Spanish Culture Cluster

How to Read Course Descriptions

ANT

ANT 224. Native People of South America. 3 Credits.

This course will introduce the student to the study of native peoples of South America after the European contact. Geographically, the course will cover the cultural characteristics, similarities, and differences among South American natives including the Amazonia.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall, Spring & Summer.

ANT 322. Ethnology of Central America. 3 Credits.

Survey of the modern cultures of Central America: relationships to ancient peoples; the process of modernization in this area.
Pre / Co requisites: ANT 322 requires prerequisite of ANT 102.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall & Spring.

ANT 324. Native People of the Andes. 3 Credits.

This course provides a comprehensive survey of the historical formation and development of the Andean society before and after the Spanish conquest.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall, Spring & Summer.

ANT 362. Archaeology of Central America. 3 Credits.

The archaeological record of Central America, covering the significant features of each culture area from modern Mexico to Panama.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Spring.

ARH

ARH 220. Introduction to Latin American Art. 3 Credits.

This course provides an introduction to the art, architecture, and visual culture of Latin America from the colonial to the contemporary period. The course begins with an overview of ancient indigenous (Pre-Columbian) art of Mesoamerica and the Andes, followed by an exploration of art of the colonial era when native artists adapt their styles and techniques to reflect European artistic trends. The course will conclude with an examination of 19th and 20th century art when artists responded to changing political and cultural movements and through interactions with modern and contemporary artistic trends from abroad.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster, Writing Emphasis.
Typically offered in Spring.

CLS

CLS 333. Latina Writing. 3 Credits.

An examination of the literary works produced by Latinas in the 20th century. The study of this literature will include a cross-cultural approach that will elucidate sociopolitical themes emerging from the texts.
Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity Requirement, Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall.

CLS 334. Politics and Economics Lit of Modern Amer. 3 Credits.

A comparative historical and literary examination of political and economic issues reflected in 20th century U.S. and Latin American literature. The study of representative texts of various genres will also elucidate issues of race, class and gender.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.

CLS 335. Latino Literature in the U.S.. 3 Credits.

This course examines the history of Latino groups (e.g. Mexicans, Cubans and South Americans) in the U.S. through literary texts written by Latinos and studies the cultural, economic and political experiences leading to their acculturation or alienation in mainstream America.
Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity Requirement, Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall & Spring.
Cross listed courses CLS 335, ESP 335.

DAN

DAN 380. Cuban Rumba: Cultural Identity. 3 Credits.

This course is a theory and practice course, designed for students interested in exploring the layered social and cultural history of Cuba, through the lens of its national dance, the rumba. Cuban rumba is made up of three different dances: guaguanco, yambu, and columbia; which this course will focus on embodying, while simultaneously examining its history and place within society. Inside the theoretical conversations, the focus will shift and build from its African and Spanish lineage to social repression on the island, architecture as a container for community and performance, gender agency, and cultural identity appropriation.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.

ESP

ESP 300. Latin-American Culture and Civilization (In English). 3 Credits.

Cultural, geographic, literary, philosophical, and artistic manifestations of the Hispanic-American world. No knowledge of Spanish is required.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Interdisciplinary Requirement, Spanish Culture Cluster, Writing Emphasis.
Distance education offering may be available.
Typically offered in Fall & Spring.

ESP 303. Convivencia: Muslims, Jews, and Christians in Medieval Spain. 3 Credits.

This course focuses on the culture of the southern portion of the Iberian Peninsula (today, Spain and Portugal), known as Al-Andalus, where Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived together from the 8th to the 15th centuries. Through the study of historical, religious, and artistic materials, political and social events, and architectural and literary works, the course examines the display of multicultural identities in Medieval Europe. All course materials are in English.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Distance education offering may be available.
Typically offered in Fall & Spring.

ESP 305. Spanish Cinema. 3 Credits.

This course will investigate the ways in which films participate in and create debates about the relationship between national identification, class, and gender. No knowledge of Spanish is required; taught in English.
Gen Ed Attribute: Arts Distributive Requirement, Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Distance education offering may be available.
Typically offered in Fall, Spring & Summer.

ESP 306. Representations of the Spanish Civil War. 3 Credits.

A study of how political activism in and outside of Spain created debates about the relationship between national culture(s), society, politics, and "official" versions of history.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Spring.

ESP 309. Latin America on Film (in English). 3 Credits.

This course explores contemporary Latin American film production in order to foster a better understanding of Latin American cultures and history while investigating complex power dynamics in Latin American societies. Films will be the points of departure to address critical issues such as history, culture, politics, economics, and religion; ethnic diversity, gender, class-based and racial conflicts; violence, dictatorship, and revolution; and the place of Latin America in an increasingly globalized world. No knowledge of Spanish is required.
Gen Ed Attribute: Arts Distributive Requirement, Diversity Requirement, Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Distance education offering may be available.
Typically offered in Fall, Spring & Summer.

ESP 310. Latin American Narrative from the European Conquest to 1930s. 3 Credits.

This course is an overview of the literature of Latin America from the arrival of European conquerors through the early 20th century. Throughout the semester, students will focus on narratives of encounter and conquest, life in the Colonial period, early republican literatures in Spanish American countries, and life in Imperial Brazil, as well as texts from the first half of the 20th century. Students will reflect on geographic ideological perspectives on "America" and "Latin America," cultural and religious mixes (hybridism, syncretism), indigenismo, and the concept of identity in regional, national, ethnic, and gender matters.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Distance education offering may be available.
Typically offered in Fall, Spring & Summer.

ESP 311. Contemporary Latin American Narrative. 3 Credits.

An examination of Latin American narrative (short story, novella, novel, and testimonial literature). Spanish- and Portuguese-language writers from South and Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean will be studied, from the period of magical realism (1950s and 1960s) through the present. They may include Isabel Allende, Jorge Amado, Miguel Angel Asturias, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Clarice Lispector, Elena Poniatowska, and Luis Rafael Sanchez.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Distance education offering may be available.
Typically offered in Fall & Spring.

ESP 316. Latin American Avant-Gardes and Mass Media. 3 Credits.

An exploration of the groundbreaking avant-garde artistic practices and the technological innovations of mass media from the early 1900s to today in Latin America with a focus on structural inequality in the region. Course studies the historical origins and transformation of concepts such as "originality," "individuality," and "the new" to understand how they acquired political, economic, social, and cultural value in modern Latin America. No knowledge of Spanish is required.
Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity Requirement, Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Interdisciplinary Requirement, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall, Spring & Summer.

ESP 317. Utopia and Apocalypse in the Americas. 3 Credits.

What will the future hold in store for humanity: utopia or apocalypse? Toward what type of future society should we aim in the present? This course is taught from multiple perspectives and will foster thoughtful reflection on what it means to belong to a community as expressed in cultural texts and media from the Spanish-speaking Americas, including travel narratives to unknown lands, utopian treatises, science-fiction and fantasy stories, and real-world attempts to construct utopian societies. No knowledge of Spanish is required.
Gen Ed Attribute: Ethics Requirement, Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Interdisciplinary Requirement, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall, Spring & Summer.

ESP 318. Speaking Spanish in the United States. 3 Credits.

A course on the different historical, social and cultural issues related to the use of Spanish in the United States alongside other languages, mainly English, including the centuries-long presence of the language, and phenomena such as bilingualism, code-switching, language shift and language death. This course is taught entirely in English.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Distance education offering may be available.
Typically offered in Fall & Spring.

ESP 319. Cultural Realities of Spain. 3 Credits.

A study of the origins and evolution of Spanish character, tradition, and thought as a result of its multi-cultural past and present. The interrelationship of its history and arts. The scope of its contribution to Western culture. No knowledge of Spanish is required.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Interdisciplinary Requirement, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall & Spring.

ESP 324. Latinos in the U.S.. 3 Credits.

An interdisciplinary examination of Latinas/Latinos in the U.S. Course examines the changing cultural, historical, political, and economic situations of several Hispanic groups, including Central Americans, Cubans, Mexicans, and Puerto Ricans.
Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity Requirement, Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Interdisciplinary Requirement, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall & Spring.

ESP 333. Latina Writing. 3 Credits.

An examination of the literary works produced by Latinas in the 20th century. The study of this literature will include a cross-cultural approach that will elucidate sociopolitical themes emerging from the texts. No knowledge of Spanish is required.
Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity Requirement, Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall & Spring.

ESP 334. Politics & Economics Lit Of Modern Amer. 3 Credits.

(also CLS 334) A comparative historical and literary examination of political and economic issues reflected in 20th century U.S. and Latin American literature. The study of representative texts of various genres will also elucidate issues of race, class and gender. No knowledge of Spanish is required.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall.

ESP 335. Latino Literatures in the US. 3 Credits.

This course examines the history of Latino groups (e.g., Mexicans, Cubans, and South Americans) in the U.S. through literary texts written by Latinos, and studies the cultural, economic, and political experiences leading to their acculturation or alienation in mainstream America.
Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity Requirement, Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Spring.
Cross listed courses CLS 335, ESP 335.

GEO

GEO 302. Geography of Latin America. 3 Credits.

Central and South America are studied with emphasis on geographic understanding of the major sources of change in recent times. The course focuses on selected individual countries in addition to presentation of the region as a whole.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Distance education offering may be available.
Typically offered in Fall, Spring, Summer, Winter.

HIS

HIS 315. Colonial Latin America. 3 Credits.

Pre-Columbian period, colonial Latin America, and movements for independence; Indian, European, and African backgrounds; government, economy, society, religion, culture, and enlightenment. Interaction of diverse cultures in the New World.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall, Spring & Summer.

HIS 316. Modern Latin America. 3 Credits.

Latin America in the 19th and 20th centuries; liberalism, conservatism, dictatorship, revolution, socialism, industrialization, agrarian reform, cultural-intellectual achievements, and international relations. Topical approach, using individual countries as case history illustrations.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Typically offered in Fall, Spring & Summer.

HIS 317. History of Mexico. 3 Credits.

Mexico from Pre-Columbian period to present, including civilizations of Mayas and Aztecs, Spanish conquest, Colonial period, movement for independence era of Santa Ana, La Reforma, Diaz dictatorship, Mexican Revolution, cultural-intellectual achievements, international relations, and modernization of Mexico since the Revolution.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.

PSC

PSC 340. Latin American Culture and Politics. 3 Credits.

This course invites students to conduct comparative analysis of political cultures, parties, and decision-making, ideologies and political processes across the Latin American region. Students will learn how to explain the complexities of race, class and gender in Latin American social structures, relating historical, economic and cultural legacies to analysis on contemporary issues.
Gen Ed Attribute: Diversity Requirement, Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Distance education offering may be available.
Typically offered in Fall, Spring & Summer.

PSC 353. Latinx Politics. 3 Credits.

This is a "hands on" course for upper-level social science students as research methods are explored and put into practice in coordination with local organizations working with Latinx peoples. Service learning projects with Latinx people and/or Latinx-led organizations in the region are required. Content material includes demographics of Hispanics in the United States, critical theories from Latinx perspectives, interdisciplinary immigration studies, and Latinx perspectives in relation to social welfare, education, employment, crimes and justice, and politics.
Consent: Permission of the Department required to add.
Gen Ed Attribute: Foreign Language Culture Cluster, Spanish Culture Cluster.
Distance education offering may be available.
Typically offered in Fall & Spring.