Courses
Please see the Registrar's Schedule of Classes for schedule information.
All students need a consent code to enroll in Spanish Language Courses (HISP 10-108).
- Students currently enrolled in HISP language courses (HISP 10-105) will receive instructions about consent code distribution before the beginning of registration.
- All others should email Professor Elena González Ros, director of the Spanish language program, as soon as possible with a description of their background in Spanish, including classes taken, standardized test scores, and/or other exposure to the language. She will reply with further instructions about obtaining a consent code for the appropriate language course.
- Heritage speakers (those who grew up speaking Spanish) should also describe their language background in an email to Professor González Ros who will give them additional information.
Spring 2020 Courses
Language Courses
HISP 10A Beginning Spanish
(1) M,T,W,Th 1:00–1:50, Chilelli
Prerequisite: Consent code required (please see instructions above).
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 effective 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.
HISP 20B Continuing Spanish
(1) M,T,W,Th 9:00–9:50, Sewick
(2) M,T,W,Th 10:00–10:50, Sewick
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in HISP 10a or the equivalent. Consent code required (please see instructions above).
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 culture of the Spanish-speaking world. Active participation is essential.
HISP 32A Intermediate Spanish: Conversation
(1) M,W,Th,F 9:00–9:50, Gould
(2) M,W,Th 12:00–12:50; F 12:30–1:20, Gould
(3) M,T,W,Th 9:00–9:50, Chilelli
(4) M,T,W,Th 11:00–11:50, Chilelli
(5) M,W,Th,F 10:00–10:50, Mederos
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in HISP 20b or the equivalent. Consent code required (please see instructions above).
Students in HISP 32 will bring their proficiency up to an intermediate level. All skills will be practiced with a focus on developing oral communication. Themes will include familiar topics in the context of the Spanish-speaking world.
HISP 34A Intermediate Spanish: Topics in Hispanic Culture
(1) M,W,Th 12:00–12:50; F 12:30–1:20, Mederos
Prerequisite: A grade of C- or higher in HISP 20b or the equivalent. Consent code required (please see instructions above).
Students in Hisp34 will bring their proficiency up to an intermediate level. All skills will be practiced with an emphasis on developing intercultural competence. Themes will include familiar topics in the context of the Spanish-speaking world.
HISP 104B Peoples, Ideas, and Language of the Hispanic World
(1) M,W,Th 1:00–1:50, Gould
(2) M,W,Th 12:00–12:50, Turpin
Prerequisite: HISP 32 or 34. Consent code required (please see instructions above).
Participants will expand their 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.
HISP 105A Special Topic: Sustainability
(1) M,W,Th 10:00–10:50, Turpin
Prerequisite: HISP 104b or the equivalent. Consent code required (please see instructions above).
How fair is fair trade for Central American workers? How does cattle ranching in Argentina contribute to local climate change? What can we learn from indigenous perspectives on the environment? Students will improve their speaking skills as they explore issues of sustainability in the Spanish-speaking world. Informational, literary, and audio-visual texts will provide the basis for conversation, inquiry, and debate.
HISP 105A Oral Communication through Cultural Topics
(2) M,W,Th 12:00–12:50, Sewick
Prerequisite: HISP 104b or the equivalent. Consent code required (please see instructions above).
Students learn to communicate effectively in Spanish through class discussions, oral and written exercises, presentations, literary and cultural readings, film, and explorations of the mass media. Emphasis on improvement of oral and written fluency, and the continued acquisition of vocabulary and grammar structures.
HISP 106B Spanish for Written Communication through Contemporary Culture
(1) M,W,Th 11:00–11:50, Reyes de Deu
(2) M,W,Th 12:00–12:50, Reyes de Deu
Prerequisite: HISP 105a or the equivalent. Consent code required (please see instructions above). [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.
HISP 108A Spanish for Heritage Speakers
(1) M,W,Th 1:00–1:50, Mederos
Prerequisite: Consent code required (please see instructions above). [WI; Cross-listed with LALS]
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. Latinx and the Spanish-speaking world. Students may use this course to fulfill the foreign language requirement.
Upper-Level Courses (above HISP 108)
HISP 111B Intro. to Latin American Literature & Culture
(1) M,W 2:00–3:20, Reyes de Deu
Prerequisite: HISP 106b, or HISP 108a, or permission of instructor. [DJW; DL; NW; Cross-listed with COML, IGS, LALS, 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.
HISP 165B The Storyteller: Short Fiction in Latin America
(1) M,W 2:00–3:20, Rosenberg
Prerequisites: HISP 109b, or HISP 110a, or HISP 111b, or permission of instructor. [NW; Cross-listed with LALS]
Through a study of Latin American short stories, some of them by consecrated writers, some of them by less well-known, we will reflect on the power of storytelling and narrative to shape subjectivity and community. We will examine topics that traverse Latin American cultures and are expressed in these stories, such tensions between literacy and oral traditions, hegemonic and minority voices, cultural diversity, ethnicity, class, migration, as well as contemporary concerns around issues of gender and sexuality, and in relation to the natural world. This class has an optional creative writing component, as students will have the chance, if so inclined, to write fiction applying concepts and themes studied in class (instead of critical/analytical assignments).
HISP 170A El mundo dramático y social en los siglos XVIII y XIX.
(1) T,Th 3:30–4:50, Mandrell
HISP 109b or HISP 111b, or permission of the instructor. Course may be repeated for credit. Taught in Spanish. [WI; Cross-listed with ECS]
A consideration of the dramatic and social worlds of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Spain as presented in well-known but not necessarily “representative” texts. Rather than reading these canonical and non-canonical works as mirrors of society, we will attempt to tease out various competing interests and concerns as well as the way that authors discuss important topics with one other across the decades. Additionally, we will consider the performative dimensions of the dramatic texts, including sets and settings, dramatic space, clothing and costumes, and theatrical conventions.
HISP 178B Latinx Futurisms
(1) T,Th 2:00–3:20, Durán
Special one-time offering. Taught in English. [Cross-listed with ENG & LALS]
This course will examine critical theory about and cultural productions of Latinx futurisms. Engaging with Latinx speculative and science fiction aesthetics, it will explore questions of race, ethnicity, citizenship, immigration, gender, and sexuality, among other sociopolitical issues.