Department of Romance Languages and Literatures

BASQ 34333. Cultura y nación en la España contemporánea. 100 Units.

One of the major inventions of Western culture at the beginning of Modernity was the idea of nation, which constitutes the driving force behind, on the one hand, the construction of the nation-State as political community and, on the other, the articulation of citizenship as the key connection between the individual and the collective. In the case of Spain, the process of transformation of the old Spanish Empire into a modern State (from the eighteenth to the twentieth century) has been rough and uneven, but at the same time profound. However, in Spain and elsewhere, the nation-state seems to be now at a critical point -its strength and integrity questioned both by the dynamics of globalization (migrations, European integration...) and by internal tensions caused by the demand for recognition of the plurality of sub-state cultures and by the rise of cities as agents of political and social power. In this course we will explore that historical, political and cultural trajectory, with special attention to a series of factors that are decisive for understanding the current situation in Spain: the problematic definition of national communities; the relationship between identity, culture and language; the relationship between collective history and social memory; and the claims of political sovereignty of nations without a State.

Instructor(s): Mario Santana     Terms Offered: Course not offered in 2025-26
Equivalent Course(s): BASQ 24333, CATA 34333, SPAN 34333, CATA 24333, SPAN 24333

CATA 32350. Speaking Truth to Power in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia. 100 Units.

In the multilingual and multireligious environment of the Iberian middle ages, poetry can express many things. And while literary history has granted a prestigious space to some of these things, such as love or spirituality, it has consistently neglected others, such as socio-political satire or vulgarity. This class will be paying attention to that other less talked-about poetry that gets into the political struggles of the period, that talks in profanities about profane things. In other words, the poetry that does not speak to the eternity of existence, but that gets its hands dirty with earthly matters. The poetry that savagely mocks and cuts through social conventions in a way that makes seem contemporary Twitter trolls benevolent in comparison. For this class we will be reading authors who wrote in Galician-Portuguese such as Joao Soares de Paiva or King Alfonso X, authors who wrote in Catalan such as Guillem de Bergueda or Ramon Vidal de Besalu, and authors who wrote in Spanish such as Juan Ruiz or Juan de Mena. Translations to Spanish will be provided or worked though class discussion.

Instructor(s): Noel Blanco Mourelle     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 22350, SPAN 22350, MDVL 22350, CATA 22350, PORT 32350, SPAN 32350

CATA 34333. Cultura y nación en la España contemporánea. 100 Units.

One of the major inventions of Western culture at the beginning of Modernity was the idea of nation, which constitutes the driving force behind, on the one hand, the construction of the nation-State as political community and, on the other, the articulation of citizenship as the key connection between the individual and the collective. In the case of Spain, the process of transformation of the old Spanish Empire into a modern State (from the eighteenth to the twentieth century) has been rough and uneven, but at the same time profound. However, in Spain and elsewhere, the nation-state seems to be now at a critical point -its strength and integrity questioned both by the dynamics of globalization (migrations, European integration...) and by internal tensions caused by the demand for recognition of the plurality of sub-state cultures and by the rise of cities as agents of political and social power. In this course we will explore that historical, political and cultural trajectory, with special attention to a series of factors that are decisive for understanding the current situation in Spain: the problematic definition of national communities; the relationship between identity, culture and language; the relationship between collective history and social memory; and the claims of political sovereignty of nations without a State.

Instructor(s): Mario Santana     Terms Offered: Course not offered in 2025-26
Equivalent Course(s): BASQ 24333, SPAN 34333, BASQ 34333, CATA 24333, SPAN 24333

CATA 36770. Literary Polysystems in Spain: Literature, Language, and Place. 100 Units.

The Iberian Peninsula boasts a rich and diverse cultural heritage that has persisted through history and remains vibrant today, despite the homogenizing forces of globalization. In the case of Spain, the coexistence of various languages and literatures offers an extraordinary laboratory for cultural inquiry, where what some may regard as challenges, peculiarities, or mere curiosities are, in fact, thriving cultural communities -or systems, more accurately described as polysystems. These communities provide valuable insights into contemporary global dynamics and the complex tensions surrounding language, writing, and identity. In this course we will explore the emergence and development of literary traditions in Asturian, Basque, Catalan, and Galician, and will also have the opportunity to engage in dialogue with some contemporary writers in those languages.

Instructor(s): Jaume Subirana     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taught in Spanish. Includes required readings in Spanish and English, with supplementary materials in Basque, Galician, and Catalan, along with their translations.
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 25770, SPAN 36770, CATA 26770, CMLT 36770, SPAN 26770

CATA 42100. Reading & Research. 100 Units.

Independent study with an individual faculty member.

Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter

FREN 31507. Lire les écrivain.e.s-théoristes : éléments d'analyse littéraire. 100 Units.

De Guillaume de Machaut à Annie Ernaux, nombreux.ses sont les écrivain.e.s qui, au-delà de leur propre production littéraire foisonnante, se sont consacré.e également à la théorie de la littérature et à ses formes. Les objectifs de ce cours sont multiples : offrir une introduction à la littéraire en langue française dans toute sa variété - formelle, historique, géographique ; fournir des outils et des méthodes de lecture qui permettront aux étudiant.e.s d'analyser les formes littéraires, les figures de sens, les procédés esthétiques et stylistiques, les structures et les voix narratives ainsi que les choix syntaxiques et lexicaux ; étudier les théories littéraires issues de la pratique qui ont transformé et renouvelé la littérature en langue française.

Instructor(s): Daisy Delogu     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): FREN 20500.
Note(s): Taught in French.
Equivalent Course(s): FREN 21507

FREN 36180. Caring for the Earth: Nature and Ecology Before Modernity. 100 Units.

What do we mean by nature, and how do humans relate to it? A recent French translation of Virgil's "Georgics" was titled anew: "Le souci de la terre" ("care for the earth") What does it mean to care? Is care disinterested, or does it serve a purpose? What logics of dominion or obligation shape it? This course traces ideas of nature and care from Antiquity to early modernity. How did humans conceive of their place in the world? How did they understand its resources and their impact? From the commons to enclosures, from caretaking to exploitation, from interpreting nature to organizing it (aménagement), we will question linear narratives of progress (humans caring more) and degradation (humans caring less). Focusing on France and French texts while engaging classical and theological sources, we will also consider exploration and exploitation beyond France. We will examine how religious ideas, canonical texts, and philosophical concepts have shaped discourses on nature, as well as the relevance of contemporary ecological terms. Attending closely to the multiple ways in which human beings variously have articulated their relationship to nature or the environment permits us to ask, instead of assume, what might be the conditions and practices of care incumbent upon human beings today.

Instructor(s): Daisy Delogu, Pauline Goul     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Taught in English.
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 26180, CMLT 36180, CEGU 36180, CMLT 26180, CLCV 26181, MDVL 26180, FREN 26180, CLAS 36181, CEGU 26180

FREN 38410. Ecrire le "Printemps arabe" au Maghreb : témoignages et perspectives littéraires. 100 Units.

Fin 2010, l'immolation de Mohamed Bouazizi, un vendeur ambulant tunisien, déclenche un soulèvement populaire qui s'étend rapidement au reste du monde arabe, entraînant notamment la chute des régimes en Tunisie et en Egypte et une série de reconfigurations d'ordre politique et socio-économique. Si les pays du Maghreb ont vécu ces soulèvements et leurs conséquences de manières différentes, les écrivains maghrébins ont été particulièrement sensibles à l'élan et à la promesse de changement portés par la rue. Ceci étant, et à l'image de l'appellation « Printemps arabe », à la fois utilisée et récusée, les dynamiques et les résultats des protestations ont fait l'objet de nombreux débats. En s'appuyant sur ce contexte historique, ce cours s'intéresse aux différentes modalités d'écriture des soulèvements au Maghreb à travers divers genres littéraires, du témoignage à la fiction, en passant par l'essai, la nouvelle ou encore la poésie. En étudiant un corpus de textes francophones issus de la Tunisie (Meddeb, Bekri, Ben Mhenni), de l'Algérie (Daoud, Tamzali, Sebbar) et du Maroc (Ben Jelloun, Elalamy, Terrab), nous nous intéresserons à la représentation de la révolte populaire dans ses dimensions socio-politique et culturelle mais aussi à des questions clés telles que les formes d'engagement des écrivains, leurs approches et choix esthétiques et le rapport entre la dynamique des soulèvements et la construction narrative ou poétique des textes.

Instructor(s): Khalid Lyamlahy     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): FREN 20500 or 20503.
Note(s): Readings and discussions in French.
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 38410, CMLT 28410, FREN 28410

FREN 38888. Mosquitos and Morphine: A Seminar in the Global Medical Humanities. 100 Units.

This course examines well-being and illness from transnational, decolonial and intersectional perspectives. Together, we will explore the various ways in which fiction and film can help challenge and expand our notions of what it means to be sick or healthy in complex circumstances. Some guiding threads: To what extent is illness an intensely personal experience, and to what extent does it draw in those around us - family members, friends, partners, medical practitioners, legal counsel? What renewed valences do concepts of autonomy, care and responsibility take when overshadowed by the spectre of disease? How might we ethically and productively relate the medical humanities to broader entangled concerns such as migration (both legal and clandestine), gender, class, race, community, queerness and neocolonialism? Beyond the justified responses of fear and anger, what are other ways to relate to death and mortality - ways that are infused with creativity and resilience? How does human "health" relate to planetary and interspecies well-being?

Instructor(s): Nikhita Obeegadoo     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): For students seeking French credit, FREN 20500 or equivalent.
Note(s): Taught in English.
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 38888, RDIN 38888, FREN 28888, RDIN 28888, HLTH 28888, GNSE 28888, CMLT 28888, GNSE 38888

FREN 41400. The Legacy of Fatima Mernissi: Feminism, Islam, and Politics. 100 Units.

Moroccan writer and sociologist Fatima Mernissi (1940-2015) is widely recognized as one of the most prominent Islamic feminists, whose legacy continues to be celebrated in North Africa, the Middle East, and beyond. Through a body of work that encompasses fictional autobiography, historical inquiry, sociopolitical critique, and religious reinterpretation, she engaged in a double critique of patriarchal structures within Muslim societies and Western dominant frameworks, aiming to advance women's rights, challenge stereotypical representations of gender roles, and promote an alternative reading of Islamic texts and traditions. This course examines her most influential works and considers her intellectual legacy across disciplines.

Instructor(s): Khalid Lyamlahy     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taught in English.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 41401

FREN 42100. Readings And Research: French. 100 Units.

Independent study with an individual faculty member.

Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter

FREN 42200. Fictions of the Indian Ocean. 100 Units.

This course will explore contemporary fiction, film, music and theory emerging from the Indian Ocean world - its oceans, its archipelagoes, and its bordering regions. Examples of potential texts include La mémoire délavée (2023) by Nathacha Appanah, Le Silence des Chagos (2005) by Shenaz Patel and The Dragonfly Sea (2020) by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor. We will be in conversation with decolonial theory, the environmental humanities, critical race and caste studies, and gender studies, among others.

Instructor(s): Nikhita Obeegadoo     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor required.
Note(s): Taught in English.
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 43200, RDIN 42200

FREN 44700. Becoming Montaigne. 100 Units.

Many great writers seem to have loved Montaigne, from Shakespeare and Emerson to Derrida or Virginia Woolf, who writes: "Surely then, if we ask this great master of the art of life to tell us his secret, he will advise us to withdraw to the inner room of our tower and there turn the pages of books, pursue fancy after fancy as they chase each other up the chimney, and leave the government of the world to others." Even the scholarship on Montaigne is torn between treating his "Essays" as a work of philosophy or a work of literature, a distinction that only makes sense in modernity. A most imaginative writer, Montaigne created the genre of the essay and its characteristic poetics of "entreglose"-the subtitle of a recent book that claims that the essay, inherited from Montaigne, is the postcolonial genre by excellence-somewhere between the self and the world, asking unsettling questions and picking random things as objects. Reading some of his most well-known, and some of his least known essays, this course will, via the practice of the essay, seek to identify and take inspiration from the unique mix of affect, sensibility and philosophy that gave Montaigne the ability to become the writer that he was. While we will read scholarship to help us in this endeavor, the course's outcome is to improve as a writer and foster creative approaches to writing about things.

Instructor(s): Pauline Goul     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Open to undergraduates with consent of instructor.
Note(s): Taught in English.

ITAL 31820. Italo Calvino: the Dark Side. 100 Units.

An intense reading of Italo Calvino's later works: we will contemplate the orbital debris of "Cosmicomics" and "t zero," and we will follow the labyrinthine threads of "The Castle of Crossed Destinies" and the "Invisible Cities." After stumbling upon the suspended multiple beginnings of "If On a Winter's Night a Traveler," we will probe the possibilities of literature with the essays collected in "Una pietra sopra." Finally, we will encounter "Mr Palomar," who will provide us with a set of instructions on how to neutralize the self and "learn how to be dead." The approach will be both philosophical and historical, focusing on Calvino's ambiguous fascination with science, his critique of the aporias of reason and the "dementia" of the intellectual, and his engagement with the nuclear threat of total annihilation.

Instructor(s): Maria Anna Mariani     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taught in Italian.
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 21820, ITAL 21820

ITAL 32888. Narrative Frescos in Early Modern Italy. 100 Units.

In this course we will observe different ways to tell a story through painting, and we will analyze strategies used by artists in early modern Italy to describe space and time in visual terms. Students will engage with different artists, from Giotto to Raphael and Pellegrino Tibaldi, and different cultural and geographic contexts, from Padua and Bologna to Florence, Venice, and Rome, over the span of about three centuries.Students will explore a wide range of visual examples and textual sources on various subject matters, from poetry to history, from the Bible to vernacular accounts about saints, from mythology to contemporary chronicles, in order to investigate what kind of stories were told on the walls of halls and courts of honor, private rooms, or public spaces, aiming at understanding why each of them was chosen. Complex projects such as narrative mural and ceiling paintings usually involved a tight collaboration among artists, patrons, and iconographic consultants, all figures with whom students will become familiar. We will also analyse the theory behind the comparison of poetry and painting ("ut pictura poesis", "as is painting so is poetry") by investigating the meaning and the reception of this ancient concept in early modern times, and its implications on the social role of the artist. Students will investigate the significance of narrative frescos in early modern times, while also asking questions about their value and impact today.

Instructor(s): F. Caneparo     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 22816, ARTH 32816, ITAL 22888

ITAL 33888. Early Modern Italian Literature and Art. 100 Units.

In this course we will analyse the tight connections between Italian literature and art in early modern times. We will read selected passages from various authors, including, but not limited to, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Boiardo, Ariosto, and Tasso. We will observe how artists reacted to literary novelties and incorporated them in their artistic production in Italy, Europe and the Americas. We will investigate different ways in which poets and artists entered in contact, collaborated, competed, became friends, and influenced each other, and how and why artists drew from literature to develop iconographic themes and motifs, while contributing (or not) to the canonization of recently-published literary works. We will analyse selected case studies, examining literary sources and works of art in various techniques (from painting to sculptures, from small decorative objects to monumental frescos, from drawings to prints), including relevant illustrated books from the Regenstein collections and the Newberry Library, as well as works of art from the Smart Museum and the Art Institute.

Instructor(s): Federica Caneparo     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Taught in English.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 25204, ARTH 35204, ITAL 23888

ITAL 35126. Giambattista Vico and the Question of Poetry: Image, Mind, Reality. 100 Units.

This course offers a close reading of Giambattista Vico's masterpiece, "The New Science" (1744). The main problem is to understand what role poetry played as a teacher of the first men, constructing images of the world among ancient civilisations. Vico discovers an "imaginative world", made up of gestures, images, metaphorical expressions that worked and continues to work behind our world of reason, progress and science. A new dialogue is born between anthropology and epistemology: the mind is a territory stratified over the ages. Vico delves into the mind to understand how it functioned in remote epochs. Metaphor is not just a rhetorical figure, myth are not children's stories, legends are not mere fantasies: they are "gestures of the mind" through which mankind orients itself in the world. Through the discovery of the real Homer, the search for a common sense shared by all nations and a new theory on the relationship between body, mind and world, Vico shows the poetic origins of language, religion and law. We thus find new paradigms for understanding the course of history and for interpreting the development of the various nations.

Instructor(s): Francesco Valagussa     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ITAL 25126

ITAL 36523. Dante's Vita Nuova: a Revolutionary Love. 100 Units.

The course consists of a close, discussion-based reading of Dante's "Vita nuova," examined within its biographical, literary and cultural context. The aim is to understand why the "Vita nuova," an autobiographical narration in vernacular about Dante's love for Beatrice, represents a revolutionary book in the panorama of Medieval literature. The course will proceed with the reading and analysis of the most important chapters and poems, which will be contextualized within the author's self-representation strategy. In this way, we will retrace the fundamental stages of the inner renewal that lead Dante to discover a new conception of love and poetry. Furthermore, some episodes will be read in relation to the cantos of "Purgatory" in which Dante returns to confront his past as a love poet. Finally, special attention will be paid to the relationship with Guido Cavalcanti, celebrated by Dante as "first friend" and dedicatee, but ultimately surpassed by Dante's new representation of love. Upon completion of the course, students should have improved their ability to think critically, and to understand and analyze a literary text on different levels of meaning. Furthermore, they should have developed an in-depth knowledge of Dante's works and the methodologies of Dante studies.

Instructor(s): Justin Steinberg     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Consent of instructor required for undergraduates.
Note(s): Taught in English.
Equivalent Course(s): ITAL 26523, FNDL 26523, MDVL 26523

ITAL 38600. La Liberata e la Conquistata di Torquato Tasso. 100 Units.

Questo corso esamina le due versioni del famoso poema di Tasso La Gerusalemme Liberata e la sua riscrittura La Gerusalemme Conquistata come due stesure di un unico poema. Il corso esamina in dettaglio sia la Liberata sia le sostanziali modifiche che Tasso apportò al testo. Soprattutto il corso intende sviluppare, ispirandosi al volume "Sarrasine" di Roland Barthes, una mutua influenza dei due poemi che in questo modo acquistano una vitalità finora non messa in rilievo dagli studiosi. Si leggeranno testi primari e secondari di essenziale importanza, inclusi i commenti che Tasso scrisse sui suoi poemi. Il corso desidera offrire una realmente nuova lettura di un poema 'sbagliato' perché si tratta di un testo che esalta un crimine contro l'umanità, la Crociata, recentemente rigettata anche dal Papa Bergoglio.

Instructor(s): Armando Maggi     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Taught in Italian.
Equivalent Course(s): ITAL 28600

ITAL 42100. Readings And Research: Italian. 100 Units.

Independent study with an individual faculty member.

Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter

PORT 32350. Speaking Truth to Power in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia. 100 Units.

In the multilingual and multireligious environment of the Iberian middle ages, poetry can express many things. And while literary history has granted a prestigious space to some of these things, such as love or spirituality, it has consistently neglected others, such as socio-political satire or vulgarity. This class will be paying attention to that other less talked-about poetry that gets into the political struggles of the period, that talks in profanities about profane things. In other words, the poetry that does not speak to the eternity of existence, but that gets its hands dirty with earthly matters. The poetry that savagely mocks and cuts through social conventions in a way that makes seem contemporary Twitter trolls benevolent in comparison. For this class we will be reading authors who wrote in Galician-Portuguese such as Joao Soares de Paiva or King Alfonso X, authors who wrote in Catalan such as Guillem de Bergueda or Ramon Vidal de Besalu, and authors who wrote in Spanish such as Juan Ruiz or Juan de Mena. Translations to Spanish will be provided or worked though class discussion.

Instructor(s): Noel Blanco Mourelle     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 22350, SPAN 22350, MDVL 22350, CATA 22350, CATA 32350, SPAN 32350

PORT 42100. Reading And Research. 100 Units.

Independent study with an individual faculty member.

Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter

RLLT 34500. Digital Approaches to Text Analysis: opening new paths for textual scholarship. 100 Units.

The purpose of this course is to introduce students of literature, and more generally the humanities, to digital humanities methodologies for the study of text. Among the various digital approaches which will be introduced in class are concordances (retrieving occurrences of words), semantic similarity detection (finding similar passages across texts), sentiment analysis, stylometry (analysis of literary style), and topic modeling (automatic classification of texts). The course will highlight how these approaches to text can provide new avenues of research, such as tracing intellectual influence over the longue durée, or uncovering the distinguishing stylistic features of an author, work, or literary movement. Students need no prior knowledge of such methods, and the course will aim at providing the basics of computer programming in Python to give students the necessary tooling to conduct a digital humanities project. The source material for the course will be drawn from literary sources, and students will be free (and encouraged) to use texts which are relevant to their own research interests.

Instructor(s): Clovis Gladstone
Note(s): Students will need to bring a laptop to class.
Equivalent Course(s): RLLT 24500

RLLT 47000. Professional Academic Writing. 100 Units.

This course is open to all RLL students and will be run as a workshop. The primary goal is to work on the Qualifying Paper with the objective of producing a piece of work that might, with subsequent revision, be submitted to an academic journal for publication. This course is also appropriate for anyone who wants to work on a dissertation proposal or chapter. We will cover all aspects of professional writing, from abstracts and grant proposals to revising manuscripts after readers' reports.

Instructor(s): Justin Steinberg     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): Open only to RLL students.

RLLT 48000. Academic Job Market Preparation. 100 Units.

Advanced RLL graduate students will prepare and polish materials needed for applying to jobs: cover letter, CV, dissertation abstract, research statement, teaching statement, and diversity statement. In addition we will discuss best practices for first-round interviews and campus visits. The course is strongly recommended for students in their fifth and sixth years but open to other students.

Instructor(s): Larissa Brewer-García     Terms Offered: Spring

RLLT 48800. Foreign Language Acquisition, Research and Teaching. 100 Units.

This course provides students with a foundation in foreign language acquisition and sociolinguistic research pertinent to foreign language teaching, introduces current teaching methodologies and technologies, and discusses their usefulness in the classroom.

Instructor(s): Veronica Vegna     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Designed primarily with RLL students in mind but open to others.

SPAN 32810. Traducción y piratería en el mundo colonial. 100 Units.

Translation and piracy can both involve the strategic appropriation of language, knowledge, or property. This course analyzes the relationship between translation and piracy in the creation of foundational works of colonial Latin American literature. As students read texts about colonial encounters, conquests, piracy, and conversion, they will become familiar with early histories of translation in Latin America and a variety of early modern, modern, and post-colonial translation theories.

Instructor(s): Larissa Brewer-García     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Taught in Spanish.
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 32810

SPAN 32350. Speaking Truth to Power in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia. 100 Units.

In the multilingual and multireligious environment of the Iberian middle ages, poetry can express many things. And while literary history has granted a prestigious space to some of these things, such as love or spirituality, it has consistently neglected others, such as socio-political satire or vulgarity. This class will be paying attention to that other less talked-about poetry that gets into the political struggles of the period, that talks in profanities about profane things. In other words, the poetry that does not speak to the eternity of existence, but that gets its hands dirty with earthly matters. The poetry that savagely mocks and cuts through social conventions in a way that makes seem contemporary Twitter trolls benevolent in comparison. For this class we will be reading authors who wrote in Galician-Portuguese such as Joao Soares de Paiva or King Alfonso X, authors who wrote in Catalan such as Guillem de Bergueda or Ramon Vidal de Besalu, and authors who wrote in Spanish such as Juan Ruiz or Juan de Mena. Translations to Spanish will be provided or worked though class discussion.

Instructor(s): Noel Blanco Mourelle     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 22350, SPAN 22350, MDVL 22350, CATA 22350, CATA 32350, PORT 32350

SPAN 33025. Vidas Infames: Sujetos heterodoxos en el mundo hispánico (1500-1800) 100 Units.

En este curso leeremos y discutiremos las vidas de varias mujeres y hombres comunes perseguidos por la Inquisición hispánica entre 1500 y 1800, aproximadamente, tanto en Europa y el Mediterráneo como en las Américas. La mayoría de estas vidas fueron dichas por los mismos acusados frente a un tribunal eclesiástico. Estas autobiografías orales, producidas en condiciones de máxima dureza y precariedad, revelan la forma en que la vida cotidiana es moldeada e interrumpida por el poder. Leeremos las historias de hombres transgénero, mujeres criptojudías, campesinos moriscos, renegados, profetas y monjas acusadas de sodomía, entre otras; y discutiremos temas como la relación entre poder y subjetividad, heterodoxia y cultura popular, las formas narrativas del yo o la articulación biográfica de la clase, la raza y el género en la primera modernidad. Estas 'vidas ínfimas', a pesar de su concreta individualidad, permiten ofrecer un amplio panorama de la historia cultural y social de España y América en la era de la Inquisición.

Instructor(s): Miguel Martínez     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Taught in Spanish.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 23025, GNSE 33025, LACS 23025, LACS 33025, SPAN 23025

SPAN 34333. Cultura y nación en la España contemporánea. 100 Units.

One of the major inventions of Western culture at the beginning of Modernity was the idea of nation, which constitutes the driving force behind, on the one hand, the construction of the nation-State as political community and, on the other, the articulation of citizenship as the key connection between the individual and the collective. In the case of Spain, the process of transformation of the old Spanish Empire into a modern State (from the eighteenth to the twentieth century) has been rough and uneven, but at the same time profound. However, in Spain and elsewhere, the nation-state seems to be now at a critical point -its strength and integrity questioned both by the dynamics of globalization (migrations, European integration...) and by internal tensions caused by the demand for recognition of the plurality of sub-state cultures and by the rise of cities as agents of political and social power. In this course we will explore that historical, political and cultural trajectory, with special attention to a series of factors that are decisive for understanding the current situation in Spain: the problematic definition of national communities; the relationship between identity, culture and language; the relationship between collective history and social memory; and the claims of political sovereignty of nations without a State.

Instructor(s): Mario Santana     Terms Offered: Course not offered in 2025-26
Equivalent Course(s): BASQ 24333, CATA 34333, BASQ 34333, CATA 24333, SPAN 24333

SPAN 34990. Celebrity Cultures: Divas, Queers, and Drags in Latin America. 100 Units.

This course takes students on a journey into the dazzling world of divas, queers, and drag performers who reshaped Latin America's cultural, social, and political repertoires. From Eva Perón's iconic political mythology and María Félix's femme fatale allure to the radical defiance of Pedro Lemebel and the cosmic magnetism of Walter Mercado, we will explore how these larger-than-life figures resisted and undermined heteronormative and misogynistic regimes. Engaging critical theory, queer studies, and aesthetic analysis, the course invites students to engage with the commodification of celebrity in the culture industry, the performative dynamics of identity, and queer culture's fascination with camp, glamour, and abjection. Revisiting concepts like the society of the spectacle and hyperreal personas, students will uncover how these icons transformed the public sphere and disrupted hegemonic power structures. The course also examines celebrity labor as affective production and the participatory cultures that turn fandom into a consumer community, and into a nostalgic and repetitive ritual in the context of digital neoliberalism. Through discussions, close readings of critical texts, and multimedia explorations of films and performances, students will learn how divas, queers, and drag performers redefined aesthetic innovation and became fearless agents of political subversion in the region and beyond. The course will be taught in Spanish and English.

Instructor(s): Carlos Gustavo Halaburda     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s):
Note(s): Taught in Spanish and English.
Equivalent Course(s): TAPS 34090, SPAN 24990, GNSE 20158, GNSE 30158, TAPS 24090

SPAN 35660. US Imperialism and Cultural Practice in Latin America. 100 Units.

This course examines the ways histories of US intervention in Latin America have been engaged in cultural practice. We assess the history of US intervention by reading primary documents alongside cultural artifacts including film, performance and visual art, song, music, and poetry. The course begins with the Cuban revolution and ends with the ongoing crisis in Puerto Rico.

Instructor(s): Danielle Roper     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taught in English. Basic comprehension of Spanish is encouraged but not required.
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 35660, LACS 25660, TAPS 28473, TAPS 38373, SPAN 25660

SPAN 36770. Literary Polysystems in Spain: Literature, Language, and Place. 100 Units.

The Iberian Peninsula boasts a rich and diverse cultural heritage that has persisted through history and remains vibrant today, despite the homogenizing forces of globalization. In the case of Spain, the coexistence of various languages and literatures offers an extraordinary laboratory for cultural inquiry, where what some may regard as challenges, peculiarities, or mere curiosities are, in fact, thriving cultural communities -or systems, more accurately described as polysystems. These communities provide valuable insights into contemporary global dynamics and the complex tensions surrounding language, writing, and identity. In this course we will explore the emergence and development of literary traditions in Asturian, Basque, Catalan, and Galician, and will also have the opportunity to engage in dialogue with some contemporary writers in those languages.

Instructor(s): Jaume Subirana     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taught in Spanish. Includes required readings in Spanish and English, with supplementary materials in Basque, Galician, and Catalan, along with their translations.
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 25770, CATA 36770, CATA 26770, CMLT 36770, SPAN 26770

SPAN 37880. Labor, Sex, and Magic: Celestina and Other Witches. 100 Units.

The image of witchcraft in the Iberian Peninsula is rooted in a tradition of technique, healing, bodily care, and the management of sexual labor. In this class, we will discuss the numerous witches of Iberian literary traditions (Trotaconventos, Eufrosina, Fabia), paying particular attention to Fernando de Rojas's "Celestina," written during the transition from the Middle Ages to the early modern period. These witches orchestrate the romances of unfortunate young people and strive for survival in the shifting urban landscape of pre-modernity, a time of wars, revolts, plagues, and catastrophes. In this class, we will explore the status of these women within the social transformations of their time, why so many authors regarded them as emblematic figures of pre-modern Iberian cities, and what they reveal to us today about the lives of women in that era.

Instructor(s): Noel Blanco Mourelle     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 27880, MDVL 27880, GNSE 30157, GNSE 20157

SPAN 38800. Problemas críticos y teóricos en el estudio de las culturas ibéricas y latinoamericanas. 100 Units.

This seminar is an intellectual and institutional history of our disciplines, tracing their shifting configurations across time and space. We will engage with the theoretical models that have shaped our fields-Hispanic, Latin American, and Iberian Studies-from the 19th to the 21st century. Rather than approaching these traditions as a linear succession of increasingly sophisticated paradigms, we will study them as historically situated and politically inflected discourses. We will consider how these disciplines actively constructed the intellectual fields to which they belong, often in pursuit of a certain disciplinary autonomy. Our approach-a critical history of criticism-serves a dual purpose. First, the seminar provides a systematic engagement with the theoretical vocabularies that continue to shape contemporary debates. Second, we will interrogate the disciplines themselves- cultural studies, postcolonial criticism, gender and sexuality-by reflecting on the historical conditions that make them possible. Alongside these conceptual explorations, the seminar includes a practical component designed to help students navigate the demands of rigorous research and professionalization in the humanities, particularly in Iberian and Latin American Studies. We aim to bridge theoretical inquiry with the concrete challenges of academic work today.

Instructor(s): Carlos Gustavo Halaburda     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Taught in Spanish and English.
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 38802

SPAN 41100. The Avant-Gardes: Latin American/Latinx. 100 Units.

This course is an overview of the avant-gardes: art and literature movements that emerged against the background - and in the aftermath - of the great social and technological transformations that followed armed conflicts in the 20th century. We study avant-garde movements that emerged in the Americas, with a particular focus on Latin America and on Latinx artists working in the United States. The course covers both historical avant-gardes (movements that emerged around the 1910s and 20s: creacionismo, Dada, futurism, Mexican muralism, and so forth) and neo-avant-garde movements active later in the century, in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s (neoconcretism, Asco, No-Grupo, CADA, etc.). Attention will be placed on the social and cultural contexts that shaped each of these movements, as well as on the web of connections and references that connects them. Materials and class discussions foreground the social and political resonance of the experimental aesthetics associated with the avant-gardes.

Instructor(s): Sergio Delgado Moya     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Proficiency in Spanish required. Undergraduates may enroll with consent of instructor.

SPAN 42100. Rdgs/Rsch: Spanish. 100 Units.

Independent study with an individual faculty member.

Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter

SPAN 43300. Ficciones Abolicionistas del Caribe Hispánico. 100 Units.

En este seminario estudiaremos algunas vertientes del pensamiento anti-esclavista y abolicionista en el Caribe Hispánico durante el siglo XIX y los modos particulares en que lo literario y lo visual participaron de su desarrollo. Además de examinar conceptualmente los cambiantes principios filosóficos y legales que fueron sustentando los posicionamientos en contra de la esclavitud, en el curso prestaremos especial atención a las estrategias retóricas, a los lenguajes verbales y visuales, que los hicieron sensibles. Es lo que aquí denominamos como "el aparato ficcional del abolicionismo". Este no solo incluye obras literarias y gráficas, sino también las dimensiones estéticas de los discursos de la ley con sus ideas liberales de libertad, trabajo asalariado, propiedad sobre el cuerpo propio y subordinación racial, todas hechas cimientos para una gobernabilidad post-esclavista. En el curso tomaremos como punto de partida y contraste los debates en torno a la esclavitud que se generaron en el seno de las guerras de independencia continentales, a la luz de sus relaciones con la Revolución Haitiana, para de ahí examinar los diferentes derroteros hispanocaribeños. Entre los materiales a estudiar se encuentran códigos de ley, proyectos de abolición, novelas anti-esclavistas, materiales gráficos de la emergente cultura de masas y obras de Simón Bolívar, Toussaint Louverture, Félix Varela, Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda, Juan Francisco Manzano, Alejandro Tapia y Rivera, entre otres.

Instructor(s): Agnes Lugo-Ortiz     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Taught in Spanish.
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 43300