Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures (2020 - 2022)
Course Numbering System
Effective fall 2020, the department has extensively renumbered and reorganized many of its courses. All courses in Spanish and Portuguese above the intermediate level fall into the following categories:
50-level courses are bridge courses focusing on the acquisition of oral and written language skills that facilitate the transition from basic language courses to the major.
100-level courses are advanced language courses in which students can acquire specific skills in translation, creative writing, and professional vocabularies while they reinforce and deepen their knowledge and proficiency in Spanish and/or Portuguese. The 100 level also includes 2-point courses, independent study, and internships.
200-level courses are content courses that provide (a) historical foundations and frameworks for the study of Hispanic and Lusophone cultures; (b) critical, theoretical, and methodological tools for the study of cultural works; and (c) an emphasis on writing in the discipline. Some are taught in English.
300-level courses combine the acquisition of critical and methodological skills with a writing-intensive component, offering students the opportunity to learn and practice critical skills and expand historical knowledge at the same time as they acquire proficiency in writing in the fields of Hispanic and Lusophone cultural and critical studies. These courses are taught only in Spanish or Portuguese.
400-level courses focus on critical debates and methodological skills applied to specific cultural artifacts or historical periods. These courses, some of which are taught in English, utilize research skills learned in previous courses and develop new ones; expand students’ command of critical vocabularies and debates; and emphasize the presentation of research results in a variety of formats and genres, from research papers to journalistic reports and multimedia projects. This level also includes the honors seminar and thesis course for honors-track students.
Placement in Spanish Language Courses
Please note that all SAT Subject Examinations are discontinued in the U.S. as of January 2021 and after June 2021 internationally.
For full details, students must consult the website of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, as well as the "policy on course placement" and "policy on Advanced Placement (AP)" (both under "program" in this department's section in this Bulletin). To enroll in one's first Spanish language course at NYU, students must have taken the SAT Subject Test in Spanish; have advanced standing credit for Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, A Levels, or equivalent; or have taken the placement examination administered by the University. The exception is students with no previous study of Spanish or who took no more than one year of Spanish in high school, who may enroll in Spanish for Beginners I (SPAN-UA 1). Students from a Spanish-speaking background who wish to study the language may not enroll in any level of Spanish for Beginners (SPAN-UA 1, SPAN-UA 2, and SPAN-UA 10) or Intermediate Spanish (SPAN-UA 3, SPAN-UA 4, and SPAN-UA 20), but must instead enroll in Spanish for Spanish Speakers (SPAN-UA 11) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speakers (SPAN-UA 51, formerly 111) after taking a special written placement test in the department. Students with transfer credit in Spanish must take a placement test if they intend to register for the language in CAS. Note that after 18 months, a completed SPAN-UA course no longer serves as a prerequisite for more advanced courses; students must take or retake the placement exam. In addition, test scores are valid for only 18 months.
Admission to Courses above Intermediate Spanish
Students who have completed Intermediate Spanish I and II (SPAN-UA 3 and SPAN-UA 4) or Intensive Intermediate Spanish (SPAN-UA 20) must take Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) as a prerequisite for upper-level courses, unless otherwise noted in course descriptions.
Portuguese Language Courses: Elementary through Intermediate Levels
Elementary-level courses stress the structures and patterns that permit meaningful communication in and outside the classroom. Intermediate-level courses aim to promote fluency in speaking, as well as proficiency in reading and writing. Both include readings and discussions of Portuguese and Brazilian texts, film, and other media. Successful completion of Intermediate Portuguese II (PORT-UA 4) fulfills the College Core Curriculum language requirement.
Portuguese for Beginners I
PORT-UA 1 Open to students with no previous training in Portuguese and no knowledge of Spanish, and to others on assignment by placement test. 4 points.
Designed to teach the elements of grammar and language structure using primarily a proficiency approach involving listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Emphasis is on building vocabulary and language patterns to encourage spontaneous language use in and out of the classroom.
Portuguese for Beginners II
PORT UA 2 Prerequisite: PORT-UA 1 or placement test. 4 points.
Further study of grammar. Emphasis is on building vocabulary and language patterns to encourage spontaneous language use in and out of the classroom.
Intermediate Portuguese I
PORT-UA 3 Prerequisite: Portuguese for Beginners Level II (PORT-UA 2), Intensive Elementary Portuguese (PORT-UA 10), Intensive Elementary Portuguese for Spanish Speakers (PORT-UA 11), assignment by placement test, or permission of the director of undergraduate studies. 4 points.
Review of grammar, language structure, and culture, concentrating on fluency and accuracy through listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities.
Intermediate Portuguese II
PORT-UA 4 Prerequisite: Intermediate Portuguese I (PORT-UA 3), assignment by placement test, or permission of the director of undergraduate studies. 4 points.
Promotes proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking. Readings and discussions of contemporary Luso-Brazilian texts and review of major grammatical concepts. Satisfies the Core language requirement.
Intensive Elementary Portuguese
PORT-UA 10 Open to students with no previous training in Portuguese and no knowledge of Spanish and to others on assignment by placement test. 6 points.
Covers the equivalent of PORT-UA 1 and 2 in one semester. Designed to teach the elements of grammar and language structure using a proficiency approach involving listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Emphasis is on building vocabulary and language patterns to encourage spontaneous language use in and out of the classroom.
Intensive Elementary Portuguese for Spanish Speakers
PORT-UA 11 Prerequisite: native or near-native fluency in Spanish. 4 points.
Accelerated introduction to spoken and written Portuguese that relies on the similarities of the Portuguese and Spanish languages to maximize learning and language acquisition.
Quechua Language Courses
Quechua is the most important and widely spoken indigenous language in Latin America. Increasing numbers of Quechua speakers have migrated to the United States (especially to New Jersey and New York City). The goal in the four-course sequence is effective communication through development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Successful completion of Intermediate Quechua II (SPAN-UA 84) fulfills the College Core Curriculum language requirement.
Elementary Quechua I
SPAN-UA 81 Identical to LATC-UA 101. No prerequisite. 4 points.
Elementary Quechua II
SPAN-UA 82 Identical to LATC-UA 102. Prerequisite: Elementary Quechua I (SPAN-UA 81) or permission of the instructor. 4 points.
Continuation of SPAN-UA 81.
Intermediate Quechua I
SPAN-UA 83 Identical to LATC-UA 103. Prerequisite: Elementary Quechua II (SPAN-UA 82) or permission of the instructor. 4 points.
Provides students with a deeper understanding of the language.
Intermediate Quechua II
SPAN-UA 84 Identical to LATC-UA 104. Prerequisite: Intermediate Quechua I (SPAN-UA 83) or permission of the instructor. 4 points.
Continuation of SPAN-UA 83. Completion of Intermediate Quechua II satisfies the Core foreign language requirement.
Spanish Language Courses: Elementary through Intermediate Levels
Spanish for Beginners I
SPAN-UA 1 Open to students with no previous training in Spanish or who took one year of Spanish in high school, and to others on assignment by placement test. 4 points.
Designed to teach the elements of grammar and language structure using primarily a proficiency approach involving listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Emphasis is on building vocabulary and language patterns to encourage spontaneous language use in and out of the classroom.
Spanish for Beginners II
SPAN-UA 2 Prerequisite: Spanish for Beginners I (SPAN-UA 1) or placement. 4 points.
Continued study of grammar. Emphasis is on building vocabulary and language patterns to encourage spontaneous language use in and out of the classroom. Students who earn a B-plus or higher may proceed to Intensive Intermediate Spanish (SPAN-UA 20).
Intermediate Spanish I
SPAN-UA 3 Prerequisite: Spanish for Beginners II (SPAN-UA 2), Intensive Elementary Spanish (SPAN-UA 10), or placement. 4 points.
Review of grammar, language structure, and culture, concentrating on fluency and accuracy through listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities.
Intermediate Spanish II
SPAN-UA 4 Prerequisite: Intermediate Spanish I (SPAN-UA 3) or placement. 4 points.
Promotes proficiency in reading and writing as well as oral performance. Further aspects of grammar, language structure, and culture with readings and discussions of contemporary Hispanic texts. Fulfills the Core foreign language requirement.
Intensive Elementary Spanish
SPAN-UA 10 Open to students with one year of high school Spanish or two years of high school French, Italian, or Latin, and to others on assignment by placement exam or in consultation with the director of the Spanish language program. 6 points.
Covers the equivalent of one year of Elementary Spanish (SPAN-UA 1 and SPAN-UA 2) in one semester. Students with a final grade of B-plus or better in SPAN-UA 10 may enroll in SPAN-UA 20. Other students must proceed to SPAN-UA 3.
Spanish for Spanish Speakers
SPAN-UA 11 Prerequisite: placement exam/permission of the director of the Spanish language program. Offered every semester. 4 points.
A formal introduction to grammar for heritage speakers who understand spoken Spanish but need to further develop their speaking, reading, and writing skills. Incorporates cultural and literary readings to develop written and oral communication skills. Fulfills the Core foreign language requirement.
Intensive Intermediate Spanish
SPAN-UA 20 Prerequisite: Intensive Elementary Spanish (SPAN-UA 10), Spanish for Beginners II (SPAN-UA 2) with a final grade of B-plus or better, assignment by placement test, or permission of the director of the Spanish language program. 6 points.
Promotes proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking. Covers the equivalent of one year of Intermediate Spanish (SPAN-UA 3 and SPAN-UA 4) in one semester. Fulfills the Core foreign language requirement.
Bridge Courses in Spanish and Portuguese (50 Level)
Advanced Portuguese
PORT-UA 50 Prerequisite: Intermediate Portuguese II (PORT-UA 4). 4 points.
Expands and consolidates students' lexical and grammatical understanding of the Portuguese language and introduces them to the fundamental principles of expository writing. Utilizes exercises, readings, and intensive practice of various prose techniques and styles.
Advanced Spanish
SPAN-UA 50 Formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition (SPAN-UA 100). Prerequisite: Intermediate Spanish II (SPAN-UA 4), Intensive Intermediate Spanish (SPAN-UA 20), assignment by placement test, or permission of the director of the Spanish language program. For non-native speakers only. Native or quasi-native Spanish speakers should register for Advanced Spanish for Spanish-Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). Offered every semester. 4 points.
Expands and consolidates students' lexical and grammatical understanding of the language and introduces them to the fundamental principles of expository writing. Utilizes exercises, readings, and intensive practice of various prose techniques and styles.
Advanced Spanish for Spanish-Speaking Students
SPAN-UA 51 Formerly SPAN-UA 111. Prerequisite: Spanish for Spanish Speakers (SPAN-UA 11) or placement/permission of the director of the Spanish language program. This course is intended for heritage or native speakers and these students may not enroll in Advanced Spanish Conversation (SPAN-UA 60, formerly 101) or Advanced Spanish Conversation for the Medical Professions (SPAN-UA 61, formerly 102). Offered every semester. 4 points.
For native and quasi-native speakers with uneven formal training in the language. Expands and consolidates lexical and grammatical understanding of the language and introduces the fundamental principles of expository writing.
Advanced Language Electives (100-149 Level)
Topics in Advanced Portuguese
PORT-UA 100 Prerequisite: Advanced Portuguese (PORT-UA 50). 4 points.
Topics vary by semester.
Topics in Advanced Spanish
SPAN-UA 100 Formerly SPAN-UA 190. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100). Offered periodically. 2 to 4 points.
Topics vary but may include Spanish for the professions (Spanish for law, business, and medicine) or the practical use of the language (public speaking, Spanish for research).
Advanced Spanish Conversation
SPAN-UA 60 Formerly SPAN-UA 101. Prerequisite: Intermediate Spanish II (SPAN-UA 4) or Intensive Intermediate Spanish (SPAN-UA 20). Recommended prerequisite or corequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100). Not open to students who have taken Advanced Spanish Conversation for the Medical Professions (SPAN-UA 61, formerly SPAN-UA 102). Offered every semester. 4 points.
Intensive work designed to give the student fluency in the use of idiomatic, everyday language as well as a comprehensive, practical vocabulary. For non-native speakers only.
Advanced Spanish Conversation for the Medical Professions
SPAN-UA 61 Formerly SPAN-UA 102. Prerequisite: Intermediate Spanish II (SPAN-UA 4) or Intensive Intermediate Spanish (SPAN-UA 20), or permission of the director of the Spanish language program. Recommended prerequisite or corequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100). Not open to students who have taken Advanced Spanish Conversation (SPAN-UA 60, formerly 101). Offered periodically. 4 points.
Designed to expand speaking skills beyond practical, day-to-day language functions. Builds a more complex and technical proficiency in Spanish in a medical context, through the practice of pronunciation, vocabulary, idioms, and linguistic structures. For non-native speakers only.
Techniques of Translation
SPAN-UA 110 Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100). Offered in the fall. 4 points.
Theory and practice of translation through comparison of Spanish and English grammar, syntax, and style.
Literary Translation
SPAN-UA 111 Formerly SPAN-UA 214. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or permission of the director or associate director of undergraduate studies. Offered every other fall. Zubieta. 4 points.
Theory and practice of translating poetry, drama, and fiction from Spanish into English, using a cooperative translation format. Topics include the author's authority versus that of the translator.
Introduction to Creative Writing in Spanish
SPAN-UA 120 Formerly SPAN-UA 125 and 225. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or permission of the instructor. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Students read exemplary poems and short stories by Latin American and Spanish authors, and expand their own writing skills through related exercises.
Advanced Fiction and Nonfiction Workshop in Spanish
SPAN-UA 122 Formerly SPAN-UA 325. Prerequisite: Prerequisite:Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or permission of the instructor. Offered every other semester. 4 points.
Students refine their own writing skills. Close reading of short stories, a novella, and personal essays and excerpts from testimonies and autobiographies by contemporary Latin American and Spanish authors.
Advanced Poetry Workshop in Spanish
SPAN-UA 124 Formerly SPAN-UA 320. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or permission of the instructor. Offered every other semester. 4 points.
Collaborative work and individual guidance from the instructor as students produce their own writing. Close reading of contemporary Latin American and Spanish poets.
2-Point Courses, Independent Study, and Internships (150-199 Level)
Independent Study
PORT-UA 170, 171 Formerly PORT-UA 997, 998. Prerequisite: permission of the director or associate director of undergraduate studies. Open only to majors. Offered in fall and spring respectively. 2 or 4 points per term.
Esferas
SPAN-UA 150 Formerly SPAN-UA 354. Taught in Spanish. Prerequisite: one SPAN-UA 300-level course. Offered every spring. 2 points.
Creation of the department's online undergraduate journal Esferas, from discussing the chosen topic through theoretical readings to editing, layout, and writing of contracts for online and print publication. May be repeated once to fulfill one of the electives for the major or minor.
Internship
SPAN-UA 152, 153 Formerly SPAN-UA 980, 981. Prerequisite: permission of the director or associate director of undergraduate studies. Open only to majors. Offered in fall and spring respectively. 2 or 4 points per term.
Topics in Culture and Action
SPAN-UA 155 Formerly SPAN-UA 555. Prerequisite: Spanish proficiency at or above Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100), or permission of the director or associate director of undergraduate studies. May be repeated once for credit. Offered every semester. 2 points.
The intersection of scholarship and activism. Students work directly every week with organizations in New York City that seek to improve the lives of communities in need (of education, asylum assistance, or access to health services). Course meets once every two weeks.
Independent Study
SPAN-UA 160, 161 Formerly SPAN-UA 997, 998. Prerequisite: permission of the director or associate director of undergraduate studies. Open only to majors. Offered in fall and spring respectively. 2 or 4 points per term.
Major Requirements (200 Level)
The Iberian Atlantic
SPAN-UA 201 Formerly SPAN-UA 300. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: one SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Usually offered once a year in alternation with PORT-UA 215, SPAN-UA 205, and SPAN UA 260. 4 points.
From Islamic Spain and Indigenous America to the era of Spanish and Portuguese conquest and colonization. How the Iberian Peninsula, Western Africa, and the Americas were tied to one another in a vast inter-culture.
Cultural History of Latin America
SPAN-UA 205 Formerly SPAN-UA 305. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: one SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Usually offered once a year in alternation with PORT-UA 215, SPAN-UA 201, and SPAN-UA 260. 4 points.
Examines the making of modern Latin America through the study of key cultural practices in literature, visual art, film, and performance from the 19th century to the present. Topics may vary.
Cultural History of the Luso-Brazilian World
PORT-UA 215 Prerequisite when taught in Portuguese: one PORT-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Usually offered once a year in alternation with SPAN-UA 201, SPAN-UA 205, and SPAN-UA 260. 4 points.
Examines the construction and ultimate demise of the Portuguese empire and the emergence of post-colonial nation-states (starting with the independence of Brazil at the beginning of the nineteenth century) through a range of literary, artistic, musical, and filmic expressions. Topics include the ideological underpinnings of colonialism and decolonization, as well as the diasporic memory-work individuals and communities carry out through poetry, music, and dance. Also considers the Portuguese heritage of New York City, from the 1654 foundation of its first Jewish congregation (by exiles from Recife, Brazil) and the presence until today of sizable Portuguese, Azorean, and Brazilian communities.
Key Works: The Contested Canons of Spanish, Latin American, and Luso-Brazilian Studies
SPAN-UA 220 No prerequisite. Taught in English. Offered every year. 4 points.
A close study of literary texts and other cultural artifacts that have, to a greater or lesser extent, been enshrined in the canon, as well as a selection of those that have been excluded or marginalized (including films and visual artwork in addition to works of literature). Critical readings put the primary sources into wider aesthetic and political contexts or offer analytical and theoretical approaches.
Key Words: Research Approaches to Iberian, Latin American, and Luso-Brazilian Cultures
SPAN-UA 225 No prerequisite. Taught in English. Offered every year. 4 points.
Critical and methodological approaches to cultural production, from oral and written cultures to film, performance, and music, and from the colonial period to the present.
Cultural History of Spain
SPAN-UA 260 Formerly SPAN-UA 310. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: one SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered approximately once per year in alternation with PORT-UA 215, SPAN-UA 201, and SPAN-UA 205. 4 points.
Examines the making of modern Spain through the study of key cultural practices in literature, visual art, film, and performance from the 19th century to the present. Topics may vary.
Writing in the Discipline in Portuguese (PORT-UA 300 Level)
The prerequisite for all PORT-UA 300-level courses is Advanced Portuguese (PORT-UA 50), unless noted otherwise.
Topics: Brazil
PORT-UA 300 Formerly Topics in Brazil Studies (PORT-UA 700). Prerequisite when taught in Portuguese: Advanced Portuguese (PORT-UA 50); no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered periodically. Andermann, Giorgi, Robbins, Peixoto. 4 points.
Topics vary. Focused on Brazilian culture, society, and/or arts and the relationship between them.
The Short Story in Brazil
PORT-UA 301 Formerly The Brazilian Short Story (PORT-UA 830). Prerequisite: Advanced Portuguese (PORT-UA 50). Offered periodically. Robbins, Peixoto. 4 points.
Examines formal aspects of the Brazilian short story while developing skills in written and spoken Portuguese. Authors include Machado de Assis, Lima Barreto, Mário de Andrade, Joao Guimaraes Rosa, Clarice Lispector, Rubem Fonseca, and Joao Gilberto Noll.
Fiction into Film
PORT-UA 302 Formerly Fiction into Film: Brazilian Novels and their Screen Adaptations (PORT-UA 702). Prerequisite: Advanced Portuguese (PORT-UA 50). Offered every other year. Peixoto. 4 points.
Provides an introduction to Brazilian literature (including the work of Machado de Assis, Graciliano Ramos, Mario de Andrade, Joao Guimaraes Rosa, Clarice Lispector, Chico Buarque de Hollanda, Paulo Lins) and to the rich tradition of Brazilian film (from Cinema Novo of the 1960s to its legacy and revision in contemporary film-making).
Modern Brazilian Fiction
PORT-UA 303 Formerly PORT-UA 821. Prerequisite: Advanced Portuguese (PORT-UA 50). Peixoto. 4 points.
Introduction to the fiction of 19th- and 20th-century Brazil. Studies the development of a national literature within the broader context of cultural and literary history.
Topics: Portugal and Luso-Africa
PORT-UA 360 Prerequisite: Advanced Portuguese (PORT-UA 50). Andermann. 4 points.
Topics vary by semester.
Writing in the Discipline in Spanish (SPAN-UA 300 Level)
The prerequisite for all SPAN-UA 300-level courses is either Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111), unless noted otherwise.
Women’s Writing in Latin America
SPAN-UA 301 Formerly SPAN-UA 640. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly 111). Fiol-Matta, Torres-Rodríguez. 4 points.
Latin American Cinema
SPAN-UA 302 Formerly SPAN-UA 750. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly 111). Andermann, Fiol-Matta, Robbins. 4 points.
May focus on particular national cinemas, transnational cinematic trends, genres, or historical periods, or may be organized thematically around specific issues and ways of examining cinema history, including the lenses of gender or class.
Verlo. Leerlo. Fotografía y discurso en Latinoamérica
SPAN-UA 303 Formerly See It, Read It: Photography and Discourse in Latin America (SPAN-UA 440). Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). Offered every other year. Dávila. 4 points.
Explores the impact of photography on writing through texts that take photography as their main concern (but where no photographs appear) and texts that play on the page with the relationship between image and word.
Armas Secretas: Leer a Julio Cortázar Hoy
SPAN-UA 304 Formerly Secret Weapons: Reading Julio Cortázar Today (SPAN-UA 441). Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). Offered periodically. Dávila. 4 points.
Compares Cortázar's work with that of his contemporaries and studies his manipulation of high and low culture through his involvement with photography, painting, jazz, boxing, almanacs, and music.
Archives of the Body
SPAN-UA 305 Formerly SPAN-UA 360. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). Tortorici. 4 points.
What is an “archive” and what does it have to do with representations of the body? How do we know (or think we know) what we do about bodies and desires in the past and present? How and why do certain bodies come to be recorded, documented, and remembered in the first place? Utilizes the lenses of sexuality, desire, and memory in the Americas. Analyzes techniques of representation in their cultural and historical contexts.
Cultures and Politics of the Caribbean
SPAN-UA 306 Formerly SPAN-UA 580. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). Fischer. 4 points.
Main (but not exclusive) focus on the Spanish speaking islands. Topics: "discovery," slavery and the struggles against it, colonialism and independence movements, US occupations, dictatorships and revolutionary movements, and the Caribbean diaspora. Primary sources, literary texts, and essays in cultural studies/critical theory, anthropology, and history.
Narrar Lo Precario
SPAN-UA 307 Formerly Intimacy and Precariousness: Problems of Contemporary Latin American Culture (SPAN-UA 645). Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). Offered every other semester. Giorgi. 4 points.
Topics: the relation between biography and fiction; new modes of constructing subjectivity; and figures of abandonment, precariousness, and disavowal that reflect transformations of the relation between politics and literature. Texts by Rodolfo Fogwill, Mario Bellatín, and Martin Kohan, and films of Lucrecia Martel and Eduardo Coutinho.
Topics in Latin American Literature and Culture
SPAN-UA 330 Formerly SPAN-UA 550. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). May be taken up to four times for credit as topics change. 4 points.
Topics vary by semester.
Topics in Peninsular Spanish Literature and Culture
SPAN-UA 360 Formerly SPAN-UA 950. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). May be taken up to four times for credit as topics change. Offered every semester. 4 points.
Recent topics include culture and memory, experimental documentary from Spain, Spanish romanticism, poetics and ethics, Spanish cultural studies, and nineteenth-century novels.
Is Spanish One Language?
SPAN-UA 362 Formerly SPAN-UA 355. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). Offered every year. Pearce. 4 points.
Familiarizes students with the historical, geographical, ethnic, and sociolinguistic factors that contributed to the large variety of Spanish dialects spoken in the Americas.
Histories of Photography
SPAN-UA 363 Formerly Histories of Photography in Spain and Latin America (SPAN-UA 240). Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). Offered periodically. Mendelson. 4 points.
Theories and methods for interpreting photography, and a thematic overview of approximately 150 years of photographic practices.
Spanish Cinema, 1960s to the Present
SPAN-UA 364 Formerly Spanish Cinema from Past to Present (SPAN-UA 400). Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). Offered periodically. Labanyi. 4 points.
Cultural analysis of film texts; issues of gender, memory, the gaze and spectatorship, class and ethnicity, and national history. Analysis of cinematic form and technique.
Medieval Spain in Modern Fiction
SPAN-UA 365 Formerly SPAN-UA 350. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). Offered periodically. Pearce. 4 points.
Examines how nostalgia for a lost Andalus or Sefarad (the Arabic and Hebrew terms for the Iberian Peninsula) is explored as a theme and used as a device in modern literature. Considers the relevance of the past to the present.
Contemporary Spanish Culture
SPAN-UA 366 Formerly SPAN-UA 315. Prerequisite: Advanced Spanish (SPAN-UA 50; formerly Advanced Grammar and Composition, SPAN-UA 100) or Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speaking Students (SPAN-UA 51, formerly SPAN-UA 111). Mendelson. 4 points.
Advanced Courses (400 Level)
The prerequisite for all PORT-UA 400-level courses taught in Portuguese is at least one 300-level course in Portuguese (PORT-UA 300-399), and the prerequisite for all SPAN-UA 400-level courses taught in Spanish is at least one 300-level course in Spanish (SPAN-UA 300-399), unless noted otherwise.
Advanced Topics: Brazil (in Portuguese)
PORT-UA 400 Formerly Topics in Brazil Studies (PORT-UA 850). Prerequisite: Intermediate Portuguese II (PORT-UA 4). May be taken up to four times for credit as topics change. Offered every year. 4 points.
Topics vary. Focus on Brazilian culture, society, and/or arts and the relationship between these. Recent topics include Brazilian architecture, the Amazon, and Brazilian poetry and song.
Advanced Topics: Brazil (in English)
PORT-UA 401 No prerequisites. Formerly Topics in Brazil Studies (PORT-UA 851). May be taken up to four times for credit as topics change. Offered every year. 4 points.
Topics vary. Focus on Brazilian culture, society, and/or arts and the relationship between these. Recent topics include Brazilian architecture, the Amazon, and Brazilian poetry and song.
Brazilian Poetry and Song
PORT-UA 402 Formerly PORT-UA 840. Prerequisite when taught in Portuguese: any PORT-UA 300-level course; no prerequisites when taught in English. Offered periodically. Peixoto, Robbins. 4 points.
Popular song (samba, bossa nova) from 1922 to the early 1980s: its contexts and connections with poetry and politics.
On Eating Others: Cannibalism and Anthropophagy in the Circum-Atlantic World
PORT-UA 403 Formerly PORT-UA 600. Prerequisite when taught in Portuguese: any PORT-UA 300-level course; no prerequisites when taught in English. Offered periodically. Robbins. 4 points.
Cannibalism as an intellectual problem in Europe, the Caribbean, and Brazil. Authors include Montaigne, Shakespeare, Oswald de Andrade, Nelson Pereira dos Santos, and Suely Rolnik.
New Documentary in Brazil
PORT-UA 404 Formerly The New Brazilian Documentary (PORT-UA 706). Prerequisite: any PORT-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered every other year. Andermann, Peixoto. 4 points.
Critical thinking about this genre from the 1990s to the present. Topics: uses of fact and fiction and the blurring of lines between them; ethical concerns about the use of other people's images and words; and the construction of layered and complex images of Brazil.
Narrating Poverty in Brazil
PORT-UA 405 Formerly Narrating Poverty in Brazilian Literature and Film (PORT-UA 704). Prerequisite when taught in Portuguese: completion of any PORT-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered every other year. Peixoto. 4 points.
Explores the politics and poetics of representing scarcity and deprivation in literary works in various genres (novels, autobiography, short stories) and Brazilian films (Cinema Novo and after, including documentaries). Films include Barren Lives, The Scavengers, The Hour of the Star, Pixote, Bus 174, City of God, Babilônia 2000, and Black Orpheus.
Advanced Topics: Portugal and Luso-Africa (in Portuguese)
PORT-UA 460 Prerequisite: any PORT-UA 300-level course. 4 points.
Topics vary by semester.
Advanced Topics: Portugal and Luso-Africa (in English)
PORT-UA 461 No prerequisite. 4 points.
Topics vary by semester.
Advanced Topics in Latin American Literature and Culture (in Spanish)
SPAN-UA 400 Prerequisite: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course. May be taken up to four times for credit as topics change. 4 points.
Topics vary by semester.
Advanced Topics in Latin American Literature and Culture (in English)
SPAN-UA 401 Formerly SPAN-UA 551. May be taken up to four times for credit as topics change. 4 points.
Recent topics: new borderlands in Latin America and Spain, cultures of the Mexican Revolution, myth and literature, Hispanic cities, Latin American film, performance and human rights in Latin America, and literature and animality.
Advanced Topics in Latin American Literature
SPAN-UA 402 Formerly SPAN-UA 553. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. May be taken up to four times for credit as topics change. 4 points.
Topics vary by semester.
Topics: Crosslistings
SPAN-UA 403 Prerequisites vary. May be taken up to four times for credit as topics change. Lecture. 4 points.
Courses that originate in other departments and programs and are crosslisted with this department.
Narrar Lo Precario
SPAN-UA 404 Formerly SPAN-UA 646. Prerequisite: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Giorgi. 4 points.
Recent literary work in Latin America, organized around (1) the relation between biography and fiction, between intimacy and public exhibition(ism), and new modes of constructing subjectivity; and (2) Figures of abandonment, of precariousness, and of disavowal that reflect (directly or obliquely) radical transformations of the political and of the relation between politics and literature.
Gestos, Movimiento y Literatura
SPAN-UA 405 Formerly SPAN-UA 410. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Dávila. 4 points.
Key questions: in what ways, and to what ends, are gesture, movement, and dance used in literary texts? How do theory and criticism use gestures, movement, and dance as metaphors for thought? How can we use movement and the gestures of dance and literature as the grounds for knowledge and thought? How does dance produce literature and vice versa? Considers film and choreography in addition to literary and critical texts.
Latin American Theatre
SPAN-UA 406 Formerly SPAN-UA 460. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered every other year. Lane, Taylor. 4 points.
History, theories, and practices in the 20th and 21st centuries. Topics: postcolonial theories of culture and art; modernist and postmodernist dramatic forms; and relations to the region's complex social, sexual, and cultural politics.
Topics: Crosslistings
SPAN-UA 407 Prerequisites vary. May be repeated once for credit as topics change. Seminar. 4 points.
Courses that originate in other departments and programs and are crosslisted with this department.
Contemporary Latin American Novel
SPAN-UA 408 Formerly SPAN-UA 743. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300 course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Torres-Rodríguez. 4 points.
Fictions of Power
SPAN-UA 409 Formerly SPAN-UA 732. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Fischer. 4 points.
Topics vary by semester.
Queer Cultures and Democracy
SPAN-UA 410 Formerly SPAN-UA 480. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered periodically. Giorgi. 4 points.
Starts with the present context of growing legal and social acceptance and inclusion of queer citizens in Latin America and the US, then revisits the last three decades to question frequently reductive narratives of steady, linear progress. Uses Buenos Aires and New York as examples of cities that epitomize queer struggles and cultures.
Modern Hispanic Cities
SPAN-UA 411 Formerly SPAN-UA 650. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered periodically. Dávila. 4 points.
An interdisciplinary, multimedia, and comparative approach to the physical, spatial, literary, musical, and imaginary constructions of such cities as Mexico City, Havana, Lima, Buenos Aires, San Juan, Madrid, Barcelona, and New York.
Advanced Topics in Peninsular Spanish Literature and Culture (in Spanish)
SPAN-UA 460 Prerequisite: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course. May be taken up to four times for credit as topics change. 4 points.
Topics vary by semester.
Advanced Topics in Peninsular Spanish Literature and Culture (in English)
SPAN-UA 461 Formerly SPAN-UA 951. Offered every semester. May be taken up to four times for credit as topics change. 4 points.
Recent topics include culture and memory, experimental documentary from Spain, Spanish romanticism, poetics and ethics, Spanish cultural studies, and nineteenth-century novels.
Cervantes and Don Quixote
SPAN-UA 462 Formerly Cervantes (SPAN-UA 371). Identical to MEDI-UA 335. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered every other year. Pearce, Sierra Matute, Subirats. 4 points.
Close reading of Don Quijote and/or the Novelas ejemplares, supplemented by critical and historical texts. Topics: madness and desire, authorship, seductions and dangers of reading, the status of representation, the relation between history and truth, the Inquisition, Spanish imperialism, the New World, and the Morisco expulsion.
Spanish Theatre
SPAN-UA 463 Formerly SPAN-UA 450. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Dopico, Sierra Matute. 4 points.
The representation and presence of race, gender, sexuality, and power in early modern Spanish drama. Topics include: courtly and civic coronations, pageantry, and tournaments; depictions of the Renaissance underworld; short-skit interludes; comedia nueva; African dances and blackface performance; cross-dressing and gender dissidence in Tirso de Molina and Sor Juana; celebrity and the stardom of actors; clothing, cosmetics, and stage props; and architecture, urban space, and cities.
History of Spanish Art
SPAN-UA 464 Formerly History of Spanish Art from 1890 to the Present (SPAN-UA 425). Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered every other year. Mendelson. 4 points.
Topics: the reception of the European avant-garde; "pure" vs. "social" art; history and myth in the construction of artistic styles; center and periphery; and the role of academies, galleries, exhibitions, and cafés. Works by Gaudí, Picasso, Miró, Bunuel, Dalí, Tapies, Crónica, and Almodóvar.
Barcelona
SPAN-UA 465 Formerly Barcelona: Modern (Mediterranean) Metropolis (SPAN-UA 590). Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered periodically. Mendelson. 4 points.
The city as home to famous artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians, and architects; as a model modern metropolis; and as the center of Catalan identity. Discussion of literature and the press, films, performance, and the visual arts.
Islam in Spain
SPAN-UA 466 Formerly SPAN-UA 333. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered periodically. Pearce. 4 points.
Explores the key role Spain has played in the relationship between Islam and the West and the mutual influences between Spain and Morocco, from medieval Al-Andalus to present-day colonization, de-colonization, and immigration.
Trans-Atlantic Avant-gardes
SPAN-UA 468 Formerly Transatlantic Avant-gardes: Sites of Modernity (SPAN-UA 625). Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered every other year. Mendelson. 4 points.
A study of mobility, travel, and cultural transmission and exchange in the artistic and literary avant-gardes of the 20th century in Europe and the Americas.
Muslim Spain: Literature and Society
SPAN-UA 469 Formerly SPAN-UA 301. Prerequisite when taught in Spanish: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course; no prerequisite when taught in English. Offered periodically. Pearce. 4 points.
How literary texts functioned in this medieval society and can be read as reflections of social and historical concerns. Considers material and artistic evidence alongside the textual record. Topics: interactions between Jews, Christians, and Muslims; women and the family; multilingualism; concepts of kingship and just rule; depictions of heroism and vanity; religious observance and practice; and early forms of national identity.
Structure and Variation
SPAN-UA 470 Formerly Structure and Variation in the Spanish Language (SPAN-UA 230). Prerequisite: completion of any SPAN-UA 300-level course or permission of the department. Offered every other semester. Elorrieta. 4 points.
Sounds, sentence structure, word order, and word meaning and formation, with attention to situational and social variations. Combines analysis with an observational study of a language community.
Senior Honors Seminar
SPAN-UA 498 Formerly SPAN-UA 995. Offered in the fall. 4 points.
Honors Thesis Seminar
SPAN-UA 499 Formerly SPAN-UA 996. Offered in the spring. 4 points.