Department of Romance Studies

All schedule information is tentative. Please see the Registrar's site for the latest information.

For full lists of courses offered next semester, download the PDF brochures:

• Hispanic Studies Language Course Offerings (HISP 10–108) Fall 2022

• Hispanic Studies Upper-Level Courses Fall 2022

For short video introductions to many of our courses, click on the course titles.

Questions about major/minor requirements, course offerings, or studying abroad? Contact our Undergraduate Advising Head: Professor Lucía Reyes de Deu.

For more information about HISP 10-108 placement/enrollment, please see our Language Programs Placement page. If you have any questions, please contact Prof. González Ros.

(1) M/W/R 10:10 AM–11:00 AM; F 10:00 AM–10:50 AM, González Ros
(2) M/W/R/F 9:05 AM–9:55 AM, Gould

Prerequisite: Permission required (please see instructions on our Language Programs Placement page).

For students who have had no previous study of Spanish. An introduction to the Spanish language and culture, this course focuses on the acquisition of basic communication skills in Spanish and cultural awareness. Students will actively speak, write, listen, and read in the target language. A variety of media and texts relating to authentic familiar topics will be used. Active participation is essential.

(1) M/T/W/R 11:15 AM–12:05 PM, Mederos
(2) M/T/W/R 9:05 AM–9:55 AM, STAFF
(3) M/W/R 10:10 AM–11:00 AM; T 10:00 AM–10:50 AM, STAFF

Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in HISP 10a or the equivalent. Permission required (please see instructions on our Language Programs Placement page).

For students with some previous study of Spanish. Students will continue the development of all language skills (speaking, reading, listening, writing, and culture) using a variety of media and texts relating to authentic familiar topics. The focus of the class is to communicate effectively and to learn more about the cultures of the Spanish–speaking world. Active participation is essential.

(1) M/W/R 12:20–1:10 PM; F 12:45–1:35 PM, Gould
(2) M/W/R 10:10–11:00 AM; F 10:00–10:50 AM, Gould
(3) M/W/R/F 11:15 AM–12:05 PM, STAFF
(4) M/W/R 12:20–1:10 PM; F 12:45–1:35 PM, STAFF
(5) M/T/W/R 9:05 AM–9:55 AM, Mederos
(6) M/W/R 1:25–2:15 PM; T 12:45–1:35 PM, Mederos

Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in HISP 20b or the equivalent. Permission required (please see instructions on our Language Programs Placement page).

Students in HISP 32 will bring their proficiency up to an intermediate level. Prepares students to communicate on a variety of topics which are familiar or of personal interest. All language skills will be practiced with a special emphasis on interpersonal communication and cultural competence.

*HISP classes listed below (104 and above) are conducted in Spanish, unless otherwise noted.*

(1) M/W/R 10:10 AM–11:00 AM, Castro
(2) M/W/R 12:20 PM–1:10 PM, Castro
(3) M/W/R 1:25 PM–2:15 PM, STAFF

Prerequisite: HISP 32 or 34. Permission required (please see instructions on our Language Programs Placement page).

Participants will expand their language skills in Spanish while deepening their understanding of Hispanic cultures. Students will explore how their identity and those of others is expressed through language, images, and cultural practices.

(1) M/W/R 1:25 PM–2:15 PM, Castro

Prerequisite: HISP 104b or the equivalent. Permission required (please see instructions on our Language Programs Placement page).

How do we persuade others to enact meaningful change? In this special topics section of Hisp 105, students will improve their speaking skills as they explore issues of sustainability in the Spanish–speaking world. We will reflect about the global consequences of individual actions, debate about the feasibility of ecotourism, and tell the stories of indigenous and Latin American climate activists.

(3) M/W/R 9:05 AM–9:55 AM, González Ros

Prerequisite: HISP 104b or the equivalent. Permission required (please see instructions on our Language Programs Placement page).

Students will improve their oral communication skills through active participation in practical tasks in contexts related to the way the Spanish–speaking world views the concepts of health and wellbeing. Students will present information, conduct interviews, persuade and debate, among other communicative functions. This course is appropriate for students in any field where they would interact with Spanish speakers regularly.

(1) T/R 2:20 PM–3:40 PM, Reyes de Deu
(2) T/R 3:55 PM–5:15 PM, Reyes de Deu

Prerequisite: HISP 105a or the equivalent. Permission required (please see instructions on our Language Programs Placement page). [WI]

Students will develop their writing skills in order to communicate effectively in a variety of contexts and for different audiences. Examples may include creative, professional, and academic texts.

(1) M/W 7:15 PM–8:35 PM, Pérez Arranz

Prerequisite: HISP 106b, or HISP 108a, or permission of instructor. Taught in Spanish.

This course offers a panoramic view of the most representative figures in literary history and culture in Spain, examined through the lens of food and hunger. By disseminating the cultural production of Spain through different genres (comics, cookbooks, poems, short stories, film, novella, material culture, and television), the course pays special attention to social, cultural, political, literary and artistic representations of hunger and traces common desires, satisfactions and anxieties throughout Spanish history. 

(1) T/F 12:45 PM–2:05 PM, Reyes de Deu

Prerequisite: HISP 106b, or HISP 108a, or permission of instructor. Taught in Spanish. [DJW; Cross-listed with COML, IGS, LACLS, and MUS]

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.

(1) M/W 4:05 PM–5:25 PM, Ariza

Prerequisite: HISP 106b, or HISP 108a, or permission of instructor. Taught in Spanish.

In this course we will analyze different artistic, epistemological, and political activism expressions that explore extractive practices, often from the creation or reinterpretation of extractive aesthetics. Some of the topics we will address are ecological arts, earth-derived material in art, map art, cultures of climate, colonialism and postcolonialism in the arts, the aesthetics of public and post-public space, arts of forced migration, arts across the diaspora, indigenous knowledge (time, space, displacement), the new Latin American western, migrations from the city to the countryside, aesthetics of theft and fraud, disappearance of people, languages and towns. Works by Lisandro Alonso, Jayro Bustamante, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, Albertina Carri, Ernesto Contreras, Juliano Dornelles and Kleber Mendonça Filho, Álvaro Enrigue, Ciro Guerra, Patricio Guzmán, Mariano Llinás, Dolores Reyes, Samanta Schweblin, among others.

(1) M/W 2:30 PM–3:50 PM,  Ariza

Prerequisite: HISP 106b, or HISP 108a, or permission of instructor. Taught in Spanish.

“Youth Culture” is a slippery concept that attempts to name the elusiveness of the many ways adolescents and young adults live. Latin American youth is characterized by high levels of heterogeneity and inequality that is expressed in diverse conditions, visions, and practices. These differences and inequalities are related to historical processes. It is because of such heterogeneity and inequality that it is preferable to speak of multiple youths. In this course, we will follow the material traces left by the experiences of young subjects in art, fashion, politics, and in the media (including social networks) at the intersection of these specific coordinates: Latin America / 1980-2022.

(1) T/Th 7:05 PM–8:25 PM, Pérez Arranz

Prerequisite: HISP 106b, or HISP 108a, or permission of instructor. Taught in Spanish. WI

When dictator Francisco Franco died in 1975, Spain entered a new democracy governed by constitutional laws called La Transición. During this period, Spain saw political change and ended its international isolation, opened up to Europe, embraced cultural trends that were practiced there—fomenting a cultural, artistic and sexual revolution referred to as La Movida. This course will examine the most relevant moments, artists, and groups of La Movida and its impact on Spanish democracy.  The course aims to foster a new understanding of contemporary Spain and the far-reaching implications of constructing a new culture and lifestyle. Students will explore the diverse voices that shaped the post-Franco world by examining works of literature, poetry, film, music, and visual art. Students will also gain experience analyzing primary source material (newspaper articles and other forms of media) as they explore the provocative social and cultural practices of a newly liberated Spain—ranging from nightlife, punk, graffiti, fanzines, to experimental drug use.