Spanish

[For more information about major requirements, see Classical and Romance Languages and Literature]

Spanish is the most widely spoken language in the Americas, without even including ten percent of the United States population. It is also spoken in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, Israel, and the Philippines. The major in Spanish develops not only students' language skills, but also the exercise of critical thinking around subjects related to the culture, literatures, art, and history of the Spanish-speaking peoples of all continents. Reading, discussing, and writing in Spanish are the principal activity of the major. Bates College Spanish majors are strongly encouraged to spend a year or a semester living and studying in a Spanish-speaking country. The growing cultural, political, and economic ties among all nations of the American continents underscore the importance of this major. Students interested in graduate studies in Spanish or Latin American studies, or in business, medicine, law, or international relations, are encouraged to develop advanced proficiency in Spanish.

The department expects its majors to have a broad experience in the literatures of the Spanish-speaking peoples. In consultation with the Spanish faculty, the student elects courses in a variety of areas. Major requirements include the following: a) nine courses beyond the intermediate level, including one 300-level course each semester of the senior year; b) one course outside the Spanish program previously approved by the faculty in Spanish, such as English 295, Anthropology 234, History 181, Political Science 249, research methods courses in areas such as women's studies, African American studies, American cultural studies, classical and medieval studies; and c) the completion of a senior thesis written in Spanish. Instead of the thesis, a comprehensive examination in Latin American and Spanish literature and culture can be substituted in those cases in which the student is a double major writing a thesis for another program. Honors candidates register for Spanish 457-458.

Courses

101-102. Elementary Spanish I and II. Emphasis is placed on oral proficiency with pronunciation exercises and conversational practice. Development of reading and writing skills. Drill in the essential constructions and basic vocabulary of Spanish. Short films and cultural presentations. Regularly scheduled laboratory periods. Spanish 101 is not open to students with two or more years of Spanish in secondary school. Enrollment limited to 22 per section. P. Fagan-DiStasio, Staff.

105. Elementary Spanish III. Emphasis in this course is placed on conversational and writing development, including the application of vocabulary and grammar to every day situations, and the development of reading and listening skills. Films and presentations underlining cross-cultural experiences are included, as well as regularly scheduled lab periods. Recommended background: two - three years high school Spanish. Enrollment limited to 22 per section. Staff

201. Intermediate Spanish I. Designed to increase students' vocabulary and to improve mastery of language skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. A thorough review of grammar as well as an emphasis on conversational proficiency, expository writing, and Hispanic culture. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 102. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 22 per section. L. Umpierre-Herrera, Staff.

202. Intermediate Spanish II. Intensive practice in reading, composition, and conversation, as well as attention to selected grammar problems. Focus on discussion through visual presentations and selections of Hispanic literature, art, and culture. Prerequisite(s): 201. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 22 per section. P. Fagan-DiStasio, F. López.

207. Advanced Spanish: Culture and Language. This course develops oral fluency and aural acuity as well as reading and writing skills by means of directed and spontaneous classroom activities and regular written assignments. Conversations and compositions are based primarily on readings and films. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 234. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 20 per section. L. Umpierre-Herrera, C. Guzmán.

208. Advanced Spanish: Texts and Contexts. This course is a continuation of Spanish 207 with particular emphasis upon analyzing a variety of texts and developing more sophistication in writing. Conversations and compositions are based on both literary and cultural readings. Recommended background: Spanish 207. Not open to students who have received credit for Spanish 234. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 20 per section. L. Umpierre-Herrera, C. Guzmán.

210. Latin American Cultures. This course examines key issues in Latin American culture: the role of women, the issues of race, class, politics, and national identity through a variety of films, short stories, and essays. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 207 or 208. Open to first-year students. Staff.

212. Latin American Women. This course provides an analysis of women's roles within the societies in the Caribbean and Latin America. Through readings, films, and lectures, students examine the double standards imposed on men and women, the impact of socialization, and the development of a critical consciousness. Prerequisite(s): one 200-level Spanish course. Enrollment is limited to 40. Open to juniors and seniors with a knowledge of Spanish. L. Umpierre-Herrera 215. Readings in Spanish American Literature. An introduction to the literature of Spanish America, from the sixteenth century to the present day. Among the issues addressed are the literary response to the space and peoples of the New World, the literature of vice-regal Mexico, the rise of national traditions in the nineteenth century, and experimentation in contemporary narrative fiction. Readings may include texts by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, José María Heredia, Esteban Echeverría, Rubén Darío, Jorge Luis Borges, Pablo Neruda, María Luisa Bombal, Alejo Carpentier, Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel García Márquez, and Elena Castedo. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202. Open to first-year students. C. Guzmán.

216. Readings in Peninsular Spanish Literature. A one-semester survey of representative peninsular Spanish texts. Major emphasis is on reading and discussing texts which relate to specific problems of literary form (poetry, theater, novel, etc.), literary movements, and literary periodization. The topics are also discussed in the sociocultural context of their representation of Spanish national life and character. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202. Open to first-year students. B. Fra-Molinero.

240. Loco Amor/Buen Amor. In this course students study different ways of representing the passion of love, from the love of God to loving someone of the same sex. Spanish cities in the Middle Ages and San Francisco, California are some settings where idealized as well as forbidden forms of love take place in the texts of the Arcipreste de Hita, La Celestina, and gay Mexican-American poets. This course may be taken in either Spanish or English. Prerequisite(s) (if Spanish 240 is taken in Spanish): Spanish 215 or 216. B. Fra-Molinero.

241. Spanish Theater of the Golden Age. This course focuses on the study of Spanish classical drama of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Reading and critical analysis of selected dramatic works by Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Calderon de la Barca, Miguel de Cervantes, Ana Caro and Maria de Zayas, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, among others offer an insight into the totality of the dramatic spectacle of Spanish society during its imperial century. Prerequisite(s) or Corequisite(s): Spanish 215 or 216. This course is the same as Theater 241. Open to first-year students. B. Fra-Molinero.

242. Advanced Grammar and Stylistics. An intensive grammar review, with emphasis on written exercises, translation, oral drills, and grammatical analysis of literary texts. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202. Open to first-year students. C. Guzmán.

250. The Latin American Short Story. A study of the uncanny, the marvelous, and the fantastic short story through the analysis of works by modern Latin American authors such as Borges, Quiroga, Cortázar, Rulfo, Fuentes, García Márquez, Carpentier, and Asturias. Attention is directed to defining the genre critically and discussing the problems of ambiguity in literature. Readings are supplemented with cinematic examples. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215 or 216. Open to first- year students. L. Umpierre-Herrera.

251. Literatura Colonial. The literary production during the Spanish colonial period in Latin America is more than a conscious imitation of models borrowed from Spain and Europe. Literary genres were tested against a reality that defied all previous categories. Readings include some of the most representative figures between 1492 and 1800, such as Columbus, Las Casas, Inca Garcilaso, and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215 or 216. Open to first-year students. B. Fra-Molinero.

255. Rewriting Modernity in Contemporary Latin American Fiction. A study of contemporary Latin American fiction from the 1960s to the present day, focusing on different trends in post-boom narrative. Readings may include short stories, novels, and essays by Manuel Puig, Clarice Lispector, Rodolfo Walsh, Severo Sarduy, César Aira, Juan José Saer, and Antonio Di Benedetto, as well as cultural and literary criticism. Special attention is given to the relations among art, politics, and ethics, as well as between literature and the mass media. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215 or 216. Open to first-year students. Staff.

262. Contemporary Spain. A study of Spanish history and political ideas from 1936 to the present, starting with historical information about the civil war and an analysis of the rhetoric of both sides ("republicanos" and "nacionales") through popular war songs. The Franco period is examined through texts of "high culture" (poetry, drama, and the novel) and "popular culture" (films, songs, and newspaper clippings) that express supposedly opposing ideologies. Similar texts are used to explore the transition from dictatorship to democracy and the new and old problems that Spain is facing since the late 1970s. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215 and 216. Open to first-year students. F. López.

263. Cuba from Within and Without. This course analyzes constructions of Cuban identity inside and outside of the island. Particular attention is paid to the role of class, race, gender, and sexuality in those constructions. Literature, film, essays, and music are the bases for the analysis. Authors to be considered may include José Martí, Alejo Carpentier, Lydia Cabrera, Severo Sarduy, Virgilio Piñera, Chely Lima, Silvio Rodriguez, Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Cristina García, and Achy Obejas. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215 or 216. Open to first-year students. F. López.

264. Contemporary Mexican Women Writers. This course examines the literature of contemporary mexican women. The texts are studied as cultural products, as well as subjective representations of difference. Special attention is given to the relation between literature and other cultural productions. Various literary genres are considered, including poetry, short stories, essays, and novels. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215 or 216. C. Guzmán.

341. Cervantes. A careful reading and a comprehensive formal and thematic study of Don Quijote, and some of the Novelas ejemplares. Careful consideration is given to various pieces of Cervantine scholarship, and some of the effects of the Quijote on the genre of the novel are examined. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 208. B. Fra-Molinero.

344. Women Writers of Post-Franco Spain. In this course, we discuss the impact of "la Transición" (from dictatorship to democracy) on the psychological and social dimensions of womanhood by focusing on the detailed textual analysis of novels and short stories. Authors may include Rosa Montero, Cristina Fernandez Cubas, Esther Tusquets, Consuelo Garcia, Carmen Gómez Ojea, and Soledad Puértolas. Recommended background: a course on Spanish literature. Written permission of the instructor is required. F. López.

345. Twentieth-Century Spanish Drama. A study of the evolution of political ideas and social values in Spain in the twentieth century through an examination of several plays. Interconnected and parallel sociocultural realities are analyzed along with different dramatic tendencies: from "poetic" to social-realist to avant-garde theaters. Authors may include: Lorca, Mihura, Buero Vallejo, Sastre, Nieva, Martin Recuerda, and Arrabal. Recommended background: Spanish 215 or 216. Prerequisite(s): a 200-level literature course in Spanish. Staff.

348. Latina Women Writers in the United States. This course provides an overview of the works of Latin American women writers who associate themselves with the United States. It covers poetry, short stories, theater, essays, and autobiographies. Authors may include Marjorie Agosin, Julia Alvarez, Cherrie Moraga, and Gloria Anzaldœa. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215 and 216. Written permission of the instructor is required. Open to first-year students. This course is the same as Women's Studies 348. L. Umpierre

350. Between History and Literature. This course examines the relation between history and literature in texts by Gabriel García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes, Alejo Carpentier, and Ricardo Piglia. Special attention is paid to the question of national origins, postcolonialism, and the modern/postmodern debate. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215 or 216. Enrollment limited to 20. Staff.

353. Un Curso De Cine. Cinema in Latin America and Spain is more than eighty years old. Silent movies recorded the Mexican Revolution of 1910. Pornographic films were part of the private collection of King Alfonso XIII of Spain. Epic and intimate, cinema also has been a vehicle for women directors, creating challenges to dominant forms of seeing. This course introduces students to the art of cinema analysis and to some of its technical and critical vocabulary. Discussions focus on significant figures in Latin American and Spanish cinema: Dolores del Río, Maria Félix, Libertad Lamarque, Vicente Fernández, Mario Moreno, Fernando Rey, Luis Buñuel, Tomas Gutiérrez Alea, María Novaro, María Luisa Bemberg, Jiménez Leal, Pedro Almodóvar, and Francisco Lombardi. Conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 215 or 216. B. Fra-Molinero.

360. Independent Study. Independent study of individually selected topics. Periodic conferences and papers are required. Permission of the department is required. Students are limited to one independent study per semester. Staff.

365. Special Topics. Designed for the small seminar group of students who may have particular interests in areas of study that go beyond the regular course offerings. Periodic conferences and papers are required. Written permission of the instructor is required. Staff.

457. 458. Senior Thesis. Research leading to writing of the senior thesis. Limited number of group meetings, plus individual conferences. Students register for Spanish 457 in the fall semester and for Spanish 458 in the winter semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both Spanish 457 and 458. A detailed outline and bibliography must be approved by the department in the semester prior to the semester in which the thesis is written. Staff.

Short Term Units s18. The Cuban Revolution: Problems and Prospects. This unit examines the problems and prospects facing the Cuban Revolution in historical and cultural context. The first two weeks are spent on campus in intensive study of the Cuban Revolution. The second two weeks are spent in Cuba doing first-hand research and study of current issues in Cuba, and the last week is spent on campus doing oral and written evaluations of the problems raised by the unit. Issues include food and agriculture, health, economic crisis and change, arts and culture, women, and Cuban relations with the United States. This unit is offered simultaneously in English and Spanish. Recommended background: some knowledge of Spanish. Enrollment limited to 25. Written permission of the instructor is required. Not open to students who have received credit for History s18. F. López.

s21. The Picaresque Hero: A Life of Crime. The unit examines and defines the picaresque hero in three Hispanic texts: the sixteenth-century classic Lazarillo de Tormes, Cervantes's Rinconete y Cortadillo, and the Mexican gay novel, Adonis Garcia, written in the 1980s. These texts raise issues concerning the relation between the individual and authority; social class and poverty; expression of identity, sexuality, gender, and ethnicity; as well as the use of language under confession and torture. Conducted in English. Majors in Spanish must read texts in Spanish. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. B. Fra-Molinero.

s22. Africa in Me: Cultural Transmission in Brazil. Brazil is second only to Nigeria in population of people of African descent. Brazil, along with Cuba, has the longest history of slavery in the Western world in modern times. Slavery was abolished in Brazil in 1888, and its long history continues to have a decisive effect upon contemporary social and political institutions. This unit examines the impact of slavery in modern Brazil by examining African retentions in history, culture, and religion. This unit is the same as African American Studies s22. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 60. B. Fra-Molinero, C. Nero, Staff.

s23. Spanish-American Theater in Performance. The unit acquaints students with the theater of the Spanish-speaking world. It is a hands-on unit in which students read, interpret, stage, videotape, and produce a play, all in Spanish. The final production is presented to the Bates community and to the public. Recommended background: a knowledge of Spanish. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 201. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. C. Guzmán.

s25. Hispanic Women in the Arts and the Humanities. Hispanic women have made important contributions in the arts and the humanities. This unit explores their achievements in music, painting, film, literature, and other arts. Artists may include Rita Moreno, Santa Barraza, Ana Mendieta, Carmen Miranda, and Celia Cruz. Open to first-year students with permission of the instructor. Recommended background: Spanish 217 and 218. L. Umpierre

s32. Medieval Spain: Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Spain developed three different literary traditions during the Middle Ages. The presence in the Iberian Peninsula of three different established religions - Christianity, Islam, and Judaism - gave rise to three distinctive intellectual communities and practices. Muslim philosophers and scientists developed knowledge in areas like medicine, optics, algebra, and chemistry. Jewish scholars gave shape to the Talmudic tradition, and Christian Europe sent its theologians to discover Aristotle among the few who still could read Greek in Western Europe: the Arab and Jewish scholars of Córdoba and Toledo. This course is taught in English. One section reads and discusses texts in Spanish. The second section is conducted in English. Prerequisite(s): Spanish 216. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. B. Fra- Molinero.

s33. Women, Nation, and Literary Culture in Latin America. A study of the interventions provided by women in the national cultures of Latin America, focusing on their mediations in the public sphere, their participation in literary traditions, and their access to the symbolic realm that determines the cultural imagination of a nation. Readings include texts by Juana Manuela Gorriti, Lola Larrosa de Ansaldo, Emma de la Barra, Juana Manso, Victoria Ocampo, Alfonsina Storni, Norah Lange, Manuel Galvez, Ezequiel Martínez Estrada. Special attention is also given to literary and cultural theory. Recommended background: Spanish 215 or 216. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. Staff.

s50. Individual Research. Registration in this unit is granted by the department only after the student has submitted a written proposal for a full-time research project to be completed during the Short Term and has secured the sponsorship of a member of the department to direct the study and evaluate results. Students are limited to one individual research unit. Staff.

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