Courses

First of the three basic-language sequence in Basque language. It provides students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written Basque (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, sociolinguistic norms) and emphasizes all four skills: speaking, listening, writing, and reading. This course is intended for students with no previous exposure to Basque and for those who need an in-depth review of the patterns of the language.

Second segment of the first-year course sequence in Basque language. It provides students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written Basque (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, sociolinguistic norms) and emphasizes all four skills: speaking, listening, writing, and reading.

Third and final segment of the basic-language Basque sequence. It provides students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written Basque (e.g., grammar, vocabulary, sociolinguistic norms) and emphasizes all four skills: speaking, listening, writing, and reading.

In the last 30 years, the Basque language has seen an increase in the number of speakers, especially among younger groups. The implementation of several language and cultural policies, along with a transformation in the educational system, has been key to this development. In this course we will explore these revitalizing practices used in the Basque Country by analyzing the sociolinguistic situation of Basque language from the transition to democracy in the late 1970s to the present.

Taught in English.

This course is intended for speakers of other Romance languages to quickly develop competence in spoken and written Catalan. In this introductory course, students learn ways to apply their skills in another Romance language to mastering Catalan by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. Students with a placement of 20100 or higher in any of the other Romance Languages are eligible to take CATA 12200 for completion of the College Language Competency Requirement.

This course is intended for speakers of other Romance languages to quickly develop competence in spoken and written Catalan. In this introductory course, students learn ways to apply their skills in another Romance language to mastering Catalan by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. Students with a placement of 20100 or higher in any of the other Romance Languages are eligible to take CATA 12200 for completion of the College Language Competency Requirement.

This course is intended for speakers of other Romance languages to quickly develop competence in spoken and written Catalan. In this intermediate-level course, students learn ways to apply their skills in another Romance language to mastering Catalan by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. This course offers a rapid review of the basic patterns of the language and expands on the material presented in CATA 12200.

This advanced-level course will focus on speaking and writing skills through a wide variety of texts and audiovisual materials. We will study a wide range of Catalan cultural manifestations (e.g., visual arts, music, gastronomy). Students will also review advanced grammatical structures, write a number of essays, and participate in multiple class debates. This course satisfies language competency.

This course provides an interdisciplinary survey of contemporary Catalonia. We study a wide range of its cultural manifestations (architecture, paintings, music, arts of the body, literature, cinema, gastronomy). Attention is also paid to some sociolinguistic issues, such as the coexistence of Catalan and Spanish, and the standardization of Catalan.

The course will be conducted in English.

In this course we will embark on a virtual journey through the streets and hidden corners of contemporary Barcelona, treating the city itself as a living museum and a dynamic text. Using art, cinema, literature, and even street art as our guides, we will explore how Barcelona’s urban landscape has become a canvas for cultural expression in the 21st century.
Moving beyond the monumental works of the past, we will focus on the city as it has been reimagined since the 1992 Olympic Games. We will ask: How do modern artists, writers, and filmmakers map the soul of this metropolis? How is the city’s identity negotiated in its public spaces, from the tourist-filled Gothic Quarter to the post-industrial workshops of Poblenou? Each week, we will "visit" a different neighborhood or explore a theme, using cultural works as our lens to understand the tensions between tradition and globalization, the impact of tourism, the voices of its diverse communities, and the politics of urban space in a cultural exploration of the living, breathing city of today.

Taught in English.

In this course we will embark on a virtual journey through the streets and hidden corners of contemporary Barcelona, treating the city itself as a living museum and a dynamic text. Using art, cinema, literature, and even street art as our guides, we will explore how Barcelona’s urban landscape has become a canvas for cultural expression in the 21st century.
Moving beyond the monumental works of the past, we will focus on the city as it has been reimagined since the 1992 Olympic Games. We will ask: How do modern artists, writers, and filmmakers map the soul of this metropolis? How is the city’s identity negotiated in its public spaces, from the tourist-filled Gothic Quarter to the post-industrial workshops of Poblenou? Each week, we will "visit" a different neighborhood or explore a theme, using cultural works as our lens to understand the tensions between tradition and globalization, the impact of tourism, the voices of its diverse communities, and the politics of urban space in a cultural exploration of the living, breathing city of today.

 Taught in English.

This course offers an exploration of the Spanish Civil War through Catalan literature, focusing on how writers have described pivotal historical periods and their impact on individual and collective identity. Through the close reading and analysis of foundational works, we will examine the enduring legacies of war, the repression of the postwar era, and the complex, often gendered, construction of memory.
We will read iconic novels by authors who experienced the civil war, such as Mercè Rodoreda's La plaça del Diamant (The Time of the Doves), Joaquim Amat-Piniella's K.L. Reich, and Joan Sales' Incerta glòria (Uncertain Glory). In contrast, more recent works like Irene Solà's Et vaig donar ulls i vas mirar les tenebres (I Gave You Eyes and You Looked into Darkness), will take us on a journey into a rural world where myth, history, and matrilineal narratives intertwine, offering fresh perspectives on the transmission of memory and the agency of women within historical and folkloric landscapes. The course will also feature a selection of short stories by figures such as Caterina Albert (Víctor Català), Salvador Espriu and Mercè Rodoreda.
Throughout the course, we will reflect on the role of literature as a form of testimony, a space for mourning, and a tool for understanding the present by amplifying the often-silenced voices and experiences of the past, with a keen focus on how gender shapes these narratives.

Taught in English.

This course offers an exploration of the Spanish Civil War through Catalan literature, focusing on how writers have described pivotal historical periods and their impact on individual and collective identity. Through the close reading and analysis of foundational works, we will examine the enduring legacies of war, the repression of the postwar era, and the complex, often gendered, construction of memory.
We will read iconic novels by authors who experienced the civil war, such as Mercè Rodoreda's "La plaça del Diamant" ("The Time of the Doves"), Joaquim Amat-Piniella's "K.L. Reich," and Joan Sales' "Incerta glòria" ("Uncertain Glory"). In contrast, more recent works like Irene Solà's "Et vaig donar ulls i vas mirar les tenebres" ("I Gave You Eyes and You Looked into Darkness"), will take us on a journey into a rural world where myth, history, and matrilineal narratives intertwine, offering fresh perspectives on the transmission of memory and the agency of women within historical and folkloric landscapes. The course will also feature a selection of short stories by figures such as Caterina Albert (Víctor Català), Salvador Espriu and Mercè Rodoreda.
Throughout the course, we will reflect on the role of literature as a form of testimony, a space for mourning, and a tool for understanding the present by amplifying the often-silenced voices and experiences of the past, with a keen focus on how gender shapes these narratives.

This course-intended for students who have no previous knowledge of French and for those who need an in-depth review of the very basic patterns of the language—is the first in a three-part language sequence that provides beginning students with a solid foundation in the linguistic and sociocultural norms necessary for everyday communication in the French-speaking world. Our unique method guides students to learn French inductively, through authentic discourse, so that they learn to speak more like native speakers from the very beginning. This course is designed to help students achieve functional competency in speaking, writing, listening, and reading, with a focus on present tense constructions, and to engage students in all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Exposure to French and Francophone materials will foster cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection.

This course-intended for students who have no previous knowledge of French and for those who need an in-depth review of the very basic patterns of the language—is the first in a three-part language sequence that provides beginning students with a solid foundation in the linguistic and sociocultural norms necessary for everyday communication in the French-speaking world. Our unique method guides students to learn French inductively, through authentic discourse, so that they learn to speak more like native speakers from the very beginning. This course is designed to help students achieve functional competency in speaking, writing, listening, and reading, with a focus on present tense constructions, and to engage students in all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Exposure to French and Francophone materials will foster cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection.

This course-intended for students who have no previous knowledge of French and for those who need an in-depth review of the very basic patterns of the language—is the first in a three-part language sequence that provides beginning students with a solid foundation in the linguistic and sociocultural norms necessary for everyday communication in the French-speaking world. Our unique method guides students to learn French inductively, through authentic discourse, so that they learn to speak more like native speakers from the very beginning. This course is designed to help students achieve functional competency in speaking, writing, listening, and reading, with a focus on present tense constructions, and to engage students in all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Exposure to French and Francophone materials will foster cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection.

This course—the second in a three-part language sequence that provides beginning students with a solid foundation in the linguistic and sociocultural norms necessary for everyday communication in the French-speaking world—offers a rapid review of the basic patterns of the language, and expands on the material presented in FREN 10100. This course is designed to help students achieve functional competency in speaking, writing, listening, and reading, with a focus on present and past time frames, and to engage students in all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Students further explore French and Francophone materials that foster cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection.

This course—the second in a three-part language sequence that provides beginning students with a solid foundation in the linguistic and sociocultural norms necessary for everyday communication in the French-speaking world—offers a rapid review of the basic patterns of the language, and expands on the material presented in FREN 10100. This course is designed to help students achieve functional competency in speaking, writing, listening, and reading, with a focus on present and past time frames, and to engage students in all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Students further explore French and Francophone materials that foster cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection.

This course—the second in a three-part language sequence that provides beginning students with a solid foundation in the linguistic and sociocultural norms necessary for everyday communication in the French-speaking world—offers a rapid review of the basic patterns of the language, and expands on the material presented in FREN 10100. This course is designed to help students achieve functional competency in speaking, writing, listening, and reading, with a focus on present and past time frames, and to engage students in all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Students further explore French and Francophone materials that foster cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection.

This course—the last in a three-part sequence that provides beginning students with a solid foundation in the linguistic and sociocultural norms necessary for everyday communication in the French-speaking world—expands on the material presented in FREN 10200, reviewing and elaborating the basic patterns of the language with the aim of developing functional competency in all four skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) in most time frames. Students continue to engage in all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational), and to explore French and Francophone materials that foster cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection. Successful completion of FREN 10300 meets the College’s language competence requirement.

This course—the last in a three-part sequence that provides beginning students with a solid foundation in the linguistic and sociocultural norms necessary for everyday communication in the French-speaking world—expands on the material presented in FREN 10200, reviewing and elaborating the basic patterns of the language with the aim of developing functional competency in all four skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) in most time frames. Students continue to engage in all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational), and to explore French and Francophone materials that foster cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection. Successful completion of FREN 10300 meets the College’s language competence requirement.

This course—the last in a three-part sequence that provides beginning students with a solid foundation in the linguistic and sociocultural norms necessary for everyday communication in the French-speaking world—expands on the material presented in FREN 10200, reviewing and elaborating the basic patterns of the language with the aim of developing functional competency in all four skills (speaking, writing, listening, and reading) in most time frames. Students continue to engage in all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational), and to explore French and Francophone materials that foster cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection. Successful completion of FREN 10300 meets the College’s language competence requirement.

This course is designed to build on heritage learners' skills to prepare them for success in subsequent French courses. Skill areas include in-depth practice in reading and writing, along with review and expansion of targeted grammar structures, and development of precision in vocabulary.

This course satisfies the College Language Competency Requirement. Designed for heritage learners who placed into FREN 10200 or 10300, or who have not studied French formally. Can also be added with instructor consent. No auditors permitted. If course is full, or total enrollment is less than enrollment limit & you can't register, attend on 1st day. Registered students who don't attend on 1st day may lose spot.

Intensive French I, II and III: This intensive, three-quarter sequence brings students with no prior background in French to intermediate-high levels in all four skills—reading, writing, speaking, and listening—thus preparing students to take third-year level courses in French. Learners who are starting French late in their College careers or who wish to move forward swiftly will gain skills corresponding to two full years of study by completing the entire sequence. Although the three classes constitute a sequence, students may enter the sequence whenever it is appropriate for them based on prior courses or placement exam results. Students may also exit the sequence after any given class and continue in the appropriate course in the Elementary or Intermediate French track. 

NOTE: Each course is 200 units and corresponds in workload to taking two courses. FREN 12001, the first course in the sequence, covers the equivalent of FREN 10100 and 10200.

Intensive French I, II and III: This intensive, three-quarter sequence brings students with no prior background in French to intermediate-high levels in all four skills-reading, writing, speaking, and listening-thus preparing students to take third-year level courses in French. Learners who are starting French late in their College careers or who wish to move forward swiftly will gain skills corresponding to two full years of study by completing the entire sequence. Although the three classes constitute a sequence, students may enter the sequence whenever it is appropriate for them based on prior courses or placement exam results. Students may also exit the sequence after any given class and continue in the appropriate course in the Elementary or Intermediate French track. NOTE: Each course is 200 units and corresponds in workload to taking two courses. FREN 12002, the second course in the sequence, covers the equivalent of FREN 10300 and 20100.

Course is 200 units and corresponds in workload to taking two courses.

Intensive French I, II and III: This intensive, three-quarter sequence brings students with no prior background in French to intermediate-high levels in all four skills-reading, writing, speaking, and listening-thus preparing students to take third-year level courses in French. Learners who are starting French late in their College careers or who wish to move forward swiftly will gain skills corresponding to two full years of study by completing the entire sequence. Although the three classes constitute a sequence, students may enter the sequence whenever it is appropriate for them based on prior courses or placement exam results. Students may also exit the sequence after any given class and continue in the appropriate course in the Elementary or Intermediate French track. 

NOTE: Each course is 200 units and corresponds in workload to taking two courses. FREN 12003, the third course in the sequence, covers the equivalent of FREN 20200 and 20300.

This course is designed for students without prior experience or training in French who wish to take FREN 33333, Reading French for Research Purposes. In this course, students learn the basics of French grammar and syntax, some basic French vocabulary, and they also begin to learn some of the reading strategies they will need to be successful in FREN 33333. The prerequisite for FREN 33333 is either one year of college-level French language instruction or the equivalent, or successful completion of FREN 13333.

This course helps students quickly gain skills in spoken and written French by building on their prior working knowledge of another Romance language (Catalan, Italian, Portuguese or Spanish). By relying on the many similarities with other Romance languages, students can focus on mastering the different aspects of French. This class covers content from FREN 10100 and 10200.

French sounds nothing like how it’s written - until you know the code. Hone your accent and learn the sounds of French in this production-focused course for post-103 students. We will discuss and practice rhythm and intonation patterns as well as individual sounds, and introduce the underlying linguistic concepts that inform them. Towards the end of the course, we will explore varieties of French from around the world and the phonetic features that make them distinct. 

FREN 14300 satisfies Language Competency. Taught in (accessible) French.
 

Designed as an alternative to FREN 20100 for students in Business Economics, Global Studies and related fields of study, this four-skills course meets the grammatical objectives of FREN 20100 while equipping students with the basic communication skills and cultural awareness necessary in the areas of international exchange and economics. Through exposure to a wide range of material—including essays, newspaper and journal articles, film reviews, professional writing practices—and interactive exercises including discussions, in-class activities, and group projects in simulated professional situations, students will acquire the linguistic skills and sociocultural knowledge required for engagement in international exchange and business economics as well as to participate in larger debates in the Francophone context.

This first course in the intermediate French sequence begins to progress students from intermediate-low to intermediate-high proficiency, practicing language tasks and functions such as narrating, describing, and hypothesizing; expressing and defending one’s opinion; and discussing and debating ideas. By engaging with original cultural texts and media representing every corner of the Francophone world, students expand their ability to communicate in increasingly sophisticated ways across all three modes (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Contemporary and relevant materials provide students with opportunities to personalize their learning, deepen their intercultural understanding, and develop more advanced skills and strategies in speaking, writing, listening, and reading. In FREN 20100, course themes include family origins and migrations; traditions and storytelling; language contact and variation; and the performing arts.

This first course in the intermediate French sequence begins to progress students from intermediate-low to intermediate-high proficiency, practicing language tasks and functions such as narrating, describing, and hypothesizing; expressing and defending one’s opinion; and discussing and debating ideas. By engaging with original cultural texts and media representing every corner of the Francophone world, students expand their ability to communicate in increasingly sophisticated ways across all three modes (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Contemporary and relevant materials provide students with opportunities to personalize their learning, deepen their intercultural understanding, and develop more advanced skills and strategies in speaking, writing, listening, and reading. In FREN 20100, course themes include family origins and migrations; traditions and storytelling; language contact and variation; and the performing arts.

This first course in the intermediate French sequence begins to progress students from intermediate-low to intermediate-high proficiency, practicing language tasks and functions such as narrating, describing, and hypothesizing; expressing and defending one’s opinion; and discussing and debating ideas. By engaging with original cultural texts and media representing every corner of the Francophone world, students expand their ability to communicate in increasingly sophisticated ways across all three modes (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Contemporary and relevant materials provide students with opportunities to personalize their learning, deepen their intercultural understanding, and develop more advanced skills and strategies in speaking, writing, listening, and reading. In FREN 20100, course themes include family origins and migrations; traditions and storytelling; language contact and variation; and the performing arts.

This second course in the intermediate French sequence continues to progress students towards intermediate-high proficiency, practicing language tasks and functions such as narrating, describing, and hypothesizing; expressing and defending one’s opinion; and discussing and debating ideas. By engaging with original cultural texts and media representing every corner of the Francophone world, students expand their ability to communicate in increasingly sophisticated ways across all three modes (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Contemporary and relevant materials provide students with opportunities to personalize their learning, deepen their intercultural understanding, and develop more advanced skills and strategies in speaking, writing, listening, and reading. In FREN 20200, course themes include digital literacy and online activism; media and public health; ecological phenomena; and social engagement.

This second course in the intermediate French sequence continues to progress students towards intermediate-high proficiency, practicing language tasks and functions such as narrating, describing, and hypothesizing; expressing and defending one’s opinion; and discussing and debating ideas. By engaging with original cultural texts and media representing every corner of the Francophone world, students expand their ability to communicate in increasingly sophisticated ways across all three modes (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Contemporary and relevant materials provide students with opportunities to personalize their learning, deepen their intercultural understanding, and develop more advanced skills and strategies in speaking, writing, listening, and reading. In FREN 20200, course themes include digital literacy and online activism; media and public health; ecological phenomena; and social engagement.

This second course in the intermediate French sequence continues to progress students towards intermediate-high proficiency, practicing language tasks and functions such as narrating, describing, and hypothesizing; expressing and defending one’s opinion; and discussing and debating ideas. By engaging with original cultural texts and media representing every corner of the Francophone world, students expand their ability to communicate in increasingly sophisticated ways across all three modes (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Contemporary and relevant materials provide students with opportunities to personalize their learning, deepen their intercultural understanding, and develop more advanced skills and strategies in speaking, writing, listening, and reading. In FREN 20200, course themes include digital literacy and online activism; media and public health; ecological phenomena; and social engagement.

This third and final course in the intermediate French sequence further progresses students towards intermediate-high proficiency, practicing language tasks and functions such as narrating, describing, and hypothesizing; expressing and defending one’s opinion; and discussing and debating ideas. By engaging with original cultural texts and media representing every corner of the Francophone world, students expand their ability to communicate in increasingly sophisticated ways across all three modes (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Contemporary and relevant materials provide students with opportunities to personalize their learning, deepen their intercultural understanding, and develop more advanced skills and strategies in speaking, writing, listening, and reading. In FREN 20300, course themes include political and citizen values; urban planning; agriculture and nutrition; and notions of beauty.

This third and final course in the intermediate French sequence further progresses students towards intermediate-high proficiency, practicing language tasks and functions such as narrating, describing, and hypothesizing; expressing and defending one’s opinion; and discussing and debating ideas. By engaging with original cultural texts and media representing every corner of the Francophone world, students expand their ability to communicate in increasingly sophisticated ways across all three modes (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Contemporary and relevant materials provide students with opportunities to personalize their learning, deepen their intercultural understanding, and develop more advanced skills and strategies in speaking, writing, listening, and reading. In FREN 20300, course themes include political and citizen values; urban planning; agriculture and nutrition; and notions of beauty.

This third and final course in the intermediate French sequence further progresses students towards intermediate-high proficiency, practicing language tasks and functions such as narrating, describing, and hypothesizing; expressing and defending one’s opinion; and discussing and debating ideas. By engaging with original cultural texts and media representing every corner of the Francophone world, students expand their ability to communicate in increasingly sophisticated ways across all three modes (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Contemporary and relevant materials provide students with opportunities to personalize their learning, deepen their intercultural understanding, and develop more advanced skills and strategies in speaking, writing, listening, and reading. In FREN 20300, course themes include political and citizen values; urban planning; agriculture and nutrition; and notions of beauty.

The main goal of this course is to help students acquire advanced grammatical knowledge of the French language and develop their writing skills. This course is strongly recommended for all students who intend to take courses in which writing essays in French is required: French literature classes on campus, the Autumn Paris Civilization program, or the academic yearlong program in Paris. It is also strongly recommended for students who wish to take the advanced proficiency exam in French.

The main goal of this course is to help students acquire advanced grammatical knowledge of the French language and develop their writing skills. This course is strongly recommended for all students who intend to take courses in which writing essays in French is required: French literature classes on campus, the Autumn Paris Civilization program, or the academic yearlong program in Paris. It is also strongly recommended for students who wish to take the advanced proficiency exam in French.
 

The main goal of this course is to help students acquire advanced grammatical knowledge of the French language and develop their writing skills. This course is strongly recommended for all students who intend to take courses in which writing essays in French is required: French literature classes on campus, the Autumn Paris Civilization program, or the academic yearlong program in Paris. It is also strongly recommended for students who wish to take the advanced proficiency exam in French.

This course focuses on developing the tools necessary for advanced oral proficiency in an academic context. Through active class participation involving a number of class presentations, students practice a variety of discourse styles (e.g., debates, lectures, seminars, interviews). Special emphasis is placed on correct pronunciation.

This course explores major contemporary French and francophone artists, art forms and art works. Students will acquire basic linguistic and analytical skills to apprehend visual arts, graphic novels, movies and theatrical performance in French. They will work on individual and group art and academic assignments.
Taught in French. A screening and a museum field trip are required.

This course focuses on developing advanced oral proficiency skills in French in the context of contemporary cultural, social and political issues in the Francophone world. As Francophonie is a multifaceted concept that can be approached from various perspectives—institutional, linguistic, geopolitical, cultural, and literary—the course will start with a look at what Francophonie is and means in such places as the Caribbean, Europe, Francophone Africa, and North America. Students will read articles, watch and listen to films, reports, and interviews, engage in discussions and debates, conduct interviews, and carry out projects and presentations on themes of their own choosing within this framework.

Our journey takes us into the less formal dimensions of the French language, and starts with the history of the vernacular. Taking colloquial French as the object of our study, we examine its contrasts with standard French, and the prerogatives of the Académie française (the state-sanctioned institution that governs formal French). We consider how different aspects of French society, culture, and literature are tied to linguistic questions. Is French slang merely a product of youth culture? How does it represent the distinction or fracture between Paris and the provinces, between urban and rural spaces? We then explore newer, inclusive forms of communication, especially as used and adopted on social media and blogs. Readings offer a panorama of the various spaces and voices that use and create colloquial French, from Rabelais to the blog Boloss des Belles Lettres, and to films like “Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis” and “Les Visiteurs.” Topics include écriture inclusive, the Académie française, regionalism, humor, puns, youth culture, and slang.

This is an introductory-level course.

L’époque des Lumières est traditionnellement étudiée sous le prisme de l’écriture et de la pensée masculines. Le 18e siècle fût cependant profondément marqué par une ré-imagination du rôle des femmes dans la société française, une ré-imagination conceptualisée par les femmes elles-mêmes. Les écrivaines des Lumières réfléchirent sur leurs propres rôles dans les sphères privées et publiques, exposant sur l’éducation, la maternité, la vie sociale, le bonheur et la libération. Ce cours propose donc une lecture des Lumières qui se concentrera sur des écrivaines souvent écartées, telles qu’Émilie du Châtelet, Françoise de Graffigny, Louise d’Épinay, Marie-Jeanne Riccoboni, Isabelle de Charrière et Olympe de Gouges. Afin d’étudier l’immensité de ces réflexions, nous allons lire des romans, pièces de théâtre, écritures de soi, traités et correspondances, qui illumineront dans quelle mesure ces écrivaines ont revendiqué leurs positions dans les mouvements intellectuels de l’époque et ont commencé à forger un nouveau rôle politique pour elles-mêmes.

Taught in French. 

This course will introduce you to early modern women playwrights from England (Elizabeth Cary, Margaret Cavendish, Aphra Behn) and from continental Europe (the French Marguerite de Navarre and Madame de Villedieu, the Italian Antonia Pulci and Margherita Costa, the Spanish Ana Caro and—beyond Europe— the Mexican Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz). We will analyze the complex works, ideas, and lives of those brilliant playwrights through the lenses of intersectional trans inclusive feminism, transnationalism, and premodern critical race studies. Throughout, we will remain alert to the sense of possibility that suffuses these plays’ political imagination. This course is open to MAPH students and to PhD students upon request (Drama, Medieval/Early Modern)

Les exercices institués au collège, en France comme en Europe jusqu'au XIXe siècle, formaient l'écriture : la fable, le récit, le développement d’une anecdote, la maxime, la disputation pour et contre, le lieu commun, l’éloge et le blâme, le parallèle, le portrait, la description, la thèse, et la proposition de loi, ainsi que la composition du cahier d’extraits pour alimenter tout ce travail. Cette institution poétique et rhétorique se trouve à la base non seulement de la production littéraire et de l’administration, mais aussi de toute une culture de la langue. Dans ce cours, nous étudierons et ensuite essaierons ces divers exercices d’autrefois pour remettre en cause à la fois cette institution de la première modernité et les habitudes qui sont issues de la nôtre.

What does it mean to be a subject? Throughout his career, Michel Foucault posed this question, examining the psychiatric, penitential, and religious institutions to understand how we moderns arrived at our current understanding of ourselves. But when did we begin to think of the self as something we have, and have to account for? Following the development of Foucault’s idea of confession as central to the creation of modern subjectivity, this course examines how Foucault turns from twentieth-century discourses on sexuality to early Christian monastic texts in his genealogy of modern subjectivity. Reading The History of Sexuality Volume 1, The History of Sexuality Volume 4: Confessions of the Flesh, Foucault’s lectures on the relationship between religion, subjectivity, and political power alongside key sources and critical scholarship, this course asks: What is Foucault’s concept of religion? How does it relate to sexuality? What is the relationship between religion and modernity? How does religion determine our concepts of self, society, and state? 

This course provides an overview of Foucault’s major writings on religion, sexuality and politics. It is open to all undergraduates without pre-requisites. Those taking the course for French credit are required to read and cite Foucault readings in French and write the course papers in French. 

Au Maroc, « les années de plomb » correspondent à une période de répression politique qui s’étend du milieu des années 1960 aux années 1990. Pendant et après cette période, de nombreux écrivains, poètes et militants marocains écrivent pour raconter leurs expériences de détention, explorer les effets de l’incarcération et préserver leurs mémoires individuelles et collectives. Du récit autobiographique à la poésie, en passant par le roman et la forme épistolaire, cette littérature témoigne d’un chapitre douloureux de l’histoire du pays et fait de l’écriture une force de résistance contre l’arbitraire du pouvoir. Ce cours introductif propose une traversée de quelques œuvres majeures de la littérature carcérale marocaine, analysées à la lumière du contexte politique du pays et des trajectoires des écrivains.

Taught in French. This is an introductory-level course.

S’appuyant sur l’exemple de Jeanne d’Arc, ce cours s’intéressera à la manière dont nous transformons le passé à la lumière des besoins et des soucis du présent. Nous situerons Jeanne d’Arc dans son contexte historique à l’aide des documents légaux, littéraires, et ecclésiastiques. Nous considérerons ensuite les représentations multiples et variées de Jeanne au cours des siècles suivants, examinant par exemple des textes de Voltaire, de Michelet, d’Anouilh, et d’autres, ainsi que des films qui présentent la vie de Jeanne d’Arc.

Taught in French.

The environmental humanities have long been dominated by texts and theories from privileged sections of Europe and North America. How might this field be “disrupted” to make way for alternative understandings of our natural world that have always existed and yet remain on the margins of academic discourse? And if we are to focus on works from the “Global South,” how do we account for its internal divisions and hierarchies, such as the oft-invisibilized archipelagoes of the Indian Ocean? In this course, we engage with works by contemporary writers and filmmakers from parts of the world usually grouped as the “Global South” (a label we will interrogate within the course), as a means of nourishing our creative and critical understandings of what it means to tell stories about the various ecologies we inhabit. What is the role of storytelling from the Global South in our perception of environmental change and in the current environmental crisis? How can novels, films, and short stories raise awareness of and emotional engagement with the racialized environmental impact of colonialism and coloniality in South Asia, Africa, and Latin America? We will explore the potential of narratives to challenge common assumptions regarding the environment, race, and power; and discuss how contemporary literature and film address the continuities between colonial pasts and the growing levels of toxicity in multiple regions of the Global South.

Taught in English, with readings available in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish

This course is the first of a three-part language sequence that provides beginning students with a solid foundation in the language and the cultural norms necessary for everyday communication in Italy. It is designed to help students obtain functional competency in speaking, writing, reading, and listening. Students will practice all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). They will also explore aspects of Italian culture, traditions, and regions through a selection of texts and audio-visual materials that aim to raise cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection.

This course offers a rapid review of the basic patterns of the language presented in ITAL 10100 and further explores the language and the cultural norms necessary for everyday communication in Italy. It is designed to help students obtain functional competency in speaking, writing, reading, and listening with a focus on present and past time frames. Students will practice all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). They will also explore aspects of Italian culture, traditions, and regions through a selection of texts and audio-visual materials that aim to raise cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection.

This course is the third of a three-part language sequence that provides a solid foundation in the language and the cultural norms necessary for everyday communication in Italy. It expands on the language presented in previous parts of the sequence, and provides functional competency in speaking, writing, reading, and listening, with a focus on present, past and future time frames. Students will practice all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). They will also explore aspects of Italian culture, traditions, and regions through a selection of texts and audio-visual materials that aim to raise cultural awareness and encourage intercultural communication. Successful completion of ITAL 10300 meets the language competence requirement.

This course is intended for speakers of other Romance languages to quickly develop competence in spoken and written Italian. Students learn ways to apply their skills in another Romance language to Italian by concentrating on the similarities and differences between languages. Students with a placement of 20100 or higher in any of the other Romance Languages are eligible to take ITAL 12200 for completion of the College Language Competency Requirement.

This course is intended for speakers of other Romance languages to quickly develop competence in spoken and written Italian. Students learn ways to apply their skills in another Romance language to Italian by concentrating on the similarities and differences between languages. Students with a placement of 20100 or higher in any of the other Romance Languages are eligible to take ITAL 12200 for completion of the College Language Competency Requirement.

In this course, students practice all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational), and further develop listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills through a variety of activities. This class reviews basic patterns of the language, and presents new grammatical structures and communicative functions. Students explore aspects of Italian society – with a focus on cultural practices and perspectives – through a variety of literary and non-literary texts and audio-visual materials, which raise cultural awareness and encourage intercultural reflection.

In this second part of the intermediate sequence, Students explore aspects of Italian society – with a focus on social issues and socioeconomic changes – cultural practices, and perspectives through a variety of literary and non-literary texts and audio-visual materials. The course raises cultural awareness and encourages intercultural reflection, while offering students several opportunities to practice all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational). Students develop listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills through a variety of activities. This class presents new grammatical structures and lexical items, while reviewing patterns from ITAL201.

This course is intended for speakers of other Romance languages who have completed ITAL 12200 “Italian for Speakers of Romance Languages.” In this intermediate-level course, students will further develop their proficiency in Italian, by focusing on the similarities and differences between Romance languages. This course offers a rapid review of the basic patterns of the Italian language and expands on the material presented in ITAL 12200.

Taught in Italian.

This course completes the study of the common grammatical functions and syntactical structures of the language, while reviewing previously-acquired patterns. Students practice all three modes of communication (interpersonal, interpretive, and presentational), and further develop listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills through a variety of activities. They continue exploring aspects of Italian society, through audio-visual materials and the reading of a contemporary Italian novel. Like the other parts of the sequence, this course raises cultural awareness, encourages intercultural reflection, and help students develop academic literacy.

This course helps students achieve a very high level of composition and style through the acquisition of numerous writing techniques. Using a variety of literary and nonliterary texts as models, students examine the linguistic structure and organization of several types of written Italian discourse. This course is also intended to help students attain high levels in reading, speaking, and listening through readings and debates on various issues of relevance in contemporary Italian society.

This course offers an introduction to Italian comics and aims to explore their interaction with the historical and social contexts in which they are published. Italian comics have a history of power exchange among consumers, industry, and products, and thus, are particularly suitable for investigating how the Italian people reacted to significant 20th- and 21st-century historical events. This course will provide students with fundamental coordinates to read, interpret, and argue about comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels contextually as social commentary and products of the entertainment industry. Students will have the chance to develop critical thinking skills and multimodal literacy with activities such as visual analyses of digitized comics pages, evaluations of physical copies of magazines and books, discussions on the role of comics artists, and broader considerations on the change and development of Italian society and culture. This course will utilize the vast selection of Italian comics held at the Regenstein Library.

Taught in Italian.

In this course, we will study filmic representations of women in Italian organized crime, and the implications these portrayals have on the understanding of gender and the mafias through Italian cinema. Sociological and psychological studies have underscored the importance of female roles in relation to mafia organizations, notwithstanding the rigid patriarchal structure that allows only male affiliation. One of the main goals of this class is for students to gain an understanding of different Italian mafias and to get a deeper comprehension of the construction of gender in a selection of films centered around these organizations. We will also discuss how movies contribute to the perception of organized crime. This class will draw on a variety of fields, including sociology, gender studies, and film studies. 

Taught in English. Students seeking credit for the Italian major/minor must complete a substantial part of the course work (e.g., readings, writing) in Italian. 

In this course, we will study filmic representations of women in Italian organized crime, and the implications these portrayals have on the understanding of gender and the mafias through Italian cinema. Sociological and psychological studies have underscored the importance of female roles in relation to mafia organizations, notwithstanding the rigid patriarchal structure that allows only male affiliation. One of the main goals of this class is for students to gain an understanding of different Italian mafias and to get a deeper comprehension of the construction of gender in a selection of films centered around these organizations. We will also discuss how movies contribute to the perception of organized crime. This class will draw on a variety of fields, including sociology, gender studies, and film studies.

Taught in English. Students seeking credit for the Italian major/minor must complete a substantial part of the course work (e.g., readings, writing) in Italian.

What’s the difference between truth and belief, and how does literature help us navigate this unstable terrain? In this course, we will examine how Renaissance Italian writers used literature, poetry, and theater to explore the boundaries between illusion and reality, performance and sincerity, reason and faith. Focusing on texts that dramatize deception, spectacle, and spiritual uncertainty, we will ask how literary form becomes a tool for shaping knowledge, testing authority, and challenging the senses. Students will engage an array of early modern Italian texts—including political theory, epic poetry, prose dialogues, and opera libretti—to trace how rhetorical and artistic strategies were deployed to convince, convert, and control. We will consider how belief can be staged and illusion weaponized in the service of truth, or its suppression. Readings span from canonical works by Machiavelli, Ariosto, and Tasso to lesser-known but richly revealing documents such as exorcism records and censored operas. By examining how early modern authors engaged with the invisible—whether demonic, divine, or psychological—we can develop a deeper understanding of how fiction intersects with authority, faith, and power. Taught in English and open to all students, this course emphasizes close reading, comparative analysis, and sustained critical writing. It will especially benefit students interested in literature, religion, philosophy, theater, and early modern intellectual history.

What are the specific features of the short story? How does this literary form organize different visions of time and space? Informed by these fundamental theoretical questions, this course explores the logic of the short story and investigates its position among literary genres. We will read together a selection of Contemporary Italian short stories (privileging the production of Italo Calvino, Beppe Fenoglio, and Elsa Morante, but also including less visible authors, such as Goffredo Parise, Dino Buzzati, and Silvio D’Arzo). The moments of close reading and theoretical reflection will be alternated with creative writing activities, in which students will have the opportunity to enter in a deeper resonance with the encountered texts.

Taught in Italian. This course is especially designed to help students improve their written Italian and literary interpretive skills. 

Migration has become a central issue in contemporary politics, often used to challenge the forms and values of social organization traditionally associated with modern liberal democracies. Italy and Spain, historically viewed as sources of emigration or destinations for internal migration, are increasingly grappling with the complexities of immigration. This course examines the intersection of immigration and cinema in Italy and Spain, exploring how films have reflected, shaped, and contested discourses on migration, identity, and belonging. Through the lens of cinematic representation, students will engage with themes such as displacement, border politics, nationalism, gender, racialization, and the dynamics of intercultural integration. The course delves into the portrayal of immigrants, refugees, and diasporic communities in film, emphasizing Italy and Spain’s distinctive roles as historical crossroads of migration. Topics include post-colonial legacies, these countries’ roles as gateways to Europe, and the lived experiences of immigrant communities.

“Frenemies” since the Middle Ages, the literary traditions of Italy and France illustrate the productive tensions that can arise from cultural and geographic proximity. This course explores practices of rewriting and adaptation across the Alps through the lens of gender and sexuality. We will focus on two periods of literary flourishing: the early modern age, when Italy led Europe into the era we now call the Renaissance, and the dawn of literary modernism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when France stood out for its innovations. We will address topics such as: how do female authors adapt works originally written by men? how do treatments of masculinity change when they move from one cultural setting to another? what role does sexuality play in realist genres? how does the post-modern representation of love and femininity change across French and Italian works in the twenieth century? Authors and works may include fabliaux, chansons de geste, Boccaccio, Marguerite de Navarre, Christine de Pizan, Orlando furioso, Émile Zola, Giovanni Verga, Italo Calvino, Raymond Queneau. Theory readings will include Roland Barthes, Hélène Cixous, Umberto Eco, Susan Sontag, and others. 

Class will be conducted in English. Those taking the class for ITAL or FREN credit will read works and complete assignments in French and/or Italian, as relevant. Counts as a Foundations course for GNSE majors.

This course offers a map and a compass. Our territory is Italian art. The four cardinal points, from which you can also draw the outline of a historical development, are as follows: Dante and the use of concrete figures as the culmination and conclusion of medieval allegory; Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446) and Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472), the founders of a new way of looking at things through Renaissance perspective; Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464), the great theologian, and Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), the martyr of philosophy, who framed new conceptions of God at a time when the Christian religion was in crisis; Giambattista Vico (1668-1744) and Giacomo Leopardi (1798-1937) who redesigned the role of poetry as a medium between wild life and the concepts of science. Through a close reading of texts from these and other authors, we will venture into the vast realm of imagination and the magnificent architectures that characterise Italian culture. Our compass will be the notion of ‘invention’: a method of creating new images, generating fictions and activating new mechanisms in people's minds. Invention makes it possible to assign new senses to the world: the introduction of these changes in the way of living and thinking prompt the passage from one era to another (from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, from Baroque to Modernity). 

After his death Niccolò Machiavelli will be colloquially called “Old Nick,” a nickname for the devil, reflecting his growing reputation as a symbol of the selfish and cunning politician. In this course we meet Young Nick, growing up in Medici Florence. We will seek to make his historical and social context come alive, analyzing key texts from Renaissance male and female writers, learn to appreciate works of art and architecture, and focus on some of the most extraordinary personalities of an age of great personalities (e.g., the Medici, the Borgia, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo). This course helps you understand why the Italian Renaissance forever reshaped the way we see art, literature, and power today, inspiring other European nations to frame their own golden ages as sources of cultural pride. Our journey will be guided by Machiavelli, whose writings reveal that the very period now celebrated for its brilliance often felt, to those living through it, like an apocalypse, an age of crisis marked by relentless wars, assassinations, and the colonization of new lands by expanding empires. As we explore the “dark” side of Renaissance ambition, we will discuss literary texts and historical documents, seeing the era through the lenses of popular culture, gender and sexuality, and the dynamics of life across diverse spaces. Apart from classroom work, this course offers a series of creative assignments as well as library and museum excursions.

Taught in English, with readings in Italian for majors/minors.

This course is intended for speakers of other Romance Languages to quickly develop competence in spoken and written Kreyol (Kreyòl Ayisyen). In this introductory course, students learn ways to apply their skills in another Romance language to master Kreyol by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. Although familiarity with a Romance language is strongly recommended, students with no prior knowledge of a Romance Languages, and heritage learners, are also welcome.

This course is intended for speakers of other Romance Languages to quickly develop competence in spoken and written Kreyol (Kreyòl Ayisyen). In this introductory course, students learn ways to apply their skills in another Romance language to master Kreyol by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. Although familiarity with a Romance language is strongly recommended, students with no prior knowledge of a Romance Languages, and heritage learners, are also welcome.

This course is intended for speakers of other Romance Languages, to quickly develop competence in spoken and written Kreyol (Kreyòl Ayisyen). In this intermediate-level course, students learn ways to apply their skills in another Romance language to master Kreyol by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. This course offers a rapid review of the basic patterns of the language and expands on the material presented in KREY 12201. Although familiarity with a Romance language is strongly recommended, students with no prior knowledge of a Romance language, and heritage learners, are also welcome.
 

This course will provide opportunities to promote deeper knowledge of the Haitian culture while emphasizing the development of writing skills in the Kreyòl language through the use of a variety of authentic texts and cultural experiences. Topics covered in the course will include the Haitian revolution, cuisine, and audio-visual and performing arts. Moreover, students will participate in different cultural exploration outings in the city of Chicago, which will provide additional opportunities to interpret cultural artifacts and reflect on the Haitian culture and its influence on the representation and daily lives of Haitians in the diaspora, particularly in Chicago. In this course, we will: 1) analyze different cultural artifacts in the Haitian cultures through primary and secondary texts, 2) examine the influences of these cultural phenomena on the representation of Haitians and the creation of Haitian identity in the diaspora, and 3) and reflect on the importance of cultural identity in a migration context. Those who will take the course for Kreyòl credits will also develop additional syntactic knowledge in the language through creation of diverse essays. This course will be conducted in two weekly sessions: a common lecture session in English and an additional weekly discussion session in English or Kreyòl.

This advanced-level course will focus on speaking and writing skills through the study of a wide variety of contemporary texts and audiovisual materials. It will provide students with a better understanding of contemporary Haitian society. Students will review problematic grammatical structures, write a number of essays, and participate in multiple class debates.
Taught in Kreyòl.

This advanced-level course will focus on speaking and writing skills through a wide variety of texts, audiovisual materials, and cultural experiences. We will study a wide range of Haitian cultural manifestations (e.g., visual arts, music, gastronomy). Students will also review advanced grammatical structures, write a number of essays, participate in multiple class debates, and take cultural trips to have a comprehensive learning experience with Haitian language and culture.

Taught in Kreyòl.
 

This course provides an interdisciplinary survey of the contemporary Francophone Caribbean. Students will study a wide range of its cultural manifestations (performing arts like music and dance, literature, cinema, architecture and other visual arts, gastronomy). Attention is also paid to such sociolinguistic issues as the coexistence of French and Kreyòl, and the standardization of Kreyòl.
Taught in English.

This course examines the concept of language identity (i.e., the language[s] people employ to represent themselves) in multilingual Creolophone communities, particularly in Haiti. This course also examines the relationships between language identity, learning, language use, and literacy development in these societies. By the end of the course, students will be able to explain: 1) what language identity in multilingual Creolophone community reveal about speakers and their language attitudes; 2) how context and mode of communication can impact language identity and language use; 3) literacy acquisition and achievement in Creole communities; and 4) how Creolophones’ learning and literacy development are affected by language policies and ideologies. A final project will require students to design and conduct a preliminary sociolinguistic study based on students’ interests in the French-Creolophone world.
Taught in English.

This course is intended for students who have no previous knowledge of Portuguese and for students who need an in-depth review of the basic patterns of the language.

This course is a rapid review of the basic patterns of the language and expands on the material presented in PORT 10100.

This course expands on the material presented in PORT 10200, reviewing and elaborating the basic patterns of the language.

Successful completion of PORT 10300 fulfills the competency requirement.

This course is intended for speakers of Spanish to develop competence quickly in spoken and written Portuguese. In this intermediate-level course, students learn ways to apply their Spanish language skills to mastering Portuguese by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. Students with a placement of 20100 or higher in any of the other Romance Languages are eligible to take PORT 12200 for completion of the College Language Competency Requirement.

This course is intended for speakers of Spanish to develop competence quickly in spoken and written Portuguese. In this intermediate-level course, students learn ways to apply their Spanish language skills to mastering Portuguese by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. Students with a placement of 20100 or higher in any of the other Romance Languages are eligible to take PORT 12200 for completion of the College Language Competency Requirement

This course helps students quickly gain skills in spoken and written Portuguese by building on their prior working knowledge of another Romance language (Spanish, French, Catalan or Italian). By relying on the many similarities with other Romance languages, students can focus on mastering the different aspects of Portuguese, allowing them to develop their abilities for further study. This class covers content from PORT 10100 and 10200.

This is an accelerated language course that covers vocabulary and grammar for students interested in working in a business environment where Portuguese is spoken. The focus of this highly interactive class is to develop basic communication skills and cultural awareness through formal classes, readings, discussions, and writings. PORT 14500 satisfies the Language Competency Requirement.

This course is a general review and extension of all basic patterns of the language for intermediate students. Students explore selected aspects of Luso-Brazilian tradition through a variety of texts. This course is intented for intermediate students.

In this course students will explore the culture of the Lusophone world through the study of a wide variety of contemporary literary and journalistic texts from Brazil, Portugal, Angola and Mozambique, and unscripted recordings. This advanced language course targets the development of writing skills and oral proficiency in Portuguese. Students will review problematic grammatical structures, write a number of essays, and participate in multiple class debates, using authentic readings and listening segments as linguistic models on which to base their own production.

The objective of this course is to help students acquire advanced grammatical knowledge of the Portuguese language through exposure to cultural and literary content with a focus on Brazil. Students develop skills to continue perfecting their oral and written proficiency and comprehension of authentic literary texts and recordings, while also being exposed to relevant sociocultural and political contemporary topics. Students read, analyze, and discuss authentic texts by established writers from the lusophone world; they watch and discuss videos of interviews with writers and other prominent figures to help them acquire the linguistic skills required in academic discourse. Through exposure to written and spoken authentic materials, students learn the grammatical and lexical tools necessary to understand such materials as well as produce their own written analysis, response, and commentary. In addition, they acquire knowledge on major Brazilian authors and works.

During most of Brazil’s colonial period and decades after its independence from Portugal, the country’s labor force was primarily composed of enslaved people from Africa and of African descent. The African diaspora is a crucial component to understand Brazil’s history, society, economy and culture. From the abolitionist prose of Maria Firmina dos Reis and Machado de Assis’s subtle reflections on race to the exponential growth of Afro-Brazilian authors in the mainstream of contemporary literature, such as Conceição Evaristo and Itamar Vieira Jr., Brazilian literature has been shaped by the rich diversity of African diasporic cultures as well as by the numerous challenges faced by Afro-Brazilians in a society that is still today deeply unequal. In this course, we will delve into Afro-Brazilian history and culture through literature. We will cover a century and a half of Afro-Brazilian literary production and understand how its main themes, potentialities and challenges have evolved over the course of the decades. Besides the authors mentioned above, we will read works by Abdias do Nascimento, Carolina Maria de Jesus, Djamila Ribeiro and Ricardo Aleixo, among others.

Taught in English, with readings in English (readings in Portuguese will be available to Portuguese speakers when applicable), and optional discussion section in Portuguese.

SPAN 10100 is the initial segment of the introductory-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic culture, and presupposes no previous exposure to Spanish. The introductory course sequence in Spanish has two main objectives: 1) to enable students to understand simple texts and dialogues and communicate successfully with highly proficient speakers about everyday, concrete topics; and 2) to build students’ transcultural competence via exposure to different aspects of Spanish-speaking cultures. Using a task-based approach, the course will provide students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written communication in Spanish (grammar, syntax, vocabulary, sociolinguistic norms), with emphasis on all four linguistic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).

SPAN 10100 is the initial segment of the introductory-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic culture, and presupposes no previous exposure to Spanish. The introductory course sequence in Spanish has two main objectives: 1) to enable students to understand simple texts and dialogues and communicate successfully with highly proficient speakers about everyday, concrete topics; and 2) to build students’ transcultural competence via exposure to different aspects of Spanish-speaking cultures. Using a task-based approach, the course will provide students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written communication in Spanish (grammar, syntax, vocabulary, sociolinguistic norms), with emphasis on all four linguistic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).
 

SPAN 10200 is the second segment of the introductory-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic culture. The introductory course sequence in Spanish has two main objectives: 1) to enable students to understand simple texts and dialogues and communicate successfully with highly proficient speakers about everyday, concrete topics; and 2) to build students’ transcultural competence via exposure to different aspects of Spanish-speaking cultures. Using a task-based approach, the course will provide students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written communication in Spanish (grammar, syntax, vocabulary, sociolinguistic norms), with emphasis on all four linguistic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).
 

SPAN 10200 is the second segment of the introductory-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic culture. The introductory course sequence in Spanish has two main objectives: 1) to enable students to understand simple texts and dialogues and communicate successfully with highly proficient speakers about everyday, concrete topics; and 2) to build students’ transcultural competence via exposure to different aspects of Spanish-speaking cultures. Using a task-based approach, the course will provide students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written communication in Spanish (grammar, syntax, vocabulary, sociolinguistic norms), with emphasis on all four linguistic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).

SPAN 10200 is the second segment of the introductory-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic culture. The introductory course sequence in Spanish has two main objectives: 1) to enable students to understand simple texts and dialogues and communicate successfully with highly proficient speakers about everyday, concrete topics; and 2) to build students’ transcultural competence via exposure to different aspects of Spanish-speaking cultures. Using a task-based approach, the course will provide students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written communication in Spanish (grammar, syntax, vocabulary, sociolinguistic norms), with emphasis on all four linguistic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).
 

SPAN 10300 is the third and final segment of the introductory-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic culture. The introductory course sequence in Spanish has two main objectives: 1) to enable students to understand simple texts and dialogues and communicate successfully with highly proficient speakers about everyday, concrete topics; and 2) to build students’ transcultural competence via exposure to different aspects of Spanish-speaking cultures. Using a task-based approach, the course will provide students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written communication in Spanish (grammar, syntax, vocabulary, sociolinguistic norms), with emphasis on all four linguistic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).

SPAN 10300 is the third and final segment of the introductory-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic culture. The introductory course sequence in Spanish has two main objectives: 1) to enable students to understand simple texts and dialogues and communicate successfully with highly proficient speakers about everyday, concrete topics; and 2) to build students’ transcultural competence via exposure to different aspects of Spanish-speaking cultures. Using a task-based approach, the course will provide students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written communication in Spanish (grammar, syntax, vocabulary, sociolinguistic norms), with emphasis on all four linguistic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).

SPAN 10300 is the third and final segment of the introductory-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic culture. The introductory course sequence in Spanish has two main objectives: 1) to enable students to understand simple texts and dialogues and communicate successfully with highly proficient speakers about everyday, concrete topics; and 2) to build students’ transcultural competence via exposure to different aspects of Spanish-speaking cultures. Using a task-based approach, the course will provide students with a solid foundation in the basic patterns of spoken and written communication in Spanish (grammar, syntax, vocabulary, sociolinguistic norms), with emphasis on all four linguistic skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).

This course provides heritage learners of Spanish differentiated help to successfully reach Intermediate Mid/High-level course objectives, so they can successfully continue in the Intermediate heritage language track. Skill areas include in-depth practice in reading and writing, along with review and expansion of targeted grammar structures, and development of precision in vocabulary and orthography. The curriculum will be structured around a total of eight thematic modules. Although the main objective is to improve reading and writing on all fronts, from informal, mostly communicative (emails, letters, and such), to formal and well-structured (short academic essays), students' oral and listening skills will also be addressed. During the program students will work on a portfolio, based on weekly interviews with family or community members about the topic of the module.

SPAN 10402 satisfies the College Language Competency Requirement.

Designed for heritage speakers who placed into SPAN 10200 or 10300, did not place into the Spanish heritage sequence (SPAN 20102 or higher), or have not studied Spanish formally.
 

This course provides heritage learners of Spanish differentiated help to successfully reach Intermediate Mid/High-level course objectives, so they can successfully continue in the Intermediate heritage language track. Skill areas include in-depth practice in reading and writing, along with review and expansion of targeted grammar structures, and development of precision in vocabulary and orthography. The curriculum will be structured around a total of eight thematic modules. Although the main objective is to improve reading and writing on all fronts, from informal, mostly communicative (emails, letters, and such), to formal and well-structured (short academic essays), students' oral and listening skills will also be addressed. During the program students will work on a portfolio, based on weekly interviews with family or community members about the topic of the module.

SPAN 10402 satisfies the College Language Competency Requirement.
 

This course is the first segment of the intermediate-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. In this course, students build on the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills that were acquired previously to communicate and discuss topics of local, national, and international interest. These topics include cultural identities, representation in media industry, human rights and current issues pertaining to education and the job market, with a special emphasis on how they operate in the Spanish-speaking world. SPAN 201 has three main objectives: 1) to express more nuanced ideas orally and in writing in grammatically accurate, lexically rich, and sociolinguistically appropriate Spanish; 2) to demonstrate listening and reading comprehension of authentic texts in a variety of social and academic contexts; and 3) to help students build on their intercultural competence by identifying the beliefs and practices of Spanish-speaking individuals and cultures and comparing them with their own worldview.

This course is the first segment of the intermediate-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. In this course, students build on the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills that were acquired previously to communicate and discuss topics of local, national, and international interest. These topics include cultural identities, representation in media industry, human rights and current issues pertaining to education and the job market, with a special emphasis on how they operate in the Spanish-speaking world. SPAN 201 has three main objectives: 1) to express more nuanced ideas orally and in writing in grammatically accurate, lexically rich, and sociolinguistically appropriate Spanish; 2) to demonstrate listening and reading comprehension of authentic texts in a variety of social and academic contexts; and 3) to help students build on their intercultural competence by identifying the beliefs and practices of Spanish-speaking individuals and cultures and comparing them with their own worldview.

This course is the first segment of the intermediate-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. In this course, students build on the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills that were acquired previously to communicate and discuss topics of local, national, and international interest. These topics include cultural identities, representation in media industry, human rights and current issues pertaining to education and the job market, with a special emphasis on how they operate in the Spanish-speaking world. SPAN 201 has three main objectives: 1) to express more nuanced ideas orally and in writing in grammatically accurate, lexically rich, and sociolinguistically appropriate Spanish; 2) to demonstrate listening and reading comprehension of authentic texts in a variety of social and academic contexts; and 3) to help students build on their intercultural competence by identifying the beliefs and practices of Spanish-speaking individuals and cultures and comparing them with their own worldview.

The curricular development of this first course in a two-course intermediate sequence for heritage learners of Spanish will target all communicative competencies. The weekly modules will help the student improve their language skills on all fronts and are designed from informal, mostly communicative (emails), to formal and well-structured (academic essays). The focus of this course is not on grammar per se, but grammar and style have an important role as we go along.
There will be eight weekly writing assignments, which will receive instructor feedback. The student will also have a portfolio of work at the end; this portfolio will be presented to the class during the last week as a final project.

The curricular development of this first course in a two-course intermediate sequence for heritage learners of Spanish will target all communicative competencies. The weekly modules will help the student improve their language skills on all fronts and are designed from informal, mostly communicative (emails), to formal and well-structured (academic essays). The focus of this course is not on grammar per se, but grammar and style have an important role as we go along.
There will be eight weekly writing assignments, which will receive instructor feedback. The student will also have a portfolio of work at the end; this portfolio will be presented to the class during the last week as a final project.

This course is the second segment of the intermediate-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. In this course, students build on the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills that were acquired previously to communicate and discuss topics of local, national, and international interest. These topics include society and technology, creativity and leisure in the post-pandemic era, bilingualism and multicultural communities and environmental ethics, with a special emphasis on how they operate in the Spanish-speaking world. SPAN 202 has three main objectives: 1) to express more nuanced ideas orally and in writing in grammatically accurate, lexically rich, and sociolinguistically appropriate Spanish; 2) to demonstrate listening and reading comprehension of authentic texts in a variety of social and academic contexts; and 3) to help students build on their intercultural competence by identifying the beliefs and practices of Spanish-speaking individuals and cultures and comparing them with their own worldview.

This course is the second segment of the intermediate-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. In this course, students build on the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills that were acquired previously to communicate and discuss topics of local, national, and international interest. These topics include society and technology, creativity and leisure in the post-pandemic era, bilingualism and multicultural communities and environmental ethics, with a special emphasis on how they operate in the Spanish-speaking world. SPAN 202 has three main objectives: 1) to express more nuanced ideas orally and in writing in grammatically accurate, lexically rich, and sociolinguistically appropriate Spanish; 2) to demonstrate listening and reading comprehension of authentic texts in a variety of social and academic contexts; and 3) to help students build on their intercultural competence by identifying the beliefs and practices of Spanish-speaking individuals and cultures and comparing them with their own worldview.

This course is the second segment of the intermediate-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. In this course, students build on the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills that were acquired previously to communicate and discuss topics of local, national, and international interest. These topics include society and technology, creativity and leisure in the post-pandemic era, bilingualism and multicultural communities and environmental ethics, with a special emphasis on how they operate in the Spanish-speaking world. SPAN 202 has three main objectives: 1) to express more nuanced ideas orally and in writing in grammatically accurate, lexically rich, and sociolinguistically appropriate Spanish; 2) to demonstrate listening and reading comprehension of authentic texts in a variety of social and academic contexts; and 3) to help students build on their intercultural competence by identifying the beliefs and practices of Spanish-speaking individuals and cultures and comparing them with their own worldview.
 

This course is the third segment of the intermediate-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. In this course, students build on the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills that were acquired previously to communicate and discuss topics of local, national, and international interest. These topics include human rights and social inclusion, indigenous peoples and communities, rural-urban transformations, and borders as liminal spaces with a special emphasis on how they operate in the Spanish-speaking world. SPAN 203 has three main objectives: 1) to express more nuanced ideas orally and in writing in grammatically accurate, lexically rich, and sociolinguistically appropriate Spanish; 2) to demonstrate listening and reading comprehension of authentic texts in a variety of social and academic contexts; and 3) to help students build on their intercultural competence by identifying the beliefs and practices of Spanish-speaking individuals and cultures and comparing them with their own worldview.

This course is the third segment of the intermediate-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. In this course, students build on the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills that were acquired previously to communicate and discuss topics of local, national, and international interest. These topics include human rights and social inclusion, indigenous peoples and communities, rural-urban transformations, and borders as liminal spaces with a special emphasis on how they operate in the Spanish-speaking world. SPAN 203 has three main objectives: 1) to express more nuanced ideas orally and in writing in grammatically accurate, lexically rich, and sociolinguistically appropriate Spanish; 2) to demonstrate listening and reading comprehension of authentic texts in a variety of social and academic contexts; and 3) to help students build on their intercultural competence by identifying the beliefs and practices of Spanish-speaking individuals and cultures and comparing them with their own worldview.

This course is the third segment of the intermediate-level course sequence in Spanish language and Hispanic cultures. In this course, students build on the speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills that were acquired previously to communicate and discuss topics of local, national, and international interest. These topics include human rights and social inclusion, indigenous peoples and communities, rural-urban transformations, and borders as liminal spaces with a special emphasis on how they operate in the Spanish-speaking world. SPAN 203 has three main objectives: 1) to express more nuanced ideas orally and in writing in grammatically accurate, lexically rich, and sociolinguistically appropriate Spanish; 2) to demonstrate listening and reading comprehension of authentic texts in a variety of social and academic contexts; and 3) to help students build on their intercultural competence by identifying the beliefs and practices of Spanish-speaking individuals and cultures and comparing them with their own worldview.

The curricular development of this second course in a two-course intermediate sequence for heritage learners of Spanish will target all communicative competencies. The weekly modules will help the student improve their language skills on all fronts and are designed from informal, mostly communicative (emails), to formal and well-structured (academic essays). The focus of this course is not on grammar per se, but grammar and style have an important role as we go along.
There will be eight weekly writing assignments, which will receive instructor feedback. The student will also have a portfolio of work at the end; this portfolio will be presented to the class during the last week as a final project.

The curricular development of this second course in a two-course intermediate sequence for heritage learners of Spanish will target all communicative competencies. The weekly modules will help the student improve their language skills on all fronts and are designed from informal, mostly communicative (emails), to formal and well-structured (academic essays). The focus of this course is not on grammar per se, but grammar and style have an important role as we go along.
There will be eight weekly writing assignments, which will receive instructor feedback. The student will also have a portfolio of work at the end; this portfolio will be presented to the class during the last week as a final project.

This course is designed as an alternative to SPAN 20300 for students aspiring to use Spanish in a professional context. Students will expand their lexical and cultural knowledge of their chosen professional area through two course-long projects (a blog/vlog and a mini research project), and will hone linguistic skills relevant to any workplace environment. In order for 20304 to serve as preparation for the following course in the sequence (SPAN 20401), the textbook used and the vocabulary and grammatical topics covered in SPAN 20300 and 20304 are identical.

This course brings students to high-intermediate levels in reading, speaking, and listening for the practice of public interest law in the US. Learners will build proficiency around relevant topic areas so that they can read, listen, explain, present and solicit information related to rights, client history / interviews, procedural language, legal actions, etc. Focus is on communication and strategy instruction. The final exam is a proficiency test offered through the University of Chicago Office of Language Assessment that yields a certificate and a proficiency rating on students' transcripts. This class will follow the College’s academic calendar with flexibility for law students' schedules.

Social Work students will strengthen their knowledge of the Spanish language, especially the vocabulary and functions relevant to clinical social work practice. In addition, they will develop greater cultural competence concerning the Latinx community, enabling them to function pragmatically appropriately in a range of contexts. The course explores a variety of communicative strategies to adapt phonetics, register, and diction to rhetorical situations commonly encountered by clinical social work professionals. It also provides cultural instruction through a variety of readings and participation in hands-on, authentic activities.

This course is the first segment of the third-year (advanced) Spanish language sequence. It aims to strengthen all four linguistic skills, advanced argumentation, critical thinking and transcultural competence via discussion of press articles, short stories, films, and recorded interviews with native speakers from a variety of regions. Grammatical structures, syntactic patterns and vocabulary known to be problematic for English speakers will be reviewed and practiced. Controversial topics in politics, contemporary culture and modern Spanish and Latin American history will be debated and discussed orally and in writing through a formal debate, several argumentative essays, weekly posts on online discussion boards, class discussions, and summaries of texts and audios assigned. Students will also be asked to formulate well-supported arguments on these topics, and to reflect on similarities and contrasts between their own culture and those of the Spanish-speaking world.
 

This course is the first segment of the third-year (advanced) Spanish language sequence. It aims to strengthen all four linguistic skills, advanced argumentation, critical thinking and transcultural competence via discussion of press articles, short stories, films, and recorded interviews with native speakers from a variety of regions. Grammatical structures, syntactic patterns and vocabulary known to be problematic for English speakers will be reviewed and practiced. Controversial topics in politics, contemporary culture and modern Spanish and Latin American history will be debated and discussed orally and in writing through a formal debate, several argumentative essays, weekly posts on online discussion boards, class discussions, and summaries of texts and audios assigned. Students will also be asked to formulate well-supported arguments on these topics, and to reflect on similarities and contrasts between their own culture and those of the Spanish-speaking world.

This course is the first segment of the third-year (advanced) Spanish language sequence. It aims to strengthen all four linguistic skills, advanced argumentation, critical thinking and transcultural competence via discussion of press articles, short stories, films, and recorded interviews with native speakers from a variety of regions. Grammatical structures, syntactic patterns and vocabulary known to be problematic for English speakers will be reviewed and practiced. Controversial topics in politics, contemporary culture and modern Spanish and Latin American history will be debated and discussed orally and in writing through a formal debate, several argumentative essays, weekly posts on online discussion boards, class discussions, and summaries of texts and audios assigned. Students will also be asked to formulate well-supported arguments on these topics, and to reflect on similarities and contrasts between their own culture and those of the Spanish-speaking world.
 

This is an advanced writing, reading comprehension course whose goal is for native and heritage Spanish-speaking students to improve their written and oral expression skills using a selection of texts literature written in Spanish. It is sought that students acquires tools that allow them to improve their competence in the use of language as a means of intellectual debate and academic expression, while they reflect on various socio-cultural issues in Latin America and Spain, and on the approaches to these issues of some of the most important writers in the Spanish language. Throughout the course, students will write three essays based on reading assigned texts and/or class discussion. This process will be complemented with the analysis of grammatical and lexical structures that usually present difficulties for native and heritage Spanish speakers.

This is an advanced writing, reading comprehension course whose goal is for native and heritage Spanish-speaking students to improve their written and oral expression skills using a selection of texts literature written in Spanish. It is sought that students acquires tools that allow them to improve their competence in the use of language as a means of intellectual debate and academic expression, while they reflect on various socio-cultural issues in Latin America and Spain, and on the approaches to these issues of some of the most important writers in the Spanish language. Throughout the course, students will write three essays based on reading assigned texts and/or class discussion. This process will be complemented with the analysis of grammatical and lexical structures that usually present difficulties for native and heritage Spanish speakers.
 

This course is the second segment of the third-year (advanced) Spanish language sequence. It aims to strengthen all four linguistic skills, advanced argumentation, critical thinking and transcultural competence via discussion of press articles, short stories, films, and recorded interviews with native speakers from a variety of regions. Grammatical structures, syntactic patterns and vocabulary known to be problematic for English speakers will be reviewed and practiced. Controversial topics in politics, contemporary culture and modern Spanish and Latin American history will be debated and discussed orally and in writing through a formal debate, several argumentative essays, weekly posts on online discussion boards, class discussions, and summaries of texts and audios assigned. Students will also be asked to formulate well-supported arguments on these topics, and to reflect on similarities and contrasts between their own culture and those of the Spanish-speaking world.

This course is the equivalent of SPAN 20500.

This course is the second segment of the third-year (advanced) Spanish language sequence. It aims to strengthen all four linguistic skills, advanced argumentation, critical thinking and transcultural competence via discussion of press articles, short stories, films, and recorded interviews with native speakers from a variety of regions. Grammatical structures, syntactic patterns and vocabulary known to be problematic for English speakers will be reviewed and practiced. Controversial topics in politics, contemporary culture and modern Spanish and Latin American history will be debated and discussed orally and in writing through a formal debate, several argumentative essays, weekly posts on online discussion boards, class discussions, and summaries of texts and audios assigned. Students will also be asked to formulate well-supported arguments on these topics, and to reflect on similarities and contrasts between their own culture and those of the Spanish-speaking world.

This course is the equivalent of SPAN 20500.

The goal of this advanced conversation course is to help students identify and acquire the mechanisms necessary to engage in academic discourse. Throughout the course, students will participate in debates, lectures, and seminars. In addition, they will conduct a formal interview with a Spanish speaker. The topics of the different activities will be selected by the students according to their specializations at the University, but they will always try to establish a relationship with the Spanish-speaking world. All activities will expose the student to different styles of discourse and academic vocabulary.
To also encourage spontaneous and informal conversation, six student-led get-togethers will be organized on a variety of topics. At the end of the course, students will know how to express themselves orally following the established academic conventions.

The goal of this advanced conversation course is to help students identify and acquire the mechanisms necessary to engage in academic discourse. Throughout the course, students will participate in debates, lectures, and seminars. In addition, they will conduct a formal interview with a Spanish speaker. The topics of the different activities will be selected by the students according to their specializations at the University, but they will always try to establish a relationship with the Spanish-speaking world. All activities will expose the student to different styles of discourse and academic vocabulary.
To also encourage spontaneous and informal conversation, six student-led get-togethers will be organized on a variety of topics. At the end of the course, students will know how to express themselves orally following the established academic conventions.

This advanced-language Spanish course explores the intersection of language, identity, and migration through the lens of Chicago’s Latino-Mexican community, particularly in Pilsen. Students will strengthen their linguistic and cultural competence through authentic texts, multimedia, and engagement with local artists and writers. Topics include migration, bilingualism, cultural preservation, and artistic expression. The course emphasizes critical thinking, oral proficiency, and writing, with opportunities for students to contribute original work to Revista Væranda. Designed for students at the third-year level.

This advanced-language Spanish course focuses on audiovisual translation and localization, emphasizing the linguistic and cultural nuances essential for effective communication between English and Spanish. Over nine weeks, students will develop theoretical and practical skills in translating and adapting multimedia content for film, television, and digital media. Through hands-on practice and industry-relevant tools, they will learn to create culturally sensitive and accurate translations, preparing them for careers in the global audiovisual industry.

This sociolinguistic course expands understanding of the historical development of Spanish and awareness of the great sociocultural diversity within the Spanish-speaking world and its impact on the Spanish language. We emphasize the interrelationship between language and culture as well as ethno-historical transformations within the different regions of the Hispanic world. Special consideration is given to identifying lexical variations and regional expressions exemplifying diverse sociocultural aspects of the Spanish language, and to recognizing phonological differences between dialects. We also examine the impact of indigenous cultures on dialectical aspects. The course includes literary and nonliterary texts, audio-visual materials, and visits by native speakers of a variety of Spanish-speaking regions.

This sociolinguistic course expands understanding of the historical development of Spanish and awareness of the great sociocultural diversity within the Spanish-speaking world and its impact on the Spanish language. We emphasize the interrelationship between language and culture as well as ethno-historical transformations within the different regions of the Hispanic world. Special consideration is given to identifying lexical variations and regional expressions exemplifying diverse sociocultural aspects of the Spanish language, and to recognizing phonological differences between dialects. We also examine the impact of indigenous cultures on dialectical aspects. The course includes literary and nonliterary texts, audio-visual materials, and visits by native speakers of a variety of Spanish-speaking regions.

This sociolinguistic course expands understanding of both the historical and the contemporary development of Spanish in parts of the United States, and awareness of the great sociocultural diversity within the Spanish-speaking communities in the United States and its impact on the Spanish language. This course emphasizes the interrelationship between language and culture as well as ethno-historical transformations within the different regions of the United States. Special consideration is given to identifying lexical variations and regional expressions exemplifying diverse sociocultural aspects of the Spanish language, and to recognizing phonological differences between dialects. We also examine the impact of English on dialectical aspects. The course includes sociolinguistic texts, audio-visual materials, and visits by native speakers of a variety of Spanish-speaking regions in the United States.

This course explores Spanish language, literature, and culture focusing on premodern Iberian texts and artifacts. We will start by anonymous "Cantar de Mio Cid," the first great vernacular epic in the Middle Ages, and we will end in Maria de Zayas's "Novelas ejemplares," one of the finest expressions of European early modern short story. Between these two literary works we will talk about music, painting, witchcraft, conversion, and the Inquisition as milestones of a five-century span. In this time Spanish consolidates as a written language, while numerous political and religious conflicts mark the struggle for hegemony in the Iberian Peninsula. In addition to enhancing your knowledge of Iberian cultural history and improving your close reading and critical thinking skills, this course is designed to continue building on your linguistic competence in Spanish.

Taught in Spanish.

This course explores Spanish language, literature, and culture focusing on premodern Iberian texts and artifacts. We will start by anonymous "Cantar de Mio Cid," the first great vernacular epic in the Middle Ages, and we will end in Maria de Zayas's "Novelas ejemplares," one of the finest expressions of European early modern short story. Between these two literary works we will talk about music, painting, witchcraft, conversion, and the Inquisition as milestones of a five-century span. In this time Spanish consolidates as a written language, while numerous political and religious conflicts mark the struggle for hegemony in the Iberian Peninsula. In addition to enhancing your knowledge of Iberian cultural history and improving your close reading and critical thinking skills, this course is designed to continue building on your linguistic competence in Spanish.

Taught in Spanish.

This is a survey of the literatures and cultures of Spain from the 19th to the 21st centuries. The course offers an introduction to key historical moments of Spanish modernity, including the age of liberalism and the end of the empire, the Civil War and the Spanish exile, and the fight for democracy and equality in the Transition period and in the present day. Through literature, film, and the visual arts we will discuss topics such as the rivalry of competing national projects, the creative tension between tradition and avant-garde, the relationship between languages, literature, and society, and the struggles of women, among others. We will study towering cultural figures such as Emilia Pardo Bazán, Federico García Lorca, Mercè Rodoreda, Pablo Picasso, or Luis Buñuel, among many others. In addition to enhancing your knowledge of Iberian cultural history and improving your close reading and critical thinking skills, this course is designed to continue building on your linguistic competence in Spanish.

This course introduces students to the writing produced in Hispanic and Portuguese America during the period marked by the early processes of European colonization in the sixteenth century through the revolutionary movements that, in the nineteenth century, led to the establishment of independent nation-states across the continent. The assigned texts relate to the first encounters between Indigenous, Black, and European populations in the region, to the emergence of distinct ("New World") notions of cultural identity (along with the invention of new racial categories), and to the disputes over the meaning of nationhood that characterized the anti-colonial struggles for independence. Issues covered in this survey include the idea of texts as spaces of cultural and political conflict; the relationships between Christianization, secularization, and practices of racialization; the transatlantic slave trade; the uses of the colonial past in early nationalist projects; and the aesthetic languages through which this production was partly articulated (such as the Barroco de Indias, or "New World baroque," Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Modernismo, among others). In addition to enhancing your knowledge of Latin American cultural history and improving your close reading and critical thinking skills, this course is designed to continue building on your linguistic competence in Spanish.

Taught in Spanish.

This course introduces students to the writing produced in Hispanic and Portuguese America during the period marked by the early processes of European colonization in the sixteenth century through the revolutionary movements that, in the nineteenth century, led to the establishment of independent nation-states across the continent. The assigned texts relate to the first encounters between Indigenous, Black, and European populations in the region, to the emergence of distinct ("New World") notions of cultural identity (along with the invention of new racial categories), and to the disputes over the meaning of nationhood that characterized the anti-colonial struggles for independence. Issues covered in this survey include the idea of texts as spaces of cultural and political conflict; the relationships between Christianization, secularization, and practices of racialization; the transatlantic slave trade; the uses of the colonial past in early nationalist projects; and the aesthetic languages through which this production was partly articulated (such as the Barroco de Indias, or "New World baroque," Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Modernismo, among others). In addition to enhancing your knowledge of Latin American cultural history and improving your close reading and critical thinking skills, this course is designed to continue building on your linguistic competence in Spanish.

Taught in Spanish.

This course will survey some of the main literary and cultural tendencies in Latin America from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. We will pay special attention to their aesthetic dimensions, as well as the socio-historical and political conditions that made them possible, and in which they simultaneously intervened. Questions to be studied might include the innovations of the Modernist and avant-garde movements, fantastic literature, the novel of the so-called "Boom," cultural production associated with revolutionary movements, military dictatorships, and the Cold War, as well as new currents in literary and theatrical practices. Likewise, the course will foreground some of the following concepts relevant to the study of this production: modernity and modernization; development and neoliberalism; neo-colonialism and empire; cultural autonomy and ideas of poetic and cultural renewal; the epic vs. the novel; realism and non-verisimilitude; and performativity, among others. In addition to enhancing your knowledge of Latin American cultural history and improving your close reading and critical thinking skills, this course is designed to continue building on your linguistic competence in Spanish.

Taught in Spanish.

This course will survey some of the main literary and cultural tendencies in Latin America from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. We will pay special attention to their aesthetic dimensions, as well as the socio-historical and political conditions that made them possible, and in which they simultaneously intervened. Questions to be studied might include the innovations of the Modernist and avant-garde movements, fantastic literature, the novel of the so-called "Boom," cultural production associated with revolutionary movements, military dictatorships, and the Cold War, as well as new currents in literary and theatrical practices. Likewise, the course will foreground some of the following concepts relevant to the study of this production: modernity and modernization; development and neoliberalism; neo-colonialism and empire; cultural autonomy and ideas of poetic and cultural renewal; the epic vs. the novel; realism and non-verisimilitude; and performativity, among others. In addition to enhancing your knowledge of Latin American cultural history and improving your close reading and critical thinking skills, this course is designed to continue building on your linguistic competence in Spanish. 

Taught in Spanish.

During most of Brazil’s colonial period and decades after its independence from Portugal, the country’s labor force was primarily composed of enslaved people from Africa and of African descent. The African diaspora is a crucial component to understand Brazil’s history, society, economy and culture. From the abolitionist prose of Maria Firmina dos Reis and Machado de Assis’s subtle reflections on race to the exponential growth of Afro-Brazilian authors in the mainstream of contemporary literature, such as Conceição Evaristo and Itamar Vieira Jr., Brazilian literature has been shaped by the rich diversity of African diasporic cultures as well as by the numerous challenges faced by Afro-Brazilians in a society that is still today deeply unequal. In this course, we will delve into Afro-Brazilian history and culture through literature. We will cover a century and a half of Afro-Brazilian literary production and understand how its main themes, potentialities and challenges have evolved over the course of the decades. Besides the authors mentioned above, we will read works by Abdias do Nascimento, Carolina Maria de Jesus, Djamila Ribeiro and Ricardo Aleixo, among others.

Taught in English, with readings in English (readings in Portuguese will be available to Portuguese speakers when applicable), and optional discussion section in Portuguese.

Who are we? How many are we? Who can speak for us? How should they speak for us? In the history of democracy in Latin America these questions have been central to the challenges and advances made across the region in the creation of civil states. They are also questions central to the development of fiction in the region. This course explores key themes of the study of Latin American politics in interdisciplinary dialogue with critically acclaimed works of fiction. We will consider, in the context of contemporary Latin America, how storytelling serves political ends and how politics has served as material for impactful stories.

Hunger has long been a social issue in Latin America. Famines, chronic malnutrition, and the bodily experience of an empty stomach have challenged, since colonial times, notions of social order and aspirations of social justice. Such constant presence led to hunger being a major subject in Latin American artistic and intellectual production. Moreover, hunger has been used as a concept to articulate notions of sovereignty, citizenship, social hygiene, cultural autonomy, and even metaphysics. Thus, this course will offer an overview of hunger as a subject and metaphor in Latin American cultural and intellectual production, with a special focus on the twentieth century. We will engage literary texts, films, philosophical essays, music, and visual art from Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina, and Peru. Artists may include Virgilio Piñera, Carolina Maria de Jesus, Blanca Varela, Glauber Rocha, and Agustina Bazterrica, among others.

Taught in Spanish. Students seeking PORT credit must submit assignments in Portuguese.

The environmental humanities have long been dominated by texts and theories from privileged sections of Europe and North America. How might this field be “disrupted” to make way for alternative understandings of our natural world that have always existed and yet remain on the margins of academic discourse? And if we are to focus on works from the “Global South,” how do we account for its internal divisions and hierarchies, such as the oft-invisibilized archipelagoes of the Indian Ocean? In this course, we engage with works by contemporary writers and filmmakers from parts of the world usually grouped as the “Global South” (a label we will interrogate within the course), as a means of nourishing our creative and critical understandings of what it means to tell stories about the various ecologies we inhabit. What is the role of storytelling from the Global South in our perception of environmental change and in the current environmental crisis? How can novels, films, and short stories raise awareness of and emotional engagement with the racialized environmental impact of colonialism and coloniality in South Asia, Africa, and Latin America? We will explore the potential of narratives to challenge common assumptions regarding the environment, race, and power; and discuss how contemporary literature and film address the continuities between colonial pasts and the growing levels of toxicity in multiple regions of the Global South.

Taght in English, with readings available in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

What can literature tell us about how early modern Spain imagined the body, understood disease, and negotiated the authority and methods of healing? These questions remain relevant to today’s cultural and ethical debates around medicine. Looking to the early modern period, when medicine was inseparable from religion, politics, and philosophy, allows us to uncover how deeply embedded and contested medical knowledge once was—and still is. In early modern Spain, medicine was not merely a technical or scientific field, but a cultural and social practice shaped by forces such as plague, imperial expansion, and the rise of early scientific thought. This course examines how literature reflected, negotiated, and at times subverted prevailing understandings of health, illness, and medical practice, offering insight into the cultural and epistemological transformations of the period. Students will explore how early modern Spanish literature engages with contemporary medical knowledge and popular belief—illuminating cultural anxieties surrounding disease, healing, and the physician’s social role—while also analyzing how illness, diagnosis, and treatment function as narrative engines that generate conflict, develop character, and drive plot. Readings will include works by Miguel de Cervantes, María de Zayas, Tirso de Molina, Lope de Vega, and others.

Course conducted in Spanish.

This course explores the origins and contemporary resonance of the notion of "Greater Mexico," a term that, in the words of Mexican American folklorist Américo Paredes, encapsulates "all the areas inhabited by people of Mexican culture-not only within the present limits of the Republic of Mexico but in the United States as well." We study essays, novels, poems, films, art works, museum exhibits, and social movements that have shaped the concept of a "greater Mexico" over the course of the last five decades. Course materials and readings by Paredes, Anzaldúa, Robert M. Young, Rubén Ortiz-Torres, the Electronic Disturbance Theater, Jay Lynn Gomez, Salvador Plascencia, and others.

Course conducted in English and Spanish.

This fast-paced course prepares students to read and do research using texts in Catalan. Students will work on grammar, vocabulary and reading skills, and they will also get introduced to some translation strategies. Part of the texts students will work on will be academic texts in their respective areas of research. This course may fulfill the graduate language requirement in some departments.

The Iberian Peninsula boasts a rich and diverse cultural heritage that has persisted through history and remains vibrant today, despite the homogenizing forces of globalization. In the case of Spain, the coexistence of various languages and literatures offers an extraordinary laboratory for cultural inquiry, where what some may regard as challenges, peculiarities, or mere curiosities are, in fact, thriving cultural communities —or systems, more accurately described as polysystems. These communities provide valuable insights into contemporary global dynamics and the complex tensions surrounding language, writing, and identity. In this course we will explore the emergence and development of literary traditions in Asturian, Basque, Catalan, and Galician, and will also have the opportunity to engage in dialogue with some contemporary writers in those languages.

This course, conducted in Spanish, includes required readings in Spanish and English, with supplementary materials in Basque, Galician, and Catalan, along with their translations.

De Guillaume de Machaut à Annie Ernaux, nombreux.ses sont les écrivain.e.s qui, au-delà de leur propre production littéraire foisonnante, se sont consacré.e également à la théorie de la littérature et à ses formes. Les objectifs de ce cours sont multiples : offrir une introduction à la littéraire en langue française dans toute sa variété – formelle, historique, géographique ; fournir des outils et des méthodes de lecture qui permettront aux étudiant.e.s d’analyser les formes littéraires, les figures de sens, les procédés esthétiques et stylistiques, les structures et les voix narratives ainsi que les choix syntaxiques et lexicaux ; étudier les théories littéraires issues de la pratique qui ont transformé et renouvelé la littérature en langue française.

Taught in French.

Reading French for Research Purposes prepares students to read and do research using scholarly texts in French. Students will build on their fundamental knowledge of French grammar and the most common vocabulary terms used in scholarly writing, while developing reading comprehension skills and working intensively with academic texts in their areas of research specialty. Students who perform well in FREN 33333/23333 will be able to synthesize key points, arguments and evidence in scholarly texts into their own research. The course also includes practice of skills necessary to pass the Academic Reading Comprehension Assessment (ARCA) in French, administered by the Office for Language Assessment (OLA). Undergraduate students have the option of taking the ARCA, or completing a final assignment in which they identify, cite, and describe the relevance of multiple French secondary texts in their discipline or to a specific project. Note: this course can be counted on a case-by-case basis and with approval from the French Undergraduate Adviser.

No auditors permitted. If course is full, or total enrollment is less than enrollment limit & you can't register, attend on 1st day. Registered students who don't attend on 1st day may lose spot.
 

Reading French for Research Purposes prepares students to read and do research using scholarly texts in French. Students will build on their fundamental knowledge of French grammar and the most common vocabulary terms used in scholarly writing, while developing reading comprehension skills and working intensively with academic texts in their areas of research specialty. Students who perform well in FREN 33333/23333 will be able to synthesize key points, arguments and evidence in scholarly texts into their own research. The course also includes practice of skills necessary to pass the Academic Reading Comprehension Assessment (ARCA) in French, administered by the Office for Language Assessment (OLA). Undergraduate students have the option of taking the ARCA, or completing a final assignment in which they identify, cite, and describe the relevance of multiple French secondary texts in their discipline or to a specific project. Note: this course can be counted on a case-by-case basis and with approval from the French Undergraduate Adviser.

No auditors permitted. If course is full, or total enrollment is less than enrollment limit & you can't register, attend on 1st day. Registered students who don't attend on 1st day may lose spot.

This course will use Molière—the most famous French classical playwright and the most studied one outside of France—as testing grounds for some of the most exciting theoretical frameworks focusing on embodiment that have emerged in literary studies and cultural studies over the last few decades. What happens when we start thinking through the aversion to physicians and the distrust of medicine for which Molière’s comedies are known with the help of Disability studies and Medical Humanities? What becomes visible about Molière’s participation in the invention of racial whiteness in seventeenth-century Europe when we read his plays of conversion to Islam and enslavement in the Mediterranean through the lens of Premodern Critical Race Studies (PCRS)? How can the concerns and tenets of Queer studies enrich and complicate the more established feminist accounts of Molière’s place in “la querelle des femmes,” his ideas about gender and sexuality, and his embrace of the normative violence of comedic laughter? What new dimensions does Molière’s keen interest in transformation and transcendence in the latter half of his career take on when we rethink it in light of Trans studies’ epistemological tools? By applying the theoretical frameworks of Disability studies, Critical Race studies, Queer studies, and Trans studies to Molière’s plays, and by comparing those plays to the source texts from which Molière was drawing to compose them, we will ask new questions.

The class will be conducted in English, and all required readings will be available in English. Reading knowledge of French is not required but very welcome.

What do we mean by nature, and how do humans relate to it? A recent French translation of Virgil’s ""Georgics"" was titled anew: ""Le souci de la terre"" (“care for the earth”). What does it mean to care? Is care disinterested, or does it serve a purpose? What logics of dominion or obligation shape it?
This course traces ideas of nature and care from Antiquity to early modernity. How did humans conceive of their place in the world? How did they understand its resources and their impact? From the commons to enclosures, from caretaking to exploitation, from interpreting nature to organizing it (aménagement), we will question linear narratives of progress (humans caring more) and degradation (humans caring less).
Focusing on France and French texts while engaging classical and theological sources, we will also consider exploration and exploitation beyond France. We will examine how religious ideas, canonical texts, and philosophical concepts have shaped discourses on nature, as well as the relevance of contemporary ecological terms. Attending closely to the multiple ways in which human beings variously have articulated their relationship to nature or the environment permits us to ask, instead of assume, what might be the conditions and practices of care incumbent upon human beings today.

Taught in English.

Fin 2010, l’immolation de Mohamed Bouazizi, un vendeur ambulant tunisien, déclenche un soulèvement populaire qui s’étend rapidement au reste du monde arabe, entraînant notamment la chute des régimes en Tunisie et en Egypte et une série de reconfigurations d’ordre politique et socio-économique. Si les pays du Maghreb ont vécu ces soulèvements et leurs conséquences de manières différentes, les écrivains maghrébins ont été particulièrement sensibles à l’élan et à la promesse de changement portés par la rue. Ceci étant, et à l’image de l’appellation « Printemps arabe », à la fois utilisée et récusée, les dynamiques et les résultats des protestations ont fait l’objet de nombreux débats. En s’appuyant sur ce contexte historique, ce cours s’intéresse aux différentes modalités d’écriture des soulèvements au Maghreb à travers divers genres littéraires, du témoignage à la fiction, en passant par l’essai, la nouvelle ou encore la poésie. En étudiant un corpus de textes francophones issus de la Tunisie (Meddeb, Bekri, Ben Mhenni), de l’Algérie (Daoud, Tamzali, Sebbar) et du Maroc (Ben Jelloun, Elalamy, Terrab), nous nous intéresserons à la représentation de la révolte populaire dans ses dimensions socio-politique et culturelle mais aussi à des questions clés telles que les formes d’engagement des écrivains, leurs approches et choix esthétiques et le rapport entre la dynamique des soulèvements et la construction narrative ou poétique des textes. 

Readings and discussions in French.

This course examines well-being and illness from transnational, decolonial and intersectional perspectives. Together, we will explore the various ways in which fiction and film can help challenge and expand our notions of what it means to be sick or healthy in complex circumstances. Some guiding threads: To what extent is illness an intensely personal experience, and to what extent does it draw in those around us — family members, friends, partners, medical practitioners, legal counsel? What renewed valences do concepts of autonomy, care and responsibility take when overshadowed by the spectre of disease? 
How might we ethically and productively relate the medical humanities to broader entangled concerns such as migration (both legal and clandestine), gender, class, race, community, queerness and neocolonialism? Beyond the justified responses of fear and anger, what are other ways to relate to death and mortality — ways that are infused with creativity and resilience? How does human “health” relate to planetary and interspecies well-being?

Taught in English. 

Moroccan writer and sociologist Fatima Mernissi (1940-2015) is widely recognized as one of the most prominent Islamic feminists, whose legacy continues to be celebrated in North Africa, the Middle East, and beyond. Through a body of work that encompasses fictional autobiography, historical inquiry, sociopolitical critique, and religious reinterpretation, she engaged in a double critique of patriarchal structures within Muslim societies and Western dominant frameworks, aiming to advance women’s rights, challenge stereotypical representations of gender roles, and promote an alternative reading of Islamic texts and traditions. This course examines her most influential works and considers her intellectual legacy across disciplines.

Taught in English.

This course will explore contemporary fiction, film, music and theory emerging from the Indian Ocean world — its oceans, its archipelagoes, and its bordering regions. Examples of potential texts include La mémoire délavée (2023) by Nathacha Appanah, Le Silence des Chagos (2005) by Shenaz Patel and The Dragonfly Sea (2020) by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor. We will be in conversation with decolonial theory, the environmental humanities, critical race and caste studies, and gender studies, among others.

Taught in English.

Many great writers seem to have loved Montaigne, from Shakespeare and Emerson to Derrida or Virginia Woolf, who writes: “Surely then, if we ask this great master of the art of life to tell us his secret, he will advise us to withdraw to the inner room of our tower and there turn the pages of books, pursue fancy after fancy as they chase each other up the chimney, and leave the government of the world to others.” Even the scholarship on Montaigne is torn between treating his “Essays” as a work of philosophy or a work of literature, a distinction that only makes sense in modernity. A most imaginative writer, Montaigne created the genre of the essay and its characteristic poetics of “entreglose” - the subtitle of a recent book that claims that the essay, inherited from Montaigne, is the postcolonial genre by excellence-somewhere between the self and the world, asking unsettling questions and picking random things as objects. Reading some of his most well-known, and some of his least known essays, this course will, via the practice of the essay, seek to identify and take inspiration from the unique mix of affect, sensibility and philosophy that gave Montaigne the ability to become the writer that he was. While we will read scholarship to help us in this endeavor, the course's outcome is to improve as a writer and foster creative approaches to writing about things.

Taught in English.

What’s the difference between truth and belief, and how does literature help us navigate this unstable terrain? In this course, we will examine how Renaissance Italian writers used literature, poetry, and theater to explore the boundaries between illusion and reality, performance and sincerity, reason and faith. Focusing on texts that dramatize deception, spectacle, and spiritual uncertainty, we will ask how literary form becomes a tool for shaping knowledge, testing authority, and challenging the senses. Students will engage an array of early modern Italian texts—including political theory, epic poetry, prose dialogues, and opera libretti—to trace how rhetorical and artistic strategies were deployed to convince, convert, and control. We will consider how belief can be staged and illusion weaponized in the service of truth, or its suppression. Readings span from canonical works by Machiavelli, Ariosto, and Tasso to lesser-known but richly revealing documents such as exorcism records and censored operas. By examining how early modern authors engaged with the invisible—whether demonic, divine, or psychological—we can develop a deeper understanding of how fiction intersects with authority, faith, and power. Taught in English and open to all students, this course emphasizes close reading, comparative analysis, and sustained critical writing. It will especially benefit students interested in literature, religion, philosophy, theater, and early modern intellectual history.

In this course we will observe different ways to tell a story through painting, and we will analyze strategies used by artists in early modern Italy to describe space and time in visual terms. Students will engage with different artists, from Giotto to Raphael and Pellegrino Tibaldi, and different cultural and geographic contexts, from Padua and Bologna to Florence, Venice, and Rome, over the span of about three centuries.Students will explore a wide range of visual examples and textual sources on various subject matters, from poetry to history, from the Bible to vernacular accounts about saints, from mythology to contemporary chronicles, in order to investigate what kind of stories were told on the walls of halls and courts of honor, private rooms, or public spaces, aiming at understanding why each of them was chosen. Complex projects such as narrative mural and ceiling paintings usually involved a tight collaboration among artists, patrons, and iconographic consultants, all figures with whom students will become familiar. We will also analyse the theory behind the comparison of poetry and painting (“ut pictura poesis”, “as is painting so is poetry”) by investigating the meaning and the reception of this ancient concept in early modern times, and its implications on the social role of the artist. Students will investigate the significance of narrative frescos in early modern times, while also asking questions about their value and impact today.

In this course we will analyse the tight connections between Italian literature and art in early modern times. We will read selected passages from various authors, including, but not limited to, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso. We will observe how artists reacted to literary novelties and incorporated them in their artistic production in Italy, Europe and the Americas. We will investigate different ways in which poets and artists entered in contact, collaborated, competed, became friends, and influenced each other, and how and why artists drew from literature to develop iconographic themes and motifs, while contributing (or not) to the canonization of recently-published literary works. 
We will analyse selected case studies, examining literary sources and works of art in various techniques (from painting to sculptures, from small decorative objects to monumental frescos, from drawings to prints), including relevant illustrated books from the Regenstein collections and the Newberry Library, as well as works of art from the Smart Museum and the Art Institute.

Taught in English.

This course offers a close reading of Giambattista Vico’s masterpiece, "The New Science" (1744). The main problem is to understand what role poetry played as a teacher of the first men, constructing images of the world among ancient civilisations. Vico discovers an “imaginative world”, made up of gestures, images, metaphorical expressions that worked and continues to work behind our world of reason, progress and science. A new dialogue is born between anthropology and epistemology: the mind is a territory stratified over the ages. Vico delves into the mind to understand how it functioned in remote epochs. Metaphor is not just a rhetorical figure, myth are not children’s stories, legends are not mere fantasies: they are “gestures of the mind” through which mankind orients itself in the world. Through the discovery of the real Homer, the search for a common sense shared by all nations and a new theory on the relationship between body, mind and world, Vico shows the poetic origins of language, religion and law. We thus find new paradigms for understanding the course of history and for interpreting the development of the various nations.

The course consists of a close, discussion-based reading of Dante's "Vita nuova," examined within its biographical, literary and cultural context. The aim is to understand why the "Vita nuova," an autobiographical narration in vernacular about Dante's love for Beatrice, represents a revolutionary book in the panorama of Medieval literature. The course will proceed with the reading and analysis of the most important chapters and poems, which will be contextualized within the author's self-representation strategy. In this way, we will retrace the fundamental stages of the inner renewal that lead Dante to discover a new conception of love and poetry. Furthermore, some episodes will be read in relation to the cantos of "Purgatory" in which Dante returns to confront his past as a love poet. Finally, special attention will be paid to the relationship with Guido Cavalcanti, celebrated by Dante as "first friend" and dedicatee, but ultimately surpassed by Dante's new representation of love. Upon completion of the course, students should have improved their ability to think critically, and to understand and analyze a literary text on different levels of meaning. Furthermore, they should have developed an in-depth knowledge of Dante's works and the methodologies of Dante studies.

Taught in English.

Questo corso esamina le due versioni del famoso poema di Tasso La Gerusalemme Liberata e la sua riscrittura La Gerusalemme Conquistata come due stesure di un unico poema. Il corso esamina in dettaglio sia la Liberata sia le sostanziali modifiche che Tasso apportò al testo. Soprattutto il corso intende sviluppare, ispirandosi al volume “Sarrasine” di Roland Barthes, una mutua influenza dei due poemi che in questo modo acquistano una vitalità finora non messa in rilievo dagli studiosi. Si leggeranno testi primari e secondari di essenziale importanza, inclusi i commenti che Tasso scrisse sui suoi poemi. Il corso desidera offrire una realmente nuova lettura di un poema ‘sbagliato’ perché si tratta di un testo che esalta un crimine contro l’umanità, la Crociata, recentemente rigettata anche dal Papa Bergoglio. 

Taught in Italian.

This course is open to all RLL students and will be run as a workshop. The primary goal is to work on the Qualifying Paper with the objective of producing a piece of work that might, with subsequent revision, be submitted to an academic journal for publication. This course is also appropriate for anyone who wants to work on a dissertation proposal or chapter. We will cover all aspects of professional writing, from abstracts and grant proposals to revising manuscripts after readers' reports.

Advanced RLL graduate students will prepare and polish materials needed for applying to jobs: cover letter, CV, dissertation abstract, research statement, teaching statement, and diversity statement. In addition we will discuss best practices for first-round interviews and campus visits. The course is strongly recommended for students in their fifth and sixth years but open to other students.

This course provides students with a foundation in foreign language acquisition and sociolinguistic research pertinent to foreign language teaching, introduces current teaching methodologies and technologies, and discusses their usefulness in the classroom. 

In the multilingual and multireligious environment of the Iberian middle ages, poetry can express many things. And while literary history has granted a prestigious space to some of these things, such as love or spirituality, it has consistently neglected others, such as socio-political satire or vulgarity. This class will be paying attention to that other less talked-about poetry that gets into the political struggles of the period, that talks in profanities about profane things. In other words, the poetry that does not speak to the eternity of existence, but that gets its hands dirty with earthly matters. The poetry that savagely mocks and cuts through social conventions in a way that makes seem contemporary Twitter trolls benevolent in comparison. For this class we will be reading authors who wrote in Galician-Portuguese such as Joao Soares de Paiva or King Alfonso X, authors who wrote in Catalan such as Guillem de Bergueda or Ramon Vidal de Besalu, and authors who wrote in Spanish such as Juan Ruiz or Juan de Mena. Translations to Spanish will be provided or worked through class discussion.

Translation and piracy can both involve the strategic appropriation of language, knowledge, or property. This course analyzes the relationship between translation and piracy in the creation of foundational works of colonial Latin American literature. As students read texts about colonial encounters, conquests, piracy, and conversion, they will become familiar with early histories of translation in Latin America and a variety of early modern, modern, and post-colonial translation theories.

Taught in Spanish.

En este curso leeremos y discutiremos las vidas de varias mujeres y hombres comunes perseguidos por la Inquisición hispánica entre 1500 y 1800, aproximadamente, tanto en Europa y el Mediterráneo como en las Américas. La mayoría de estas vidas fueron dichas por los mismos acusados frente a un tribunal eclesiástico. Estas autobiografías orales, producidas en condiciones de máxima dureza y precariedad, revelan la forma en que la vida cotidiana es moldeada e interrumpida por el poder. Leeremos las historias de hombres transgénero, mujeres criptojudías, campesinos moriscos, renegados, profetas y monjas acusadas de sodomía, entre otras; y discutiremos temas como la relación entre poder y subjetividad, heterodoxia y cultura popular, las formas narrativas del yo o la articulación biográfica de la clase, la raza y el género en la primera modernidad. Estas 'vidas ínfimas', a pesar de su concreta individualidad, permiten ofrecer un amplio panorama de la historia cultural y social de España y América en la era de la Inquisición.

Taught in Spanish. 

This course takes students on a journey into the dazzling world of divas, queers, and drag performers who reshaped Latin America’s cultural, social, and political repertoires. From Eva Perón’s iconic political mythology and María Félix’s femme fatale allure to the radical defiance of Pedro Lemebel and the cosmic magnetism of Walter Mercado, we will explore how these larger-than-life figures resisted and undermined heteronormative and misogynistic regimes. Engaging critical theory, queer studies, and aesthetic analysis, the course invites students to engage with the commodification of celebrity in the culture industry, the performative dynamics of identity, and queer culture’s fascination with camp, glamour, and abjection. Revisiting concepts like the society of the spectacle and hyperreal personas, students will uncover how these icons transformed the public sphere and disrupted hegemonic power structures. The course also examines celebrity labor as affective production and the participatory cultures that turn fandom into a consumer community, and into a nostalgic and repetitive ritual in the context of digital neoliberalism. Through discussions, close readings of critical texts, and multimedia explorations of films and performances, students will learn how divas, queers, and drag performers redefined aesthetic innovation and became fearless agents of political subversion in the region and beyond. 

Taught in Spanish and English. 

This class engages contemporary conversations in the study of Afro-Latin performance and explores the work of emerging black performance artists across the hemisphere. Tracing performances of blackness from the Southern cone to the Caribbean, we will examine the ways blackness is wielded by the State and by black communities themselves in performance and visual art across the region. We ask: what is the relationship between race and theatricality? What work is blackness made to do in states organized around discourses of racial democracy and mestizaje? How are notions of diaspora constructed through performances of blackness? We take up these questions in our study of reggaetón, hip hop, samba, el baile de los negritos and examine the works of noted and upcoming black artists such as Victoria and Nicomedes Santa-Cruz, Carlos Martiel, Las Nietas de Nonó, and others.

While the course will be taught in English, many of the performances and at least four of the readings will be in Spanish.   

This course examines the ways histories of US intervention in Latin America have been engaged in cultural practice. We assess the history of US intervention by reading primary documents alongside cultural artifacts including film, performance and visual art, song, music, and poetry. The course begins with the Cuban revolution and ends with the ongoing crisis in Puerto Rico.

Taught in English. Basic comprehension of Spanish is encouraged but not required.

The image of witchcraft in the Iberian Peninsula is rooted in a tradition of technique, healing, bodily care, and the management of sexual labor. In this class, we will discuss the numerous witches of Iberian literary traditions (Trotaconventos, Eufrosina, Fabia), paying particular attention to Fernando de Rojas’s "Celestina," written during the transition from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. These witches orchestrate the romances of unfortunate young people and strive for survival in the shifting urban landscape of pre-modernity, a time of wars, revolts, plagues, and catastrophes. In this class, we will explore the status of these women within the social transformations of their time, why so many authors regarded them as emblematic figures of pre-modern Iberian cities, and what they reveal to us today about the lives of women in that era.

This seminar is an intellectual and institutional history of our disciplines, tracing their shifting configurations across time and space. We will engage with the theoretical models that have shaped our fields—Hispanic, Latin American, and Iberian Studies—from the 19th to the 21st century. Rather than approaching these traditions as a linear succession of increasingly sophisticated paradigms, we will study them as historically situated and politically inflected discourses. We will consider how these disciplines actively constructed the intellectual fields to which they belong, often in pursuit of a certain disciplinary autonomy. Our approach—a critical history of criticism—serves a dual purpose. First, the seminar provides a systematic engagement with the theoretical vocabularies that continue to shape contemporary debates. Second, we will interrogate the disciplines themselves- cultural studies, postcolonial criticism, gender and sexuality—by reflecting on the historical conditions that make them possible. Alongside these conceptual explorations, the seminar includes a practical component designed to help students navigate the demands of rigorous research and professionalization in the humanities, particularly in Iberian and Latin American Studies. We aim to bridge theoretical inquiry with the concrete challenges of academic work today.

Taught in Spanish and English.

This course is an overview of the avant-gardes: art and literature movements that emerged against the background – and in the aftermath – of the great social and technological transformations that followed armed conflicts in the 20th century. We study avant-garde movements that emerged in the Americas, with a particular focus on Latin America and on Latinx artists working in the United States. The course covers both historical avant-gardes (movements that emerged around the 1910s and 20s: creacionismo, Dada, futurism, Mexican muralism, and so forth) and neo-avant-garde movements active later in the century, in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s (neoconcretism, Asco, No-Grupo, CADA, etc.). Attention will be placed on the social and cultural contexts that shaped each of these movements, as well as on the web of connections and references that connects them. Materials and class discussions foreground the social and political resonance of the experimental aesthetics associated with the avant-gardes. 

En este seminario estudiaremos algunas vertientes del pensamiento anti-esclavista y abolicionista en el Caribe Hispánico durante el siglo XIX y los modos particulares en que lo literario y lo visual participaron de su desarrollo. Además de examinar conceptualmente los cambiantes principios filosóficos y legales que fueron sustentando los posicionamientos en contra de la esclavitud, en el curso prestaremos especial atención a las estrategias retóricas, a los lenguajes verbales y visuales, que los hicieron sensibles. Es lo que aquí denominamos como “el aparato ficcional del abolicionismo”. Este no solo incluye obras literarias y gráficas, sino también las dimensiones estéticas de los discursos de la ley con sus ideas liberales de libertad, trabajo asalariado, propiedad sobre el cuerpo propio y subordinación racial, todas hechas cimientos para una gobernabilidad post-esclavista. En el curso tomaremos como punto de partida y contraste los debates en torno a la esclavitud que se generaron en el seno de las guerras de independencia continentales, a la luz de sus relaciones con la Revolución Haitiana, para de ahí examinar los diferentes derroteros hispanocaribeños. Entre los materiales a estudiar se encuentran códigos de ley, proyectos de abolición, novelas anti-esclavistas, materiales gráficos de la emergente cultura de masas y obras de Simón Bolívar, Toussaint Louverture, Félix Varela, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Juan Francisco Manzano, Alejandro Tapia y Rivera, entre otres. 

Taught in Spanish.

In what tangled ways does poetry transform through dialogue across linguistic and geographical distances, and through performance, translation, and collaboration? This seminar takes a comparative, hemispheric approach to 20th- and 21st-century poetries from the Southern Cone to the Caribbean to Canada, with significant attention to Latinx poets. We will examine developments in poetic form, especially transformations of the epic and the lyric, in conjunction with questions of modernization, globalization, and colonialism, race, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender. This course is held in tandem with Fall quarter events including Chicago’s Lit & Luz Festival, which stages Mexican-U.S. artistic collaborations. Seminar members will have the opportunity for dialogue with poets and translators who visit our seminar and/or give poetry readings on campus. 

No knowledge of Spanish, French, or Portuguese is required.