Courses

We tell stories for many reasons: to entertain; to seduce; to complain; to think. This course draws upon the literatures and cultures of the romance languages to explore the role of narrative in our construction and understanding of the world.

Full details for ROMS 1102 - FWS: The Craft of Storytelling

What is a culture, and how do we know one when we see it?  This course draws upon the histories and texts of French, Spanish, Italian, and/or Portuguese speaking worlds to discuss issues of identity, difference, politics, place, and community.

Full details for ROMS 1108 - FWS:Cultural Identities/Cultural Differences

What kind of information do images - in photography, painting, and/or film - convey?  What kind of impact do they have on the minds and the bodies of their audiences?  This course foregrounds the role of visual culture in the societies where Spanish, French, Portuguese, and/or Italian is spoken, and it asks students to dwell upon how visual material interacts with spoken and written language.

Full details for ROMS 1109 - FWS: Image and Imagination

Some of the most important and intriguing thinkers, from the Middle Ages to postmodernity, have done their thinking in the romance languages.  This course explores a body of work that would be called philosophical by some, theoretical by others, and that, beyond these names, struggles to articulate fundamental concepts, problems, discourses, and situations.

Full details for ROMS 1113 - FWS: Thinking and Thought

In this class, students will learn about animal welfare and conservation through international films. We will discuss wildlife, companion and farm animals in conjunction with human cultures and politics. The course will cover various animal species, e.g. pangolins, dogs and sheep in fiction films, documentaries and animated movies. Students will learn how to compose film reviews, do research and write a research assignment. The class includes guest speakers, a visit to Cornell barn, library and museum. All films are available for streaming through Blackboard for students to watch them in their free time.

Full details for ROMS 1120 - FWS: Animals in Global Cinema: Human and Nonhuman

The Romance languages are the lasting imprint of all that happened to the Latin language as it moved through time, territories, and people of many ethnicities.  While the Latin of antiquity retained its prestige in high culture, the natural untutored usage of ordinary people was always free to go its own way.  This course covers the following topics, selected to create a panoramic view:  Formation of the general Romance seven-vowel system from Latin.  Early and widespread sound changes in popular Latin.  Finding and interpreting evidence for trends in popular Latin pronunciation.  The comparative method and its limitations.  Essential later sound changes, some of which ceate a whole new order of consonants unknown to Latin but conspicuous in Romance.  Nouns and adjectives from Latin to Romance.  Formation of the present indicative: the competing forces of sound change and analogical adjustment.  A brief overview of Portuguese.  Variants of the seven-vowel system.  Salient features of Romanian.  Factors that helped shape the vocabulary of Romance.  Medieval diglossia.  Emergence of Romance vernaculars newly recognized by their speakers as languages distinct from Latin and from each other.  Close analysis of the oldest surviving document written unmistakably in Romance (842 C. E.).

Full details for ROMS 3210 - History of Romance Languages

How and why is a book "translated" into an opera? We will study several such works and the operas they inspired: Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, Verdi's Rigoletto, Massenet's Werther, Giordano's Andrea Chénier, Holten's The Visit of the Royal Physician, and the movie A Royal Affair, a bridge between opera and novel. There will be opportunities for original historical research. What is so fascinating about the literary texts the operas (and the movie) draw on? It is partly their formal and linguistic qualities and partly their relation to history. Each of the literary works we study reflects the crisis of authority dating from the French Revolution; each of the operas in some way "manages" historical experience by creating aesthetic pleasure. We will see how.

Full details for ROMS 3971 - Books Turned into Operas

Full details for ROMS 4151 - Negrismo and Négritude: Art and Poetry of Hispano- and Francophone

Communism merged multiple theories, events and experiences.  It's complexity does not lie exclusively in the discrepancies that separate the communist idea from its historical embodiments; it lies in the diversity of its expressions.  Sketching its "anatomy," this seminar will distinguish at least four broad forms of communism, interrelated and not necessarily opposed to one another, but different enugh to be recognized on their own: communism as revolution, communism as regime, communism as anti-colonialism and communism as a varient of social democracy.  The October Revolution was their common matrix, but their trajectories have been different.  Exploring communism as a global experience, we will shape the profile of one of the central actors of the twentieth century.

Full details for ROMS 4260 - Historicizing Communism

This practicum is designed to better enable the TAs to meet the needs of their students in the understanding and acquisition of the linguistic forms, notions, and functions covered in their course.

Full details for ROMS 5080 - Pedagogy Practicum

Designed to give insight into how to formulate projects, conduct research, and publish one's work, the colloquium offers a venue for faculty-graduate student dialogue in a collegial, intellectual setting.  Meetings are biweekly, 2-3 hours, and are open to all students and faculty in Romance Studies, but required for first year students in the program.  Each meeting, two faculty members will be invited to discuss their scholarship and also a short text of their choice, to be distributed beforehand.

Full details for ROMS 6100 - Romance Studies Colloquium

Communism merged multiple theories, events and experiences.  It's complexity does not lie exclusively in the discrepancies that separate the communist idea from its historical embodiments; it lies in the diversity of its expressions.  Sketching its "anatomy," this seminar will distinguish at least four broad forms of communism, interrelated and not necessarily opposed to one another, but different enugh to be recognized on their own: communism as revolution, communism as regime, communism as anti-colonialism and communism as a varient of social democracy.  The October Revolution was their common matrix, but their trajectories have been different.  Exploring communism as a global experience, we will shape the profile of one of the central actors of the twentieth century.

Full details for ROMS 6525 - Historicizing Communism

Full details for FREN 1108 - FWS:Monstrous Forms: Wild Men and Wicked Women

FREN 1210-FREN 1220 is a two-semester sequence.  FREN 1210 is the first half of the sequence designed to provide a thorough grounding in French language and an introduction to intercultural competence.  French is used in contextualized, meaningful activities to provide practice in speaking, listening, reading, and writing.  Development of analytical skills for grammar leads students toward greater autonomy as language learners.  Students develop their writing skills by writing and editing compositions.  Readings are varied and include literary texts.  Daily preparation and active participation are required.

Full details for FREN 1210 - Elementary French

FREN 1230 is an all-skills course designed to improve pronunciation, oral communication, and reading ability; to establish a groundwork for correct writing; and to provide a substantial grammar review. The approach in the course encourages the student to see the language within the context of its culture.

Full details for FREN 1230 - Continuing French

This intermediate-level course is designed for students who want to focus on their speaking and writing skills. Emphasis is placed on strengthening of grammar skills, expansion of vocabulary and discourse levels to increase communicative fluency and accuracy. The course also provides continued reading and listening practice as well as development of effective language learning strategies.

Full details for FREN 2090 - French Intermediate Composition and Conversation I

This one-credit course is focused on oral communication in French; to take this course students must be concurrently enrolled in FREN 2090.  Because the course is designed especially to encourage students to study abroad in France, it focuses on the colloquial use of French in that country.

Full details for FREN 2091 - Oral Practice for Study Abroad

Reducing your foreign accent improves your ability to communicate in two ways: learning to distinguish and to produce clearly the full inventory of sounds in French increases both your ability to understand the spoken language and your ability to make yourself understood when speaking.  Because it distracts many listeners, a heavy foreign accent can prevent you from getting your message across even if you speak quite fluently.  This course focuses specifically on accent reduction and will interest anyone intending to use French in professional arenas such as international business, law, and project management, the import-export and hospitality industries, art restoration and curation, secondary and post-secondary teaching, or the perfoming arts.  By the end of the course students will achieve noticeably improved pronunciation, greater fluency, improved aural comprehension, and increased self-assurance in spoken French.

Full details for FREN 2092 - Pronunciation of Standard French

This course emphasizes conversation based on short stories, poems, a play, a novel, cartoons, newspaper articles, short videos, and oral presentations by students. The goals of improving grammatical accuracy and enriching vocabulary in oral and written expression of French are achieved in a live setting during vigorous classroom discussions, as well as through written and oral analyses of the texts.  Compositions on student-selected topics and a detailed grammar review aid in reaching the goals.  Themes and emphases may vary from section to section.

Full details for FREN 2095 - French Intermediate Composition and Conversation II

In this course, furthering oral communication skills and writing skills is emphasized.  A comprehensive review of fundamental and advanced grammatical structures is integrated with short stories, literary excerpts, videos, poems, and articles from French magazines or newspapers, all chosen for thematic or cultural interest.  Students write weekly papers (essays and translations), have daily conversations focusing on the topics at hand, and give at last one presentation in class.

Full details for FREN 2180 - Advanced French

This course, designed to follow FREN 2095, introduces students to an array of literary and visual material from the French and Francophone world.  It aims to develop students' proficiency in critical writing and thinking, as well as presenting students with the vocabulary and tools of literary and visual analysis.  Each section of FREN 2310 will have a different focus-for example, colonialism and the other, or the importance of women and sexual minorities in French and Francophone history, performance in literature and film, or image and narrative-but all sections of FREN 2310 will emphasize through writing assignments and in-class discussions, the development of those linguistic and conceptual tools necessary for cultural and critical fluency.

Full details for FREN 2310 - Introduction to French and Francophone Literature and Culture

This 1-credit optional course aims to expand the students' vocabulary, and advance their speaking and reading skills as well as enhance their knowledge and deepen their cultural understanding by supplementing non-language courses throughout the University.

Full details for FREN 3020 - French Foreign Language Across the Curriculum (FLAC)

This course will survey the great classics of France (Literature, Art, Architecture) from the Middle-Ages to Modernity.  We will read such texts as "The Song of Roland," Montaigne's "Essays" plays be Moliere and Racine, short fiction by Voltaire, and symbolist poetry.  At the same time we will discuss, romanesque and gothic architecture (Notre Dame de Chartres), the building of Versailles, and the paintings of the Classical and Romantic periods.

Full details for FREN 3240 - French Classics

In addition to considering formal questions relating to the development of the novel in French, this course examines problems such as the appearance of narrative and historical consciousness, the representation of woman, and the relation between literature and society. Texts include such major works as Tristan and Iseult, Perrault's Contes, Mme de LaFayette, Prevost, Rousseau, Diderot, Laclos, and Sade.

Full details for FREN 3350 - Romance to Revolution: The French Novel Before 1850

The concept of "intellectual" - the writer or scholar who takes a political commitment - was born in France at the end of the nineteenth century.  From the Dreyfus Affaire to the recent polemics on French "identity," passing through Vichy, the Algerian War and May 68, intellectuals established a symbiotic relationship between culture and politics, becoming a sort of national brand, object of both admiration and contempt outside of the country.  The aim of this course is to revisit some crucial moments of this history, focusing on different attempts to define the nature and function of the intellectual, from Emile Zola to Jean-Paul Sartre, from Simone de Beavoir to Michel Foucault.

Full details for FREN 3460 - Intellectuals: A French History

This course proposes the study of the black African in Western literature and painting from the ancient world to the present.  We will concentrate on the major representations of what has been perceived as a minor figure in both literature and painting in order to trace its ramifications from Middle-Ages to the modern and contemporary periods.  The class will, at the same time, underline the role of black writers and artists in the convulsions of this history.  Our critical trajectory will be that of "cultural studies" as initiated and developed by sch theoreticians as Alain Locke, Stuart Hall, Simon Gikandi.

Full details for FREN 3695 - Black Africans in Literature and Art

Guided independent study of special topics.

Full details for FREN 4190 - Special Topics in French Literature

This course proposes the analysis of the sexual politics of some canonical and less canonical French fictions of the revolutionary period (1789-1848).  We will read them in the larger context of the new geographical and cultural sphere of the French "Empire" and its colonies.  Texts to be read could include Prevost's Manon Lescot, Staël's Corinne ou L'italie, Chateabriand's Atala and Les Natchez, Mme de Duras' Ourika, Balzac's La fille aux yeux d'or, as well as more contemporary texts, for example, Assia Djebar's L'Amour, la Fantasia, .. according to the student's specific interests.

Full details for FREN 4230 - Revolution, Sexuality, Empire in Modern French Fiction

Consult director of undergraduate studies for more information.

Full details for FREN 4290 - Honors Work in French

Communism merged multiple theories, events and experiences.  It's complexity does not lie exclusively in the discrepancies that separate the communist idea from its historical embodiments; it lies in the diversity of its expressions.  Sketching its "anatomy," this seminar will distinguish at least four broad forms of communism, interrelated and not necessarily opposed to one another, but different enugh to be recognized on their own: communism as revolution, communism as regime, communism as anti-colonialism and communism as a varient of social democracy.  The October Revolution was their common matrix, but their trajectories have been different.  Exploring communism as a global experience, we will shape the profile of one of the central actors of the twentieth century.

Full details for FREN 4525 - Historicizing Communism

The Wars of Religion in France and throughout Europe offer the context of continual violence, trauma, and social upheaval, and the Essais of Michel de Montaigne respond to this context by elaborating a new form of skepticism, based on classical models, which creates a space for more humane ethics (including some of the earliest discussions of religious and racial tolerance) and for freedom of thought (a relatively new concept in the Western World), by means of radical questioning of the functioning of political, religious, and intellectual authority. What Montaigne offers is both a practical and intellectual model for coping with extreme and omnipresent violence and social conflict, a model that presents difference as a necessary condition of physical and psychic survival. We will read the Journal de Voyage as well as the Essais. All texts will be in French.

Full details for FREN 4540 - Montaigne and Skepticism

This class will study the major literary texts that deal with the slave trade and with the realities of slavery from the beginnings of the slave trade to its abolition and up to contemporary fictive reconstructions. From Voltaire to Cesaire, Montequieu to Glissant, Olympe de Gouges and Madame de Stale to Gisele Pineau and Leonora Miano, we will concentrate on precise examples taken from an anthology that will be made available to students.

Full details for FREN 4695 - Novels of the Slave Trade and Slave Narratives

This course proposes the analysis of the sexual politics of some canonical and less canonical French fictions of the revolutionary period (1789-1848).  We will read them in the larger context of the new geographical and cultural sphere of the French "Empire" and its colonies.  Texts to be read could include Prevost's Manon Lescot, Staël's Corinne ou L'italie, Chateabriand's Atala and Les Natchez, Mme de Duras' Ourika, Balzac's La fille aux yeux d'or, as well as more contemporary texts, for example, Assia Djebar's L'Amour, la Fantasia, .. according to the student's specific interests.

Full details for FREN 6230 - Revolution, Sexuality, Empire in Modern French Fictions

Guided independent study for graduate students.

Full details for FREN 6390 - Special Topics in French Literature

Communism merged multiple theories, events and experiences.  It's complexity does not lie exclusively in the discrepancies that separate the communist idea from its historical embodiments; it lies in the diversity of its expressions.  Sketching its "anatomy," this seminar will distinguish at least four broad forms of communism, interrelated and not necessarily opposed to one another, but different enugh to be recognized on their own: communism as revolution, communism as regime, communism as anti-colonialism and communism as a varient of social democracy.  The October Revolution was their common matrix, but their trajectories have been different.  Exploring communism as a global experience, we will shape the profile of one of the central actors of the twentieth century.

Full details for FREN 6525 - Historicizing Communism

How does philosophy respond to widespread and continuous disaster? The Wars of Religion in France and throughout Europe offer the context of continual violence, trauma, and social upheaval, and the Essais of Michel de Montaigne respond to this context by elaborating a new form of skepticism, based on classical models, which creates a space for more humane ethics (including some of the earliest discussions of religious and racial tolerance) and for freedom of thought (a relatively new concept in the Western World), by means of radical questioning of the functioning of political, religious, and intellectual authority. What Montaigne offers is both a practical and intellectual model for coping with extreme and omnipresent violence and social conflict, a model that presents difference as a necessary condition of physical and psychic survival.

Full details for FREN 6540 - Montaigne and Skepticism

This introductory course provides a thorough grounding in all the language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, with practice in small groups.

Full details for ITAL 1110 - Elementary Italian In Rome I

Full details for ITAL 1113 - FWS: Writing Italy, Writing the Self: Jewish-Italian Lit and the Long 20th Century

This introductory course provides a thorough grounding in all the language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, with practice in small groups.

Full details for ITAL 1120 - Elementary Italian In Rome II

This is an introductory level course desiged for students who have no previous knowledge of Italian.  In this course, students develop all four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in Italian, and are introduced to Italian culture and to current social and political questions.

Full details for ITAL 1201 - Italian I

This is an all-skills course designed to improve speaking and reading ability, establish a groundwork for correct writing, and provide a substantial grammar review.

Full details for ITAL 2110 - Italian Intermediate Composition and Conversation I in Rome

This course provides a review of composition, reading, pronunciation, and grammar review, as well as guided practice in conversation.  It emphasizes the development of accurate and idiomatic expression in the language.

Full details for ITAL 2130 - Italian Intermediate Composition and Conversation II in Rome

The goal of this course is development of all language skills at an intermediate level, with an emphasis on accurate, idiomatic, and culturally appropriate communication in Italian. Students will improve their language abilities through readings and other material related to common Italian cultural practices and daily life, guided compositions and other written assignments, directed conversation on topics relevant to understanding modern Italy.

Full details for ITAL 2201 - Italian III

This course, which is conducted in Italian and includes significant practice in grammar, vocabulary building, and composition, aims to foster reflection about the relationship among languages, literatures, and identities in Italy. This fall the focus will be on globalization in Italy. Together we will read sections of literary and cultural texts, (including films and television) reflecting on topics including soccer, food, the label "made in Italy," ecotourism, immigration, and the anti-globalization movement.

Full details for ITAL 2203 - Languages/Literatures/Identities

This seminar introduces students to select masterworks of Italian postwar cinematography and familiarizes students with the vocabulary and the structures needed to analyze films and critique them.  We will examine the films' cultural and sociopolitical contexts as well as their formal aspects.

Full details for ITAL 2204 - The Cinematic Eye of Italy

From Al Capone to Tony Soprano, the mafia has been the subject of numerous films over the course of 70 years, so many in fact that one might well speak of a "mafia obsession" in American popular culture. Drawing upon a large number of American and Italian films, this course examines the cultural history of the mafia through film. We will explore issues related to the figure of the gangster, the gender and class assumptions that underpin it, and the portrayal-almost always stereotypical-of Italian-American immigrant experience that emerges from our viewings. The aim will be to enhance our understanding of the role of mafia plays in American and Italian culture in the 20th and 21st centuries. Film screenings will include Little Caesar, Scarface, Shame of the Nation, The Godfather Parts I and II, Goodfellas, The Funeral, Donnie Brasco, episodes from The Sopranos, and Gomorrah.

Full details for ITAL 3010 - Screening Cosa Nostra: The Mafia and the Movies from Scarface to The Sopranos

Guided independent study of special topics.

Full details for ITAL 4190 - Special Topics in Italian Literature

Consult director of undergraduate studies for more information.

Full details for ITAL 4290 - Honors in Italian Literature

Communism merged multiple theories, events and experiences.  It's complexity does not lie exclusively in the discrepancies that separate the communist idea from its historical embodiments; it lies in the diversity of its expressions.  Sketching its "anatomy," this seminar will distinguish at least four broad forms of communism, interrelated and not necessarily opposed to one another, but different enugh to be recognized on their own: communism as revolution, communism as regime, communism as anti-colonialism and communism as a varient of social democracy.  The October Revolution was their common matrix, but their trajectories have been different.  Exploring communism as a global experience, we will shape the profile of one of the central actors of the twentieth century.

Full details for ITAL 4520 - Historicizing Communism

Guided independent study for graduate students.

Full details for ITAL 6390 - Special Topics in Italian Literature

Communism merged multiple theories, events and experiences.  It's complexity does not lie exclusively in the discrepancies that separate the communist idea from its historical embodiments; it lies in the diversity of its expressions.  Sketching its "anatomy," this seminar will distinguish at least four broad forms of communism, interrelated and not necessarily opposed to one another, but different enugh to be recognized on their own: communism as revolution, communism as regime, communism as anti-colonialism and communism as a varient of social democracy.  The October Revolution was their common matrix, but their trajectories have been different.  Exploring communism as a global experience, we will shape the profile of one of the central actors of the twentieth century.

Full details for ITAL 6520 - Historicizing Communism

In this course, students work on their ability to speak, write, read, and understand contemporary Polish. Students will also develop their intercultural competency. The instructor uses communicative language teaching with emphasis on structured input. Students use the textbook and workbook "Hurra! Po polsku 1" supplemented by Polish-English chapter dictionaries. This class covers chapters 0-9. If a student is not sure of his or her language level, he or she can contact the Polish instructor, Ewa Bachminska, at eb583@cornell.edu.

Full details for POLSH 1131 - Elementary Polish I

In this course, students work on their ability to speak, write, read, and understand contemporary Polish. Students will also develop their intercultural competency. The instructor uses communicative language teaching with emphasis on structured input. Students use the textbook and workbook "Hurra! Po polsku 1" supplemented by Polish-English chapter dictionaries. This class covers chapters 10-20. If a student is not sure of his or her language level, he or she can contact the Polish instructor, Ewa Bachminska, at eb583@cornell.edu.

Full details for POLSH 1132 - Elementary Polish II

In this course, students continue working on their ability to speak, write, read, and understand contemporary Polish. Students will also enhance their intercultural competency. The instructor uses communicative language teaching with emphasis on structured input. Students use the textbook and workbook "Hurra! Po polsku 2" supplemented by Polish-English chapter dictionaries. This class covers chapters 1-10. If a student is not sure of his or her language level, he or she can contact the Polish instructor, Ewa Bachminska, at eb583@cornell.edu.

Full details for POLSH 1133 - Intermediate Polish I

A full-year introductory course intended for students with no knowledge of Portuguese and with limited or no knowledge of Spanish. Emphasis is placed upon the development of the fundamental communication skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

Full details for PORT 1210 - Elementary Brazilian Portuguese I

PORT 2010-2020 is a full year course intended for students who have already taken the first level of Portuguese, or as an intensive introductory course for those who are native/near native speakers of Spanish.  An all-skills course with particular emphasis on Brazilian Portuguese spoken within the contexts of its culture, it presents a fast-paced review focused on improving grammatical accuracy, pronunciation and on enriching vocabulary.

Full details for PORT 2010 - Intermediate Brazilian Portuguese for Spanish Speakers I

This course provides an introduction and overview of Brazilian culture. It will study different periods of Brazilian history, through the analysis of films, literature, essays, visual arts, and music. Students will explore different definitions of Brazilian identity and "Brazilianness" focusing on key topics including the formation of the colonial Brazil  and the emergence of the nation of Brazil as a tropical paradise; slavery and abolition; the particularities century; and the contradictions of the modernization process throughout the 20th century. We will consider elements of Brazilian popular culture such as Carnival, Samba, and "telenovels," and some of the most important cultural movements of the 20th century, such as "Modernismo," "Cinema Novo," and "Tropicalia." The primary objective of the course is to provide students with the relevant background to understand Brazilian cultural history.

Full details for PORT 2800 - Perspectives on Brazil

Guided independent study of specific topics. For undergraduates interested in special topics not covered in courses.

Full details for PORT 4190 - Special Topics in Brazilian Literature

Guided independent study of specific topics. For graduate students interested in special topics not covered in courses.

Full details for PORT 6390 - Special Topics in Brazilian Literature - Grad

While building language proficiency and accuracy through communicative activities, the course encourages students to actively interact with one another. The instructor facilitates communication and provides feedback and language learning strategies that guide students to take responsibility of their own learning and become active participants in the process. The course also introduces students to the many peoples and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world, prompting them to make comparisons with their own culture. Additionally, lectures provide students with opportunities to reflect on relevant grammar topics and assist students in developing language learning strategies. Class discussions are conducted entirely in Spanish. After SPAN 1120, students may take SPAN 1230, SPAN 2070, or SPAN 2090 depending on their LPS score at the end of the course.

Full details for SPAN 1120 - Elementary Spanish: Review and Continuation

While building language proficiency and accuracy through communicative activities, the course encourages students to actively interact with one another. The instructor facilitates communication and provides feedback and language learning strategies that guide students to take responsibility of their own learning and become active participants in the process. The course also introduces students to the many peoples and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world, prompting them to make comparisons with their own culture. Additionally, lectures provide students with opportunities to reflect on relevant grammar topics and assist students in developing language learning strategies. Class discussions are conducted entirely in Spanish. After 1210 students may take SPAN 1120 (fall) or SPAN 1220 (spring).

Full details for SPAN 1210 - Elementary Spanish I

The goal of this low-intermediate course is to achieve a higher level of comprehension as well as to advance oral and written expression in a cultural context. Classes are in Spanish and the language is actively used in communicative and creative activities. Students engage in linguistic and literary analysis of texts to acquire new vocabulary, complete analytical exercises, and develop reading strategies. Students continue developing writing skills through composition, give oral presentations, and review grammatical structures independently with some clarification by the instructor as needed. After this course, students may take SPAN 2000, SPAN 2070, or SPAN 2090.

Full details for SPAN 1230 - Continuing Spanish

This innovative course focuses on oral communication in Spanish for students who will do special projects abroad or short term study abroad trips.  Emphasis is placed on developing speaking and listening skills and strategies in a culturally relevant context.  It is intended for students with limited or no knowledge of Spanish and active class particippation is required.

Full details for SPAN 1501 - Strategies for Spanish Abroad

Designed to expand bilingual Heritage students' knowledge of Spanish by providing them with ample opportunities to develop and improve each of the basic language skills, with a particular focus on writing vocabulary. The heritage student has at least one parent of Hispanic origin and grew up speaking Spanish at home; s/he also finished high school here in the US. After this course students may take SPAN 2140, SPAN 2150, SPAN 2170, or SPAN 2095.

Full details for SPAN 2000 - Spanish for Heritage Speakers

Provides a conversational grammar review, with dialogues, debates, compositions, and authentic readings on health-related themes. Special attention is given to relevant cultural differences and how cultural notions may affect medical care and communication between doctor and patient. The objective of 2070 is to provide practice in real-life application, such as taking a medical history, calming a patient, and how to speak to a Hispanic patient in a culturally acceptable manner. After this course, a student may take SPAN 2140, SPAN 2150, SPAN 2170, or SPAN 2095.

Full details for SPAN 2070 - Intermediate Spanish for the Medical and Health Professions

This intermediate course develops accurate and idiomatic oral and written expression in a cultural context. Students achieve a higher level of syntactical and lexical competence through reading and discussing literary texts and viewing films. Particular emphasis is on writing and editing academic essays with peer/instructor feedback. Classes are in Spanish and the language is actively used in oral presentations and communicative, creative, and critical-thinking activities. Students review grammar structures on their own, with clarification and support of the instructor. After this course, students may take SPAN 2140, SPAN 2150, SPAN 2170, or SPAN 2095.

Full details for SPAN 2090 - Intermediate Spanish I (Composition and Conversation)

This advanced-intermediate course is designed to prepare students for study abroad, entry into the major, and advanced-level courses. Students study stylistics, analyze and discuss texts, view films, and acquire advanced reading strategies. Continued emphasis is on writing and editing academic essays with peer and instructor feedback. Classes are in Spanish, and the language is actively used in oral presentations and communicative, creative, and critical-thinking activities. Students review grammar structures on their own, although the instructor may clarify as needed. The course is a pre-requisite for the major and may be taken concurrently with SPAN 2140, SPAN 2150, or SPAN 2170.

Full details for SPAN 2095 - Spanish Intermediate Composition and Conversation II

Introductory survey of modern Spanish literature. Students develop their analytical skills and learn basic literary concepts such as genre (drama, lyric, short story, and novel) and style (romanticism, realism, etc.) as well as male/female perspectives and the translation of literature to film language. The survey introduces students to Spain's cultural complexity through readings of works by authors representative of its diverse linguistic and literary traditions.

Full details for SPAN 2140 - Modern Spanish Survey

Readings and discussion of representative texts of the 19th and 20th centuries from various regions of Latin America. Among the authors considered are Sarmiento, Hernández, Martí, Darío, Agustini, Cortázar, García Márquez, Poniatowska, and Valenzuela.

Full details for SPAN 2150 - Contemporary Latin American Survey

This course explores major texts and themes of the Hispanic tradition from the 11th to the 17th centuries. We will examine general questions on literary analysis and the relationship between literature and history around certain events, such as medieval multicultural Iberia, the creation of the Spanish Inquisition in the 15th century and the expulsion of the Jews in 1492; the encounter between the Old and the New Worlds; the 'opposition' of high and low in popular culture, and of the secular and the sacred in poetry and prose. Readings may be drawn from medieval short stories and miracle collections; chivalric romances, Columbus, Lazarillo de Tormes, Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderón, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, among others.

Full details for SPAN 2170 - Early Modern Iberian Survey

This course, which is required for the major, is designed to help the learner develop increased accuracy and sophistication in writing in Spanish for academic purposes and continued oral practice in Spanish. To this end, there will be ample writing and revising practice, with a focus on specific grammatical and lexical areas, customized to the needs of the students enrolled in the course.

Full details for SPAN 2180 - Advanced Spanish Writing Workshop

An introduction to Spain's history, plural cultures, and present-day society. Through a series of key literary works, films, and other visual representations we will explore such topics as the place of tradition, religion, and the family in modern Spain. Our focus will be on the transformation of Spain from an authoritarian state under General Franco's dictatorship (1939-1975) into a remarkably diverse and pluralistic nation in which linguistic, cultural, political, and gender differences have been consecrated in a very progressive legislation. This course satisfies the main requirement for the minor in Spanish, may be used as an elective for the major, and is crucial to those planning to study abroad in Spain in the near future.

Full details for SPAN 2230 - Perspectives on Spain

This course offers a broad introduction to Iberian cultures from the Middle Ages to the present.  Focusing on three main themes-space, culture, and everyday life-our main objective throughout the term will be to explore different perspectives unique to the ever-evoloving place we now call "Spain." The first half of the term will concentrate on aspects of space, culture, and everyday life in the medieval and early modern context, while the second half of the term will examine the same themes, questions, and concepts but from a modern and contemporary point of view using a wide variety of disciplines and media to explore them, from history, newspapers and music, to painting, film, and television.

Full details for SPAN 2235 - Perspectives on Spain in Spanish

This 1-credit optional course aims to expand the students' vocabulary, and advance their speaking and reading skills as well as enhance their knowledge and deepen their cultural understanding by supplementing non-language courses throughout the University.

Full details for SPAN 3020 - Spanish Foreign Language Across the Curriculum (FLAC)

Focuses on the practice of narrative writing in Spanish. Explores what makes a novel and a short story work, paying close attention to narrative structure, plot, beginnings/endings, character development, theme, etc. Students read classic novels and short stories as points of departure for the discussion. Because the course is a workshop, students are expected to write their own fiction.

Full details for SPAN 3170 - Creative Writing Workshop (in Spanish)

This course explores Caribbean literary, sonic, and visual cultures in New York City from the late 19th century to the present, and examines the ways in which Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Dominican diasporic artists experience New York, whether as tourists, residents, or exiles.  We will read about and visit places like Coney Island, Wall Street, Chinatown, Harlem, the Bronx, the Village, and Washington Heights.  Through the work of José Martí, Julia de Burgos, Manuel Ramos Otero, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Josefina Báez, and others, we will focus on such topics as immigration, transnationalism, imperialism, modernity, Latinx Caribbean influences on Bronx hip hop, gender, race, and sexuality.  Course readings and discussions in Spanish, English, and Spanglish.  Includes a 2-day trip to New York City in Week 3.

Full details for SPAN 3470 - Nueva York: Caribbean Urbanisms

Guided independent study of special topics. For undergraduates interested in special problems not covered in courses.

Full details for SPAN 4190 - Special Topics in Spanish Literature

Consult director of undergraduate studies for more information.

Full details for SPAN 4290 - Honors Work in Spanish

Emerging in the wake of psychoanalysis, the theory of the novel is an effect of a new discourse on the subject within a modernity that sees itself as different and searches for a historical parallel.  focused on four late medieval Iberian genres that explore different possibilities for prose fiction, this course will alternate the reading of primary texts (Amadis de Gaula, Cárcel de amor, La Diana, Lazarillo de Tormes) with selected readings from canonical theorists of the novel, especially those of relevance to Hispanic literary criticism, which may include Lukács, Guillén, Ortega y Gasset, Bakhtin, Jameson, Frye, Culler, Cascardi, Benjamin, Freud, Lévi-Strauss, assessing the possible consequences of this course's main hypothesis: that of the novel is simultaneously a theory of modernity and a theory of the subject.

Full details for SPAN 4470 - Theory of the Novel

Communism merged multiple theories, events and experiences.  It's complexity does not lie exclusively in the discrepancies that separate the communist idea from its historical embodiments; it lies in the diversity of its expressions.  Sketching its "anatomy," this seminar will distinguish at least four broad forms of communism, interrelated and not necessarily opposed to one another, but different enugh to be recognized on their own: communism as revolution, communism as regime, communism as anti-colonialism and communism as a varient of social democracy.  The October Revolution was their common matrix, but their trajectories have been different.  Exploring communism as a global experience, we will shape the profile of one of the central actors of the twentieth century.

Full details for SPAN 4525 - Historicizing Communism

The artistic and intellectual works of Federico García Lorca are a key Transatlantic source for problematizing 20th century Spanish literary and cultural history. Mostly known for his poems and plays, Lorca was also a painter, script writer, musician and "cultural outreach" educator; he was an electrifying figure, who created a lyrical world around his works and his very persona. Lorca spent his childhood and adult life moving between a satellite village of Granada and the capital of Madrid, an orbit only punctured and forever changed by a ten month visit to New York City that turned into a key life experience and the critical basis for his Poet in New York. This seminar will take the participant on a journey across Lorca's life and works, making several passes across his poetic and dramatic masterpieces in order to better comprehend his singular crafting of a world made of color dreams, death, denouncement, love and passion.

Full details for SPAN 4760 - Lorca's World: From Granada to New York

This course explores Latin American literature from the 60's onwards, taking a look at the changing landscape, from the heyday of the Boom writers and Garcia Marquez' "magical realism", to urban fiction in the nineties. We will study authors such as Garcia Marquez, Manuel Puig, Daimela Eltit, Roberto Bolaño, Alberto Fuguet, Mario Bellatin, and Mayra Santos-Febres.

Full details for SPAN 4830 - 21st Century Latin American Literature

Guided independent study of specific topics. For graduate students interested in special problems not covered in courses.

Full details for SPAN 6390 - Special Topics in Spanish Literature

Emerging in the wake of psychoanalysis, the theory of the novel is an effect of a new discourse on the subject within a modernity that sees itself as different and searches for a historical parallel.  Focused on four late medieval Iberian genres that explore different possibilities for prose fiction, this course will alternate the reading of primary texts (Amadis de Gaula, Cárcel de amor, La Diana, Lazarillo de Tormes) with selected readings from canonical theorists of the novel, especially those of relevance to Hispanic literary criticism, which may include Lukács, Guillén, Ortega y Gasset, Bakhtin, Jameson, Frye, Culler, Cascardi, Benjamin, Freud, Lévi-Strauss, assessing the possible consequences of this course's main hypothesis: that of the novel is simultaneously a theory of modernity and a theory of the subject.

Full details for SPAN 6470 - Theory of the Novel

Communism merged multiple theories, events and experiences.  It's complexity does not lie exclusively in the discrepancies that separate the communist idea from its historical embodiments; it lies in the diversity of its expressions.  Sketching its "anatomy," this seminar will distinguish at least four broad forms of communism, interrelated and not necessarily opposed to one another, but different enugh to be recognized on their own: communism as revolution, communism as regime, communism as anti-colonialism and communism as a varient of social democracy.  The October Revolution was their common matrix, but their trajectories have been different.  Exploring communism as a global experience, we will shape the profile of one of the central actors of the twentieth century.

Full details for SPAN 6525 - Historicizing Communism

This seminar explores the impact of Cervante's captivity in Algiers (1575-1580) in his literary production, a traumatic experience that marked great literary invenetion.  As a soldier and captive in the wars between the Habsburg and Ottoman empires, Cervantes left us a vital testimony of this tumultuous period, including his relations with Muslims and "renegades" - Christian converts to Islam.  The idea that survivors of traumatic events must tell their stories in order to continue living explains in a compelling way the profusion of stories created by Cervantes that turn around his Algerian captivity.  Our readings include plays and novellas by Cervantes, and texts by Braudel, Caruth, Daklhia, Derrida, Lacan, Laub, Primo Levi, Lifton, and Antonio de Sosa, among others.

Full details for SPAN 6540 - Cervantes in Algiers: A Captive's Tale