Majors and Minors
2024 - 2025 Catalog
We have the following degrees:
- French major leading to BA degree
- Romance Languages major, with a French emphasis, leading to a BA degree
- Romance Languages major, with a Spanish emphasis, leading to a BA degree
- Spanish major leading to BA degree
- French minor
French major leading to BA degree
A major in French leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree requires demonstrated proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and completion of at least 30 credits distributed as follows:
- FREN 261, 273, and 397
- One course in civilization: FREN 280, 281, 282, 283, or 285
- Two additional French courses numbered 200 or above. The department head may approve any one Romance languages literature, film, or culture course taught in English by Romance Languages faculty toward this requirement.
- Four additional French courses numbered 300 or above, except FREN 493.
- Completion of the French Assessment Exam (FAE), a four-skills assessment, in winter term of senior year.
The department strongly recommends a study-abroad experience of at least one term, and preferably a full academic year.
Students who wish to work in French and another Romance Language are advised to see the description of the Romance Languages major.
- Required courses:
- FREN 261 - Conversation et composition: Cours avancé
Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement Further development of conversational skills and beginning work in free composition, with systematic grammar review and word study in various relevant cultural contexts.
- FREN 273 - Invitation au voyage
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement In this course students will discover the fascinating and ecclectic world of French language literature and film. This exploration will include a variety of authors, poets, playwrights, and filmmakers. Focus on textual analysis in composition and oral presentations.
- FREN 397 - Séminaire avancé
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite 3 French courses numbered between 200 and 299 The in-depth study of a topic in French literature and/or civilization. Recent offerings include: La Littérature francophone du Maghreb; La littérature Beure; La France sous l'occupation; Les femmes et l'écriture au XVIIe siècle; Les écrivains du XXe siècle et la diversité culturelle; L'affaire Dreyfus. Students are encouraged to use this course for the development of a personal project. May be repeated for degree credit when the topics are different.
- Take one course in civilization from the following:
- FREN 280 - Civilisation et culture francophones
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement A study of significant aspects of culture and civilization in francophone countries. Topics may include: contemporary Africa, pre-colonial Africa, West Indian history and culture, and Canadian contemporary issues. Readings, discussion and papers in French further development of communication skills.
- FREN 281 - Civilisation et culture françaises: Traditions et changements
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement This course examines the relationship between fashion and pivotal moments of social unrest, political change, and economic innovation in order to interpret how dress both influences and reflects French culture and history. Designed around engaging questions and dilemmas, students will identify key fashion trends and styles from the French Renaissance into the modern era as they interpret theory and evaluate fashion's importance to national identity and present-day institutions through analysis of visual and material culture, classical French literature, philosophical and sociological treatises, documentaries, and other visual and literary works.
- FREN 282 - Civilisation et culture françaises: La France d'aujourd'hui
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement A study of modern France. This course examines the economic, political, social and intellectual issues which shape contemporary French life. Readings, discussions and papers in French for further development of communication skills.
- FREN 283 - Histoire des idées
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement This course retraces the evolution of thought in France across centuries through the examination of intellectual, cultural and artistic movements. Readings, discussions and paper in French for further development of communication skills.
- FREN 285 - Spring Term Topics in French Civilization
Credits 4 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement A study of significant aspects of culture and civilization through direct experience abroad in France and/or Francophone countries.
- Take two additional French courses numbered 200 or above.
- Take four additional French courses numbered 300 or above, except FREN 493.
- French Assessment Exam
- Study Abroad
The department head may approve any one Romance languages literature, film, or culture course taught in English by Romance Languages faculty toward this requirement.
Completion of the French Assessment Exam (FAE), a four-skills assessment, in winter term of senior year.
The department strongly recommends a study-abroad experience of at least one term, and preferably a full academic year.
Romance Languages major, with a French emphasis, leading to a BA degree
A major in Romance languages, with a French emphasis, leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree consists of at least 33 credits as follows:
- FREN 261, 273, and 397
- One course in civilization: FREN 280, 281, 282, 283 or 285
- One additional French course numbered 200 or above. The department head may approve any one Romance language literature, film, or culture course taught in English by Romance Languages faculty toward this requirement.
- Four additional French courses numbered 300 or above, except FREN 493.
- Completion of one of the following sequences:
a. the intermediate level or its equivalent in Spanish (SPAN 162, 164 or 172) and one of the following three pairings:
SPAN 220 and 240
SPAN 211 and 240
SPAN 212 and 220
b. PORT 163 and two 200-level Portuguese courses
c. ITAL 163 and two 200-level Italian courses
6. Completion of the French Assessment Exam (FAE), a four-skills assessment, in winter term of senior year.
The department strongly recommends a study-abroad experience of at least one semester, and preferably one academic year.
Students interested in using Portuguese or Italian in combination with French or Spanish for the Romance Languages major should consult with the appropriate faculty member (or department head).
- Required courses
- FREN 261 - Conversation et composition: Cours avancé
Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement Further development of conversational skills and beginning work in free composition, with systematic grammar review and word study in various relevant cultural contexts.
- FREN 273 - Invitation au voyage
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement In this course students will discover the fascinating and ecclectic world of French language literature and film. This exploration will include a variety of authors, poets, playwrights, and filmmakers. Focus on textual analysis in composition and oral presentations.
- FREN 397 - Séminaire avancé
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite 3 French courses numbered between 200 and 299 The in-depth study of a topic in French literature and/or civilization. Recent offerings include: La Littérature francophone du Maghreb; La littérature Beure; La France sous l'occupation; Les femmes et l'écriture au XVIIe siècle; Les écrivains du XXe siècle et la diversité culturelle; L'affaire Dreyfus. Students are encouraged to use this course for the development of a personal project. May be repeated for degree credit when the topics are different.
- One course in civilization from:
- FREN 280 - Civilisation et culture francophones
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement A study of significant aspects of culture and civilization in francophone countries. Topics may include: contemporary Africa, pre-colonial Africa, West Indian history and culture, and Canadian contemporary issues. Readings, discussion and papers in French further development of communication skills.
- FREN 281 - Civilisation et culture françaises: Traditions et changements
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement This course examines the relationship between fashion and pivotal moments of social unrest, political change, and economic innovation in order to interpret how dress both influences and reflects French culture and history. Designed around engaging questions and dilemmas, students will identify key fashion trends and styles from the French Renaissance into the modern era as they interpret theory and evaluate fashion's importance to national identity and present-day institutions through analysis of visual and material culture, classical French literature, philosophical and sociological treatises, documentaries, and other visual and literary works.
- FREN 282 - Civilisation et culture françaises: La France d'aujourd'hui
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement A study of modern France. This course examines the economic, political, social and intellectual issues which shape contemporary French life. Readings, discussions and papers in French for further development of communication skills.
- FREN 283 - Histoire des idées
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement This course retraces the evolution of thought in France across centuries through the examination of intellectual, cultural and artistic movements. Readings, discussions and paper in French for further development of communication skills.
- FREN 285 - Spring Term Topics in French Civilization
Credits 4 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement A study of significant aspects of culture and civilization through direct experience abroad in France and/or Francophone countries.
- One additional French course numbered 200 or above
- Four additional French courses numbered 300 or above, except FREN 493
- Completion of one of the following sequences:
- French Assessment Exam
- Study abroad
The department head may approve any one Romance language literature, film, or culture course taught by Romance Languages faculty toward this requirement.
a. the intermediate level or its equivalent in Spanish (SPAN 162, 164 or 172) and one of the following three pairings:
SPAN 220 and 240
SPAN 211 and 240
SPAN 212 and 220b.
b. PORT 163 and two 200-level Portuguese courses
c. ITAL 163 and two 200-level Italian courses
Completion of the French Assessment Exam (FAE), a four-skills assessment, in winter term of senior year.
The department strongly recommends a study-abroad experience of at least one semester, and preferably one academic year.
Romance Languages major, with a Spanish emphasis, leading to a BA degree
A major in Romance languages, with a Spanish emphasis, leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree consists of at least 33 credits as follows:
- SPAN 220, 240 and 275
- One additional 200-level course in Spanish. The department head may approve any one Romance language literature, film, or culture course taught in English by Romance Languages faculty toward this requirement.
- Five Spanish courses numbered 300 or above, as follows:
- One course on literature of Spanish America chosen from SPAN 340, 341, 342, 344, 347, 354, and 398
- One course on literature of Spain chosen from SPAN 312, 320, 322, 323, 333 and 397
- Three additional Spanish courses numbered 300 or above, except SPAN 493
- One course in linguistics chosen from SPAN 209, 308, 309, 380, and, when appropriate (linguistic-themed), 392. SPAN 209 may contribute to the completion of requirement 2, and any 300-level linguistics course may contribute to the completion of requirement 3c.
- Completion of one of the following sequences:
a. Completion of the intermediate level or its equivalent in French (FREN 162, 164, or 172), FREN 261, and one course chosen from FREN 273, 280, 281, 282, 283 or 285.
b. PORT 163 and two 200-level Portuguese courses
c. ITAL 163 and two 200-level Italian courses - Completion of the Spanish Assessment Exam (SAE), a four-skills assessment, in winter term of senior year.
The department strongly recommends a study-abroad experience of at least one semester, and preferably one academic year, in a Spanish-speaking country.
Students interested in using Portuguese or Italian in combination with French or Spanish for the Romance Languages major should consult with the appropriate faculty member (or department head).
- Required courses:
- SPAN 220 - Introducción a la literatura española
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 162, SPAN 164, or SPAN 200 placement Spanish literary masterpieces from the Poema del Cid through the present. Readings and discussions are primarily in Spanish.
- SPAN 240 - Introducción a la literatura hispanoamericana
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 162, SPAN 164, or SPAN 200 placement Spanish-American literary masterpieces from colonial times through the present. Readings and discussions are primarily in Spanish.
- SPAN 275 - Introducción al análisis literario
Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 or SPAN 240 Preparation for analysis of Hispanic literature. Composition develops style and method for analyzing prose, poetry, and drama in Spanish. Conversation continues vocabulary building and concentrates on discussion of literary themes.
- One additional 200-level course in Spanish
- Five Spanish courses numbered 300 or above, as follows:
- One course on literature of Spanish America chosen from
- SPAN 340 - Spanish-American Short Story
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 A study of the Spanish-American short story with special attention to the works of Quiroga, Borges, Cortázar, and Valenzuela.
- SPAN 341 - 20th-Century Mexican Literature: Beyond Revolution
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 This course examines the artistic reaction to the 1910 Mexican Revolution and seeks to understand its aesthetic impact on 20th-century Mexican artists from a variety of genres. Seminal works from narrative, poetry, and essay as well as the visual arts reveal how some artists promoted the ideals of the Revolution, others became disenchanted, and still others invented revolutionary styles of expression in order to convey a new cultural self-perception and worldview.
- SPAN 342 - Spanish-American Narrative: The Boom Generation
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 Readings in the contemporary Spanish-American narrative of the second half of the 20th century with special emphasis on the members of the "Boom" generation, such as Rulfo, Fuentes, GarcÃa Márquez, Vargas Llosa, Carpentier, and Puig. In addition to short narrative pieces, the readings include El Tunel (Ernesto Sábato), El Amor y Otros Demonios (GarcÃa Márquez), Aura (Carlos Fuentes), Los Pasos Perdidos (Carpentier), and Casa de Los Espiritus (Allende). The class meets once a week for three hours so that we may maximize our time with each novel.
- SPAN 344 - Spanish-American Poetry
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 Analysis of the most relevant poetic texts of Spanish-America, including U.S. Hispanic poetry, beginning with precursors of 20th-century poetry and spanning to contemporary works. Representative works include those by Octavio Paz, Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, Nicanor Parra, Ernesto Cardenal, Raúl Zurita, among others.
- SPAN 347 - Poetry and Power
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 This is a course about reading. With tremendous care, and taking nothing for granted, we will read Spanish-American poetry on power and violence as a way of engaging and investigating the multifaceted and layered historiographies of the region. To intensify our reading, we also will "read" a diversity of pertinent cultural production, including paintings, murals, and music. Through these self-conscious acts of reading—that is, acts of identifying, evaluating, and critiquing form as much as content—we will enhance our ability to analyze and debate many different ways of defining power in the Americas from within, without, and in liminal zones. In this manner we will trace through poetry the complexities and tensions of transcultural, transnational, and transhistorical legacies of violence, all the while cultivating our abilities to read, write, speak, and listen rigorously in Spanish. This is also to say that our process will be thoroughly collaborative and interactive as we endeavor to discover the potentiality and even the hope in our difficult and sometimes even despairing project. Recurring motifs throughout the term will include sexism, racism, classism, and fascism, and each will be framed and examined by critical theory from leading scholars from the Americas and beyond. Students will leave the course feeling more confident and articulate in addressing through poetry many of our most urgent ideas about literatures, cultures, and historiographies of power and violence.
- SPAN 354 - Spanish-American Theater: 20th Century to the Present
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 This course provides a panoramic view of the theatrical traditions that have emerged in Spanish-American theater, beginning with the independent theater movement of the 1930s and concluding with the most recent trends in theatrical practices. In particular, the plays are studied as vehicles that reveal how theater practitioners engaged with their historical and cultural contexts in aesthetic terms. Therefore, the focus is also on the plays as performative texts. In order to develop this objective, students are expected to read, discuss, and analyze the dramatic texts, as well as perform scenes from the plays. This course includes works from playwrights such us Arlt, Triana, Diaz, Gambaro, Carballido, Castellanos, and Berman, among others. In addition, we study the political and aesthetic theories of theater developed by Enrique Buenaventura and Augusto Boal.
- SPAN 398 - Spanish-American Seminar
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 A seminar focusing on a single period, genre, motif, or writer. Recent topics have included "Spanish American Women Writers: From America into the 21st Century," "20th Century Latin America Theater," and "Past, Memory, and Identity in Contemporary Argentina's Cultural Products." May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.
- SPAN 340 - Spanish-American Short Story
- One course on literature of Spain chosen from
- SPAN 312 - Ornament of the World: Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Early Iberia
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 211 or SPAN 220 Muslims, Jews, and Christians co-existed for eight hundred years on the Iberian Peninsula. This course examines these diverse cultures through texts (literary, historical, religious, and philosophical) from the eleventh century to the expulsion of Jews in 1492. The objective of the course is to glean from the remnants of the experience of their co-existence insights into the distinctive characteristics of each culture and how they understood and influenced each other.
- SPAN 320 - Don Quijote
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 and SPAN 275 Close reading and discussion of this Early Modern novel. May include close reading and discussion of additional narrative and poetic genres of the Golden Age, as represented in or contributing to the Cervantine work
- SPAN 322 - Spanish Golden-Age Drama
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 and SPAN 275 Close reading and discussion of a variety of selected Golden Age dramas of the 17th century. Representative dramatists may include Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, Lope de Vega, and MarÃa de Zayas.
- SPAN 323 - Golden Age Spanish Women Writers
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 and SPAN 275 A study of the comedia and the novela corta and the manner in which the secular women writers inscribe themselves within and beyond these genres. Close reading and discussion of representative works that may include the short stories and plays by MarÃa de Zayas, Ana Caro, Leonor de Meneses, Mariana de Carvajal, and Angela de Azevedo.
- SPAN 333 - El Cid in History and Legend
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 and SPAN 275 A study of the most significant portrayals of the Castilian warrior Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid (1045-1099), from his 12th-century biography Historia Roderici to the Hollywood blockbuster El Cid . Epic poems, late medieval ballads, and Renaissance drama all recreate the legendary life of El Cid. This course examines the relevant narratives in an effort to determine the heroic values and attributes recreated by authors and their audiences for nearly a thousand years.
- SPAN 397 - Literature of Spain Seminar
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 and SPAN 275 A seminar focusing on a single period, genre, motif, or writer. The specific topic will be determined jointly according to student interest and departmental approval.
- SPAN 312 - Ornament of the World: Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Early Iberia
- Three additional Spanish courses numbered 300 or above, except SPAN 493
- One course in linguistics chosen from:
- SPAN 209 - Intro to Hispanic Linguistics
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 162, SPAN 164, or SPAN 200 placement This course provides a broad view of major subfields of linguistic study with a particular focus on data drawn from the Spanish language. Class discussions begin with broader questions, such as "What is language?" and "How do language and human behavior intersect?"; throughout the term students revisit those questions in light of topics presented in class. By the end of the course, students demonstrate an understanding of the many facets of the Spanish language and also the linguistic principles as can be applied to any language. The course covers major concepts in Spanish phonology and phonetics, Spanish morphology and syntax, and lastly, Spanish dialectology.
- SPAN 308 - Power and Ideology: (Critical) Discourse Perspectives
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 215 or SPAN 275 This course explores different theoretical approaches to account for the relationship between language and power, and therefore the relationship between language use and social processes. In particular, it observes how meaning is constructed and reconstructed in the discourse manifested in different settings and platforms ranging from social media to institutional and official communication (political discourse, media discourse, academic discourse, etc.).
- SPAN 309 - History of the Spanish Language
Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 275 and 3 more SPAN credits from courses numbered between 200 and 299 An introduction to the field of historical linguistics and to the genealogy and development of the Spanish language. It begins with an introduction to the field of historical linguistics: essentially, what it means to study the history of a language, the concept of linguistic change, and the types of language families. This is followed by the study of the genealogy and the development of the Spanish language from its Latin origins to present-day Spanish. These include the examination of the structures and peculiarities of Latin, the cultural and historical events that have influenced the shaping of the Spanish language, the properties of medieval Spanish, the most stubborn linguistic myths, and the development of Spanish outside the Iberian Peninsula, especially in Spanish America.
- SPAN 380 - Spanish Grammar Rules: The Making of a Language
Credits 3 Prerequisite 2 Spanish courses numbered between 200 and 299 This course analyzes areas of the Spanish language that are problematic for non-native speakers of Spanish. At the same time, students explore the processes involved in the standardization of a language, in particular the Spanish language, as a social and political construct.
and, when appropriate (linguistic-themed),
- SPAN 392 - Spanish Language Theory and Practice
Credits 3 A topics course that approaches language study through theories of language use and meaning, as well as their practical application through extensive writing exercises. Topics may include translation theory, analysis of theoretical approaches to language study, and advanced grammar.
- Completion of one of the following sequences:
- Spanish Assessment Exam
- Study Abroad
The department head may approve any one Romance language literature, film, or culture course taught in English by Romance Languages faculty toward this requirement.
a. Completion of the intermediate level or its equivalent in French (FREN 162, 164, or 172), FREN 261, and one course chosen from FREN 273, 280, 281, 282, 283 or 285.
b. PORT 163 and two 200-level Portuguese courses
c. ITAL 163 and two 200-level Italian courses
Completion of the Spanish Assessment Exam (SAE), a four-year skills assessment, in winter term of senior year.
The department strongly recommends a study-abroad experience of at least one semester, and preferably one academic year, in a Spanish-speaking country.
Spanish major leading to BA degree
A major in Spanish leading to a Bachelor of Arts degree requires demonstrated proficiency in listening, speaking,
reading, and writing, and completion of at least 30 credits distributed as follows:
- SPAN 220, 240, and 275
- Two additional 200-level courses in Spanish. The department head may approve any one Romance language literature, film, or culture course taught in English by Romance Languages faculty toward this requirement.
- Five Spanish courses numbered 300 or above, as follows:
- One course on literature of Spanish America chosen from SPAN 340, 341, 342, 344, 347, 354, and 398
- One course on literature of Spain chosen from SPAN 312, 320, 322, 323, 333, and 397
- Three additional Spanish courses numbered 300 or above, except SPAN 493.
- One course in linguistics chosen from SPAN 209, 308, 309, 380, and when appropriate (linguistic-themed), 392. SPAN 209 may contribute to the completion of requirement 2, and any 300-level linguistics course may contribute to the completion of requirement 3c.
- Completion of the Spanish Assessment Exam (SAE), a four-year skills assessment, in winter term of senior year.
The department strongly recommends a study-abroad experience of at least one semester, and preferably one academic year, in a Spanish-speaking country.
Students who plan work in Spanish and another Romance language are advised to refer to the description of the Romance languages major.
- Required courses:
- SPAN 220 - Introducción a la literatura española
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 162, SPAN 164, or SPAN 200 placement Spanish literary masterpieces from the Poema del Cid through the present. Readings and discussions are primarily in Spanish.
- SPAN 240 - Introducción a la literatura hispanoamericana
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 162, SPAN 164, or SPAN 200 placement Spanish-American literary masterpieces from colonial times through the present. Readings and discussions are primarily in Spanish.
- SPAN 275 - Introducción al análisis literario
Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 or SPAN 240 Preparation for analysis of Hispanic literature. Composition develops style and method for analyzing prose, poetry, and drama in Spanish. Conversation continues vocabulary building and concentrates on discussion of literary themes.
- Two additional 200-level courses in Spanish
- Five Spanish courses numbered 300 or above, as follows:
- One course on literature of Spanish America chosen from
- SPAN 340 - Spanish-American Short Story
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 A study of the Spanish-American short story with special attention to the works of Quiroga, Borges, Cortázar, and Valenzuela.
- SPAN 341 - 20th-Century Mexican Literature: Beyond Revolution
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 This course examines the artistic reaction to the 1910 Mexican Revolution and seeks to understand its aesthetic impact on 20th-century Mexican artists from a variety of genres. Seminal works from narrative, poetry, and essay as well as the visual arts reveal how some artists promoted the ideals of the Revolution, others became disenchanted, and still others invented revolutionary styles of expression in order to convey a new cultural self-perception and worldview.
- SPAN 342 - Spanish-American Narrative: The Boom Generation
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 Readings in the contemporary Spanish-American narrative of the second half of the 20th century with special emphasis on the members of the "Boom" generation, such as Rulfo, Fuentes, GarcÃa Márquez, Vargas Llosa, Carpentier, and Puig. In addition to short narrative pieces, the readings include El Tunel (Ernesto Sábato), El Amor y Otros Demonios (GarcÃa Márquez), Aura (Carlos Fuentes), Los Pasos Perdidos (Carpentier), and Casa de Los Espiritus (Allende). The class meets once a week for three hours so that we may maximize our time with each novel.
- SPAN 344 - Spanish-American Poetry
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 Analysis of the most relevant poetic texts of Spanish-America, including U.S. Hispanic poetry, beginning with precursors of 20th-century poetry and spanning to contemporary works. Representative works include those by Octavio Paz, Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, Nicanor Parra, Ernesto Cardenal, Raúl Zurita, among others.
- SPAN 347 - Poetry and Power
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 This is a course about reading. With tremendous care, and taking nothing for granted, we will read Spanish-American poetry on power and violence as a way of engaging and investigating the multifaceted and layered historiographies of the region. To intensify our reading, we also will "read" a diversity of pertinent cultural production, including paintings, murals, and music. Through these self-conscious acts of reading—that is, acts of identifying, evaluating, and critiquing form as much as content—we will enhance our ability to analyze and debate many different ways of defining power in the Americas from within, without, and in liminal zones. In this manner we will trace through poetry the complexities and tensions of transcultural, transnational, and transhistorical legacies of violence, all the while cultivating our abilities to read, write, speak, and listen rigorously in Spanish. This is also to say that our process will be thoroughly collaborative and interactive as we endeavor to discover the potentiality and even the hope in our difficult and sometimes even despairing project. Recurring motifs throughout the term will include sexism, racism, classism, and fascism, and each will be framed and examined by critical theory from leading scholars from the Americas and beyond. Students will leave the course feeling more confident and articulate in addressing through poetry many of our most urgent ideas about literatures, cultures, and historiographies of power and violence.
- SPAN 354 - Spanish-American Theater: 20th Century to the Present
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 This course provides a panoramic view of the theatrical traditions that have emerged in Spanish-American theater, beginning with the independent theater movement of the 1930s and concluding with the most recent trends in theatrical practices. In particular, the plays are studied as vehicles that reveal how theater practitioners engaged with their historical and cultural contexts in aesthetic terms. Therefore, the focus is also on the plays as performative texts. In order to develop this objective, students are expected to read, discuss, and analyze the dramatic texts, as well as perform scenes from the plays. This course includes works from playwrights such us Arlt, Triana, Diaz, Gambaro, Carballido, Castellanos, and Berman, among others. In addition, we study the political and aesthetic theories of theater developed by Enrique Buenaventura and Augusto Boal.
- SPAN 398 - Spanish-American Seminar
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 240 and SPAN 275 A seminar focusing on a single period, genre, motif, or writer. Recent topics have included "Spanish American Women Writers: From America into the 21st Century," "20th Century Latin America Theater," and "Past, Memory, and Identity in Contemporary Argentina's Cultural Products." May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.
- SPAN 340 - Spanish-American Short Story
- One course on literature of Spain chosen from
- SPAN 312 - Ornament of the World: Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Early Iberia
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 211 or SPAN 220 Muslims, Jews, and Christians co-existed for eight hundred years on the Iberian Peninsula. This course examines these diverse cultures through texts (literary, historical, religious, and philosophical) from the eleventh century to the expulsion of Jews in 1492. The objective of the course is to glean from the remnants of the experience of their co-existence insights into the distinctive characteristics of each culture and how they understood and influenced each other.
- SPAN 320 - Don Quijote
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 and SPAN 275 Close reading and discussion of this Early Modern novel. May include close reading and discussion of additional narrative and poetic genres of the Golden Age, as represented in or contributing to the Cervantine work
- SPAN 322 - Spanish Golden-Age Drama
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 and SPAN 275 Close reading and discussion of a variety of selected Golden Age dramas of the 17th century. Representative dramatists may include Calderón de la Barca, Tirso de Molina, Lope de Vega, and MarÃa de Zayas.
- SPAN 323 - Golden Age Spanish Women Writers
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 and SPAN 275 A study of the comedia and the novela corta and the manner in which the secular women writers inscribe themselves within and beyond these genres. Close reading and discussion of representative works that may include the short stories and plays by MarÃa de Zayas, Ana Caro, Leonor de Meneses, Mariana de Carvajal, and Angela de Azevedo.
- SPAN 333 - El Cid in History and Legend
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 and SPAN 275 A study of the most significant portrayals of the Castilian warrior Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid (1045-1099), from his 12th-century biography Historia Roderici to the Hollywood blockbuster El Cid . Epic poems, late medieval ballads, and Renaissance drama all recreate the legendary life of El Cid. This course examines the relevant narratives in an effort to determine the heroic values and attributes recreated by authors and their audiences for nearly a thousand years.
- SPAN 397 - Literature of Spain Seminar
FDR HL Literature Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 220 and SPAN 275 A seminar focusing on a single period, genre, motif, or writer. The specific topic will be determined jointly according to student interest and departmental approval.
- SPAN 312 - Ornament of the World: Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Early Iberia
- Three additional Spanish courses numbered 300 or above, except SPAN 493
- One course in linguistics chosen from:
- SPAN 209 - Intro to Hispanic Linguistics
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 162, SPAN 164, or SPAN 200 placement This course provides a broad view of major subfields of linguistic study with a particular focus on data drawn from the Spanish language. Class discussions begin with broader questions, such as "What is language?" and "How do language and human behavior intersect?"; throughout the term students revisit those questions in light of topics presented in class. By the end of the course, students demonstrate an understanding of the many facets of the Spanish language and also the linguistic principles as can be applied to any language. The course covers major concepts in Spanish phonology and phonetics, Spanish morphology and syntax, and lastly, Spanish dialectology.
- SPAN 308 - Power and Ideology: (Critical) Discourse Perspectives
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 215 or SPAN 275 This course explores different theoretical approaches to account for the relationship between language and power, and therefore the relationship between language use and social processes. In particular, it observes how meaning is constructed and reconstructed in the discourse manifested in different settings and platforms ranging from social media to institutional and official communication (political discourse, media discourse, academic discourse, etc.).
- SPAN 309 - History of the Spanish Language
Credits 3 Prerequisite SPAN 275 and 3 more SPAN credits from courses numbered between 200 and 299 An introduction to the field of historical linguistics and to the genealogy and development of the Spanish language. It begins with an introduction to the field of historical linguistics: essentially, what it means to study the history of a language, the concept of linguistic change, and the types of language families. This is followed by the study of the genealogy and the development of the Spanish language from its Latin origins to present-day Spanish. These include the examination of the structures and peculiarities of Latin, the cultural and historical events that have influenced the shaping of the Spanish language, the properties of medieval Spanish, the most stubborn linguistic myths, and the development of Spanish outside the Iberian Peninsula, especially in Spanish America.
- SPAN 380 - Spanish Grammar Rules: The Making of a Language
Credits 3 Prerequisite 2 Spanish courses numbered between 200 and 299 This course analyzes areas of the Spanish language that are problematic for non-native speakers of Spanish. At the same time, students explore the processes involved in the standardization of a language, in particular the Spanish language, as a social and political construct.
and, when appropriate (linguistic-themed),
- SPAN 392 - Spanish Language Theory and Practice
Credits 3 A topics course that approaches language study through theories of language use and meaning, as well as their practical application through extensive writing exercises. Topics may include translation theory, analysis of theoretical approaches to language study, and advanced grammar.
- Spanish Assessment Exam
- Study abroad
The department head may approve any one Romance language literature, film, or culture course taught in English by Romance Languages faculty toward this requirement.
Completion of the Spanish Assessment Exam (SAE), a four-year skills assessment, in winter term of senior year.
The department strongly recommends a study-abroad experience of at least one semester, and preferably one academic year, in a Spanish-speaking country.
French minor
A minor in French requires demonstrated proficiency in the French language, an in-depth knowledge of French culture, and completion of at least 21 credits in seven courses. A student may not complete both a minor in French and a major in French. In meeting the requirements of this discipline-based minor, a student may not use more than nine credits also used to meet the requirements of another major or minor. Course distribution for the French minor must include:
- FREN 261, 283
- One course in civilization: FREN 280, 281, or 282
- At least two courses in 300-level French
- Two additional courses in French numbered 200 or above. The department head may authorize one 200-level Romance-language literature course taught in English by Romance Languages faculty toward the requirements of the minor.
- Completion of the French Assessment Exam (FAE), a four-skills assessment, in winter term of senior year.
The department strongly recommends FREN 212 as a study abroad experience. Students may count a total of three relevant French courses from study abroad in a French-speaking country towards the French minor.
- Required courses:
- FREN 261 - Conversation et composition: Cours avancé
Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement Further development of conversational skills and beginning work in free composition, with systematic grammar review and word study in various relevant cultural contexts.
- FREN 283 - Histoire des idées
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement This course retraces the evolution of thought in France across centuries through the examination of intellectual, cultural and artistic movements. Readings, discussions and paper in French for further development of communication skills.
- Take one course in civilization:
- FREN 280 - Civilisation et culture francophones
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement A study of significant aspects of culture and civilization in francophone countries. Topics may include: contemporary Africa, pre-colonial Africa, West Indian history and culture, and Canadian contemporary issues. Readings, discussion and papers in French further development of communication skills.
- FREN 281 - Civilisation et culture françaises: Traditions et changements
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement This course examines the relationship between fashion and pivotal moments of social unrest, political change, and economic innovation in order to interpret how dress both influences and reflects French culture and history. Designed around engaging questions and dilemmas, students will identify key fashion trends and styles from the French Renaissance into the modern era as they interpret theory and evaluate fashion's importance to national identity and present-day institutions through analysis of visual and material culture, classical French literature, philosophical and sociological treatises, documentaries, and other visual and literary works.
or
- FREN 282 - Civilisation et culture françaises: La France d'aujourd'hui
FDR HU Humanities Distribution Credits 3 Prerequisite FREN 162, FREN 164, or FREN 200 placement A study of modern France. This course examines the economic, political, social and intellectual issues which shape contemporary French life. Readings, discussions and papers in French for further development of communication skills.
- At least two courses in 300-level French
- Two additional courses in French numbered 200 or above.
- French Assessment Exam
The department head may authorize one 200-level Romance-language literature course taught in English by Romance Languages faculty toward the requirements of the minor.
Completion of the French Assessment Exam (FAE), a four-skills assessment, in winter term of senior year.