Practice in oral and written Spanish at the advanced level. Designed to enhance communicative competence, this course will provide an intensive review of advanced grammatical structures within cultural contexts of the Spanish-speaking world. Each section will explore a specific theme through the examination of Hispanic literary texts and the arts, as well as other cultural phenomena. Varied oral interactions, technological applications, and critical writing will be stressed.

Topics for Fall 2024:

Culture, Politics, and Creativity; Instructor: Selimovic

This course studies cultural expressions as invigorating glimpses into socio-political realities of Latin America and Spain. We will explore how writers, film directors, poets, and artists respond to social demands, political changes, and cultural shifts in particular times, places, and communities. Selected works engage students with diverse cultural repertoires of the Hispanic world in interdisciplinary ways. We will spotlight the relationship between political violence and literature in Argentina and Chile; displacement and photography in Spain and Uruguay; domestic workers and film in Mexico and Peru; education and artistic activism in El Salvador and Nicaragua; and exile and poetry in Cuba and Paraguay.

Art with a Cause in Modern Spain; Instructor: Ramos

Artists in Spain have a long tradition of confronting violence and injustice as well as raising awareness, about pressing issues from the effect of wars on civilians to domestic abuse. This class will explore how modern Spanish artists have used their work to comment on and change minds about the thorniest matters of their time. Our analysis will range through many different forms of art, including painting, performance art, photography, graphic novels, film, and popular music.

Topics for Spring 2025:

The Marvelous in Latin American Literature and Culture; Instructor: Guzauskyte

This course explores the intersections between fantasy and reality in literary texts, art, film, cultural events, and digital content from various Spanish-speaking countries (Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, Uruguay, Colombia, Argentina, and Spain). Texts and materials to be studied range from pre-Hispanic indigenous myth and art, to works from colonial and contemporary periods. We will study how societies and individual authors have explored fantasy and imagination in their various forms including myth, fable, magic, superstition, miracle, hallucination, magic realism, and the fantastic. Course materials will include readings, works of art, film, and music. Focus on class discussions, public speaking, and student writing, both critical and creative. Ann E. Maurer '51 Speaking Intensive Course.

Biodiversity and the Arts; Instructor: Staff

This course explores the representation of biological diversity in literature written in Spanish, and in other forms of cultural expression. Through creative writing exercises, short essays, translations, and oral presentations, students will analyze both the conservation efforts to preserve the diversity of plants, animals and ecosystems by cultures of the Americas, and how biological diversity has been central to that region. Course materials will include readings, artwork, movies, and music.

Units: 1

Max Enrollment: 14

Prerequisites: SPAN 201, SPAN 202 or placement by the Department.

Instructor: Guzauskyte, Ramos, Selimovic, Staff

Distribution Requirements: LL - Language and Literature

Typical Periods Offered: Spring; Fall

Semesters Offered this Academic Year: Spring; Fall

Notes: