Catalog of Courses for Spanish, Italian & Portuguese
Introduction to speaking, understanding, reading, and writing Italian. Five class hours and one language laboratory hour. Followed by ITAL 1020.
This intensive course begins with instruction in basic oral expression, listening comprehension, elementary reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills at the intermediate level. Part of the Summer Language Institute.
Continuation of ITAL 1010. Prerequisite: ITAL 1010.
This intensive course begins with instruction in basic oral expression, listening comprehension, elementary reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills at the intermediate level. Part of the Summer Language Institute. Prerequisites: ITAL 1016 or equavalent.
This is the non-credit option for ITAL 1016.
This is the non-credit option for ITAL 1026.
Continued grammar, conversation, composition, readings, and an introduction to Italian literature. Prerequisite: ITAL 1020 or the equivalent. Note: The following courses have the prerequisite ITAL 2010, 2020, or permission of the department.
This intensive course begins with instruction in intermediate level oral expression, listening comprehension, reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills. Part of the Summer Language Institute. Prerequisites: ITAL 1016 & 1026 or equivalent.
Continuation of ITAL 2010.
This intensive course begins with instruction in intermediate level oral expression, listening comprehension, reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills. Part of the Summer Language Institute. Prerequisite: ITAL 1016 , 1026 and 2016 or equivalent.
This is the fourth class in the four-course sequence that fulfills the language requirement with modules on issues applicable to the work context. Films, TV series and articles from Italian newspapers will help students to learn more about the Italian society of the new millennium and strengthen their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills at a high intermediate level appropriate for an intercultural professional environment.
This is the non-credit option for ITAL 2016.
This is the non-credit option for ITAL 2026.
Includes idiomatic Italian conversation and composition, anthological readings of literary texts in Italian, plus a variety of oral exercises including presentations, skits, and debates. Italian composition is emphasized through writing assignments and selective review of the fine points of grammar and syntax. Prerequisite: ITAL 2020.
Emphasis is placed on conversation, as well as composition and vocabulary. Students attending this class will deepen their knowledge of Italian culture and society, with a special focus on socio-cultural debates concerning politics, migration and gender issues. This course is designed with a series of activities focused on experiential learning to achieve fluency in Italian through real-life situations. Prerequisite: ITAL2020.
In this course, we will explore how major works of literature for children, from Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio, to the poetry of Gianni Rodari, reflect changing views of childhood and parenting in Italy. Students will learn how children's literature of the 19th-century helped to create an Italian national identity. We will also examine how new media inventions changed story time for children in Italy. Prerequisite: ITAL 3010
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Italian.
Novella (Italian Short Narrative)
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Italian.
The Colloquium allows DMPs in Italian Studies to meet regularly with the DMP coordinator to discuss research strategies, documentation styles, and structure and style in extended expository writing as they are working independently on a thesis. It also provides a forum for presenting and discussing work-in-progress. Prerequisite: Acceptance in DMP.
Distinguished majors in Italian Studies will meet individually with their thesis advisors to discuss progress and revise drafts of their theses. At the end of the semester, they will present the results of their research in a public forum.
Independent Study
Focuses on masterpieces of Florence's three luminaries: Dante's Commedia, Boccaccio's Decameron, and Petrarch's Rime sparse and the critical traditions surrounding these works. Prerequisite: permission of instructor if student does not know Italian
A thorough survey of Humanistic culture and literature; Petrarchism; Machiavelli and surroundings; and the birth of epic (Ariosto and Tasso).
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics with the subject of Italian.
Studies Manierismo in poetry and prose; the birth of Italian theater; and major authors of the Enlightenment (Parini and Alfieri).
This graduate course discusses texts belonging to the Italian Avan-garde and Modernist periods. Prerequisites: Reading knowledge of Italian.
This course provides graduate students teaching foreign languages at UVA with the opportunity to observe and apply new ideas and teaching principles through practical activities and to develop their own personal theories of teaching through systematic reflection and experimentation.
This course is a monographic study of Ludovico Ariosto's masterpiece, Orlando furioso. Will read this epic-chivalric poem, place it in the cultural context of the Italian Renaissance and discuss the major critical issues it continues to pose. Prerequisite: knowledge of Italian
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics with the subject of Italian.
Required of all teaching assistants; not part of the curricular credit requirement for the M.A. in Italian.
Close reading of Dante's masterpiece, The Inferno. Lectures focus on Dante's social, political, and cultural world. Incorporates The World of Dante: A Hypermedia Archive for the Study of the Inferno, and a pedagogical and research website (www.iath.virginia/dante), that offers a wide range of visual material related to The Inferno.
This course uses the medium of film to discuss the developments in Italian culture and history over a period of one hundred years, from 1860 to 1960.
Michelangelo's name conjures genius and a nearly superhuman achievement in the arts. Contemporaries elevated him as the supreme sculptor, painter, and architect of his age. This course examines Michelangelo's creativity in all these media as well as his poetry and letters. The course investigates the extraordinary achievements of this Renaissance luminary through close analysis of his works, secondary studies, and contemporary reinventions.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics with the subject of Italian in Translation.
This course focuses on the literary and cultural traditions that inform treatments of art and artists in the Italian Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Students of this course will study the political theories of Dante, Machiavelli, Beccaria, and Gramsci through a close-reading of each author's major works. We will also examine how their ideas influenced contemporary politics, literature, and the visual arts both in Italy and in the United States. These goals will be accomplished through regular reading assignments, short essays, and presentations.
Following the unification of Italy in 1861, immigrants from that nation began coming to the USA in record numbers. While they arrived in search of better lives, they often faced many challenges. Through it all, their experiences have been documented on film. In this course, we will explore these cinematic representations of Italian Americana.
This course explores how Italian women writers have represented food in their short stories, novels and autobiographies in dialogue with the culture and society from late nineteenth century to the present. These lectures will offer a close reading of the symbolic meaning of food in narrative and the way it intersects with Italian women's socio-cultural history, addressing issues of gender, identity and politics of the body.
This course considers representations of sex, gender and racial identities in Italian films, television, advertisements and other forms of visual culture. With a focus on the contemporary Italian context, students will explore issues of intersectionality from a global perspective. What can Italian critically acclaimed and more mainstream works tell us about diversity and inclusion in the worldwide context?
Organized crime has long fascinated filmmakers from both Italy and the USA. But, how does each country portray this phenomenon and its effects on law, politics, and the individual? What socio-cultural and historical factors explain the different presentations? In this course, we will examine these questions through discussion and analysis of films from Italy and the United States, primary source documents, and novels.
Throughout its storied history, Italian cinema has been most famous for its realism, which reached the height of its influence internationally with the neorealist classics of the mid-twentieth century. However, during the 1950s, filmmakers from the boot-shaped nation began experimenting with fantastical genres, such as horror, science fiction, and fairytale. In this course, we will explore these works and their relationship to media culture. This course will satisfy requirements for either the Italian major or minor.
What does it mean to come of age? How has Italian cinema captured this process throughout its history? How do Italian films about this topic approach some of its more complex and controversial aspects? As the cinema has evolved both culturally and technologically, how has the genre changed? This course will explore these questions by studying how psychologists define the stages of child and adolescent development & how Italian films depict them.
Treats Italian comedy from historic, generic, and theoretical viewpoints; divided into 4 units: 1) medieval comic-realist verse (poetry and song), 2) Renaissance comic theater, including plays by Machiavelli, Ariosto and the Sienese Intronati Academy, 3) the commedia all'italiana film, focusing on cinema by Germi and Monicelli, and 4) modern comic performances by Italians. Special units on Tuscan- and Neapolitan-style humor. Taught in English.
Watch, read, and laugh at performances by Italy's most famous comic stars! Plays, films, and one-man shows form the texts, which include not only modern productions by contemporary masters Roberto Benigni and Dario Fo, but also the comedies of the originator of middle-class Italian humor, Carlo Goldoni. Works of these writers/actors/producers introduce important aspects of Italian literary, performative, and cultural traditions. In ENGLISH.
Dante's Inferno has captivated the imagination of artists as diverse as Botticelli, Milton, Keats, and David Fincher. Artists, writers and filmmakers re-imagine Dante for their own purposes. This course will explore reinventions of Dante's Inferno, the most enduring vision of the afterlife that has ever been created.
This course focuses on the potential narratives have to convey messages that are relevant to our ethical and environmental awareness, and to help us imagine alternatives to existing systems of knowledge and distributions of power. We shall learn about the origins and general objectives of ecocriticism, its relevant theories and methodologies, and various approaches to the notion of sustainability.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Italian in Translation.
Course will investigate marriage as represented on the early modern European stage. Italian, Spanish, French and English plays comprise our subject matter. We'll consider the legal, social, and cultural history of matrimony to background our study of the stageworks; we will analyze scripts and performances to learn how dramatic and theatrical convention intersected w/ marital institution and negotiations, onstage and off. Taught in English.
This course examines the cultural and socio-political transformations that took place in Italy during its recent history. By discussing different cultural artifacts (films, essays, literature), we shall ultimately try to answer the following questions : does Italy still have space for works that resist populist and consumer culture? What are the ethical and political consequences of Italy's present culutral condition? Is there an Italian identity?
Independent study in special field under the direction of a faculty member in Italian.
This course explores canto-by-canto Dante's second realm of the Afterlife. Particular attention will be paid to how various themes and motifs (the phenomenology of love, the relationship between church and state, status of classical antiquity in a Christian universe, Dante's representation of the saved), differ from those explored in the Inferno. Prerequisite: ITTR 2260 or permission of instructor.
This course focuses on the potential narratives have to convey messages that are relevant to our ethical and environmental awareness, and to help us imagine alternatives to existing systems of knowledge and distributions of power. We shall learn about the origins and general objectives of ecocriticism, its relevant theories and methodologies, and various approaches to the notion of sustainability.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics with the subject of Italian in Translation.
Seminar examines the ways dramatic literature and theater from roughly 1500-1800 engaged the institution of marriage. Study of plays, operas and other literary and stage genres from several national traditions (Italian, Spanish, potentially French and English), looking at their mediations of the tumultuous evolution of early modern family formation, in light of legal, social, and cultural history of matrimony.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics with the subject of Italian in Translation.
This class is an introduction to K'iche', a Maya language spoken by about a million people in the western Highlands of Guatemala; it is one of the major indigenous languages in the Americas. This class aims to make students competent in basic conversation and to introduce students to Maya culture. It is offered as part of the UVa-Duke-Vanderbilt consortium for distance learning in less commonly taught languages.
This class is the second part of a year-long introductory sequence to K'iche', a Maya language spoken by about a million people in the western Highlands of Guatemala, and one of the major indigenous languages in the Americas. Students will enrich and expand their conversational skills and cultural knowledge from K'iche' 1010. It is offered as part of the UVa-Duke-Vanderbilt consortium for distance learning in less commonly taught languages. The completion of KICH 1010 with a grade of C- or higher.
This class is the 3rd level of a 4-part sequence in K'iche', a Maya language spoken by a million people in western Guatemala. Here students will cover more advanced grammar (verb modalities), a broader range of scripts (colonial vs. modern orthography), and conduct research based on the K'iche' Oral History project at UNM. The class is offered as part of the UVa-Duke-Vanderbilt consortium for distance learning in LCTLs. The completion of KICH 1010 and 1020 with a grade of C- or higher.
KICH 2020 is the capstone course in a four-part sequence in K'iche', a Maya language spoken by a million people in western Guatemala. Students will build from earlier coursework to write an original essay in the target language, integrating primary and secondary sources like published works and interviews that they conduct. The class is offered as part of the UVa-Duke-Vanderbilt consortium for distance learning in LCTLs. The completion of KICH 1010, 1020 and 2010 with a grade of C- or higher.
An interdisciplinary seminar taught by the faculty of the Latin Americans Studies Program, containing twelve different subjects, from historical, anthropological, literary, political and media studies disciplines.
An interdisciplinary seminar taught by the faculty of the Latin Americans Studies Program, containing twelve different subjects, from historical, anthropological, literary, political and media studies disciplines.
Majors Thesis, Independent Studies
Introduces speaking, understanding, reading and writing Portuguese, especially as used in Brazil. Three class hours and one hour of online homework. Followed by PORT 2120. No prior foreign language experience necessary. Requires instructor permission.
Portuguese 2050 is an accelerated Portuguese language and culture course that condenses two semesters (PORT 1110 and PORT 2120) into one. PORT 2050 is designed specifically for UVA undergraduate and graduate students who already possess an advanced level of fluency in one of the Romance languages. The pedagogical approach to PORT 2050 is both proficiency-oriented and task-based and the class will be conducted completely in Portuguese.
Continued study of Portuguese through readings, vocabulary exercises, oral and written compositions, and grammar review. Prerequisite: PORT 1110 or equivalent.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics within the subject of Portuguese.
Studies advanced grammar through analysis of texts; includes extensive practice in composition and topical conversation. Prerequisite: PORT 2120 or by permission.
Through textual analysis, discussions, and language immersion activities, including podcasts, videos, preparing food, students will gain proficiency in Portuguese, while deepening their appreciation for the rich mosaic of Lusophone cultures. This course will foster critical thinking skills, cultural awareness, and linguistic competence, equipping students with the tools to engage meaningfully with the complexities of the Lusophone world.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics within the subject of Portuguese.
Studies readings from the chief periods of Brazilian and Portuguese literature. Prerequisite: PORT 2120 or by permission.
Studies canonical and popular Brazilian Cultural Production from the beginning of the twentieth-century to the present day.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics within the subject of Portuguese.
Luso-Brazilian Culture Independent Study - Instructor Permission Required
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics within the subject of Portuguese in Translation
This class provides a general overview of film production in Brazil since 1990. We will screen and discuss a variety of documentary and feature-length fiction films, paying special attention to their formal construction and respective portrayals of Brazilian society, particularly as they unfold in a context increasingly marked by globalization and neoliberalism.
Introduces the development of Brazilian culture from 1500 to the present. This course is taught in English and does not fulfill the language requirement.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics within the subject of Portuguese in Translation.
Independent study in special field under the direction of a faculty member in Portuguese.
Independent study in special field under the direction of a faculty member in Portuguese.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics within the subject of Portuguese in Translation.
Develops listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. This combined sequence of courses, SPAN 1010 and 1020, enable students to successfully perform linguistic tasks that allow them to communicate in everyday situations (greeting, narrating, describing, ordering, comparing and contrasting, and apologizing). Five class hours and one laboratory hour. Followed by SPAN 1020. Prerequisite: For students who have not previously studied Spanish.
This intensive course begins with instruction in basic oral expression, listening comprehension, elementary reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills at the intermediate level. Part of the Summer Language Institute.
This course follows SPAN 1010 in the two-semester Elementary Spanish sequence, continuing to develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through engagement with oral and written texts in Spanish and interactive projects. Enables students to perform linguistic tasks that allow them to communicate in highly predictable everyday situations (e.g. expressing basic personal information and needs). Followed by SPAN 2010.
This intensive course begins with instruction in basic oral expression, listening comprehension, elementary reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills at the intermediate level. Part of the Summer Language Institute. Prerequisites: SPAN 1016 or equavalent.
Develops listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through engagement with oral and written texts in Spanish and various interactive projects. Five class hours. Covers the material in SPAN 1010-1020 in an accelerated one semester format. Followed by SPAN 2010. Prerequisite: Previous background in Spanish (1-2 years of high school Spanish) and PLACE diagnostic score of 1.0-3.0, UVA placement diagnostic score of 0-325 (prior to May 2022), or SAT II score of 420-510.
This is the non-credit option for SPAN 1016.
This is the non-credit option for SPAN 1026.
SPAN 160 is a non-credit elementary-level Spanish course, consisting of 6 online modules and activities, designed for students with the equivalent of 1-2 years of high school Spanish or an initial placement into SPAN 1060. The goal of this course is to prepare students to enter Intermediate Spanish (SPAN 2010), through reading, writing, speaking, and listening practice, as well as review of appropriate vocabulary and structures.
Further develops listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through engagement with authentic, culturally rich oral and written texts in Spanish. Enables students to perform linguistic tasks that allow them to communicate in everyday situations (e.g., narrating present and past activities and expressing desires and requests), and to express personal meaning by creating with the language. Three class hours. Followed by SPAN 2020. Passing grade in SPAN 1020 or 1060; PLACE diagnostic score of 3.25-4.0; UVA placement diagnostic score of 326-409 (prior to May 2022); SAT II score of 520-590; or permission of the department.
This intensive course begins with instruction in intermediate level oral expression, listening comprehension, reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills. Part of the Summer Language Institute. Prerequisites: SPAN 1016 & 1026 or equivalent.
Further develops listening, speaking, reading and writing skills through engagement with authentic, culturally rich oral and written texts in Spanish. Enables students to perform linguistic tasks that allow them to communicate in everyday situations with some complications (e.g., describing present, past and future activities, expressing opinions, and persuading), and to express personal meaning by creating with the language. Three class hours. Prerequisite: Passing grade in SPAN 2010; PLACE diagnostic score of 4.25-5.0; UVA placement diagnostic score of 410-535 (prior to May 2022); SAT II score of 600-640; IB Spanish B HL exam score of 5 or 6; or permission of the department.
This intensive course begins with instruction in intermediate level oral expression, listening comprehension, reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills. Part of the Summer Language Institute. Prerequisites: SPAN 1016 , 1026 and 2016 or equivalent.
A supervised internship fort students interested in the health care professions and sociology as a complement to SPAN 2020 during the UVa Summer Spanish program. The latter includes health care, education, and other social services like social security and old age benefits. Final research paper required
This is the non-credit option for SPAN 2016.
This is the non-credit option for SPAN 2026.
An introduction to the sound system of both Peninsular & Latin Am Spanish. Class discussions focus on how the sounds of Spanish are produced from an articulatory point of view, and how these sounds are organized & represented in the linguistic competence of their speakers. When appropriate, comparisons will be made between Spanish & English or Spanish & other (Romance & non-Romance) languages. Course seeks to improve the student's pronunciation. Pre-requisites SPAN 2020 or equivalent (it can be taken simultaneously with SPAN 3010).
This course seeks to develop advanced literacy in Spanish through extensive reading, writing, analysis, and discussion of authentic literary texts and videos. Emphasis is placed on how grammatical forms codify meaning and how grammar and meaning interact to construct the language and textual structure expected in the following academic genres: the critical review, the persuasive essay, and the research paper.
Provides students a recognition of the language skills and linguistic cultures they bring with them. Second, work with thematic resources and practice of 'standardized' syntax, discipline-specific discourse, and rhetorical registers in writing and speech, combined with a review of grammar and of syntactic norms of Spanish will reinforce students' expressive abilities and confidence using the language in various contexts. Requisite: SPAN 2020.
SPAN 3020 seeks to develop advanced literacy in Spanish through extensive analysis and discussion of literary and journalistic texts, as well as documentaries and films from the Spanish-speaking world. We will also focus on students' acquisition of advanced grammatical structures and on how grammar and meaning interact to develop and consolidate the linguistic and textual tools needed to produce an op-ed, a literary review, and an academic essay.
An interactive course designed to help students build fluency in spoken Spanish. Created for Spanish majors and minors, the course encourages students to strengthen communication skills through discussions, creative projects, and real-world engagement. Students will explore the cultures of Spain, Latin America, and the Caribbean by analyzing film, visual and plastic arts, performance, graphic novels, and visual poetry.
Conversation course whose subject matter is Latin American cinema. Films will be discussed in the context of the history and culture of various countries. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3 credits of 3400-3430
"This is conversation course in Spanish, with a focus on Spanish film. It is closed to native and heritage speakers, and to students who have had a conversation course already; instructor permission required. Students will improve vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, and pronunciation. Class participation is essential. Quizzes, daily activities, short written paper, oral final exam. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement."
SPAN 3040 is a Language for the Professions course intended for students with interest in Business and Economy related fields. Upon completion of this course, students will have acquired the vocabulary and the intercultural competence that will allow them to comfortably and successfully participate in professional settings in Spanish. International students that are native speakers of Spanish are ineligible to take the course.
This course is designed for students planning to work in the health care field and who want to develop fundamental written and oral skills and vocabulary for the assessment of Spanish speaking patients in a variety of settings. Students will gain familiarity with non-technical and semi-technical functional vocabulary, along with idiomatic expressions and situational phrases that are used in medical Spanish.
Have you ever wondered what kinds of change could you enact with more proficient Spanish writing skills? SPAN 3060 is an advanced community-based language learning course in which you will have the opportunity to grapple with advanced writing skills while you read and discuss selected works by representative Latin American authors that have used writing as a tool for social justice and change, and you participate in a community project.
SPAN 3070 is a community-based language learning course in which students will volunteer as bilingual tutors for local k-12 students. Through community work, discussions of podcasts, documentaries and testimonials, and conversations with guest speakers, we will reflect on the importance of education as the foundation to build more fair, inclusive, and equitable societies, and how this is manifested in the local and broader Spanish speaking world.
This course provides an introduction to core areas of linguistic analysis using Spanish. Areas covered include sounds of Spanish (phonetics & phonology), word formation (morphology), sentence structure (syntax), meaning of words, phrases, sentences, & larger chunks of discourse, also in social context (semantics & pragmatics), history of the Spanish language, regional & social variation (dialectology & sociolinguistics), & language acquisition. Pre-requisites SPAN 2020 or equivalent (it can be taken simultaneously with SPAN 3010).
In this course we will be covering a variety of basic approaches to literary texts that enable us to analyze & understand them better. The course will be organized on the basis of literary genre (narrative, theater, poetry, etc.), with a portion of the semester dedicated to each. Short texts in Spanish for readings will be drawn from both Spanish & Latin Am literature, and from a range of time periods. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 or dept. placement.
This course will explore medieval and early modern works written in Castilian from El Cid to Calderón's theater. We will focus on the function of these literary texts in the European and Mediterranean context. Taught in Spanish. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement. Exclude Spanish majors on their 4th year.
This course focuses on the emergence and consolidation of modernity in Spain from the eighteenth century to the present. Readings and discussions of representative literary and artistic movements of modern Spain, including the Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism, Naturalism, the Avant Garde, Modernism, and Postmodernism in terms of their historical, intellectual, artistic and cultural contexts. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement. Spanish 4th year majors are excluded from taking this course
Introduces students to the expressions and experiences of people in the early Americas. By studying primary source materials, students will enrich their knowledge of the colonial period while further developing methods of historical and literary analysis. By the end of the course, students will be able to close read primary sources, situate them within specific historical contexts, and explain their analysis in spoken and written Spanish.
This course provides students with a survey of Latin American literature and the context in which it developed from 1800 to the present. This course will cover how the region's cultural production has been shaped by its cultures, peoples, and historical events, the consciousness, memory, and imagination expressed within the region's literature, and how the region's representation has been shaped by who has (and has not) had access to literature.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics within the subject of Spanish. Prerequisite:SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
This course provides a Spanish-language theoretical approach to the history of the American continent as a whole, focused on the role of imperialism, colonialism, and racial capitalism on the development of North American, Latin American, and Caribbean identities. The seminar is offered to a class composed by a half roster of UVA Spanish students and a half roster of non-UVA affiliated members of the Charlottesville Spanish-speaking community.
"Lost & Found in Translation" offers an introduction to the "art" of translation, both in practice and theory. Throughout the semester students participate in a series of workshops, collaborating on translations of texts of different genres, from multiple time periods and countries through in-depth readings and discussions, translation activities from Spanish to English and vice versa. This is a dynamic, interactive, inter-disciplinary course. Prerequisites: SPAN 3300, and highly recommended one survey of literature and culture (SPAN 3400-3430).
This course is designed to prepare students for careers in international business by introducing them to business practices, trade organizations, and financial institutions in the Spanish-speaking world. A secondary goal is to help students attain a more sophisticated level of speaking and writing in Spanish, through readings, discussion, and written assignments in Spanish.
The main objectives of the course are: (1) to offer the student an introduction to the development of Spanish, focusing on the major changes from Latin to Spanish through the study of historical grammar; (2) to explain the irregularities of Modern Spanish grammar; (3) to facilitate the reading Old Spanish. Prerequisite: SPAN 3200 and 3010, or 3000 and 3010, or departmental placement.
This course examines the Spanish language within its social context by exploring--among others--the following topics: 1) language versus dialect; 2) the standard language; 3) linguistic variation and its main variables: geography, style, gender, age, etc.; 4) language acquisition as a social process; 5) language variation and language change. Taught in Spanish.
This is an advanced introduction to the study of fundamental aspects of the sound and grammatical systems of the Spanish language. The course will start by analyzing present-day (syllable, word and phrase) structures of the language and it will progress toward a more detailed examination of some of the linguistic processes and changes involved in the development of those structures. Prior coursework in linguistics is expected. Pre-requisites: SPAN 3000 Sounds of Spanish and SPAN 3200 A Linguistic Overview of Spanish.
The course examines the development of the Spanish language through texts produced from the Middle Ages to the present day. The main goal will be the interpretation of individual texts as a source of linguistic data and the analysis of language in its cultural, social and historical context. Including texts from Latin American and Spain, the commentary will cover the analysis of phonological, grammatical and lexical aspects.
Study of major Latin American women writers from 1900 to the present, including poets, essayists, playwrights, and fiction writers. Discussion will focus on the literary representation of issues related to gender and culture. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
This course offers an overview of Borges' short stories and some essays and poems. The aim is to present Borges as dominating the great shift in literary sensibility in Spanish America in the 1940s, his influence on the 'Boom' and the relevance of his work to the notions of Modernism and Post-modernism in the Anglo-Saxon sense. The course will attempt to cover not only the thematics of Borges' main works but also his innovations in technique. Study of major literary works from the 20th and 21st centuries by Mexican authors, including poetry, fiction, essay and/or theatre. Discussion will focus on literary representation, historical and gender issues relevant to this period in Mexican society. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement
Contemporary Latin-American Short Fiction Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
Surveys the literature of early modern Spain (ca 1500 -- ca 1700), covering poetry, narrative, and drama, attending to both major canonical figures and marginalized authors, including those racialized as people of color and gendered as non-male.
Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
This course for advanced undergraduates offers a critical examination of trends in the cultural production of Spain during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Students will engage in discussions on topics such as nation, class, race, and gender. Course materials may include Spanish narrative fiction, poetry, drama, ephemera, print media as well as sonic and visual culture.
This course for advanced undergraduates offers a critical examination of trends in the cultural production of Spain during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Course materials may include Spanish narrative fiction, comics, poetry, drama, film and television.
The purpose of this course is to help the student read and understand poetry in Spanish. By approaching the works of relevant Spanish and Latin American poets from different perspectives, the student will become more familiar with poetry in Spanish. Part of the course is dedicated to introducing the student into the creative mood of literature by doing some poetry translating.
Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
A landscape through the history of Romanticism in Europe, with special focus on English, German, Italian and Spanish literature. The course aims to introduce students to the history and art of the 19th century through poetry and imagination. Therefore, it has been declared as a TECH-FREE COURSE with the permission of the Spanish, Italian and Portuguese department. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement
Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement; instructor permission.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics within the subject of Spanish. Prerequisite:SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
Explores the relationship between literature and film. Students will explore Spanish novels, short stories, and plays and their cinematic adaptations as well as be introduced to film, language and theory. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
Examines writings by women authors of Spain and Latin America, using the texts as a basis for studying the evolving roles and paradigms of women in these societies. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement
In this course we will read extensively from the poetry of the three most famous women poets of Latin America in the twentieth century: Uruguay's Delmira Agustini, Argentina's Alfonsina Storni, and Chile's Gabriela Mistral, the first Latin American to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement
This course is a survey of the history and literature of the African diaspora in Latin America from the Caribbean, Mexico, and the Rio de la Plata to the 'Latin American' cities of New York and Miami.
Explores the historical, cultural, and linguistic analysis of Indigenous Mesoamerican literatures, especially the Maya K'iche' narrative Popol Wuj. Includes use of DH tools like text encoding, mapping, and modeling. The course blends traditional literary analysis and project-based collaborative learning with Maya scholars abroad.
This course focuses on the major political events in the history of Spain, from 1900 to the present, as well as on the study of the most important Spanish artistic movements, and their most relevant contemporary representatives, in the fields of music, painting, architecture, and dance. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
An introduction to Islam and the cultural history of al- Andalus (Islamic Iberia) from 711 until the expulsion of the Morsicos from early modern Spain in 1609. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
Introduction to Spanish mass means of communication. Study of the mechanisms used, and media's sociological importance. Special emphasis on radio and television.
The Spanish tradition after Goya and the cultural atmosphere of the 19th century. The formation of Picasso and the different periods of his work. Iconographic problems. The creation of "Guernica".
This course studies the main art works produced in the 19th and 20th centuries: Goya, Picasso, Dalí, Miró, Tapies, Chillida, Villanueva, Gaudí and Calatrava will be contemplated from an eminently cultural view. In addition to analyzing the different productions from a technical viewpoint, they will serve as models to understand social and cultural trends of the period.
Latin American Culture and Civilization
Examines Spanish attempts to understand and figure the Americas, as well as American indigenous reactions to them. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement
In this course we will study diaries and accounts of travelers in Latin America since the first European got in contact with the continent for the first time What did they see? What did they want to see? How did the describe it? How much influence their account had in the construction of continental imaginary. We will start with el Diario of Christopher Columbus, and finish with some diaries of today. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement
The aim of this course is to study Cuban films in the context of Cuba's history and culture. The course will include the viewing of films outside the classroom (roughly one a week), readings about the films, history, and culture. Please note that out-of-class preparation and the reading load will be significant. The format of the class will be lecture/discussion with a strong emphasis on class participation. Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.
Fully immersive living experience in Spanish, with daily active participation in weekly events.
The 19th century was a century of great commotions and contrasts in both Americas. The vast territories of the Spanish and English Crowns saw the birth of new republics that achieved independence at the beginning of the century. The tasks of construction these new countries were numerous, beginning with the creation of national identities.
The Colloquium allows DMPs in Spanish to meet regularly with the DMP coordinator to discuss research strategies, documentation styles, and structure and style in extended expository writing as they are working independently on a thesis. It also provides a forum for presenting and discussing work-in-progress. Pre-requisite: Acceptance in DMP
Distinguished majors in Spanish will meet individually with their thesis advisors to discuss progress and revise drafts of their theses. At the end of the semester, they will present the results of their research in a public forum.
Prerequisite: instructor permission.
Studies the major texts, authors, and literary trends of the Spanish Middle Ages and early Renaissance.
Studies the major texts, authors, and literary trends of the Spanish Golden Age.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Spanish.
Studies the major texts, authors, and literary trends of the second half of the Spanish nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries.
Studies the non-literary achievements of Spain from pre-Roman times to the present. Includes a survey of the socio-political history, the art, architecture, music, philosophy, and folklore of Spain, defining the essential characteristics of Spanish civilization.
Studies the major texts, authors, and literary trends of the Spanish twentieth century.
Studies the major texts, authors, and literary trends of Spanish America up to 1800.
Studies the major texts, authors, and literary trends of Spanish America in the nineteenth century.
Studies the major texts, authors, and literary trends of Spanish America in the twentieth century.
This course is taught by two of the most distinguished and exciting writers in the Spanish-speaking world today, with extensive experience giving writing workshops. It is dedicated to creative writing (short stories), emphasizing creative, and suggesting ways to initiate the creative process. Students need to have a good command of the Spanish Language, at 4000 level or similar. Undergraduate as well as graduate students are welcome.
Spanish 7040 offers an introduction to the craft of literary translation.
Studies the modern theories of literary criticism, including formalism, structuralism, semiotics, and the application of theory to major Spanish authors.
The development of the Spanish language from its origins.
Golden Age Prose, Non-Picaresque
The course explores the origins and nature of picaresque narrative in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain, beginning with works like La Lozana andaluza and Lazarillo de Tormes,following through with Guzmán de Alfarache, El Buscón, Estebanillo González, and the picaresque in Cervantes.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Spanish.
Realism and Naturalism: The Novel
Generation of 1927
Literature and the Civil War
Colonial Spanish American Literature
Nineteenth-Century Spanish-American Literature
Spanish-American Fiction
Themes and Genres
Regional Literature
This required course prepares students to submit their Second Year Portfolio. Students will receive guidance from the tenure-track instructor and peer mentoring from classmates in preparation of the Portfolio, which is due on April 30 of year 2. The Portfolio will be assessed using an established rubric available on the Spanish Graduate Program website.
Covers modern teaching methodologies, trends in second language acquisition, and intercultural competence. Participants will shadow language instructors, observe, and engage in practical activities such as creating instructional materials, lesson planning, and assessment design. Also explores teaching methods for content courses, crafting Teaching Statements, and preparing students for various teaching contexts and their professional careers.
Seminars: Middle Ages and Early Renaissance
Seminars: Golden Age
Seminars: Golden Age
Seminars: Modern Spanish Literature
Seminars: Spanish America: Modern Period
Graduate students develop the Comprehensive Exam Portfolio required for the PhD in Spanish and defend its contents in an oral exam.
Graduate students develop the Dissertation Proposal required for the PhD in Spanish and defend it before their dissertation committee.
Readings and/or research in particular fields under the supervision of an instructor.
For master's thesis, taken under the supervision of a thesis director.
Readings and/or research in particular fields under the supervision of an instructor.
For doctoral research, taken before a dissertation director has been selected.
For doctoral dissertation, taken under the supervision of a dissertation director.
In this class, we will read Miguel de Cervantes's masterpiece Don Quixote de la Mancha in its entirety.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics with the subject of Spanish in Translation.
In this seminar, we will study the centuries long 'conversations' between North American and Spanish American writers. Principally through short stories and some novels, we will examine their mutual fascination. Our reading list will include works by Edgar Allan Poe, Ambrose Bierce, Horacio Quiroga, John Reed, Mariano Azuela, William Faulkner, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes, Margaret Atwood, Manuel Puig