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.

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.

This course introduces a broad range of cultural and artistic manifestations of Latin America, both past and present. Topics may include indigenous cultures in the Americas, the importance of European culture to the New World, and the effort to preserve a distinct Latin American culture. The course will be conducted entirely in Spanish.

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.

A study of 19th and 20th Century major works in Modern Latin American literature. Topics may include: Hispanic modernismo, the avant-garde movements of the 1920s, the Hispanic American neo-baroque and the Latin American Bomm. Close analysis of texts by Dario, Rulfo, Paz, Fuentes, Carpentier, García Marques, Vargas Llosa, Borges, Machado de Asis, and others. Consideration will be given to historical context and contemporary ideological currents. The course will be conducted in English.

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.

This course aims to introduce students to Latin American travel literature and raises questions about nature, identity and culture. We will focus on selected chronicles of 16th century Spanish missionaries, the accounts of 19th century European scientific explorers and contemporary Latin American authors whose narratives focus on travel. The course will be conducted in English.

This course is taught in English. Students explore the theory and practice of folklore in Latin America and 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 culture and the literature produced in Latin America´s folklore traditions.

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 and American Imperialism in 20th century Latin America and Spain, rock music provided a way to resist and create a counterculture. Students examine the role and history of Rock en español and other musical genres like punk and hip hop and their influence in Latin American and Iberian cultural landscapes from the 80’s to today’s musical scene. This course is conducted in Spanish.

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 this field school students develop a deeper understanding of how different grassroots organizations work with historical memory, reconciliation and peace projects in Colombia. Students gain firsthand knowledge from and participate in different community projects in some of the areas most affected by the conflict. Students visit public institutions related to historical memory such as Casa Museo de la Memoria in Medellin. This field school will be a combination of lectures and experiential learning opportunities. Taught in English.

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.