Hispanic Studies

Professor Fra-Molinero; Associate Professors Aburto Guzmán, George, and Pridgeon (chair)

Spanish is a cross-national and global language. It is the second language of the United States, and the first language of over 400 million people in Latin America, Europe, and Africa. It is a vehicle for myriad cultural expressions that find audiences far beyond its traditional trans-Atlantic axis to Asia and the Pacific, and it has given voice to struggles for social justice that have echoed around the world.

The Department of Hispanic Studies responds to the cultural richness and diversity of the people who speak Spanish as well as to the obligations and opportunities of a globalized world through a threefold mission:

1. Enable students to acquire a strong and useful proficiency in Spanish that allows them to navigate cultural spaces in which over 400 million people interact worldwide;
2. Foster the development of interpretative skills and contextual knowledge to engage critically with a broad range of cultural productions originating in the Spanish-speaking world;
3. Contribute to the study of the humanities through a curriculum of courses taught in Spanish that includes studies of Latin American, Spanish, and U.S. Latinx literature, media, and visual arts, covering an array of historical periods and informed by diverse and varied theoretical approaches.

More information is available on the Hispanic Studies department website.