* SPAN 1100a, 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 1200.  L1  1½ Course cr
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SPAN 1200a, 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 1100 or in accordance with placement results. Admits to SPAN 1300 or 1450.  L2  1½ Course cr
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* SPAN 1250a, 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-11:20am

SPAN 1300a, 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 1400a, 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 1500a, Spanish for Heritage Speakers  Staff

SPAN 142 is exclusively designed for Spanish heritage language speakers. In this course, we analyze a wide array of compelling multimodal texts and genres (e.g., visual arts, music, film, literature, mythological narratives) to shed light on and celebrate the cultural productions and worldviews of four communities at the center of contemporary discussions pertaining to social justice and representation in Latin America and Latinx USA: women, indigenous communities, Afro-Latinos/as, and immigrants. The tasks and projects created around these texts will further advance your literacy and your command of mechanical aspects of the language while fostering a deeper understanding of various cultures in the Spanish-speaking world.  After SPAN 1300 or in accordance with placement results.  L4  1½ Course cr
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* SPAN 2010a, Policies and Politics in the Spanish-Speaking World  Lucia Rubio

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
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* SPAN 2015a / LAST 2245a, Language and Culture through Art: Crafting Collective Memory in the Hispanic World  Rosamaria Leon

Taught in Spanish, this course enhances communication skills and media literacy through the experiential analysis of art. Students engage directly with objects at the Yale Art Gallery, using curatorial study to explore how gastronomy, music, and visual arts shape history and collective memory. These experiences are complemented by riveting readings, illuminating guest speakers, and creative projects designed to benefit the community. By promoting critical citizenship, the course prepares students to debate the role of art in Latin America and Spain. Through a remote exchange with students in Peru, participants master the academic Spanish and analytical tools necessary to thrive in a globalized society. 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
TTh 11:35am-12:50pm

* SPAN 2020a / LAST 2223a, Spanish in Film: Visual Narratives of Latin America and Spain  María José Gutiérrez Barajas

SPAN 2020 is an advanced language course designed to engage you with the intricate cultural tapestries of Latin American and Spanish cinema. Through engaging films, discussions, and assessments, this course provides you with a unique opportunity to increase your language proficiency and critical cultural awareness while deeply reflecting on how cinematic practices within the Spanish-speaking world serve as a mirror to diverse identities, pressing social issues, and significant historical contexts. The films in this course are organized around three main perspectives or “miradas”: the past, the present, and the future. Our class discussions and analyses, therefore, aim to shed light on i) how past events shape people's experiences in Latin America and Spain, ii) how they respond to the challenges posed by an ever-changing present, and iii) what actions they can take in response to some of the challenges that may lie on the horizon. The multifaceted perspective this class adopts helps us better appreciate how cinema can function as an essential cultural artifact within the broader framework of Spanish and Latin American studies. SPAN 1400, SPAN 1450, SPAN 1500, or L5 placement  L5
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* SPAN 2040a, Languaging in Latino America  Jorge Méndez-Seijas

This interdisciplinary seminar explores the dynamic nature of the languages and identities that shape and are shaped by Latino communities in the United States. Critical sociolinguistics, literature, art, history, and politics are some of the disciplines that guide our discussions as we try to better understand how different groups of Latinos/as have developed some of their linguistic and cultural products, practices, and perspectives. While engaging with the intricacies of language use, identity, and power dynamics in Latino America, this course seamlessly integrates a series of activities and assignments intended to help students hone their knowledge of Spanish while further expanding their multiple literacies. Prerequisite: SPAN 1400, SPAN 1450, SPAN 1500, or L5 placement.  L5, HU
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* SPAN 2050a / LAST 2222a, 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 2080a / HUMS 2088a / LAST 2240a, Writing Literature: From Reading to Argument in Latin American Texts  Katherina Frangi

How do we write about literature? How do we move from reading to argument, from intuition to hypothesis, from response to analysis? Structured in three units, the writing-centered course introduces a range of critical lenses—formalist, archival, historical, feminist, ecocritical, comparative, and creative—through which the students are familiarized with different approaches to literary analysis. The main objective of the course is to develop students’ ability to formulate critical questions, construct hypotheses, and write coherent, persuasive academic arguments. To that end, the course combines theoretical reading, textual analysis of Latin American texts, and sustained writing practice. Readings include works by Jorge Luis Borges, Nicolás Guillén, Elena Garro, Clarice Lispector, João Guimarães Rosa, and Alejandra Pizarnik. The course is taught entirely in Spanish and is designed to strengthen students’ ability to engage critically with literary texts and produce clear, well-structured academic prose in Spanish.  L5 placement or students or who have successfully completed an L4 course in Spanish.  L5, HU
TTh 1:05pm-2:20pm

* SPAN 2095a / FILM 2161a / LAST 2161a / PORT 2161a / WGSS 2161a, Love in the Lens? Romance and Resistance in Latin American and Iberian Cinema  Giseli Tordin

Is love truly captured through the lens? Whose desire are we witnessing - the characters’, the audience’s, or the male gaze? How do films shape representations of gender through the camera’s gaze, and how can cinema subvert these ways of looking? This course, taught in Portuguese and Spanish, explores these questions through Luso-Brazilian, Latin American, and Iberian cinema while allowing students to use the languages to interpret scenes, describe characters’ perceptions and emotions, compare films, and analyze dialogue, visual composition, and cinematic techniques. Students read critical texts and film analyses, discuss ideas in class, and produce essays, scripts, and video essay projects in Portuguese or Spanish, demonstrating the ability to construct arguments, present evidence, and reflect on cultural and historical context. Themes such as unrequited love, emotional emptiness, and longing are examined not simply as romantic failure but as experiences intertwined with memory, trauma, and societal pressures, often against the backdrop of authoritarian regimes. The course considers how these films challenge a cinematic tradition shaped by Victorian ideals, where early cinema framed love as individual fulfillment and moral triumph. Postwar cinema further dramatized love through predominantly white, heterosexual relationships, reinforcing patriarchal visual norms. Through close analysis of discourses and cinematic techniques - framing, sound, spatial composition, sequence, and camera angles - students examine how film language constructs or challenges norms of gender, sexuality, and class. Students may speak and submit assignments and projects in either language (Portuguese or Spanish), creating a multilingual space for critical engagement with Ibero-Latin American visual culture and the politics of the gaze. Prerequisite: PORT 1400 (or equivalent) or SPAN 1400 (or equivalent). Conducted in Portuguese and Spanish.  L5, HU
TTh 4pm-5:15pm

* SPAN 2100a / LAST 2227a, Entrelíneas: Creative Writing in Spanish  Mayte López

An entry point to the writing of fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction, with a focus on developing the techniques and abilities 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, you will advance your language proficiency, sharpen your writing skills, and nurture your unique voice as a writer. Throughout the course, you’ll complete regular writing exercises with the assistance of prompts. At the end of each unit, the course transitions to a workshop format where students receive constructive feedback on their writing from both their peers and the instructor. These discussions will enhance our collective understanding of the choices available to us as writers and the various techniques and strategies at our disposal. The syllabus is divided into three units, one for each genre: fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. By the semester’s end, students create a comprehensive final portfolio, incorporating the last revisions of assignments from each course unit. This course is designed as a broad introduction to creative writing in Spanish. It can be taken on its own or alongside SPAN 2101. SPAN 1400, SPAN 1450, SPAN 1500, or L5 placement.   L5, HU
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* SPAN 2155a / EVST 2232a, 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 9am-10:15am

* SPAN 2330a, Critical Contexts in Contemporary Latin America (1960–present)  Staff

This course offers a panoramic overview of contemporary Latin American literature and visual cultures from 1960 to the present. Through close readings and in-depth discussions of cultural examples, students become familiar with analytical methods that prioritize the relationships between culture and society. Organized chronologically and covering a broad geographical range from the Southern Cone to Central America and the Caribbean, we investigate how cultural production has responded to key historical moments such as revolutionary movements, state-led modernization projects, and the rise of neoliberalism and military dictatorships. We also explore key themes such as neocolonialism, decolonization, gender and sexual politics, racism, violence, human rights, indigenous movements, and environmental crises. The objective is not to present a periodized narrative of events or causally linked sources, but rather to offer representative examples of key historical transitions through cultural and political artifacts. By the end of the course, students have gained a solid understanding of the historical past and the contemporary debates that shape the Latin American region.  L5, HU  0 Course cr
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* SPAN 2905b / ANTH 3554b, Cuerpos Femeninos (Female Bodies): Biology, Evolution, and Society  Claudia Valeggia

This course is not your regular lecture or seminar class. It is indeed a journey, an exploration of female bodies from an evolutionary and biosocial perspective. We focus on physiological, ecological, and social aspects of women’s development from puberty, through reproductive processes such as menstrual cycles, pregnancy, birth, postpartum and breastfeeding, and menopause. We also explore variation in female life histories in a variety of western and non-western cultural and ecological settings. Examples are drawn primarily from traditional and modern human societies and our own life experiences. We encourage critical thinking at all times with the hope that discussions in this class become useful when making decisions about your lives as citizens, potential parents, health care providers, health care recipients, and policy makers. This course is taught entirely in Spanish. Open to students who have placed into L5 courses or who have successfully completed an L4 course in Spanish.  L5, SO
TTh 1:05pm-2:20pm

* SPAN 3205a / AMST 3092a / CPLT 3892a, Introduction to Critical Sleep Studies: Las políticas del dormir y no dormir  Moira Fradinger

Although we spend approximately one third of our lives asleep, since the industrial revolution and the emergence of uninterrupted city lighting, industrialized societies seem to have developed an ambivalent relation to sleep: both protected and devalued for the sake of higher standards of productive work. The devaluation of sleep, in particular, has produced, during the twentieth and the first two decades of the twenty-first centuries, an array of social, political, and medical discourses to study the impact of changing patterns of sleep and sleeplessness at the global level. This seminar studies topics in the politics and cultures of sleep and sleeplessness, which posit sleep as a human practice. As any human practice, it is framed by cultural and political settings, so that how, when, why, where, and who sleeps vary across sectors of society, across past and present and across world cultures. We study historical, literary, philosophical, sociological, political, and filmic texts. A cultural, social, and political understanding of sleep and sleeplessness can reveal how sleep has been transformed into a bodily site upon which social values are imposed, social surveillance is enacted, ideas about “normality” are instrumentalized, resulting in a demand that humans adapt to human-made changing conditions of production, rather than universally unchanging health needs. Taught in Spanish  HU
W 7pm-8:55pm

* SPAN 3360a, Spanish American Vanguardist Literature  Anibal González-Pérez

Introduction to the Vanguardist period in Spanish American cultural history. The effects of political and social change in the early twentieth century on Spanish American writers and artists. Tensions between playfulness and engagement, cosmopolitanism and regionalism, and creativity and conscience in Vanguardist works.  L5, HU  0 Course cr
MW 11:35am-12:50pm

* SPAN 3380a / EVST 3365a / HSAR 3380a / HUMS 3452a / LAST 3350a, 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  0 Course cr
TTh 4pm-5:15pm

* SPAN 3545a / CPLT 4010a / CPLT 9680 / HUMS 1960a / SPAN 6625, The End of the World  Staff

In this course we study different kinds of narratives about the end of times and its consequences in Iberian and Latin American cultures. We include political, theological, social, and environmental narratives across periodizations in Iberian and Latin American Cultures. Instruction is in Spanish.  HU  0 Course cr
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* SPAN 3610a, Multilingual Encounters: Polyglot Literatures of Spain and Latin America  Lisa Voigt and Brais Lamela Gómez

This course offers an in-depth exploration of multilingual literatures from Spain and Latin America, focusing on the era of Iberian colonial expansion (c. 1492-1700). Although we often think of Spanish and Portuguese as the main languages of these regions, they have long coexisted with many others, sometimes in harmony, often in relationships shaped by power and inequality. This course focuses on writings that address, in some way or another, Spanish's vexed relationship with its neighboring languages, including Nahuatl, Quechua, Guarani, Galician, and Catalan. All readings are provided in the Spanish original or in Spanish translation; no prior knowledge of other languages is required. Topics include the multilingual landscape of medieval Iberia; the creation of grammars and dictionaries during the colonization of the Americas; the role of Indigenous, Black, and mestizo subjects as interpreters and translators in Colonial Latin America; Cervantes’ experiments with Arabic; and the emergence of bilingual authors such as Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. We conclude with contemporary poetry that reflects on ongoing linguistic diversity and cultural displacement in the Spanish-speaking world.Throughout the course, students discover that literature written in Spanish has always existed within a rich multilingual ecology. Together we  consider broader questions about multilingualism, translation, identity, and cultural hybridity—questions that continue to shape literature and culture today.  L5, HU
TTh 2:35pm-3:50pm

* SPAN 3705a, Introducción a las Humanidades Digitales: Cultura, Cómputo e Inteligencia Artificial  Alexander Gil Fuentes

The cultural record of humanity is undergoing a massive and epochal transformation into shared analog and digital realities. While we are familiar with the history and realities of the analog record—libraries, archives, historical artifacts—the digital cultural record remains largely unexamined and relatively mysterious to humanities scholars. In this course you are introduced to the broad field of Digital Humanities, theory and practice, through a stepwise exploration of the new architectures and genres of scholarly and humanistic production in the 21st century. The course combines a seminar preceded by a brief lecture, and a digital studio. Every week, we move through our discussions in tandem with hands-on exercises that will serve to illuminate our readings and help you gain a measure of computational proficiency useful in humanities scholarship. You learn about the basics of plain text, files and operating systems, data structures, and internet infrastructure. You also learn to understand, produce, and evaluate a few popular genres of Digital Humanities, including digital editions of literary or historical texts, collections and exhibits of primary sources, and interactive maps. Finally, and perhaps the most important lesson of the semester, you learn to collaborate with each other on a common research project.  L5, HU
MW 2:35pm-3:50pm

SPAN 4320a / ANTH 2264a / ARCG 2264a, 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 4900a, The Senior Project  Aurelie Vialette

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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* SPAN 4903a, Directed Readings and/or Individual Research  Aurelie Vialette

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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