narrativa mestiza en las obras de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Gloria Anzaldúa, y Sandra Cisneros,” by Claire Billingsley, spring 2016.
“De monstruo a modelo: Cómo el mito de La Llorona refleja los cambios en la Sociedad, la identidad, y la cultura en tres libros infantiles,” by Charlotte Tierney, spring 2016.
“Cervantes y Velásquez: Dos artistas revolucionarios y cómo exploraron los mismos conceptos en sus técnicas diferentes,” by Cathryn Rudawsky, spring 2015.
“Oaxaca vive, ¿la lucha sigue?: Una crónica de conflictividad social,” by Lauren Hines, spring2009. (double major with English)
“España vista desde afuera: la evolución del turismo en España desde los finales del siglo XIX hasta el nuevo milenio,” by Rebecca Beyer, spring 2007.
“El concepto de la salvación en las obras de Miguel de Unamuno,” by Emily Richardson, spring 2007.
“El problema del libre albedrío en Niebla,” by Sean Hennessey, spring 2006.

Professional Affiliations

Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas (International Association of Hispanists)
Modern Language Association
American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese