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Undegraduate Course Information - Fall 2022

 

 

 

SPA 313 Varieties of Spanish

Dr. Yanira Paz

Course Description

The purpose of this course is to present a general overview of dialect variation in the Spanish-speaking world by explaining the most outstanding features of these varieties in these speaking communities. It will reflect on the regional, national, and international implications of the use of Spanish as standard / national language. The course will draw the linguistic profile (phonetics, morpho-syntax, lexicon) of the dialect areas, Special attention will be given to the situation of contact between Spanish and other languages and the consequences derived from this interaction. At the same time, this course will continue developing the linguistic and cultural proficiency of the students in the four skills: listening-speaking, reading-writing. The course is taught in Spanish. 

 

SPA 371 Latin American Cinema

Dr. Matt Losada

Course Description

In this course we will learn the basics of film studies, watch Latin American films and discuss their political and cultural contexts. We will follow certain themes—among them the representation of gender and of the social margins—that run through these works as we study how classical film told its stories while employing genre conventions to situate its viewers and how filmmakers of the 1960s and ‘70s developed new ways of engaging with their viewers in order to transform Latin American reality. We will also sample work by more contemporary filmmakers who again search for new forms with which to engage with a reality of normalized economic precarity and the globalization of film spectatorship. The course is taught entirely in English. No prior coursework in film is required and no knowledge of the Spanish language is expected. The films will be viewed outside of class, in Spanish with English subtitles. SPA 371 fulfills the General Education / UK Core Inquiry in the Humanities requirement.

 

 

SPA 413 Spanish Phonetics

Dr. Alan Brown

Course Description

In this course students will analyze the Spanish sound system in-depth as well as their own production of those sounds. We will study how Spanish sounds are produced by the articulatory organs, how they differ from English sounds, how they are systematically organized and how to remedy inappropriate articulation. Finally, we will briefly examine how certain sounds differ across Spanish­language dialects. The course is taught in Spanish. 

 

SPA 420 Spanish in the World

Dr. Haralambos Symeonidis

Course Description

In this course we will deal with various aspects of Spanish in the world: Spanish in the USA, and the expansion of Spanish through the media and cinema, Spanish and the other official languages of the Iberian Peninsula and the language politics of Latin America. Spanish is considered the third most spoken language in the world. Although it is spoken in very distant regions, it enjoys certain uniformity in the standard higher level which allows the speakers on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean to communicate easily. The most important differences are found in the different intonation. Another difference is observed in the lexical diversity which derives from the different evolution of the Spanish language in every region but also from the influence of other languages in the corresponding regions. The spelling and the linguistic norm guarantee the unity of the language; also the necessity of collaboration between the different Language Academies of the Spanish language in order to preserve unity contributes to the expansion of the Spanish used in literary, scientific, pedagogical, and multimedia discourse. The course is taught in Spanish. 

 

SPA 444 The Fair Sex: Cultural Representations of Women from Fascism to Democracy in Spain

Dr. Carmen Moreno-Nuño

Course Description

The goal of the course is to explore how women have been represented in cultural production since dictator Franco's death in 1975. Since the seventies, democracy, modernity, urbanization, and the incorporation of Spain to the European Union have radically transformed traditional roles for women: from the Fascist ideal of the perfect wife, to the decentering of identity that characterizes the postmodern (female) subject. Literature, cinema, and other cultural products have mirrored these changes, while working as powerful instruments of social transformation. Students will explore these different representations of women through literature, graphic novel, cinema, music, and other cultural artifacts.