Course Descriptions
These course description are for majors and minors who declared after March 5, 2007:
101 Elementary Spanish This course is designed for students who have never taken Spanish previously. The course focuses on all four language skills: listening, reading, writing, speaking, with an emphasis on vocabulary development and listening comprehension development. Prerequisite: No prior study of Spanish and permission of department.
104 Elementary Spanish This course is a continuation of Spanish 101. The course focuses on all four language skills: listening, reading, writing, speaking, with increasing emphasis on speaking.Prerequisite: 101.
108 Intensive Elementary Spanish This course is designed for students with prior study of Spanish who do not place into Spanish 116. The course focuses on all four language skills, and covers the same material as Spanish 101 and 104, but at an accelerated pace. Emphasis is on listening and speaking.Upon completion, students go to 116.
116 Intermediate Spanish This course is a continuation of Spanish 104. The course focuses on all four language skills: listening, reading, writing, speaking, with increasing emphasis on writing and speaking.Prerequisite: 108, or placement by department.
120 Spanish for Heritage Speakers Spanish for Heritage Speakers is an intermediate language course designed for heritage learners, but which includes other student interests in specific content areas, such as US Latino immigration, identity, ethnicity, education, and representation in the media. Linguistic goals include vocabulary acquisition, improvement in writing, and enhancement of formal communicative skills. Prerequisite: Placement by department. This course is for students with no previous formal training, no high school Spanish, who live in a home in which Spanish is spoken.
230 Advanced Grammar The primary goal of this course is to develop students' formal knowledge of Spanish by reviewing and studying the more challenging grammatical structures. The course will also work on development of skills in reading, oral expression, and vocabulary development. The purpose of the course is to equip students with the formal grammatical background necessary to be successful in courses on Hispanic literatures, linguistics and cultures.Prerequisite: 116, 120, or the equivalent.
231 Spanish Composition The primary goal of this course is to develop students' writing skills in Spanish. Course topics will consist of a focused cultural theme chosen by the professor. Examples of possible topics include: Hispanic Cultures through Film: Students will learn about the current culture and history of Spanish-speaking countries through discussion of films. This course will emphasize acquisition of the critical skills necessary to analyze Spanish-language cinema within the context of its country of origin. Hispanic Cultures through Painting: This course will analyze major themes in Hispanic cultures through the lens of painting. Readings that illuminate social, political, and cultural contexts will prepare students to better appreciate the historical significance of a wide variety of well-known painters. Hispanic Cultures through Literature: Students will learn the literary tradition of selected countries through novels, poems and short plays by representative writers. Emphasis will be on tracing the development of the culture of the country studied. Hispanic Cultures through Media: Students will learn the values, mores and traditions of selected Spanish-speaking countries through popular media and its portrayal of current events. Emphasis will be on analyzing Spanish-language newspapers, magazines and television in order to understand their imagined audience.This course fulfills the WR distribution requirement. Prerequisite: 230.
238 Spanish for Business Professions This is a specialized course that emphasizes the language of business. Students will study the lexicon and language protocols appropriate to the basic functions of international business. The goal is to improve oral, reading, and writing skills while acquiring a general business vocabulary, and a broadened intercultural perspective.Prerequisite: 230, or permission of instructor.
239 Spanish for Health Professions This is a specialized course emphasizing Spanish language and culture as they relate to health and medicine. The course goal is written and oral communication and cultural fluency as they relate to the delivery of health-care services to Limited-English-Proficient, Hispanic patients. Off-campus volunteer work with native Spanish speakers is required.Prerequisite: 116 and permission of instructor, or, 200 level placement, or 230. Offered every fall semester.
305 Introduction to Literary Analysis and Theory This course introduces students to different methods of reading and analyzing literary and non-literary texts. These may include - among others - formalist, psychoanalytic, feminist, semiotic, and poststructuralist approaches. Students will read both primary texts and theoretical studies, and they will be required to analyze texts themselves.Prerequisite: 231.
310 Medieval Iberian Texts and Literatures This course explores texts written from the 8th-through the 15th-centuries, in the Medieval Iberian Peninsula, within the cultural context of Medieval Iberia's pluralistic society of Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Topics may include the chivalric tradition, folklore, and the literature of courtly love. Earlier texts may be studied in modernized versions.Prerequisite: 305.
311 Pre-Columbian and Colonial Spanish American Texts This course will cover literatures of Spanish America produced before 1492 as well as during the colonial period. In their consideration of the development of what can be considered American discourses during this period, students will explore how local and regional identities were formed and expressed in the pre colonial and colonial context.Prerequisite: 305.
320 Studies in Spanish Golden Age Texts This course will present the diversity of Spanish literature during a moment of great achievement. The evolution of various genres will be studied, and various works by writers such as Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Calderón, Góngora, Quevedo and others will be read. The purpose is to acquaint the student with works that have had a significant impact on Hispanic cultures and literatures. Prerequisite: 305.
321 Late Colonial and Nineteenth Century Latin American Literatures This course covers literature produced in Latin America during the late colonial and early national periods. Possible themes include the role of literature with regard to the development of national, regional, and hemispheric identities, nationalism, gender, race, and visual cultures. Prerequisite: 305.
330 Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Spanish Literature This class will focus on literature from the eighteenth- and nineteenth-centuries in Spain, with particular emphasis on literary movements, including Neoclassicism, the Enlightenment, Romanticism, Realism and Naturalism. Readings will include poetry, novels, essays and plays. We will pay particular attention to textual analysis and to the relevant cultural, social and historical contexts of the literature under study.Prerequisite: 305.
331 Modernismo and Vanguardias This course will explore major literary and cultural trends in Spanish America Poetry from the Modernista and Vanguardia movements. The study of the concept of Modernity, its impact on humanity and the reaction of the intellectuals to it will be the main focus of the class. Emphasis will be given to poets such as Rubén Darío, José Martí, Delmira Agustini, and Jorge Luis Borges. Special attention will be paid to the connections of poetry and socio-politics in late Nineteenth-Century and early Twentieth-Century Spanish America. Prerequisite: 305.
340 Modern and Contemporary Spanish Literature This course introduces students to a variety of texts from different genres and periods, with an emphasis on significant cultural trends and the texts that reflect them. Close critical reading and attention to relevant cultural, social, and historical contexts will be emphasized.Prerequisite: 305.
341 Studies in Twentieth-Century Spanish American Texts This course will analyze major literary and cultural trends in Spanish American narratives and drama of the 20th Century. Special attention will be given to the connection between these works and the important socio-political movements of the time.Prerequisite: 305.
350 Latin@ Literatures This course provides a literary and interdisciplinary examination of the Latina and Latino experience in the United States. Students will become familiarized with various theoretical perspectives on the artistic, social, political, and economic condition of Latinos as producers of American culture. Attention will be given to understanding the ties between literary and social transformation in the literature of Latinas and Latinos.Prerequisite: 305.
360 Introduction to Translation Studies An introduction to translation as a professional discipline. Emphasis will be on literary translation (principally Spanish to English). Students will learn how translation advances their knowledge of both English and Spanish and how it makes them more perceptive readers as well as more critical observers of the cultural presuppositions that inform all texts. Attention will also be given to some of the major theoretical issues that have vexed translators historically. Prerequisites: 305 and one additional 300-level course; or, 305 and permission of the instructor.
365 Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics This course serves as an introduction to the concepts of phonetics, phonology, morphology and syntax of the Spanish language. Students are introduced to the concept of descriptive linguistics and linguistic analysis. Students are introduced to linguistic development, historical linguistics and linguistic variation and change. Prerequisite: 231.
366 Introduction to Spanish Sociolinguistics This course will introduce students to the study of variation and change in Spanish based on a variety of sociological factors. Topics will include phonological variation, morphological and morphosyntactic variation, discourse analysis, and languages in contact.Prerequisite: 365.
380 Topics in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Studies Study of significant cultural, literary, and historical topics concerning the Spanish and/or Portuguese speaking world. Some topics offered recently were: Medieval Women Writers, Perverted Subjects in 19th century Spain, Latin American Jewish Women Writers, The Growing Up Theme in Hispanic Literatures. Prerequisite: 305 or permission of the instructor.
410 Seminar in Hispanic Literature A thorough investigation of major figures or important literary trends in Hispanic literature which were not covered by the majors in previous courses. The majors will work on a semi-independent basis with a particular instructor and will present reports to the seminar and participate in subsequent discussions. Emphasis on methods of literary research. Prerequisite: 305 and one other 300 level course).
The following courses are offered only at the Dickinson Study Center in Málaga:
200 Málaga Summer Immersion A five-week course in contemporary Spanish language and culture offered at the University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain. Students will reside with Spanish families, speak only Spanish during this five-week period, and participate in intensive language and culture classes, special lectures, and field trips arranged by Dickinson in cooperation with the Cursos para Extranjeros of the University of Málaga. Prerequisite: 116 or equivalent and permission of the department.
251 Language Tutorial Oral practice and written compositions on a variety of topics including the students' first-hand encounters with key aspects of Spanish society. This course functions as an intensive language laboratory on location in the city.
371 Literary Analysis of Hispanic Texts An in-depth study of texts of a specific period and/or genre. This course often focuses on contemporary writers and includes class visits by authors being studied.
372 Spanish Society and Culture In-depth study of several aspects of Spanish cultural traditions and values. Contrasts Andalusian culture with other peninsular cultures. Oral and written reports concerning cultural aspects of life in Málaga. Local field trips and interviews are an important part of the course.Offered in the fall semester.
373 Spanish and Hispanoarab Art An overview of Spanish art followed by an emphasis on the Hispanoarab art of Andalusia. This course requires students to visit many museums and places of architectural importance. Includes on-site oral presentations and research.
374 Spain and the European Union An interdisciplinary course that focuses on the institutions of the EU and how they impact Spain and the lives of Spaniards. Topics discussed include immigration, tourism, and national identity. Attention also given to bilateral and multilateral relations between Spain and other EU member states. Does not count for credit towards the Spanish major.
381 Topics in Hispanic Studies Study of significant cultural, literary, and historical topics concerning the Spanish-speaking world. Peninsular and Latin American topics may be offered. Specific topics to be announced.