The Spanish Program
The undergraduate program offers all levels of language training, as well as a strong curriculum designed around a broad range of national and trans-nation issues, including literature from Latin America, U.S. Latino communities, and Spain. Students pursuing a minor or major are engaged in the study of narrative, poetic, and dramatic works from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century, and in the context of other cultural productions, such as visual art and film. Courses in the Program emphasize interdisciplinary themes and topics that connect with other literary traditions. We welcome the study of other languages in addition to Spanish, and work closely with students as they develop individual areas of interest for their BA papers. Majors in Spanish will find their academic training to be not only rigorous and intellectually challenging, but also personalized and highly useful in the real world. Spanish is the third most spoken language worldwide, and the United States has the fifth largest population of Spanish speakers of any country.
The Spanish Program for Native and Heritage Speakers offers a complete sequence of language courses at an intermediate and an advanced level, for those students who learned Spanish in a non-academic environment. In order to improve their oral, writing and reading skills and to formalize their linguistic abilities, students are guided in the examination of linguistic structures and organization of several types of written and oral Spanish discourse. Awareness of the socio-cultural diversity within the contemporary Spanish-speaking world and its historical roots are enhanced through exposure to a variety of literary and non-literary texts and authentic audio-visual materials.
Chicago students have opportunities to study in the Latin American or Western Mediterranean Civilization quarter-long programs in the cities of Oaxaca and Barcelona. Students may also spend a full year in Barcelona, studying at one or more of three major universities: the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, the Universitat de Barcelona, and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. On the Chicago campus, a Tinker visiting professor is brought in every year from Iberia or Latin America, in addition to the Joan Coromines Visiting Chair in Catalan Studies. Other exciting opportunities for scholarly discussion and cross-cultural exchange can be found in student-sponsored workshops around campus, such as Latin American History and Western Mediterranean Culture.