Courses

SPAN 101. Elementary Spanish I. Emphasis is placed on oral proficiency with pronunciation exercises and conversational practice and the development of reading and writing skills. The course includes drill in the essential constructions and basic vocabulary of Spanish, complemented by short films and cultural presentations. Spanish 101 is not open to students with two or more years of Spanish in secondary school. Spanish 101 is open only to first and second year students. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 103. Enrollment limited to 22 per section. Normally offered every year. Staff.

SPAN 101-102. Elementary Spanish I and II. Emphasis is placed on oral proficiency with pronunciation exercises and conversational practice and the development of reading and writing skills. The course includes drill in the essential constructions and basic vocabulary of Spanish, complemented by short films and cultural presentations. Spanish 101 is not open to students with two or more years of Spanish in secondary school. Spanish 101 is open only to first and second year students. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 103. Enrollment limited to 22 per section. Normally offered every year. Staff.

SPAN 102. Elementary Spanish II. Emphasis is placed on oral proficiency with pronunciation exercises and conversational practice. Development of reading and writing skills. Drill in the essential constructions and basic vocabulary of Spanish, complemented by short films and cultural presentations. Spanish 102 is not open to students with two or more years of Spanish in secondary school. Spanish 102 is open only to first and second year students. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 103. Enrollment limited to 22 per section. Normally offered every year. Staff.

SPAN 103. Accelerated Elementary Spanish. Designed for students with significant prior experience in Spanish or another Romance language and for highly self-motivated students who wish to learn at a faster pace, the course reviews essential constructions and vocabulary covered in Elementary Spanish 101-102 in one semester. The course emphasizes oral proficiency and the development of reading and writing skills while fostering a cross-cultural understanding of the Spanish-speaking world with authentic texts and media. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 101 or 102. Enrollment limited to 22. Normally offered every year. D. George.

SPAN 201. Intermediate Spanish I. Designed to increase students' vocabulary and to improve mastery of language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The course provides a thorough review of grammar as well as an emphasis on conversational proficiency, expository writing, and Hispanic culture. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 102. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 22 per section. Normally offered every year. Staff.

SPAN 202. Intermediate Spanish II. Intensive practice in reading, composition, and conversation, as well as attention to selected grammar problems. The course focuses on discussion through visual presentations and selections of Hispanic literature, art, and culture. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 201. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 22 per section. Normally offered every year. Staff.

SPAN 207. Advanced Spanish: Culture and Language. This course develops oral fluency and aural acuity as well as reading and writing skills by means of directed and spontaneous classroom activities and regular written assignments. Conversations and compositions are based primarily on readings and films. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 20 per section. Normally offered every year. Staff. Concentrations.

SPAN 208. Advanced Spanish: Texts and Contexts. This course is a continuation of Spanish 207 with particular emphasis upon analyzing a variety of texts and developing more sophistication in writing. Conversations and compositions are based on both literary and cultural readings. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202. Recommended background: Spanish 207. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 20 per section. Normally offered every year. F. López, D. George. Concentrations.

SPAN 215. Readings in Spanish American Literature. A survey of representative Spanish American literary texts. Major emphasis is on reading and discussing texts that relate to specific problems of literary form (such as poetry, theater, and novel), literary movements, and literary periodization. The topics are also discussed in their sociocultural contexts. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 207 or 208. Open to first-year students. [W2] Normally offered every year. Staff. Concentrations.   |   Interdisciplinary Programs.

SPAN 216. Readings in Peninsular Spanish Literature. A survey of representative peninsular Spanish texts. Major emphasis is on reading and discussing texts that relate to specific problems of literary form (such as poetry, theater, and novel), literary movements, and literary periodization. The topics are also discussed in their sociocultural contexts. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 207 or 208. Open to first-year students. [W2] Normally offered every year. B. Fra-Molinero, F. López. Concentrations.

SPAN 217. Literatura en el cine. This course explores the complex relationship between literature and cinema in light of narrative techniques and the mechanical, social, cultural, political, and economic limitations that determine the representative possibilities of both media. Through the study of literary works and their cinematic adaptations from Latin America, Spain, and the United States, students consider the theoretical and practical debates—between writers and directors, publishers and producers, literary critics and film critics, and readers and viewers as consumers—that emerge in the process of transposition from the written word to film. Prerequsite(s): Spanish 207, 208, 215, or 216. C. Aburto Guzmán, D. George. Concentrations.

SPAN 230. Third Gender in Latin America. Since the 1960s, Latin American writers have used el/a travesti, and more recently, transgender characters in their fictional narratives. These works may be read as political allegories, as interventions in national identity construction as well as in existing traditional gender discourses, or as an engagement with contemporary Latin American human rights movements. Students read the original works in Spanish. The theoretical framework may be read in English, although all discussions and written assignments are in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215. C. Aburto Guzmán. Concentrations.

SPAN 240. Loco amor/buen amor. In this course students study different ways of representing the passion of love, from the love of God to loving someone of the same sex. Spanish cities in the Middle Ages and San Francisco, California, are some settings where idealized as well as forbidden forms of love take place in the texts of the Arcipreste de Hita, La Celestina, and gay Mexican American poets. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215 or 216. [W2] B. Fra-Molinero. Concentrations.

SPAN 250. The Latin American Short Story. A study of the short story as a genre in Latin America. Attention is given to the genre's definition and to the different trajectories and currents in its development. Students read major works as well as those by less-known writers. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 207 or 208. Open to first-year students. [W2] Normally offered every year. C. Aburto Guzmán. Concentrations.   |   Interdisciplinary Programs.

SPAN 251. Spanish Short Story. The first manifestations of the short story as a genre in Spanish date back to the Middle Ages. In this course, students consider the evolution of the genre, from the cultural hybridity that shaped the earliest short stories to contemporary approaches to the literary form. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 207 or 208. Recommended background: Spanish 216. [W2] F. López. Concentrations.

SPAN 320. Myth, Apparition, and the Haunted in Latin American Literature. The mythic, the otherworldly, and the supernatural have inspired the works of many authors internationally: Mari­a Luisa Bombal, Julio Cortazar, Carlos Fuentes, Henry James, Edgar Allan Poe, Juan Rulfo, and Mary Shelley among many others. This course explores important twentieth-century Latin America novels and short stories that play with supernatural themes and subvert dominant notions of realism. Students analyze how critical terms such as the Fantastic, the Marvelous Real, and Magical Realism are used to describe Latin American narratives and discuss the ways in which these terms have been problematized over time. One-time offering. C. Serrano.

SPAN 323. Gendered Experiences in the Américas Borderlands. This course reviews cultural productions of the gendered experiences of people's border crossings throughout the Américas. Students become acquainted with testimonies, film, photography, fictional narrative, and poetry as well as government reports on human trafficking and slave labor. Readings are in Spanish and English. All discussions and written assignments are in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): one Spanish 200-level literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 223. C. Aburto Guzmán. Concentrations.

AN/SP 340. Indigenismo versus Indigenous Voices in Latin American Literature. This course contrasts the mode of representation of indigenous people in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Latin American literature known as indigenismo—which considers the role assumed by the mestizo and white writers as spokespersons/translators for the Indians—with representations offered by the Indians themselves in the contemporary era. Indigenista literary production is linked to the state's policies of exclusion of the Indians in postcolonial Latin America. The increasing power that indigenous movements have gained since the 1970s in their struggle for autonomy, self-determination, and the defense of their land and cultures has challenged the very essence of the Latin American nation-states and discourses about the Indians. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215 or 216. Conducted in English. Enrollment limited to 15. M. Ortiz. Concentrations.

SP/TH 341. Spanish Theater of the Golden Age. This course focuses on the study of Spanish classical drama of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Reading and critical analysis of selected dramatic works by Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Calderón de la Barca, Miguel de Cervantes, Ana Caro, María de Zayas, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, among others, offer an insight into the totality of the dramatic spectacle of Spanish society during its imperial century. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): one Spanish 200-level literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish/Theater 241 or Spanish 241. Not open to students who have received credit for SP/TH 241 or Spanish 241. Enrollment limited to 20. B. Fra-Molinero. Concentrations.

SPAN 348. Culturas de prostesta. At different times and in different countries, many Hispanic writers, filmmakers, and other artists have felt compelled to create works that confront various types of social injustice. These range from the effects of imperialism to political repression, and often address issues of race, sexuality, gender, and class. In this course students analyze such "texts" within their respective social, political, and historical contexts. Prerequisite(s): one Spanish 200-level literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 245. Enrollment limited to 25. Offered with varying frequency. F. López. Concentrations.   |   Interdisciplinary Programs.

SPAN 360. Independent Study. Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester. Normally offered every semester. Staff. Concentrations.

SPAN 362. Culture in Franco Spain. A study of Spanish history and political ideas from 1936 to the present, starting with historical information about the civil war and an analysis of the rhetoric of both sides. The Franco period is examined through texts of "high culture" (poetry, drama, and the novel) and "popular culture" (films, songs, and newspaper clippings) that express supposedly opposing ideologies. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 262. F. López. Concentrations.

SPAN 366. Fantastic Hispanic Cinema. This course explores the genres of horror and fantasy in recent Spanish-language films by directors from Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Spain, and the United States. It considers how these works represent the supernatural, the diabolical, evil violence, fear, paranoia, and magic; create, perpetuate, and subvert categories of gender, class, race, and sexuality; and adapt and participate in key literary and cinematic genres such as the Gothic, parody, adventure, family drama, magical realism, and science fiction. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 266. Enrollment limited to 20. D. George. Concentrations.

SPAN 368. Galdós and Spanish Society in the Nineteenth Century. This course introduces students to the writings of Benito Pérez Galdós (1843–1920) and his particular vision of late nineteenth-century Spain. Like Cervantes before him, Galdós was an acute observer of his times, and his novels, plays, and essays capture and respond to the social, political, and aesthetic concerns that defined Spanish society at the threshold of the twentieth century. Course readings take account of the variety of literary genres Galdós cultivated throughout his career and are engaged in light of such issues as gender, national identity, religion, history versus fiction, and the social versus aesthetic function of literary works of art. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 268. Enrollment limited to 20. D. George. Concentrations.

SPAN 441. Cervantes. A careful reading and a comprehensive formal and thematic study of Don Quijote. Careful consideration is given to various pieces of Cervantine scholarship. The effects of Don Quijote on the genre of the novel are examined. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 341. B. Fra-Molinero. Concentrations.

SPAN 442. Hybrid Cultures: Latin American Intersections. Latin America is a space of intersections where cultures meet and/or crash. Concepts and experiences used to define, locate, and represent these cultures to each other are continuously modified at the crossings. This course aims to take literary products (novels, essays, short stories, and films) as a cross-section of this phenomenon. Each text identifies multiple oppositions that converge violently, merely scar the individual, or craft a new prism by which we can read the dynamics taking place in these intersections. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 342. Enrollment limited to 20. C. Aburto Guzmán. Concentrations.   |   Interdisciplinary Programs.

SPAN 444. Contemporary Spanish Women Writers. This course uses gender as the main category of analysis. Students explore the impact of gender conventions on the psychological and social dimensions of womanhood by focusing on the detailed textual analysis of novels, plays, short stories, and poems. Authors may include Rosa Montero, Cristina Fernández Cubas, Esther Tusquets, Consuelo García, Carmen Gómez Ojea, and Soledad Puértolas. Prerequsisite(s): one 200-level Spanish literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 344. Instructor permission is required. F. López. Concentrations.   |   Interdisciplinary Programs.

SPAN 445. Twentieth-Century Spanish Drama. A study of the evolution of political ideas and social values in Spain in the twentieth century through an examination of several plays. Interconnected and parallel sociocultural realities are analyzed along with different dramatic tendencies: from "poetic" to social-realist to avant-garde theaters. Authors may include Lorca, Mihura, Buero Vallejo, Sastre, Nieva, Martín Recuerda, and Arrabal. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 345. F. López. Concentrations.

SPAN 447. Guerra Civil or the Good Fight? The Spanish Civil War is not only an important historical landmark, but also the main theme of a myriad of literary and filmic narratives produced since the establishment of democracy in Spain. The increasing popularity of fictional representations of this armed conflict, its political antecedent (Segunda República), and its consequence (el régimen de Francisco Franco), seems to point to a cultural need in democratic Spain—the need for origins. What is the role of these narratives? What do they say about the roots of Spanish democratic traditions? How do they negotiate conflict? What type of Spain do they propose? Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 347. Enrollment limited to 15. F. López. Concentrations.

SPAN 449. Identity Discourses in Contemporary Latin America. This course examines Latin American intellectuals' responses to contemporary issues that directly affect regional identities. Readings include essays and fictional narratives that address (but are not limited to) topics such as modernity versus postmodernity in Latin America, neoliberalism and "pink" left ideologies, mega- and edge-city tensions, transculturation, and migration. Prerequisite(s): History 181, Politics 249, or one 200-level Spanish literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 349. C. Aburto Guzmán. Concentrations.

SPAN 454. Revolución en el cine. The late 1960s is recognized as a period of diverse and ill-fated revolutions and revolutionaries. From the 1967 assassination of Che Guevara to the 1968 invasion of Prague onward, film has been used to represent heroes, martyrs, and the circumstances surrounding these events. More recently, a variety of cinematographers have produced films as acts of dissidence, presenting a counter-discourse to the hegemonic collage of prevailing capitalistic values. In this course students examine film as a tool of revolutionary negotiation. They analyze the transformation and regional adaptations of representations of dissidence since the 1960s, and they look at early revolutionary creativity within the genre as well as the social functions adopted by Third Cinema. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 354. D. George, C. Aburto Guzmán. Concentrations.

SPAN 457. Senior Thesis. Research leading to writing of the senior thesis. Students participate in a limited number of group meetings, plus individual conferences. Students register for Spanish 457 in the fall semester and for Spanish 458 in the winter semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both Spanish 457 and 458. A detailed outline and bibliography must be approved by the department. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.

SPAN 457, 458. Senior Thesis. Research leading to writing of the senior thesis. Students participate in a limited number of group meetings, plus individual conferences. Students register for Spanish 457 in the fall semester and for Spanish 458 in the winter semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both Spanish 457 and 458. A detailed outline and bibliography must be approved by the department. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.

SPAN 458. Senior Thesis. Research leading to writing of the senior thesis. Students participate in a limited number of group meetings, plus individual conferences. Students register for Spanish 458 in the winter semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both Spanish 457 and 458. A detailed outline and bibliography must be approved by the department. [W3] Normally offered every year. Staff.

SPAN 465. Special Topics. Designed for the small seminar group of students who may have particular interests in areas of study that go beyond the regular course offerings. Periodic conferences and papers are required. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 365. Instructor permission is required. Staff.

SPAN 490F. La diaspora afrohispanica. The 500-year presence of Afrodescendants in the Spanish-speaking world has produced a significant body of literature by blacks and about blacks. Spanish America was the main destination of the African diaspora. Afro-Hispanic writers attest to the struggle for freedom and the abolition of slavery. Their literature shows how the participation of blacks in the wars of Latin American independence was a struggle for their emancipation. Afro-Hispanic writers in Spain, the Americas, and Africa use their art and ideas to address the postnational migrations of the twenty-first century, a diaspora that has not ceased. This course is conducted in Spanish but meets jointly, once a week, in English, with African American Studies 390F. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish literature course. Not open to students who have received credit for African American Studies 390F or Spanish 390F. B. Fra-Molinero. Concentrations.

Short Term Courses

SPAN s29. Cinema in Spain. This unit traces the evolution of Spanish cinema from the introduction of the cinematógrafo in 1896 to the Oscar-winning films of Trueba and Almódovar of the 1990s. The study of cinema as popular entertainment, political propaganda, and as a medium for intellectual experimentation and social and political contestation draws attention to the role those working in the film industry, or at its margins, have played in shaping Spanish culture and society in the twentieth century. Particular attention is given to film genre and narrative technique, and to such theoretical concepts as national cinema, studio systems, the auteur, and gender and sexuality. Recommended background: Spanish 202. D. George. Concentrations.

SPAN s30. Escritura creativa: Cuento. This unit combines reading and intensive writing. Students read carefully selected short stories in order to gain an understanding of the genre and to apply what they learn to their own craft. The focus is on the fundamentals of short fiction writing: structure, plot, voice, point of view, description, and dialogue. Class meetings follow a workshop format, with writing exercises, class discussions, and in-depth critique of students' writing. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish literature course. Enrollment limited to 15. F. López. Concentrations.

SPAN s31. The Spain of Pedro Almodóvar. The films of Pedro Almodóvar dating from 1980 to 2006 consistently present a Spanish society in which the local and the global interconnect in complex ways. Through a hybrid genre that incorporates elements of comedy, melodrama, and thriller, Almodóvar offers a view of Spain in which individual and collective identities are permeable and continuously shaped and reshaped by global and local influences. Almodóvar's films are the primary objects of analysis in this unit. Readings on the films' historical and cultural contexts complement students' understanding of Spain through Almodóvar's work. Recommended background: Spanish 362. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level literature course in Spanish or Spanish 208. F. López. Concentrations.

SPAN s50. Independent Study. Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term. Normally offered every year. Staff.