Spanish and PortugueseSpanish 115
Spanish for the Medical Professions, Elementary I
Staff
MW 6-8:30
Spanish 115 is a first-semester elementary Medical Spanish Language course and the first in the Spanish for Medical Professions sequence. It is designed for students with no prior coursework in Spanish. This course teaches beginning students the fundamentals of practical Spanish with an emphasis on medical situations and basic medical terminology. In this course, particular attention will be given to developing speaking and listening skills, as well as cultural awareness. It incorporates activities, vocabulary, and readings of particular interest to healthcare practitioners, while adhering to the goals and scope of Spanish 110, the first-semester Spanish language course.
Students who have previously studied Spanish must take the online placement examination.
Prerequisites: A score below 380 on the SAT II or below 285 on the online placement examination
Spanish 120
Elementary Spanish II
Staff
(See Timetables for times)
Spanish 120, the continuation of Spanish 110, is a second-semester elementary Spanish course. This course emphasizes the development of foundational reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills while exploring the rich cultural mosaic of the Spanish-speaking world. Students will participate in pair, small-group and whole-class activities that focus on meaningful and accurate communication skills in the target language.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Spanish 110 or permission of the course coordinator
Spanish 121
Elementary Spanish I and II: Advanced Beginners
Staff
MTWRF 12-1
Spanish 121 is designed for students who have some prior experience in Spanish. It is an intensive elementary-level language course which in one semester covers the material studied over two semesters in Spanish 110 and Spanish 120. The course provides a quick-paced review of material normally covered in a first semester Spanish course and then proceeds to introduce new material so students will be prepared to take Spanish 130 during the subsequent semester.
As in other Spanish courses, Spanish 121 emphasizes the development of foundational reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills while exploring the rich cultural mosaic of the Spanish-speaking world. Students will participate in pair, small-group and whole-class activities that focus on meaningful and accurate communication skills in the target language.
By the end of this course, students will be able to engage in simple conversation on familiar topics, talk about the past and the future, make comparisons, give commands, describe people and things in increasing detail, etc. Students will also develop reading and listening skills that will allow them to understand simple articles in Spanish as well as pick out pertinent information when listening to a native speaker.
Prerequisites: A score of 380-440 on the SAT II or 285-383 on the online placement examination
Spanish 125
Spanish for the Medical Professions, Elementary II
Staff
MW 6-8:30
Spanish 125 is a second-semester elementary Medical Spanish Language that continues to develop the fundamentals of practical Spanish, with a special focus on medical situations and basic medical terminology. In this course, particular attention will be given to developing speaking and listening skills, as well as cultural awareness. Students will be expected to participate in classroom activities such as role-plays based on typical office and emergency procedures in order to develop meaningful and accurate communication skills in the target language.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Spanish 110 or 115 or a score of 380-440 on the SAT II or 285-383 on the online placement examination
Spanish 130
Intermediate Spanish I
Staff
(See Timetables for times)
Spanish 130 is a first-semester intermediate-level language course that emphasizes the development of the four basic skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) within a culturally based context. Class time will focus on communicative activities that combine grammatical concepts, relevant vocabulary, and cultural themes. Students will participate in pair, small group and whole-class activities to practice linguistics skills in meaningful contexts. Major course goals include: the acquisition of intermediate-level vocabulary, the controlled use of the past tense, and the development of writing skills at a paragraph level with transitions.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Spanish 112, 120, 121 or 125 or a score of 450-540 on the SAT II or 384-453 on the online placement examination
Spanish 134
Intermediate Spanish I and II: Accelerated
Staff
MWF 9-10, TR 9-10:30
Spanish 134 is an intensive intermediate-level language course that covers the material presented in Spanish 130 and Spanish 140. The course emphasizes the development of the four canonical skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) within a culturally based context. Class time will focus on communicative activities that combine grammatical concepts, relevant vocabulary, and cultural themes. Students will participate in pair, small-group and whole-class activities to practice linguistics skills in a meaningful context. Major course goals include: the acquisition of intermediate-level vocabulary, the controlled use of the past tense and major uses of the subjunctive, and the development of writing skills.
During the spring semester, Spanish 134 is limited to those students who have satisfied the language requirement in another language.
Spring semester prerequisites: Permit required from the course coordinator
Spanish 135
Spanish for the Medical Professions, Intermediate I
Staff
TR 6-8
Spanish 135 is a first-semester intermediate-level language course that emphasizes the development of the four basic skills, reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and the acquisition of medical terminology. Students will be expected to participate in classroom activities such as role-playing based on typical doctor/patient interactions as well as other medical situations. Students will also review and acquire other essential tools of communication in the target language applicable both inside and outside the medical field.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Spanish 112, 120, 121 or 125 or a score of 450-540 on the SAT II or 384-453 on the online placement examination
Spanish 140
Intermediate Spanish II
Staff
(See Timetables for times)
Spanish 140, the continuation of Spanish 130, is a fourth-semester language course that offers students an opportunity to acquire communicative skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) while developing their awareness and appreciation of the Spanish-speaking world. Topics studied may include the environment, the arts, social relations, and conflict and violence.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Spanish 130 or 135 or a score of 550-640 on the SAT II or 454-546 on the online placement examination
Spanish 145
Spanish for the Medical Professions, Intermediate II
Staff
TR 6-8
Spanish 145 is a second-semester intermediate level language course that emphasizes the development of reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills within a medical context. Throughout the semester, students will learn about those healthcare issues affecting the Hispanic world. Students will be expected to participate in classroom activities such as communicative activities, role-plays based on typical doctor-patient interactions as well as other medical situations. Students will also review and acquire forms and structures useful both inside and outside the medical field. This course satisfies the language requirement in Spanish.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Spanish 130 or 135 or a score of 550-640 on the SAT II or 454-546 on the online placement examination
Spanish 202
Advanced Spanish
Staff
(See Timetables for times)
The purpose of this course is twofold: (a) to develop students’ communicative abilities in Spanish, that is, speaking, listening, reading and writing, and (b) to increase their awareness and understanding of Hispanic cultures and societies. Homework and classroom activities are designed to help students build their oral proficiency, expand and perfect their knowledge of vocabulary and grammatical structures, improve their reading and writing skills, and develop their critical thinking abilities. The material for this class includes short stories, newspaper articles, poems, songs, cartoons, video clips and a novel, such as Gabriel García Márquez’s Crónica de una muerte anunciada. At the completion of this course students will feel confident discussing and debating a variety of contemporary issues (cultural and religious practices, family relationships, gender stereotypes, political events, immigration to USA, etc.).
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Spanish 140 or equivalent
Spanish 208
Business Spanish I
Staff
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Spanish for Business I provides advanced-level language students with technical vocabulary and communicative skills covering business concepts as they apply to the corporate dynamics of the Spanish-speaking world, with a special emphasis on Latin America. Through readings, presentations, discussions, and video materials, we shall analyze those cultural aspects that characterize the business environment in the region as well as focus on economies and markets in light of their history, politics, resources and pressing international concerns.
Prerequisites: Successful completion of Spanish 140 or equivalent
Spanish 209
Business Spanish II
Staff
TR 3-4:30
Business Spanish II, Advanced Spanish for Business, is specifically designed for advanced speakers of Spanish (e.g., native speakers, fluent heritage speakers, students who have studied in a Spanish speaking country for at least one semester, and/or those who have attained an equivalent level of linguistic competency). Students will take an in-depth look at the corporate dynamics of a number of countries in Latin America, focusing on their economies and markets, as well as on the cultural and business protocols of each region. Through the creation of an entrepreneurial project and the writing of a business plan, students will enhance their business and language skills.
Prerequisites: See description above
Spanish 212
Advanced Spanish Grammar
Staff
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Spanish 212 is a sixth-semester advanced grammar course that emphasizes the acquisition of a solid knowledge of those major points of Spanish grammar. Through discussion and correction of assigned exercises, analysis of authentic readings, and contrastive study of Spanish and English syntax and lexicon, students will develop an awareness of the norms of standard Spanish with the aim of incorporating these features into their own oral and written linguistic production.
Prerequisites: Spanish 202 or equivalent
Spanish 215
Spanish for the Professions I
Staff
TR 1:30-3
Spanish for the Professions is designed to provide advanced-level language students with a wide-ranging technical vocabulary and the enhancement of solid communicative skills within the cultural context of several developing Latin American countries. Focusing on topics such as politics, economy, society, health, environment, education, science and technology, the class will explore the realities and underlying challenges facing Latin America. Through essays, papers, articles, research, discussions, case studies, and videotapes we shall take an in-depth look at the dynamics of Latin American societies. The course will focus on --but not be restricted to-- Mexico, Cuba and Argentina.
Spanish 219
Hispanic Texts and Contexts
Staff
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The primary aim of this course is to develop students' knowledge of the geographical, historical and cultural contexts of the Spanish-speaking world. At the same time that they are introduced to research techniques and materials available in Spanish, students strengthen their language skills through reading, oral presentations, video viewing, and regular writing assignments. The course is designed to give students a broad understanding of Hispanic culture that will prepare them for upper-level course work.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 212.
Spanish 222-401
Dalí, Buñuel and Lorca: The Artistic Identity of Spain Through Three Contemporaries Prof. Fernández
TR 1:30-3
Through the study of Federico García Lorca’s, Salvador Dalí’s and Luis Buñuel’s major works, we will examine the historical and cultural contexts that influenced these three contemporaries’ artistic expressions. Students will gain a better understanding of their diverse work by analyzing the themes and the techniques associated with theater, poetry, painting and film.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 212.
Spanish 223-401
Giants Within Seeds: The Short Story in Latin America
Prof. Pagán Teitelbaum
TR 12-1:30
For Argentinean writer Julio Cortázar, a story is like a seed in which a giant tree "is sleeping." This course traces the evolution of the Latin American short story during the twentieth century and situates the Latin American short story in its literary, historical, and cultural contexts. Based on Mieke Bal's narrative theory, students will engage in close readings and meticulous analysis of the narratives of authors who are considered masters of the Latin American short story. We will read stories by Horacio Quiroga ( Uruguay), one of the founders of modern narrative techniques; the fantastic stories of Jorge Luis Borges ( Argentina); the desolate, psychological stories by Juan Rulfo ( Mexico); stories by Clarice Lispector, a woman writer who is considered one of the greatest Brazilian narrators; and the magical stories by Nobel Prize-Winner Gabriel García Márquez ( Colombia). This course improves the understanding of the changing contexts and esthetics of Latin American short fiction of the twentieth century, and develops conceptual and technical tools for literary and cultural analysis.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 212.
Spanish 223-402
Brazil : History and Culture Throughout Film
Prof. Flores
TR 3-4:30
This seminar will explore Brazilian film production, both documentary and full-feature, in order to point out essential aspects of the history and culture of Brazil. The films will be used as an overture for the discussion of topics such as the colonization of Brazil ( Desmundo, Hans Staden, Carlota Joaquina a Princesa do Brasil), the complex relations between Indigenous peoples, Africans and Europeans in Brazil (Quilombo, Xica da Silva, Brava Gente Brasileira), the struggles during the establishment of the Brazilian nation ( A Guerra de Canudos, Netto Perde Sua Alma), and the relation between Brazil and its Hispanic neighbors ( Anahy de las Misiones, A Guerra do Brasil). This class will be conducted in Spanish and will count toward the Hispanic Studies major and minor, as well as the certificate in Portuguese.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 212.
Spanish 250-601
Major Works in Spanish and Latin American Literature
Prof. Regueiro
MW 5-6:30
From the rise of the novel with Cervantes' Don Quixote in early-modern Spain to the Latin American "boom" with García Márquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude, this course will examine these and other major works in Hispanic literature within the cultural, political, and social context of each period.
Spanish 350-301
Renaissance and Baroque Impersonations
Prof. Fuchs
TR 10:30-12
This course will examine the relations between theatricality and subjectivity in the early modern Hispanic world (16th-17th centuries). We will focus on the representation of characters whose transformations and transgressions lie at the heart of their identities—pícaros, transvestites, renegades—to explore how subjects are categorized, and how those categories are challenged, in the period. Readings will include Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, María de Zayas and others.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219 and one previous course in “Golden Age” or colonial Spanish literature.
Spanish 380-301
Modern Spain
Prof. López
TR 3-4:30
In this course we study the main events, periods and policies that formed contemporary Spain. In the first half of the course we will study the historical conditions, including a review of the constitutional monarchy (1875-1923) and its dissolution in Primo’s dictatorship (1923-1931), followed by the second Republic and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). At this stage we will pay special attention to the international pressures that resulted in the defeat of the Republic followed by the advent of Franco’s dictatorship. The second part of the course concentrates on the study of Franco’s regime (1939-1975) and the transition to democracy (1979) as well as the consolidation of the monarchy and Spain’s integration into Europe.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.
Spanish 380-302
Collective Memory Maps: The Spanish Civil War in the Present
Prof. Nadal-Melsió
MW 2-3:30
Over the last ten years the construction of historical memory has taken center stage in the public debates surrounding the legacy of the Spanish Civil War. The concept of the "lieux de mémoire" poses epistemological as well as political questions that are reshaping the protocols of a constitutional nation that had prematurely decided to forget the past, "el pacto del olvido". To this one should add the silence and exile of the past enforced by forty years of Francoist rule. This course will analyze narratives, archives, films, websites, and other media in order to trace the paradigm shifts of historical memory in contemporary Spain.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.
Spanish 386-301
The Chronicle of an Era: Spanish Post-Civil War Through Literature and Film
Prof. Fernández
TR 12-1:30
In this course, we will study the way authors, playwrights and filmmakers portray Spanish society during the first two decades after the Civil War. When dealing with works created during the years of Franco’s dictatorship, we will examine the role and the influence censorship had on the making of such works. Additionally, we will analyze the different approach post-Franco authors and filmmakers had to the same era when they were not restricted by the censors. We will study works by Camilo José Cela, Carmen Martín Gaite, Ana María Matute, Antonio Buero Vallejo, Alfonso Sastre, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Carlos Saura and Luis García Berlanga, among others.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.
Spanish 386-302
Mad Women in Hispanic Literature and Film
Prof. García-Serrano
MWF 11-12
In this course we shall explore the theme of the madwoman in contemporary Hispanic fiction and film. Our goal is to analyze the representation and exploitation of women suffering from mental illnesses in a multiplicity of genres ranging from historical novels and fantastic literature to detective stories and horror films. We will pay special attention to the variety of political and ideological agendas with which the female icon of “la loca” has been infused. Works and films include: Del amor y otros demonios by Gabriel García Márquez, Delirio by Laura Restrepo, Hipnos by Javier Azpeitia, El fin de la locura by Jorge Volpi, Alas de mariposa by Juanma Bajo Ulloa, and Juana la Loca by Vicente Aranda. Additional readings from a wide range of disciplines (feminism, literary and film theory, psychology and psychoanalysis) will enhance our understanding of these texts and films.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.
Spanish 390
Latin American History and Culture Through 20 th Century Literature
Prof. Salessi
Registration required for Lecture and Recitation
Lecture:
Spanish 390-401 MW 10-11
Recitation: (Register for 1)
Spanish 390-402
Spanish 390-403
Spanish 390-404
(See Timetables for times)
Using an interdisciplinary, multimedia, and comparative approach to study major works of twentieeth century Latin American fiction, the course will offer a broad introduction to Latin America’s geographical and natural landscape, its literature, history, art, music, popular culture, and their imaginary constructions. Authors include Gabriel García Márquez, Juan Rulfo, Alejo Carpentier and Manuel Puig. This choice will help cover broad periods, cultures and natural landscapes, from colonial times to the twentieth century, from Mexico to the Caribbean, and from the northern tip of the South American mainland to the Southern cone of the pampas.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.
Spanish 394-401
Life and Death in Modern Latin American Narrative
Prof. Laddaga
TR 10:30-12
We usually think in life and death as opposites. Modern literature, however, is characterized by the recurrence, in narratives, essays and poems, of the assertion that this seemingly commonsensical belief might not be true. We will follow the different metamorphosis of this assertion in a series of Latin American narrative texts of the last fifty years. We will read texts by, among others, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Clarice Lispector, Sergio Pitol.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.
Spanish 394-402
The Contemporary Spanish American Short Novel
Prof. Knight
MWF 12-1
The second half of the twentieth century has been called the era of the Spanish American novel, and with good reason. This phenomenally creative period gave rise to many works of critical and popular success that have attracted a worldwide readership. This course will present a number of the major creators of this exciting nueva narrativa through their short novels. Authors covered include Arguedas, Carpentier, Ferr é, Fuentes, Garc ía Márquez, Rulfo, Skármeta, Pacheco, and Vargas Llosa. As they progress through the course, students will become familiar with important works of contemporary Spanish American narrative, sharpen their skills for literary analysis, and develop an appreciation for the novella as a genre.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.
Spanish 394-403
A Walk on the Wild Side: Fictions of Crime and Evil in Contemporary Latin American Literature
Prof. Montoya
MWF 1-2
Law, crime and justice are three of the great concerns of Contemporary Latin American societies. The crises of the state –in some countries seized or besieged by transnational mafia’s organizations– the widespread corruption, impunity and the steady privatization of the legal system affect the majority of the continent. Recent Latin American literature explores those topics and shows the way they have fractured the social order and transformed the daily life of women and men in Latin America. In this course we will study the representations of evil, crime and law in a group of contemporary writers such as Roberto Bolaño, Leonardo Padura Fuentes, Fernando Vallejo, and Hector Abad Faciolince, among others.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.
Spanish 396-401
The 20 th Century Transatlantic: Literature and Film in Spain and Latin America
Prof. Gentic
MWF 12-1
This course aims to think together Spanish and Latin American literature and film by examining crises of identity and the “awakenings” they provoke. Beginning with the events surrounding the War of 1898 and ending a century later, we will study individual and social moments of existential, political, emotional, and other crises, addressing themes such as pan-latinism, (post)colonialism, nation, race, gender, and war. We will consider not only the ways in which crisis is represented in poetry, essays, novels, and films, but also the role the works themselves play in reshaping common perceptions of social, political, and psychological norms. Possible authors and directors to be discussed include Unamuno, Ortega, Neruda, Bombal, Cela, Guillén, Borges, Valenzuela, Pizarnik, Gutiérrez Alea, and Guillermo del Toro.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 219.