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Languages & Literatures

Course Descriptions

SPAN 1001 Beginning Spanish (4 credits)
Basic grammar, syntax and vocabulary; emphasis on oral skills. First quarter of three quarter sequence.
SPAN 1002 Beginning Spanish (4 credits)
Basic grammar, syntax and vocabulary; emphasis on oral skills. Second quarter of three-quarter sequence.
SPAN 1003 Beginning Spanish (4 credits)
Basic grammar, syntax and vocabulary; emphasis on oral skills. Third quarter of three quarter sequence.
SPAN 2001 Intermediate Spanish (4 credits)
Grammatical structures, close rapid conversation, reading or cultural and literary materials. Prerequisite: SPAN 1003 or equivalent. First quarter of three quarter sequence.
SPAN 2002 Intermediate Spanish (4 credits)
Grammatical structures, close rapid conversation, reading of cultural and literary materials. Prerequisite: SPAN 1003 or equivalent. Second quarter of three quarter sequence.
SPAN 2003 Intermediate Spanish (4 credits)
Grammatical structures, close rapid conversation, reading of cultural and literary materials. Prerequisite: SPAN 1003 or equivalent. Third quarter of three quarter sequence.
SPAN 2020 Spanish for Business (1 credits)
SPAN 2050 Grammar Review and Composition (4 credits)
SPAN 2075 Reading Comprehension & Comp (4 credits)
SPAN 2100 Conversation and Composition (4 credits)
Intensive practice in written and oral skills, grammar review, and introduction to Spanish thought and cultural patterns. Prerequisite: SPAN 2003 or equivalent.
SPAN 2300 Iberian Cult & Civilization I (4 credits)
Intensive study of culture of Spain; manifestations of culture found in history, art, architecture, music, literature, and politics of early and modern Spain. Prerequisite: SPAN 2100 or equivalent.
SPAN 2350 Latin American Cult & Civil (4 credits)
This course examines history, folklore, philosophy; social and economic topics; art, church and state; role of the Indian; differences in attitudes and values between Anglo America and Latin America. Prerequisite: SPAN 2100 or equivalent.
SPAN 2400 U.S. Latino Culture (4 credits)
Intensive study of the history and specific character of Latino culture in the U.S.A.; emphasis on social and economic topics. Prerequisite: SPAN 2100 and SPAN 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 2500 Writing Proficiency & Grammar (4 credits)
SPAN 3000 Sources of Mexican Identity (4 credits)
Issues of Mexican identity through popular culture, art and literature as they reflect on social class, economic and gender divisions, nationalism, Third World reality, mestizaje, and role of cultural colonialism. Prerequisite: 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 3010 Hispanic Presence in the U.S (4 credits)
This course is a one-quarter interdisciplinary introductory survey about Mexican Americans (Chicanos) from 1845 to the present. Lectures, readings and discussions provide students with an overview of the influences that shaped the culture, character, history, and literature of the Chicanos, and how those aspects have been retained or redefined by life in the United States. A major theme in the class involves an exploration of the various ways in which Chicanos have struggled to achieve reform and equality in Anglo American society. Culture, ethnicity, language, education, immigration, economics, political action, oppression and discrimination, and current events are also included in the course through readings of representative works covering the following literary genres: poetry, theater, narrative and essay. An important goal for this class is to have students develop a greater appreciation and understanding of the impact, and of the important roles, played by Chicano women and men in the formation of U.S. society. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 3070 African Pres-Latin Amer/Carib (4 credits)
The contributions of the peoples of African descent in Spanish America to the overall culture in general and specifically in the arts, literature, music, religion and language.
SPAN 3110 Critical View-Latin Amer/Film (4 credits)
This course is designed, from an analytical perspective, to focus on some of the most important films dealing with various critical aspects of Latin America. The course will provide an historical overview through feature films and documentaries beginning with the Conquest, exploration and colonization, and will continue with contemporary issues of socio-political and philosophical importance and relevance. Indigenous issues, religion, race relations, women’s issues, and economic, cultural and socio-political concerns will be addressed and analyzed. The class will examine how filmmakers portray Latin America in its various historical periods. This is a process, which will help students to develop a more complete appreciation of the complex world, which is Latin America. We will also gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of the problems, which the region has faced and continues to endure up to the present time. The students will have the opportunity to write analytical studies of these films. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 3120 Mexican Film (4 credits)
This course will look at the role of Mexican cinema in relation to its historical and cultural representation from its beginnings to the present. We will analyze the Mexican film industry in relation to three important production periods: the Silent Cinema, the Golden Age in Mexican film production, and the Contemporary Era or “new cinema” movement. In addition to feature films, the class will also view documentaries that provide background information to gain a better understanding of historical and cultural periods in their relationship to cinematic production. One of the goals for the class is that students will become conversant on the evolution of Mexican cinema as a means of cultural, historical, ideological, economic and/or political expression. Films viewed will provide the student with an understanding of Mexico through a critical perspective. A few outside screenings may also be required. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 3150 Issues: Latin American Women (4 credits)
This course is designed to acquaint the student with an overview of the socio-historical context that has shaped writers and how in turn their texts have played a role in shaping reality. Course content includes literature, visual art, and music taking into consideration national, gender, racial/ethnic, and social class identity. Writers such as Sor Juan Inés de la Cruz, Elena Poniatowska, Marjorie Agosín and Daisy Zamora present concepts intertwined with those of testimonial and biographical works about and by Nicaraguan, Guatemalan and Bolivian political activists such as Rigoberta Menchú and Domitila Barrios de Chungara. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 3200 Eroticism and Nation (4 credits)
A study of the foundational fictions of Latin America and their twentieth century rewriting. Nineteenth century novels showcasing the interplay of sentimental love, eroticism, class struggle, and political agendas in the formative years of the Latin American nations are analyzed and contrasted with twentieth century narratives where such nation (and narrative) building is put to question. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 3210 Strategies-Peace in Latin Am (4 credits)
Progressive thinking as embedded in work of Latin American writers; documentaries, films and readings to anchor concepts such as Liberation Theology, the Cuban and Nicaraguan Revolutions, resistance movements and revolutionary feminism. Prerequisite: at least one of SPAN 2300, 2310, 2350, 2360 or equivalent.
SPAN 3250 Latin Amer Since the Conquest (4 credits)
An exploration of literary strategies in relation to power and domination rooted in the conquest of Latin America through the present. The focal point is the shaping of a vertical power structure by colonial and postcolonial powers such as Spain, England, France and the United States. The course examines the function of literature in sustaining as well as resisting violence, economic exploitation, identity, and the denial of humanity. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 3300 Travel Narratives (4 credits)
Travel accounts, rather than candid and unbiased testimonies about places and people, are challenging texts that require critical analysis. This class offers an overview of the evolution of travel narratives, from the times of the Grand Tour to contemporary accounts representing cross-cultural interactions between Spaniards and their ‘others’. Travelogues by authors such as Washington Irving, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Julio Camba and Juan Goytisolo. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.
SPAN 3310 Piety and Eroticism in Spain (4 credits)
Cultural manifestations such as mysticism and eroticism often appearing side-by-side in early Spanish culture, art, literature, sculpture, etc.; wide use of cancioneros or early song-poetry books and manuscripts. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.
SPAN 3320 Class & Gender 19th Cnty Spain (4 credits)
Spain underwent social and political revolutions during the nineteenth century from which new values emerged. Through the analysis of literary, political and cultural texts from the late nineteenth-century, students explore the changed view of gender and class identity. Students will read and critically examine several works by prominent authors of the Spanish Realist tradition, including Benito Pérez Galdós, Leopoldo Alas (Clarín) and Emilia Pardo Bazán. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.
SPAN 3330 Rebels in Spanish Romanticism (4 credits)
This course studies the literary and cultural tropes of Spanish Romanticism. Themes discussed include the rebellion against an unjust social order, the portrayal of marginal social groups and the creation of subjectivity in the Spanish Romantic tradition. The literary genres studied are drama, essay and poetry; the primary authors include Larra, Zorrilla, Espronceda, Bécquer, and de Castro. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.
SPAN 3333 Spanish Surrealism (4 credits)
An interdisciplinary study of the relationships of three Spanish artists (Salvador Dalí, Federico García Lorca and Luis Buñuel) and the development of Surrealism in Spain. Through the intriguing intersections of the life and art of the painter, the poet, and the filmmaker, a better understanding of this fascinating artistic movement is achieved. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.
SPAN 3350 Minorities-Ren & Golden Age (4 credits)
Images of Jewish and Moorish minorities through art and literature as well as historical, philosophical and religious writings; definitions of minority image; selected literary readings in poetry, prose and drama complemented by slide and video presentations. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.
SPAN 3400 Spanish Theatre in Performance (4 credits)
Reading, discussion and performance of theater plays written in Spanish. The focus is on improving pronunciation, intonation and dramatic expression as well as providing a better understanding of contemporary theatrical movements in the Spanish speaking world such as teatro del absurdo, teatro posibilista or teatro campesino. The course includes a final performance (in front of a real audience) of the play. Plays by authors such as Susana Torres Molina (argentine), Federico Garcia Lorca (Spain), Emilio Carballido (Mexico), and other authors from the Spanish speaking world. No prior experience in theater is required. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or SPAN 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 3410 Death/Dying-Med, Ren & GAge (4 credits)
Attitudes regarding human mortality; presentation and analysis of these attitudes in literature, the arts, historical, philosophical, social and theological sources; classroom discussions complemented by selected readings and media presentations. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.
SPAN 3420 Contemporary Film in Spain (4 credits)
Through contemporary Spanish film and essays this course examines the representation of key cultural aspects of Spanish society, such as national and regional identities, immigration, and gender issues. Students critically evaluate the causes, cultural manifestations and consequences of the social themes studied first by reading about them and then by viewing films that consider the same issues. They learn to identify the formal elements of film and develop a critical vocabulary with which they analyze and write about them. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.
SPAN 3450 Spanish Civil War 1936-1975 (4 credits)
This course explores representations of the Spanish Civil War in both literature and film. Students develop an understanding of the historical and political context in which the war erupted while they analyze various works of literature, film and the visual arts that represent this violent period of Spanish history. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.
SPAN 3525 Latina Writing & Cultural Rep (4 credits)
An introduction to the written and oral tradition of Latina writers of Mexican heritage in the United States from the 19th century to the present. The course reflects on how Latinas position themselves, and are positioned within the context of history, culture, and society. It includes an exploration of identity construction and transgression, literary and cultural myths, icons, and archetypes, and the geopolitical and symbolic space of writing. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 3600 Caribbean Blackness (4 credits)
Introduces the student to the Caribbean region, particularly examining cultural characteristics of the Spanish speaking Caribbean, with an emphasis on race relations and the contributions of peoples of African descent. The focus is interdisciplinary and includes readings on anthropology, religion, and history among other subjects, together with close readings of literary texts. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 3650 The Andean World (4 credits)
Survey of Andean literature and art created during the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries; artists' portrayals of strategies for resistance and the struggle for social justice in modern Andean society. Study a wide variety of genres including short stories, novels, testimonials, poetry, essays, songs, visual art and film. Class discussions, theoretical texts and student analyses focus on the central theme of representations of power, resistance and social change in the Andes. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.
SPAN 3750 Foreign Language Teaching (4 credits)
Methods, techniques and pedagogical practices in teaching foreign languages. For students seeking state certification in language teaching. Prerequisite: SPAN 2100 or equivalent.
SPAN 3980 Benito Perez Galdos (4 credits)
An exceptionally prolific writer, Benito Pérez Galdós is considered to be the leading Realist writer of Spain’s nineteenth century. Students will read several works by this important author while they explore various themes related to the rise of the Realist novel, such as the expanding industrial economy and the growth of the bourgeoisie. The genres covered will be essay, short story, novel and drama. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.
SPAN 3990 Senior Seminar (4 credits)
This is the capstone course of the Spanish Major and requires students to complete an in depth, scholarly study of a topic or issue pertinent to their seminar's central theme(s). Spanish majors must take a minimum of one senior seminar and this course must be taken at DU. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300, 2350 (or equivalent) and at least two courses at the 3000 level. A selection of seminar topics includes: Latin American Popular Culture, Contemporary Spanish Novel, Pre-Columbian and Colonial Andean Literature and Culture, Puerto Rican Literature and Society, Layqas, Ñakáqs and Saqras: Representations of the ‘Supernatural’ in Quechua Oral Traditions, Latin American Narrative, El Romancero, Contemporary Socio-Political Poetry in Latin America, Latin American Women Poets, Masterpieces of Latin American Literature