Courses in Spanish
Fall 2012

[Please see the Directory of Classes for the timetable of courses with multiple sections. Readings, assignments, and class discussion in Spanish unless otherwise noted.]

SPAN 1101x
Elementary Spanish I
(multiple sections)

4 pts. Prerequisites: placement score 0-279 in the department's Placement Examination. An introduction to Spanish communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, witting, and cultural knowledge. Principal objectives are to understand and produce commonly used sentences to satisfy immediate needs; ask and answer questions about personal details such as where we live, people we know and things we have; interact in a simple manner with people who speak clearly, slowly and are ready to cooperate; and understand simple and short written and audiovisual texts in Spanish.

SPAN 1102x
Elementary Spanish II
(multiple sections)

4 pts. Prerequisites: SPAN W1101 or a score of 280-379 in the department's Placement Examination. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, witting and cultural knowledge as a continuation of Spanish W1101. Main objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts.

SPAN 1120x
Comprehensive Beginning Spanish
(multiple sections)

4 pts. Prerequisites: a score below 379 in the department's Placement Examination or some previous exposure to the language. One-term intensive coverage of the contents of SPAN W1101 and SPAN W1102. A student may not receive credit for both SPAN W1120 and the sequence SPAN W1101-SPAN W1102.

SPAN 1201x
Intermediate Spanish I
(multiple sections)

4 pts. Prerequisites: SPAN W1102 or SPAN W1120, or a score of 380-449 in the department's Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing, and culture as a continuation of SPAN W1102 or SPAN W1120.

SPAN 1202x
Intermediate Spanish II
(multiple sections)

4 pts. Prerequisites: SPAN W1201 or a score of 450-624 in the department's Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, witting and culture as a continuation of SPAN W1201.

SPAN 1208x
Spanish for Spanish-Speaking Students

3 pts. Prerequisite: a score of 450-624 (a placement recommendation of SPAN W1202) in the department's Placement Examination and oral fluency in Spanish. Designed for native and non-native Spanish-speaking students who have oral fluency beyond the intermediate level but have had no formal language training. If you place below Spanish W1202 in the placement exam you should follow the placement recommendation received with your test results. If you place above Spanish W1202, you should take Spanish W3300. If in doubt, please consult the Director of the Language Programs.)

SPAN 1220x
Comprehensive Intermediate Spanish
(multiple sections)

4 pts. Prerequisites: SPAN W1102 or SPAN W1120, or a score of 380-624 in the department's Placement Examination. One-term intensive coverage of the contents of SPAN W1201 and SPAN W1202. A student may not receive credit for both SPAN W1220 and the sequence SPAN W1201-SPAN W1202 or the equivalent Barnard sequence SPAN BC1203-SPAN BC1204.

SPAN W3300x
Advanced Language through Content
(descriptions of individual sections)

3 pts. Prerequisites: Fulfillment of the language requirement. An intensive exposure to advanced points of Spanish grammar and structure through written and oral practice, along with an introduction to the basic principles of academic composition in Spanish. Each section is based on the exploration of an ample theme that serves as the organizing principle for the work done in class. This course is required for the major and the concentration in Hispanic Studies.

SPAN W3330x
Introduction to the Study of Hispanic Cultures
(multiple sections)

3 pts. Requirements: SPAN W3300. The course constitutes a wide-ranging consideration of cultural production with a view to making students aware of its historical and constructed nature. Students will explore concepts such as language, history and nation; culture (national, popular, mass, and high); the social role of literature; the work of cultural institutions; globalization and migration; and the discipline of Cultural Studies. The course is divided into weekly units that address these subjects in turn, and through which students will also acquire the fundamental vocabulary for the analysis of cultural objects. Spanish W3330 gives students the conceptual framework with which to engage in the study of Hispanic culture in Spanish W3349 and Spanish W3350. This course is required for the major and the concentration in Hispanic Studies.

SPAN W3349x
Hispanic Cultures I: Islamic Spain through the Colonial Period
(multiple sections)

3 pts. Requirements: SPAN W3330. This course provides an overview of the cultural history of the Hispanic world, from eighth-century Islamic and Christian Spain and the pre-Hispanic Americas through the late Middle Ages and Early Modern period until about 1700, and covering texts and cultural artifacts from both Spain and the colonial areas that would eventually become the various countries of Spanish America. Students will become familiar with major events and significant political, social and cultural trends in the Iberian Peninsula and the Americas before the eighteenth century, including such topics as oral vs. manuscript vs. print culture, elite vs. popular culture, conquest and resistance, transculturation, and the links between cultural production and ideology. Emphasis will be placed on the historical context and on the development of close reading skills. This course is required for the major and the concentration in Hispanic Studies.

SPAN W3350x
Hispanic Cultures II: From the Enlightenment to the Present
(multiple sections)

3 pts. Requirements: SPAN W3330. This course surveys cultural production of Spain and Spanish America from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Students will acquire the knowledge needed for the study of the cultural manifestations of the Hispanic world in the context of modernity. Among the issues and events studied will be the Enlightenment as ideology and practice, the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, the wars of Spanish American independence, the fin-de-siècle and the cultural avant-gardes, the wars and revolutions of the twentieth century (Spanish Civil War, the Mexican and Cuban revolutions) and the Hispanic presence in the United States. The goal of the course is to study some key moments of this trajectory through the analysis of representative texts, works of art, and film. Emphasis will be placed on the historical context and on the development of close reading skills. This course is required for the major and the concentration in Hispanic Studies.

SPAN W3490x
Latin American Humanities I : From Pre-Columbian Civilizations to the Creation of New Nations (in English)
Joaquín Barriendos
TR 10:10am-11:25am

3 pts. An introduction to the history and culture of Latin America, from pre-Columbian civilizations and the Spanish conquest to the foundational period of nation formation after independence from Spain. The study of pre-conquest cultures will be followed by a review of the various strategies through which Spain imposed its authority on new lands and peoples in the Americas, paying close attention to the roles played by religion, culture, and politics in the process. The rise of creole subjectivities and the struggle for independence from peninsular authority will be examined, followed by a consideration of the problems inherent in the creation of new nations and states in the former colonial lands. Students are encouraged, but are not required, to take Latin American Humanities II (Spanish W3491). This course is on the "A list" of courses for the Major Cultures Core requirement. No knowledge of Spanish required, but students with knowledge of the language may read the works in the original. This course may count toward the major or concentration in Hispanic Studies and the concentration in Portuguese Studies.

SPAN W3462x
Spanish Grammar: From Rules to Laws and Beyond
José Plácido Ruiz Campillo
TR 6:10pm-7:25pm

3 pts. From a cognitive and operational point of view, this course aims to reflect on the theoretical and, mainly, practical limits of traditional grammar explanations, contributing with a new meaningful, experiential and representational understanding of Spanish as a human mean of communication. Within this framework, some of the most representative aspects of the grammar of Spanish will be studied from a fully practical perspective, favoring the comparison with the grammar of English. In each case, the reflection will lead to turn the traditional rules and their exceptions, into operational laws without exceptions, as well as to highlight the naturallogic underlying every single grammar decision in the use of language.

SPAN W3799
Dicourse in Spanish: Analysis and Production
Guadalupe Ruiz-Fajardo
MW 4:10pm-5:25pm

3 pts. This course will make the students familiar with discourse tools in order to analyze and produce texts in Spanish. It has two general pedagogical objectives: giving the students the tools for discourse analysis and teaching how to use them in the construction of their own discourse practice. This twofold configuration means that the students will learn language consciously and deeply how the language in action works and how to use the language as an instrument of their own. The course will have three parts. The fist will deal with textual construction- discourse genders, how to construct coherence and cohesion in Spanish with special attention to discourse markers and connectors, differences between oral and written discourse, and register. The second will be about conversational analysis – the structure of interaction in a wide range of encounters, from those very ritualized - such as ceremonies or classes- to casual conversation.  We also deal with non verbal communication and their role in social interaction form a multimodal perspective. The third part will be about critical discourse analysis and ideological discourse construction. We will use the tools learned in the previous parts to trace ideology in different forms of discourse, for instance, the building of Latin identity in music, sexism in advertisement, the Latin bourgeois family in soap operas, and political discourse.

Also the students will select areas of analysis and production of their interest. For the three parts of the course, students will analyze primary texts such as advertisement, music, TV series, realities, films, conversations among native speakers, news, blogs, text messages, academic production, and text books. They also will produce discourse pieces according to specific communicative purposes and situations, such as an advertising campaign, political discourses, academic texts and film/TV scripts. Secondary texts will be in Spanish (original, not translated), although there will be a recommended reading list of classical DA texts in English. Assessment and grade will be built on: 1. three take home exams on the analysis of different texts (one for each course three parts); 2. student´s production of required texts; 3. class preparation and participation.

SPAN W3810
Don Quixote and the Renaissance
Instructor: TBA
TR 2:40pm - 3:55pm

SPAN W3815
Forgetting the Spanish Civil War
Alberto Medina
MW 2:40pm - 3:55pm

3 pts. On October 31st, 2007 a polemic Historical Memory Law was passed by the Spanish Congress.  The legislative initiative was only the culmination of a social and cultural change visible since the end of the 80’s: After decades when the building of a new democracy made the memory of the civil war an uncomfortable issue to be avoided by politicians and the general public, an attitude best exemplified be the Amnesty Law that followed Franco’s death in 1977, the arrival of a new, younger generation who had not lived under Franco demanded new models of engagement with the past.  Political moves were parallel to an explosion of demand and visibility of cultural products about the war.  Memory became both a suddenly urgent political issue and a profitable business for a cultural industry that was to produce and endless catalogue of best-selling novels, nostalgic coffee-table books and blockbuster films.

An introductory critical reflection on some of the most influential theories of cultural memory (Huyssen, Nora, Halbwachs, Ricoeur) will be the point of departure for the analysis of a wide variety of cultural productions (historiography, film, literature, comic) focused on the civil war.  The works by writers Alberto Méndez, Isaac Rosa, Muñoz Molina, Julio Llamazares, film-makes such as Guillermo del Toro, Carlos Saura, Garcia Berlanga, Agustín Villaronga or historians like Beevor, Payne, Juliá, Pío Moa, Sánchez León will be the materials from which to consider the complex mechanisms of the representations of memory and their inter-action with their socio-political context.

SPAN W3991x
Senior Seminar
Joaquín Barriendos
W 1:10pm - 2:15pm

This course explores the relationship between Spanish American literature and media by focusing on five forms of media: gramophone, radio, photography, film, internet. We will discuss how these different media have opened up questions about the role of visual and aural perception, the relation between high culture and mass culture, authenticity and authorship, and the place of literature in Latin America today.

SPAN W3997x
Supervised Individual Research
Jesús Rodríguez-Velasco

SPAN W4415
Spanish American Poetry
Gustavo Pérez Firmat
TR 10:10am - 11:25am

3 pts. The aims of the class are twofold. 1) to explore the language of modern Spanish-language poetry and ways of approaching it; 2) to study major figures of the post-modernista Spanish-American poetry.  Topics for discussion will include: theories of the lyric; the aesthetics of affect; hermeticism and colloquialism; the dramatic monologue; the prophetic voice; afro-cubanism; glossolalia; antipoesía.  Critical/theoretical readings from Giorgio Agamben, Amado Alonso, Charles Altieri, Mark Edmunson, Roberto Frenández Retamar, Gustavo Guerrero, Frank Kermode, Octavio Paz, Michael Riffaterre, Guillermo Sucre, Leo Spitzer, Helen Vendler.