Spanish (SPAN)

This course is an introduction to the peoples and cultures of Latin America. Topics include pre-Columbian civilizations, conquest and colonization, ethnicity, economics, politics, migration, urbanization, revolution, the environment, and the arts. This course will be conducted in English.

Designed to offer a firm initial competency in speaking and writing Spanish. This course requires regular attendance and a willingness to participate.

This course is a continuation of elementary Spanish, with emphasis on comprehension, conversation, reading, and writing.

This course is a continuation of Intermediate Spanish I, SPAN 2204.

This course builds on basic language skills acquired in previous study to enhance the student’s ability to communicate in Spanish. Students will practice how to structure and manage conversations at an intermediate level in order to increase their oral proficiency in the language. Thorough advanced preparation is required for each class, where oral activities predominate.

Students become acquainted with basic Spanish language forms used in business, including the specialized terminology of oral and written commercial communication. The cultural aspects of business negotiations in Spanish-speaking countries, together with the economic and political profiles of various Latin American nations and Spain, are explored. Students study the development of conversational proficiency through the use of discussion and experiential exercises, and will also include written assignments.

Students explore how gender, sexuality, power, ethnicity, language, politics and race shape contemporary Latinx identities, particularly in Canada and the US. This course is grounded in cultural and literary studies, psychoanalysis, critical race theory, antiracism, feminism and postcolonial studies.

This course is devoted entirely to literature produced by contemporary Latina/Latin American women writers as well as theories that frame their writing. Students read and analyze stories from Latina authors based in Berlin, Mexico City, New York, Montreal, Buenos Aires or Bogotá. This class aims to explore these extraordinary writers' social, political and cultural milieu. Students work on novels and short stories translated into English.

Students analyze the emergence of graphic novels in Latin America in connection with contemporary social movements of resistance. The Latin American graphic novel has emerged from a rich tradition of science fiction and political activism. Students analyze the history of the graphic novel in Latin America in connection with dictatorships, historical memory, neoliberalism, state repression, migration and new Latinx identities.

This course is designed to build upon and refine the students’ ability to write and to speak effectively in Spanish.

This course is a continuation of Advanced Oral and Written Spanish I, SPAN 3303.

Designed for students who are learning Spanish as a second language, this course uses current Spanish-language films produced in Latin America and Spain as a springboard for in-class conversation about Hispanic culture, while also providing a review of grammatical structures at the advanced level. This course is taught entirely in Spanish.

Taught in Spanish, this course is an introduction to the practice of both Spanish to English and English to Spanish translation. Emphasis is on translating general material from the media, social sciences and the humanities with a focus on specific grammar topics and the acquisition of new vocabulary.

Designed for students who are learning Spanish as a second language, this course provides an overview of Latin American literature across a range of possible genres: narrative, poetry, theatre, and the essay. In addition to introducing students to the dynamics of these various forms of literary expression, this course uses literary texts as windows for looking into their historical backdrop, and the social, political, and cultural issues that they raise. This course is conducted entirely in Spanish.

The literatures from Latin America are informed by a variety of different literary and cultural traditions, both of the various countries and the languages as a whole. Students examine these traditions in some of the best examples in contemporary Latin American novels, shorts stories and poetry in English translation.

This course is taught in English. Students examine the dystopian literature that arises as a voice of social protest of development issues in Latin America. Issues include: dictatorship in the Southern Cone, neoliberalism in Bolivia, the Cuban revolution, NAFTA, the environment, and the Mexican border.

Students are introduced to Latin American travel literature and raises questions about transculturality, literary traditions, post-colonialism and identity. Students focus on indigenous pre-hispanic texts, selected 16th and 17th century chronicles and personal travel accounts written by Europeans, Latin American and Indigenous writers whose narratives focus on travel. The course will be conducted in English

In this course students examine issues where ethnicity, religion, postcolonialism, cultural identities, popular culture, traditional music, food, fiestas and carnivals encounter a common ground. With ethnographical and literary approaches, the scope of analysis will focus on the oral cultures and the literatures produced in Latin America´s spiritual and religious traditions.

Students analyze the literature produced after incidence of political and social violence in Latin America during the 20th and 21st centuries, including dictatorships, the Colombian five decades conflict, and Mexico´s narco war. Students explore different literary genres such as memoirs, testimony and fiction among some of the most influential Latin American authors. This course is conducted in English.

Students examine film in Latin America as a medium of cultural production that reflects local identities, socio-political beliefs, and critical views of imperialism. An understanding of film in close connection to both regional societies, and the influence of more global trends is fostered. Topics include: Indigenous resistance, colonization, dictatorship and revolution, environmental activism, narco violence, and migration. This course is taught in English.

After decades of dictatorship, imperialism, state repression and narco-wars, punk-rock and hip hop have developed into countercultural movements of resistance. Students in this class will examine the role and history of these cultural movements, their dialogues with other cultural counternarratives and how they have created a narrative of political resistance in Latin America.

With a focus on Mexican culture and literature, students examine selected pre-Hispanic Nauhatl and Mayan texts, 16th Spanish Century chronicles and 20th Century Mexican Revolution short stories. This course is a fundamental component of the Spanish Summer School and is delivered in Spanish every summer at CEPE UNAM in Mexico. The reading materials are both in English and Spanish.

In partnership with Universidad de Antioquia, students in this field school will develop a deeper understanding of how different grassroots organizations work with historical memory, reconciliation and peace projects in Colombia. Students will gain firsthand knowledge from and participate in different community projects in some of the areas most affected by the conflict. Students will visit public institutions related to historical memory and will participate in discussion with scholars, community leaders and Colombian students. Taught in English.