FREN 10a Beginning French

For students with no previous knowledge of French and those with a minimal background. Students enrolling for the first time in a French and Francophone Studies course at Brandeis should refer to http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/newstudent/testing.html#frentest.

Learners discover the basics of French language and culture while speaking, listening, reading, and writing about everyday situations in French and Francophone countries. Usually offered every semester.

FREN 20b Continuing French

Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in FREN 10a or the equivalent. Students enrolling for the first time in a French and Francophone Studies course at Brandeis should refer to http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/newstudent/testing.html#frentest.

Learners will deepen their knowledge of French and Francophone cultures while expanding their ability to speak, read, listen, and write in French. Usually offered every semester.

FREN 32a Intermediate French: Conversation
[ fl ]

Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in FREN 20b or the equivalent. Students enrolling for the first time in a French and Francophone Studies course at Brandeis should refer to http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/newstudent/testing.html#frentest.

Exploring social “controversies” related to, for example, gender identity and Smartphone addiction, this course focuses on essential communication skills such as comprehension, contemporary vocabulary use, and conversational practice. Our materials include videos, music, websites, articles, and short stories, with an emphasis on Haitian culture in the final unit. Usually offered every semester.

FREN 92a Internship

May be taken with the written permission of the Undergraduate Advising Head.

A combined on- or off-campus internship experience related to French and Francophone studies with written analysis under the supervision of a faculty sponsor. Students arrange their own internships. Counts only once toward the fulfillment of requirements for the major or the minor. Usually offered every semester.

FREN 97a Senior Essay

Students should consult the Undergraduate Advising Head before enrolling.

FREN 97a offers French and Francophone Studies majors an opportunity to produce a senior essay under the direction of an individual instructor. Students normally enroll in FREN 97a in the fall. Only under exceptional circumstances will students enroll in FREN 97a in the spring. Offered every fall.

FREN 98a Independent Study

May be taken only with the written permission of the Undergraduate Advising Head.
Reading and written analyses under faculty supervision. Offered as needed.

FREN 99b Senior Thesis

May be taken only with the written permission of the Undergraduate Advising Head.

Senior French and Francophone Studies majors who successfully complete FREN 97a (Senior essay) in the fall and who have a 3.5 GPA in all French and Francophone Studies courses may apply to extend the essay into a thesis in the spring.

HISP 85a Introduction to U.S. Latinx Literatures and Cultures
[ deis-us djw dl hum ]

Offered in English.

Introduces students to U.S. Latinx cultural productions and to the interdisciplinary questions that concern U.S. Latinx communities. Latinxs have played a vital role in the history, politics, and cultures of the United States. U.S. Latinx literary works, in particular, have established important socio-historical and aesthetic networks that highlight Latinx expression and lived experiences, engaging with issues including biculturalism, language, citizenship, systems of value, and intersectional identity. Though the Latinx literary tradition spans more than 400 years, this course will focus on 20th and 21st century texts that decolonize nationalist approaches to Latinidad(es) and therefore challenge existing Latinx literary "canons." Usually offered every year.

HISP 92a Internship in Hispanic Studies

Written permission of the Undergraduate Advising Head required. Students may take no more than one departmental internship for major credit.

Internships combine off-campus and on-campus work, supervised by a departmental faculty sponsor, that provides a significant learning experience in Hispanic cultural academic study. Students doing summer internships register for course credit in the following fall semester. Junior or Senior Hispanic Studies majors with a minimum GPA of 3.5 in Hispanic Studies courses may substitute one internship for an elective course. Usually offered every year.

HISP 98a Independent Study

May be taken only with the written permission of the Undergraduate Advising Head.

Reading and reports under faculty supervision. Usually offered every year.

HISP 98b Independent Study

Yields half-course credit. May be taken only with the written permission of the Undergraduate Advising Head.

Readings and reports under faculty supervision. Usually offered every year.

HISP 99b Senior Thesis

Students should consult the Undergraduate Advising Head.

Usually offered every year.

ITAL 10a Beginning Italian

Prerequisite: For students with no previous study of Italian. Students enrolling for the first time in an Italian Studies course at Brandeis should refer to www.brandeis.edu/registrar/newstudent/testing.html#italtest.

Offers an interactive and very lively approach to the learning of Italian. A systematic, comprehensive presentation of the basic grammar and vocabulary of the language within the context of Italian culture, with focus on all five language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and socio-cultural awareness. Usually offered every fall.

ITAL 20b Continuing Italian

Prerequisite: For students with some previous study of Italian. A grade of C- or higher in ITAL 10a or the equivalent. Students enrolling for the first time in an Italian Studies course at Brandeis should refer to www.brandeis.edu/registrar/newstudent/testing.html#italtest.

Continuing dynamic presentation of basic grammar and vocabulary within the context of Italian culture and practice of the five language skills. Special attention to reading and writing skills, as well as (guided) conversation, presentations, and video skit productions. Usually offered every spring.

ITAL 30a Intermediate Italian
[ fl ]

Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in ITAL 20b or the equivalent. Students enrolling for the first time in an Italian Studies course at Brandeis should refer to www.brandeis.edu/registrar/newstudent/testing.html#italtest.

Focuses on the development of fluency in the language in order to reach intermediate proficiency. Spoken and written Italian will be improved through the study and the discussion of the most characteristic aspects of contemporary Italian culture. Through reading and discussion of short stories, newspaper and journal articles and selected texts, as well as through the viewing of movie and video clips, the course promotes critical and analytical skills implementing task-based instruction and interpretive, interpersonal, and presentational activities. Typical themes include social conflicts, Italian family, the Italian educational system, and immigration. Usually offered every fall.

ITAL 92a Internship in Italian Studies

May be taken with the written permission of the Undergraduate Advising Head.

Combines on- or off-campus internship experience related to Italian Studies with written analysis under the supervision of a faculty sponsor. This may include study-abroad documented projects. Students arrange their own internships. Counts only once toward the fulfillment of requirements for the Minor or the Independent Interdisciplinary Major. Usually offered every semester.

ITAL 98a Independent Study

May be taken only with the written permission of the Undergraduate Advising Head.

Reading and reports under faculty supervision, which could include a senior essay or other approved project. Usually offered every year.

ITAL 98b Independent Study

Yields half-course credit. May be taken only with the written permission of the Undergraduate Advising Head.

Reading and reports under faculty supervision, which could include a senior essay or other approved project. Usually offered every year.

FREN 104b Advanced Language Skills through Culture
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: A 30-level French and Francophone Studies course or the equivalent. Students enrolling for the first time in a French and Francophone Studies course at Brandeis should refer to http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/newstudent/testing.html#frentest.

For students who would like to advance their speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills, while focusing on key elements of French and Francophone cultures. Through the study of films, comics, current events, and cultural comparisons, we explore the ways in which French speakers’ perceptions of time and space differ from our own. We also examine issues of globalization in the francophone world. Usually offered every semester.

FREN 105a The Francophone World Today: Advanced Language Skills through Culture II
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: FREN 104b or the equivalent. Students enrolling for the first time in a French and Francophone Studies course at Brandeis should refer to http://www.brandeis.edu/registrar/newstudent/testing.html#frentest.

For students who want to improve their speaking skills while learning about and discussing socio-cultural issues that distinguish the French view of the world from that of Americans. Students will focus on expressing themselves better orally while continuing their work on reading, listening, and writing as they explore current topics of debate like slang usage and immigration. Usually offered every semester.

FREN 110a Cultural Representations
[ fl hum oc ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

A foundation course in French and Francophone culture, analyzing texts and other cultural phenomena such as film, painting, music, and politics. Usually offered every year.

FREN 111a The Republic
[ fl hum oc ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

The "Republic" analyzes how the republican ideal of the citizen devoid of religious, ethnic, or gender identity has fared in different Francophone political milieux. Course involves understanding how political institutions such as constitutions, parliaments, and court systems interact with reality of modern societies in which religious, ethnic, and gender identities play important roles. Usually offered every year.

FREN 112b Anti-Semitism in France from the 1789 Revolution to Today
[ djw fl hum oc ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b, or the equivalent.

Examines how manifestations of anti-Semitism, which concern religious differences as well as economic, social, cultural, and political differences, first appeared in France and have changed in form and context from the 1789 Revolution to today. After contextualizing the notion of anti-Semitism in contemporary France after October 7, 2023, we will focus on three turning points in the history of anti-Semitism ion France: the Revolutionary period when Jews were granted full citizenship rights, the Dreyfus Affair when the place of Jews in the Republic was called into question, and the consequences of the Vichy regime in anti-Semitism in France today. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 113a Myth and Migration in Francophone North America
[ djw fl hum ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b.

Examines the linguistic and geographic ebb and flow between New England and francophone Canada, the multiple pressures on Native American societies, and the rich representations—particularly certain “myth cycles”—that arise from those interactions over time. Tracing the establishment of New France, subsequent waves of Catholic and Protestant immigrants (including the diaspora of Acadians), and indigenous displacement and resistance, the class will rely upon maps, stories, historical objects, memoirs, poems, films, and pictures to flesh out the complexities of anglophone, francophone, and autochtone co-existence. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 116a Vagabonds, Drifters, and Flaneurs in French and Francophone Literature and Film
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b, or equivalent.

What is a vagabond, a drifter, a flâneur or flâneuse? This course examines these figures as they appear in French and Francophone literature and film from the Romantic period up to today. Readings include works by authors ranging from Victor Hugo to Virginie Despentes, films from the Nouvelle Vague to contemporary francophone filmmakers. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 125b Mediterranean Crossings
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Navigating French and Francophone literature and film, we will explore the Mediterranean as a transnational space of multiple circulations, migrations, and cultural crossings in works by Lebanese, Algerian, Moroccan, Tunisian, Greek, Romanian, and French writers and filmmakers. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 126b La place de la nature dans le monde culturel francophone
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or equivalent, or instructor permission.

Invites students to examine interactions between humans and the environment in texts and images created in Francophone cultures (France, Haiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Algeria, Morocco, Quebec, and the fictional nation of the Democratic Republic of Coto [based on the Democratic Republic of the Congo]). Students will discover key notions that have shaped ideas about nature in the Francophone world. By engaging with literary texts, films, and visual arts, they will trace, interpret, and evaluate the rapport between humans in Francophone areas and the natural world from the sixteenth century (when the French nation was established) to the present day. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 129a La Révolution tranquille?: Québec's Culture Wars on Stage and Screen
[ djw fl hum ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Considers the plays and films of the last sixty years that have probed the tensions at the heart of québécois culture to provide a violent counterpart to the sexual, political, and generational "Révolution tranquille" of the 1960's and 1970's. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 139a Bad Girls and Boys: Du mauvais genre
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Through a selection of literary texts, articles, images and films, students will explore how works from the Middle Ages to present day depict male and female figures in the French and Francophone world who have failed to conform to expectations of their gender. Usually offered every second year.

FREN 141b Introduction to French and Francophone Cinema: un certain regard
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Introduces students to the major trends in French and Francophone cinema from the postwar period to the present. The course will include a discussion of major works of cinema from a variety of genres, including comedy, documentary, social realism, historical drama, and autobiography. Each work will be studied through formal analysis, different theoretical lenses, and in the context of major historical and artistic turning points. Topics of discussion will include student protest movements, class struggle, and decolonization, as well as the issues of pressing concern today, such as immigration and social, political, and environmental inequality. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 142b City and the Book
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Analyzes the symbolic appearance of the city in French literature and film from the Middle Ages to the present day. The representation of the city in literature and film is contextualized in theoretical writings of urbanists and philosophers. Literary texts include medieval fabliaux, Pantagruel (Rabelais) and Nana (Zola) as well as theoretical texts by Descartes, Ledoux, Le Corbusier, Salvador Dalí, and Paul Virillo. Usually offered every second year.

FREN 146a Picturing Versailles: Portrait, Space, and Spectacle Under the Sun King
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Examines bodies of literature, visual arts, and courtiers at Versailles in the theatrical society of intrigue and exile under Louis XIV. Concentrates on how the texts, maps, and art of the palace fashion a global portrait of absolutism: the Sun King. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 149b Le Livre Illustré: Word and Image in Francophone Texts from Bestiaries to Bandes Dessinées
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Explores the theories and practices of text-image interactions in illustrated francophone books of the past and present by addressing themes such as learning, travel, sentimentality, pornography, politics, and humor. This course will include archival work in the Brandeis library. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 150b French Detective Novels: Major Questions for a Minor Genre?
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Examines how French and Francophone detective novels take on big questions such as the origin of evil and how do you know what you know. Authors include Fred Vargas, Simenon, Driss Chraibi, Moussa Konate. Usually offered every second year.

FREN 151b Francophone Identities in a Global World: An Introduction to Francophone Literature
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Introduces Francophone literature and film, retracing, through the works of great contemporary Francophone writers and directors, the evolution of the Francophone world, from the colonial struggles to the transcultural and transnational trajectories of our global era. Usually offered every second year.

FREN 153a Food and Identity in the French and Francophone World
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Why in France is food so intertwined with national identity? This course apprehends French and Francophone culture by thinking with food - its connections with identity, power, gender, social distinction and aesthetics. Foodwriting, films, literary texts, articles by major cultural historians are studied. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 159b Wordplay: Humor in Francophone Texts
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Students will analyze the forms and functions of humor in francophone texts (French, Canadian, and Caribbean) from the Middle Ages to the present day. Course themes will include farce, comedy of manners, wordplay, and satire. The course will include archival work. Usually offered every third year.

FREN 161a The Enigma of Being Oneself: From Du Bellay to Laferrière
[ djw fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Explores the relationship of identity formation and modern individualism in texts by writers working in France, Francophone Africa and Canada. Authors range from modern and contemporary writers Sarah Kofman, Dany Laferrière, Achille Mbembe, Alain Mabanckou, and Edouard Glissant to early-modern writers like Joachim Du Bellay and Michel de Montaigne. Usually offered every year.

FREN 162b From Les Confessions to Instagram: Self-Writing in Contemporary French and Francophone Literature
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 105a or FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

Through the works of major writers, the main goal of the course will be to study the many variations of autobiographical writing that characterize contemporary French and Francophone literature, and to relate them to the renewed exploration of the post-modern subject. We will examine along the way how the self relates to the others, how it engages with filiation, memory and history - (especially World War II and the Franco-Algerian War) - and we will put an emphasis on the notions of self-fashioning and performance. Usually offered every second year.

FREN 186b Literature and Politics
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: FREN 106b or the equivalent, or permission of the instructor.

We will be interested in how the literary is political and the political literary. We will organize the class around the relationship of the individual and the community. Texts include: Montaigne's Essais, Corneille's Horace, Genet's Les nègres, Arendt's What is Politics?, Dumont's Essays on Individualism, Fanon's Peau noire, masques blancs. Usually offered every third year.

HISP 108a Spanish for Heritage Speakers
[ fl hum wi ]

Designed specifically for students who grew up speaking Spanish and who would like to enhance existing language skills while developing higher levels of academic proficiency. Assignments are geared toward developing skills in reading, writing, and critical thinking about U.S. Latino/as and the Spanish-speaking world. Students may use this course to fulfill the foreign language requirement. Usually offered every year.

HISP 109b Introduction to Modern Spanish Cultural Studies
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: HISP 106b, or HISP 108a, or permission of the instructor.

Focuses on Spanish literature and culture from the eighteenth to the twenty-first centuries. Topics will vary from semester to semester, but might include modernity; España 20XX; or the Spanish Civil War, before and after. Usually offered every year.

HISP 111b Introduction to Latin American Literature and Culture
[ djw fl hum nw ]

Prerequisite: HISP 106b, or HISP 108a, or permission of the instructor.

Examines key Latin American texts of different genres (poems, short stories and excerpts from novels, chronicles, comics, screenplays, cyberfiction) and from different time periods from the conquest to modernity. This class places emphasis on problems of cultural definition and identity construction as they are elaborated in literary discourse. Identifying major themes (coloniality and emancipation, modernismo and modernity, indigenismo, hybridity and mestizaje, nationalisms, Pan-Americanism, etc.) we will trace continuities and ruptures throughout Latin American intellectual history. Usually offered every semester.

HISP 121b Sexualidades disidentes del sur (ensayo, ficción, cine)
[ djw fl hum ]

Prerequisite: HISP 111b or instructor approval.

We will study cultural texts (fiction, essay, film) to approach issues of gender and sexuality in Latin America. The last three decades have been characterized by the emergence of gender and sexualities as central to the articulation of political and cultural dissent, with profound impact on all aspects of social life. LGBTQ+ and new generation feminist movements, artists, and cultural agents incorporate issues of class, ethnicity, coloniality, and the environment in their interventions and struggles. Usually offered every third year.

HISP 122b Made in las Americas: Stories about Growing up Latinx
[ deis-us djw hum ]

Offered in English.

Examines what it means to grow up Latinx in a multicultural United States through a focus on Latinx young adult literature and Latinx youth culture. Surveying a range of literary works that address the development of Latinx children and adolescents, we will pay special attention to coming-of-age stories that explore how Latinx negotiate ethno-racial identity, find and assert their own voice, and gain a greater understanding about their cultural differences. We will explore what intimate knowledge Latinx youth share and how they make meaning of critical, even ostensibly trivial, life moments to construct their ever-evolving sense of self and their relationship to both Latinx and non-Latinx communities. Usually offered every second year.

HISP 123b Supernatural Latin America: The Visual Culture of the Unknown
[ dl hum ]

May be taught in English or Spanish.

Latin America is haunted by the specters of countless colonial genocides, ritual sacrifices, fratricidal wars, thousands of disappeared. Its vast territory is swarming with ruins, ghost towns, the emptiness of devastated fauna and languages killed by ecocide. This course explores the numerous ways Latin American artists have made sense of their own experiences of the paranormal and the supernatural, developing a rich visual culture of the intangible. Some of the topics that we will address in this journey into the unknowable are: popular culture and the paranormal/supernatural; otherworldly visitors; aura, trauma, and art; avant-gardes and the supernatural; hauntology; contemporary witch culture; uncanny spaces. Works by Jayro Bustamante, Leonora Carrington, Guillermo del Toro, Mariana Enríquez, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Samanta Schweblin, Xul Solar, among others. Usually offered every third year.

HISP 124a Nature and Ecology in Latin American Culture
[ djw hum ]

HISP 125a Transatlantic Journeys: Cultural Intersections between Spain and Latin America
[ hum ]

Prerequisite: HISP 111b or permission of the instructor.

Explores the rich cultural and historical ties between Spain and Latin America from a transatlantic perspective. Emphasizing an interdisciplinary approach, it covers mutual influences, themes, and circuits of material and symbolical interchange between both territories, spanning from the era of colonization to contemporary globalization. The course places a strong emphasis on themes of myth, sorcery, and religious beliefs, with a special focus on transgressive identities such as rebels, madmen, witches, demons, and mythical creatures. It also delves into other important areas, such as the role of African and Indigenous cultures in the transatlantic colonial and postcolonial era, transnational narratives of race, processes of migration, and circuits of influence in arts and sports. Throughout the semester, students will critically analyze cultural artifacts, understand historical contexts, and engage in comparative studies to appreciate the unique and shared aspects of Spanish and Latin American cultural identities and narratives. This exploration aims to enhance their Spanish language proficiency and research skills, provide a nuanced understanding of the dynamic transatlantic exchanges that have shaped both regions, and invite discussion of past and present trends. Usually offered every third year.

HISP 126a Race and Media in Latin America
[ hum ]

HISP 127a Latin American Theater and Performance
[ fl hum oc ]

Prerequisite: HISP 111b.

Explores an array of rituals, performances, plays, and stage-to-film adaptations in Latin America from colonial times to the present. We will examine the transgressive nature of theater and performance in multiple dimensions: as alternative sites of cultural memory versus hegemonic texts and archives, as disruptors of media boundaries and realities, and as transformational acts that frequently challenge structures of power and oppression. Special attention will be devoted to Black theatrical practices and aesthetics: religious ceremonies, spirit possession, carnival, and related subgenres and movements such as Teatro bufo (a variant of Cuban blackface) and Teatro Experimental do Negro (one of the first and most influential Afro Brazilian theater groups). Our discussions will include not only works by renowned playwrights (Nelson Rodrigues in Brazil, Lola Arias in Argentina, Eugenio Hernández Espinosa in Cuba, and Sergio Blanco in Uruguay, among others), but also collective initiatives like Grupo Cultural Yuyachkani in Perú and Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol in Mexico. Usually offered every second year.

HISP 142b Literature, Film, and Human Rights in Latin America
[ djw fl hum nw wi ]

Prerequisite: HISP 109b or HISP 111b, or instructor permission.

Examines literature, film (fiction and non-fiction), and other artistic expressions from Latin America, in conversation with the idea of human rights from the colonial arguments about slavery and the "natural rights" of the indigenous, to the advent of human rights in the context of post-conflict truth and reconciliation processes, to the emergence of gender and ethnicity as into the human rights framework, to the current debates about rights of nature in the midst of a global ecological crisis. Usually offered every third year.

HISP 158a Latina Feminisms
[ deis-us djw hum ]

Offered in English.

Explores the theoretical frameworks and literary productions of feminisms developed by Latina/xs. It introduces students to a diversity of backgrounds and experiences (Chicana, Dominican American, Cuban American, Salvadoran American, and Puerto Rican authors) as well as a variety of genres (i.e. novel, poetry, short stories, drama). Using intersectionality as a theoretical tool for analyzing oppressions, students will explore the complex politics of gender, sexuality, class, ethnicity, and race in the lives of Latina/xs. They will also explore Latina/x feminists' theoretical and/or practical attempts to transcend socially-constructed categories of identity, while acknowledging existing material inequalities. Usually offered every third year.

HISP 160a Culture, Media, and Social Change in Latin America
[ djw fl hum nw wi ]

Prerequisite: HISP 109b or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor.

Explores the role of various creative arts (creative writing, visual arts, music, film, performance) in their role as fostering political change in Latin America. We will examine key eras of 20th and 21st century cultural production in relation to shifting mass-media landscapes, from the revolutionary impetus of the early 20th century avant-gardes in literature and visual arts, the Mexican Revolution, popular music in the 1940s, documentary film and music, and the anti-establishment movements of the 1960s-1970s guerrillas, artistic resistance to the dictatorship, to the street art accompanying human rights, and grass roots identity movements of the 2000s. Usually offered every second year.

HISP 163b Narratives of the Borderlands and Border Crossers
[ deis-us djw fl hum ]

Prerequisite: HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor. Taught in Spanish.

Explores the U.S.-Mexico border and the many ways in which it has intimately shaped the experiences of people living in the borderlands and/or moving across the border. It will examine literary works that survey the U.S.-Mexico borderlands in terms of their figurative and material realities, with specific attention to how the borderlands are represented in today's society and how the U.S.-Mexico border might be reimagined. This course will also probe the experiences of migrants and border-crosses through the lens of testimonios. Usually offered every second year.

HISP 164b Studies in Latin American Literature
[ fl hum nw ]

Prerequisite: HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor. Course may be repeated for credit. Does not fulfill writing intensive beginning fall 2020.

A comparative and critical study of main trends, ideas, and cultural formations in Latin America. Topics vary year to year and have included fiction and history in Latin American literature, nation and narration, Latin American autobiography, art and revolution in Latin America, and humor in Latin America. Usually offered every year.

HISP 165b The Storyteller: Short Fiction in Latin America
[ djw fl hum nw ]

Prerequisite: HISP 111b or permission of the instructor.

By reading (and listening to) modern short stories (20th and 21st century) from different Spanish-speaking countries, we will reflect on the power of storytelling and narrative for shaping subjectivity and community. Going from known literary classics (Borges, García Márquez) to contemporary, emerging younger authors (Bolaños, Enriquez, Schweblin), we will examine relevant topics that traverse Latin American cultural history (colonization, multi-ethnicity, oral and lettered cultures), as well as more contemporary struggles (gender identity, youth culture, ecological concerns). The literary concerns of this class dovetail with political and historical aspects, as issues of colonization, national identities, minoritarian or subaltern voices, and gender struggles, are at the core of Latin American literature. This class includes creative components (writing fiction in Spanish, podcast storytelling, translation) as forms of assessment, which students can choose instead of more traditional forms of interpretation. Usually offered every third year.

HISP 180a Topics in Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century Spanish Literature and Culture
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: HISP 111b or permission of the instructor. May be repeated for credit.

Topics will vary from year to year but may include the post-Civil War novel, modern women's writing, or detective fiction. Usually offered every third year.

HISP 192b Latin American Global Film
[ djw hum nw oc ]

May be taught in English or Spanish.

We will study the dynamic between local and global imagination and forces in the production, circulation, and reception of films from and/or about "Latin America." Local productions, traditional topics and genres are now refashioned for international audiences. Some film directors and actors have gained mainstream global visibility; U.S.-based ‘platforms’ finance local productions for international markets. How are all these new and old images and narratives mobilized? What are all these forces and projections doing? Analysis of visual representation and film techniques will be combined with an attention to socio-cultural backgrounds. Usually offered every second year.

HISP 196a Topics in Latinx Literature and Culture
[ hum wi ]

May be repeated for credit. May be taught in English or Spanish.

Offers students the opportunity for in-depth study of a particular aspect of the diverse literary and cultural production of U.S. latinx. Topics will vary from year to year but may include autobiography, detective fiction, or historical fiction. Usually offered every third year.

ITAL 105a Italian Conversation and Composition
[ fl hum oc ]

Prerequisite: ITAL 30a or the equivalent. Students enrolling for the first time in an Italian Studies course at Brandeis should refer to www.brandeis.edu/registrar/newstudent/testing.html#italtest.

This course is designed for students interested in continuing the study of the Italian language, culture, and literature beyond the intermediate level. The development of oral and written proficiency is emphasized through the expansion of vocabulary and activities aimed to improve analytical, interpretive, and presentational skills. The course uses the UN Sustainable Developments Goals to frame important aspects of contemporary Italy. Through a series of activities that practice listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Italian, students reflect on the social impact of our environmental behavior, the importance of art and music in translating experiences, changing opinions, and instilling values, the social impact of the internet in raising voices, creating awareness and calling for social change, how activism ensure inclusion and equality. Usually offered every spring.

ITAL 106a Storia e storie d'Italia: Advanced Italian through Narrative, Film, and Other Media
[ fl hum oc ]

Prerequisite: ITAL 30a, ITAL 105a, or the equivalent. Students enrolling for the first time in an Italian Studies course at Brandeis should refer to www.brandeis.edu/registrar/newstudent/testing.html#italtest.

Aims to prepare students for upper-level courses and to advance language fluency through the practice of all language skills at different ranges of advanced proficiency, grammatical structures, and vocabulary. This course offers a close study and analysis of representative Italian literary texts and films to further improve proficiency in Italian through analytical, interpretive, and presentational activities. Each year, emphasis will be given to a specific theme, such as women writers and Italian history through short stories. Reading and listening activities followed by in-class discussions and presentations are designed to strengthen communication and reading skills. Usually offered every other fall.

ITAL 110a Introduction to Italian Literature: Love, Intrigues, and Politics from Dante to Goldoni
[ fl hum oc ]

Prerequisite: ITAL 105a or 106a or permission of the instructor.

Surveys the masterpieces of Italian literature from Dante to Goldoni's stage. Students will explore different themes such as love, conflict, and politics in Italian early masterpieces by analyzing and comparing genres, historical periods, and schools of thought. Since Oral communication skills are the core of methodology and pedagogy for Italian 110, students will work on primary texts through dynamic and guided discussions, interpretive textual analysis, and different styles of presentations. Usually offered every second year.

ITAL 120b Modern Italian Literature: From Page to the Screen
[ fl hum ]

Prerequisite: ITAL 105a or 106a or permission of the instructor.

Focuses on the analysis of several Italian cinematic productions from the twentieth century to the present, inspired by writers such as Lampedusa, as well as contemporary writers, such as Baricco, Ammaniti, and Ferrante with emphasis on the theme of historical, individual, and familial identity within the context of socio-economic upheaval and transformative cultural events. Conducted in Italian. Usually offered every second year.

ITAL 128a Mapping Modern Italian Culture: Inherited Conflicts
[ fl hum oc ]

Prerequisite: ITAL 105a or 106a or permission of the instructor. Conducted in Italian with Italian texts.

Covers a broad and significant range of cultural topics that exemplify creative responses to historical events and social dilemmas that have shaped contemporary Italian culture including economic changes, the new face of immigration in Italy and second generation's representations, the Italian American diaspora in the United States, the political environment during The Years of Lead, and social justice representations in the fight against the Mafia and Camorra through literature and cinema. Usually offered every second year.

ITAL 134b Voci e storie della cultura ebraica italiana
[ fl hum wi ]

Prerequisite: ITAL 105a or 106a or permission of the instructor. Conducted in Italian. Materials fee: $20.

Analyzes Italian Jewish representations in Italian culture from medieval times to the founding of the ghetto in Venice in 1516 and leading Jewish figures of the Renaissance. Works of modern Italian Jewish writers and historians are examined as well as Italian movies that address Jewish themes within mainstream of Italian culture. This course has an interdisciplinary approach while focusing on advanced Italian language skills. Usually offered every second year.