* SPAN 060a, First-Year Colloquium: Literary Studies in Spanish  Noel Valis

Introduction to the study of literature in general and to some of the most important texts in Hispanic literature. Selected texts in Spanish include short stories, novels, lyric, and theater. Open to students who have placed into L5 courses. Counts toward the requirements of the Spanish major. Enrollment limited to first-year students.  L5, HU
MW 1pm-2:15pm

* SPAN 110a, Elementary Spanish I  Staff

For students who wish to begin study of the Spanish language. Development of basic skills in understanding, speaking, reading, and writing through a functional approach to the teaching of Spanish grammar. Includes an introduction to the cultures (traditions, art, literature, music) of the Spanish-speaking world. Audiovisual materials are incorporated into class sessions. Conducted in Spanish. To be followed immediately by SPAN 120.  L1  1½ Course cr
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SPAN 120a, Elementary Spanish II  Staff

Further development of understanding, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Class sessions incorporate short authentic texts in Spanish, audiovisual materials, and film. Cultural topics of the Spanish-speaking world (traditions, art, literature, music) are included. Conducted in Spanish. After SPAN 110 or in accordance with placement results. Admits to SPAN 130 or 145.  L2  1½ Course cr
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* SPAN 125a, Intensive Elementary Spanish  Lourdes Sabé

An intensive beginning course in spoken and written Spanish that covers the material of SPAN 110 and 120 in one term. Conducted in Spanish. Admits to SPAN 130 or 145. Not open to students who have completed SPAN 110 or 120.  L1, L2  RP  2 Course cr
MTWThF 9:25am-11:15am

SPAN 130a, Intermediate Spanish I  Staff

Development of language proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing through communicative activities rather than a sequence of linguistic units. Authentic Spanish language texts, films, and videos serve as the basis for the functional study of grammar and the acquisition of a broader vocabulary. Cultural topics are presented throughout the term. Prerequisites: Conducted in Spanish. Admits to SPAN 140.  L3  1½ Course cr
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* SPAN 132a, Spanish for Heritage Speakers I  Sybil Alexandrov

A language course designed for students who have been exposed to Spanish—either at home or by living in a Spanish-speaking country—but who have little or no formal training in the language. Practice in all four communicative skills (comprehension, speaking, reading, writing), with special attention to basic grammar concepts, vocabulary building, and issues particular to heritage speakers. This course meets during Reading Period: the period between the last week of classes and finals week. Admission in accordance with placement results.  L3
MWF 11:35am-12:25pm

SPAN 140a, Intermediate Spanish II  Staff

Continuation of SPAN 130. Development of increased proficiency in the four language skills. Greater precision in grammar usage, vocabulary enrichment, and expanded cultural awareness are achieved through communicative activities based on authentic Spanish-language texts, including a short novel. Conducted in Spanish. Admits to L5 courses.  L4  1½ Course cr
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* SPAN 142a, Spanish for Heritage Speakers II  Sybil Alexandrov

Continuation of SPAN 132. Examination of complex grammar structures; consideration of problems particular to heritage speakers through the reading of both literary and journalistic texts. Practice in all communicative skills (comprehension, speaking, reading, writing). After SPAN 132 or in accordance with placement results.  L4  RP
MWF 10:30am-11:20am

* SPAN 200a, Policies and Politics in the Spanish-Speaking World  Jorge Méndez-Seijas

This course is a content-based course that looks to further increase your language proficiency and critical cultural awareness by engaging you with a wide array of compelling texts and media (e.g., legal texts, journalistic and opinion pieces, film, podcasts, literature) from various communities in Latin America and Spain. Through critical analyses of these texts and media, as well as through conversations with native speakers of Spanish in different countries, this course gives you an insider’s perspective of some of the most pressing political, social, and cultural issues in the Spanish-speaking world today. This course is organized into the following 4 thematic units: local perspectives from Latin American & Spanish cities; when quality education speaks a minority/minoritized language; healthcare as culture, healthcare as right; and let us write a Latin American constitution for all. Prerequisite: SPAN 140 or SPAN 142 or SPAN 145 or L5 placement  L5
MWF 10:30am-11:20am

* SPAN 221a, Spanish Language and Culture through Art  Rosamaria Leon

An advanced course designed to increase student’s fluency in oral and written skills. Through the exploration of five art themes relevant to Spanish speaking countries, students review advanced points of Spanish grammar, focus on vocabulary enrichment, and learn the basic principles of academic composition. The course approach for learning is a project-based model which introduces a wide variety of texts: readings, visual art, podcast, music, videos. Students are required to register for a recitacion practice that consists of a weekly 40-minute conversation with students from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Prerequisite: AP with score of 5/ IB score of 7, Placement in L5 through Spanish Department placement exam or by having completed L4.  L5, HU
MWF 11:35am-12:25pm

* SPAN 222a / LAST 222a, Legal Spanish  Mercedes Carreras

An introduction to Spanish and Latin American legal culture with a focus on the specific traits of legal language and on the development of advanced language competence. Issues such as human rights, the death penalty, the jury, contracts, statutory instruments, and rulings by the constitutional courts are explored through law journal articles, newspapers, the media, and mock trials. Enrollment limited to 18. A maximum of one course in the 200-230 range may count as an elective toward the Spanish major.  L5
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* SPAN 223a / LAST 223a, Spanish in Film: An Introduction to the New Latin American Cinema  Margherita Tortora

Development of proficiency in Spanish through analysis of critically acclaimed Latin American films. Includes basic vocabulary of film criticism in Spanish as well as discussion and language exercises. Enrollment limited to 18.  L5
MW 1pm-2:15pm

* SPAN 227a / LAST 227a, Creative Writing  Mayte López

An introduction to the writing of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, with a focus on developing techniques and abilities that are essential for crafting imaginative texts and honing self-expression. Through in-class tasks, substantive discussions on composition and craft, and analyses of contemporary Latinx, Latin American, and Spanish works, students enhance their writing skills and nurture their unique voices as writers. This course takes on the format of a workshop, with students receiving constructive feedback from both the instructor and their fellow writers. Conducted in Spanish.  Enrollment limited to 15. A maximum of one course in the 200-230 range may count as an elective toward the Spanish major.  L5
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SPAN 228a / ER&M 278a / LAST 228a, Borders & Globalization in Hispanophone Cultures  Luna Najera

The borders that constitute the geographical divisions of the world are contingent, but they can have enormous ordering power in the lives of people and other beings. Human-made borders can both allow and disallow the flow of people and resources (including goods, knowledge, information, technologies, etc.). Like geographical borders, social borders such as race, caste, class, and gender can form and perpetuate privileged categories of humans that constrain the access of excluded persons to resources, education, security, and social mobility. Thus, bordering can differentially value human lives. Working with the premise that borders are sites of power, in this course we study bordering and debordering practices in the Hispanic cultures of Iberia, Latin America, and North America, from the 1490s to the present. Through analyses of a wide range of texts that may include treatises, maps, travel literature, visual culture, material culture (e.g., currency), law, music, and performance art, students investigate the multiple ways in which social, cultural, and spatial borders are initiated, expressed, materialized, and contested. More broadly, we explore, describe, and trace the entanglements of bordering, globalizations, and knowledge production in Hispanophone cultures. Some of the questions that will guide our conversations are: What are (social) borders and what are the processes through which they persist? How do the effects of practices that transcend borders (e.g., environmental pollution, deforestation) change our understanding of borders? What can we learn from indigenous peoples’ responses to bordering process and globalization?  Prerequisite: SPAN 140 or 145, or in accordance with placement results. The course is conducted entirely in Spanish. Readings are available electronically through Canvas and the University Library. To be conducted in Spanish.  L5, HU
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* SPAN 232a / EVST 232a, Ecological Mindfulness: Poetics and Praxis in the Spanish-Speaking World  Sarah Glenski

What is our relationship with nature? What constitutes ecological mindfulness? Does the practice of ecological mindfulness constitute a poetics? Is art a form of ecological mindfulness? These are some of the questions that we consider as we examine the concept of ecological mindfulness as an intersection of poetics and praxis. Throughout the semester, we explore a wide array of artistic expressions (essays, short stories, sound, poetry, photography, painting, etc.), which allows us to both appreciate and interrogate the many ways in which interactions with nature are depicted and performed in different Hispanophone cultures. Our analysis of these texts is complemented by carrying out and reflecting upon our own practice of ecological mindfulness. This course is taught in Spanish. Prerequisite: SPAN 140, or SPAN 142, or SPAN 145, or equivalent  L5, HU
MW 2:30pm-3:45pm

* SPAN 243a / LAST 243a, Advanced Spanish Grammar  Lissette Reymundi

A comprehensive, in-depth study of grammar intended to improve students' spoken and written command of Spanish. Linguistic analysis of literary selections; some English-to-Spanish translation. Enrollment limited to 18.   L5
MWF 9:25am-10:15am

* SPAN 250a, Cultural Inquiries: Spain, Latin America, and the Latinx World  Santiago Acosta

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the cultural landscapes of Latin America, Spain, and the Latinx world, providing students with specialized terminology and methodologies essential for studying cultural production. Organized around four thematic modules, students engage with a variety of cultural forms, including literature, film, and visual art, spanning different historical periods and geographical regions.  This course is mandatory for Spanish majors, bridging previous language and culture courses with advanced levels of study.  HU
TTh 2:30pm-3:45pm

* SPAN 261a / LAST 261a, Critical Contexts in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia  Jesus Velasco

This course offers a panoramic introduction to Iberian written cultures from the medieval to early modern period (ca. 800-1700). Organized chronologically and guided by the methodology of close reading, we will analyze a wide range of concepts and topics relevant for understanding the multilingual, multireligious contexts in which literary and non-literary works were produced, including knowledge and hospitality; borders and negotiation; authority and power; autobiography and eyewitness narrative accounts; courtly love and love sickness; makeup and cosmetic theory; prostitution and public health; gender dissidence and transgressive bodies; masculinities and misogyny; economic crisis and decline; black Africans and the African diaspora; the Inquisition and religious orthodoxy.  Open to students who have placed into L5 courses or who have successfully completed an L4 course in Spanish. Counts toward the major in Spanish.  L5, HU
MW 11:35am-12:50pm

* SPAN 266a / LAST 266a, Critical Contexts in Colonial Latin America  Staff

This course offers a panoramic introduction to the written and visual cultural production of colonial Latin America (ca. 1492-1800). Organized chronologically and guided by the methodology of close reading, we analyze works of various genres and formats whose creators were of Indigenous, African, Spanish, and mestizo descent. We investigate how these texts reveal, critique, reimagine, or participate in the power relations of multiethnic societies founded on conquest, colonization, and slavery. Among our objectives is the development of the skills of critical analysis of texts written in Spanish, which we pursue through class discussion, oral presentations, and written and creative projects.  L5, HU
MW 1pm-2:15pm

* SPAN 269a, Critical Contexts in Latinx Cultures  Staff

This course offers an in-depth exploration of Latinx cultures in the United States, with a primary focus on language, identity formation, and cultural expression. We analyze a rich and diverse selection of historical texts, literature, art, film, and digital media representing various Latinx communities, both locally at Yale and New Haven as well as more broadly in the United States. This course aims to empower students to become more informed and sensitive cultural interpreters, to advocate for Latinx communities, and to further advance their communicative competence in Spanish so they can better navigate and interpret the diverse linguistic and cultural landscapes of the Spanish-speaking United States. As we engage in critical discussions, conduct research, and complete creative projects, our goal is for students to identify and describe, with a high degree of detail, some of the products, practices, and perspectives of various Latinx communities in the United States; to articulate how Latinx identities formation connects to various forms of linguistic and cultural expression; and to learn to use several digital methods and tools to participate in the production and reproduction of Latinx cultures. Prerequisite: SPAN 140, 142, 145, or equivalent.  L5, HU
TTh 1pm-2:15pm

* SPAN 344a / LAST 344a, Narrative and Music in Hispanic Caribbean Culture  Anibal González-Pérez

The development of the narrative genre in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico from its origins in the nineteenth century to the present. Focus on how music is represented and incorporated into the discourse of Hispanic Caribbean novels and stories. Authors include Villaverde, Carpentier, Cabrera Infante, Nicolás Guillén, Ana Lydia Vega, and Luis Palés Matos. Open to students who have placed into L5 courses or who have successfully completed an L4 course in Spanish. Counts toward the Spanish major.  L5, HU
TTh 9am-10:15am

* SPAN 360a / AFAM 345a / AFST 363a / ER&M 252a, Our Guinea: Locating Africa in Early Iberian Archives  Staff

African coastlines were the first horizons of Iberian imperial expansion into the Atlantic, and eventually, the world.  While the worlds made by Africans displaced by the slave trade and their descendants have received extensive attention in recent years,  Africa itself rarely enters the frame. The histories that unfolded on the continent in many ways challenge our understandings of Spanish and Portuguese expansion and colonialism, shaped as they are by the “New World” paradigm of conquest and conversion.  Were African societies part of the “New World” or the “Old World”? In this course we study an often-overlooked domain of Spanish and Portuguese imperialism and commerce from an approach that includes but does not limit itself to the study of slavery and enslaved Africans in the Americas.  We read a selection of  primary texts from the early modern Ibero-African archive, with a focus on texts produced about the African continent and Africans (and when possible, by Africans) in Spanish, and to a lesser extent Portuguese, seeking (1) to challenge existing narratives and frameworks for the study of precolonial Africa, but also (2) to see what kinds of African worlds appear when we set aside our assumptions and generalizations.  L5, HU  Tr
MW 4pm-5:15pm

* SPAN 365a / EVST 266a / HUMS 452a / LAST 350a, Ecologies of Culture: Latin American Environmental Aesthetics  Santiago Acosta

In the age of rising sea levels, mass extinction, and carbon-driven climate change, can culture and the arts remain unchanged? This course focuses on the intersections between aesthetics and ecological practices in the context of the Anthropocene, a proposed geological epoch wherein humans have become a major geological force shaping the planet. It challenges traditional approaches by examining how culture and the arts can help to understand and respond to environmental crises. Discussions and readings emphasize the role of culture and aesthetics as agents and producers of environmental knowledge, highlighting their potential to challenge socio-ecological relations. Throughout the semester, students explore various themes, including colonialism, anthropocentrism, human-animal relations, fossil capitalism, indigenous ontologies, and the impact of extractive industries on territories and bodies in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Latinx world. Students engage with works by established and emerging artists, aiming to produce ecocritical knowledge about the current climate and environmental crisis. The course also offers a panoramic view of Latin American culture by examining some key historical events and authors whose works can shed light on cultural and ideological processes at the root of climate change. By the end of the semester, students can formulate research questions that are critical to the field of Latin American environmental humanities, as well as produce papers that are relevant to a broader debate about culture and ecology. Lastly, the course hopes to motivate students—beyond the classroom—to examine their place in an increasingly warming world. Taught in Spanish.  L5, HU
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* SPAN 367a / HIST 227a, The Spanish Civil War: Words and Images  Noel Valis

An introduction to the history and cultural and literary impact of the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), through national and international perspective and an analysis of the literature and culture produced during and after the conflict. The course is divided into four sections: the war “from within”, the war “from outside”, women in war and the memory of war. Authors include George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway, Javier Cercas, Mercè Rodoreda, Julio Llamazares, Ramón J. Sender and others; films: The Spanish Earth, The Good Fight, El laberinto del fauno, Rojo y negro; arte: Guernika (Picasso), El rostro de la guerra (Dalí), war posters. In Spanish. Open to students who have placed into L5 courses or who have successfully completed an L4 course in Spanish. Counts toward the Spanish major.  L5, HU
MW 2:30pm-3:45pm

SPAN 404a / ANTH 264a / ARCG 264a, Aztec Archaeology and Ethnohistory  Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazariegos

An anthropological and ethnohistorical examination of the Aztec civilization that dominated much of Mexico from the fourteenth century until the Spanish Conquest of 1521.  SO
TTh 9am-10:15am

* SPAN 478a, Directed Readings and/or Individual Research  Lisa Voigt

Individual study under faculty supervision. The student must submit a bibliography and a written plan of study approved by the faculty adviser to the director of undergraduate studies. No reading or research course credit is granted without prior approval from the director of undergraduate studies. The student must meet with the instructor at least one hour a week. A final examination or essay is required.
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* SPAN 491a, The Senior Project  Lisa Voigt

A research project completed under faculty supervision and resulting in an essay of considerable length, or its equivalent in another medium, in Spanish.
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