Latin American, Iberian, and Latinx Studies

Department Website:
https://www.haverford.edu/lails

The Latin American, Iberian, and Latinx Studies Concentration is an interdisciplinary program for students majoring in a related discipline who wish to undertake a comprehensive study of the cultures of Spanish America, Brazil, or the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal).

Students supplement a major in one of the cooperating departments (e.g., history, history of art, religion, political science, anthropology, economics, comparative literature, linguistics or Spanish) with courses that focus on Latin American, Iberian, and US-Latinx issues and themes.

Learning Goals

  • Students will develop a substantial understanding of the diverse people, cultures and histories of the Latin American and Iberian worlds, including US-Latinx's.
  • Students will enhance their studies within established majors through a coordinated multi- and interdisciplinary focus on specific regions, cultural zones and languages.

Haverford’s Institutional Learning Goals are available on the President’s website, at http://hav.to/learninggoals.

Concentration Requirements

Requirements for the concentration (six courses and one essay):

  • Concentrators must demonstrate competence in Spanish to be achieved no later than the junior year, demonstrated by the completion of at least one course in Spanish at the 200 level or above.
  • SPAN H240 at Haverford, or GNST B245 at Bryn Mawr. One of these two courses will be taught every year, usually in spring, alternating between Haverford and Bryn Mawr.
  • At least two, and no more than three, courses must be completed in the departmental major.
  • At least two other courses in Latin American or Iberian Studies, representing at least two departments outside of the major. These courses are to be chosen from the offerings listed under the concentration in the Catalog or the Course Guide. Students should consult with their advisors as to which courses are most appropriate for their major and special interests: some apply more to Latin America, some to the Iberian Peninsula and others to the United States. Students may have other courses approved to fulfill this requirement if they can demonstrate their pertinence to the concentration. The concentration coordinator will approve courses not listed in the Catalog or Course Guide on a case-by-case basis. These can include courses offered at Bryn Mawr, Swarthmore, the University of Pennsylvania, or in approved study abroad programs.
  • One of the courses fulfilling the third or fourth bullet point must be at the 300 level.
  • A long paper (at least 20 pages) on Latin America, the Iberian Peninsula, or the Latinx experience in the United States to be completed no later than the first semester of the senior year, as part of the work for a course in the student’s major or the concentration. Students must submit in advance a proposal for the paper topic, accompanied by a bibliography, for the concentration coordinator’s approval. Although the topic is open and should reflect the student’s interests in a particular discipline, the paper should demonstrate the student’s ability to discuss cogently the history, literature, social, or political thought of Latin America or Spain as it applies to the individual student’s research project. The concentration coordinator may on a case-by-case basis approve creative works, such as films and other types of art requiring work comparable to a long paper, to fulfill this requirement.
  • A 2-page reflection on how the courses students took for the LAILS concentration helped them understand the topic of research, and/or other specific issues in Latin America and Spain more deeply.
  • A brief presentation of the project and reflection to be scheduled at the end of the Spring semester.
  • No more than two credits towards the concentration will be awarded for work done beyond the Tri-Co, whether abroad or in the U.S.

Affiliated Programs

Accelerated Degree Program with the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University

Haverford has been invited to join other distinguished colleges and universities in an agreement with the Center for Latin American at Georgetown University to participate in a five-year joint degree program. The cooperative agreement allows undergraduate concentrators in Latin American, Iberian and Latino Studies to pursue an accelerated course of study in a graduate degree.

The program offers the highest qualified applicants the opportunity to count four courses from their undergraduate study toward the M.A. program in Latin American Studies at Georgetown University, enabling them to complete the degree in two semesters and one summer.

The five-year B.A.-M.A. program is designed for those students who demonstrate excellence at the undergraduate level. Qualified undergraduates must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.5, declare an interest in the Accelerated Degree Program during their junior year, and participate in the Center’s summer study abroad program. During the senior year, candidates apply through the normal Georgetown M.A. application cycle. If accepted into the M.A. program, students may transfer up to four courses (two from the CLAS summer study program in Mexico or Chile and two advanced courses from the undergraduate institution) to be applied to the M.A. All M.A. prerequisites must be completed during the student’s undergraduate education, and students must have concentrated in Latin American Studies at the undergraduate level.

For more detailed information, consult with the LAILS coordinator or visit the Georgetown Center for Latin American Studies website: https://grad.georgetown.edu/latin-american-studies/.

Faculty

Below are the core Latin American, Iberian and Latinx Studies faculty. Many other faculty contribute courses to the program; see the Courses section for a full listing.

Roberto Castillo Sandoval
Professor of Spanish

Aurelia Gómez De Unamuno
Associate Professor of Spanish

Ariana Huberman
Professor of Spanish

Anita Isaacs
Benjamin R. Collins Professor of Social Sciences

James Krippner
Edmund and Margiana Stinnes Professor of Global Studies; Professor and Chair of History

Brook Lillehaugen
Professor of Linguistics (TriCo)

Ana López-Sánchez
Associate Professor and Chair of Spanish

Lina Martinez Hernandez
Assistant Professor of Spanish

Edwin Porras
The Norton Family Assistant Professor of Music; Assistant Professor of Music

Luis Rodriguez-Rincon
Assistant Professor of Spanish

Marlen Rosas
Assistant Professor of History

Courses

Africana Studies Courses

AFST H308  BLACKNESS IN LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Lina Martinez Hernandez

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course offers a historical and cultural approach to blackness in Latin America. Understood as an epistemological discourse and as embodied practices, blackness has been at the center of Latin American identity since colonial times. Taught in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): 200 level Spanish course

(Offered: Fall 2025)

Comparative Literature Courses

COML H203  WRITING THE JEWISH TRAJECTORIES IN LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Ariana Huberman

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

The course proposes the study of Latin American Jewish literature focusing on narrative, essay, and poetry of the Twentieth and Twenty-First centuries. It pays close attention to themes, registers, and cultural contexts relevant to the Jewish experience in Latin America. What is Jewish about this literature? Where do these texts cross paths, or not, with other migratory and minority experiences? The texts studied question identity and Otherness, and explore constructions of memory while examining issues of gender, assimilation, transculturation, migration, and exile in relation to the Jewish Diaspora in the Americas. This course is conducted in Spanish. Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature Prerequisite(s): SPAN 102, placement, or instructor consent

(Offered: Spring 2026)

COML H210  SPANISH AND SPANISH AMERICAN FILM STUDIES  (1.0 Credit)

Raquel Vieira Parrine Sant'Ana

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Exploration of Latin American film. The course will discuss approximately one movie per week. The class will focus on the analysis of cinematic discourses as well as the films’ cultural and historic background. The course will also provide advanced language training with particular emphasis in refining oral and writing skills. This course is conducted in Spanish. Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 102, or placement, or instructor consent.

(Offered: Fall 2025)

COML H250  QUIXOTIC NARRATIVES  (1.0 Credit)

Luis Rodriguez-Rincon

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course proposes a bilingual reading of Miguel de Cervantes’ famous novel, El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha. The adventures of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza force readers to probe the fraught and circular relationship between life and art. How do we know when something is true? What happens when fictions, dreams, or outright lies become confused with the truth? What role does art play in catalyzing this desire to transform the world? Course readings and discussion will be largely in Spanish with the option of reading the novel in translation and participating in course discussion in either Spanish, English or Spanglish. Please be advised: Students who wish to receive credit towards a SPAN major or minor must complete course readings and assignments in Spanish. This course fulfills the “pre 1898” requirement. Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature.

COML H253  HISPANIC CARIBBEAN MIGRATION TALES  (1.0 Credit)

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Students will learn about different Hispanic Caribbean migratory experiences through a selection of short stories, novels, memoirs, and essays, as well as in film, and performative production. The tales featured in this course will consider how gender and sexuality shape migration experiences. The texts that will be analyzed are mostly originally written in Spanish. Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature Prerequisite(s): SPAN H102 or 200-300 level in the placement test

COML H322  POLITICS OF MEMORY IN LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Aurelia Gómez De Unamuno

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

An exploration of the dynamics of memory, narration, censorship and oblivion after a period of state violence either under a dictatorship or an official democracy. This course analyses and compares literary genres (testimonies, diaries, poetry and fiction), visual archives, documentary films, practices and projects of memory (Parque por la Paz Villa Grimaldi, Museo de la Memoria in Chile, Museo Casa de la Memoria Indómita in Mexico, “sitios de memoria” and digital resources). Students will be able to compare debates, outcomes and current controversies of production of memory in Chile after the coup and dictatorship of Pinochet, and in Mexico after the repression of the student movement of ‘68 and the guerrilla movement. This course is conducted in Spanish. Cross-listed: Spanish, Comparative Literature, PJHR

COML H336  HUMANIMALS IN SPANISH LITERATURE AND CULTURE FROM PREHISTORY TO THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD  (1.0 Credit)

Luis Rodriguez-Rincon

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Humans are animals and yet most people consider animals to be something other than humans. This course sets out to understand from a specifically Iberian perspective how humans have come to define themselves in relation to animals and vice versa how animals have come to be defined in relation to humans. Readings in this course will approach animals as both living and literary figures with an emphasis on the medieval and early modern periods as well as key theories in Animal Studies. Crosslisted: COML. Pre-requisite(s): A 200 level-course; or permission of the instructor Lottery Preference: Spanish majors; Spanish minors; Comparative Literature majors; LAILS concentrators

Gender and Sexuality Studies Courses

GSST H316  WOMEN AND THE ARMED STRUGGLE IN LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Aurelia Gómez De Unamuno

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

An examination of socialist armed struggles in 1970s, women’s rights and feminist movements in Latin America. A comparative study of literary texts, testimonials and documentary films addresses theoretical issues such as Marxism, global feminism, hegemony and feminisms produced in the periphery. This course is conducted in Spanish. Cross-listed: Spanish, Gen/Sex, and PJHR Prerequisite(s): One 200-level, preferred 300- level course, or instructor consent

History Courses

HIST H114  ORIGINS OF THE GLOBAL SOUTH  (1.0 Credit)

James Krippner

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course analyzes the complex histories, shifting geographies, and unequal relationships of power denoted by the term “Global South,” a designation that maps unevenly onto the formerly colonized regions of Latin America, Africa and Asia. As we shall see, the term is also at times used to describe marginalized populations and places within the “Global North,” a convenient though not entirely accurate label for today’s relatively rich and developed world regions. A basic concern of the course will be to assess how colonialism and its legacies have influenced world history, including the production of knowledge. Our collective goal will be to develop new ways of thinking about our pasts, presents and futures.

(Offered: Fall 2025)

HIST H125  INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICAN AND LATINX HISTORY  (1.0 Credit)

Marlen Rosas

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course is an intensive history class designed around two goals: to give students an introduction to themes and debates in Latin American and Latinx History, and to provide hands-on practice toward doing research. We will focus on Indigenous histories of resistance and migration, gender studies, as well as intellectual and political trends across the American continents. Texts are interdisciplinary and include fiction, journalism, polemic, history, sociology, and anthropology.

HIST H208  DECOLONIZING COLONIAL LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN HISTORY  (1.0 Credit)

James Krippner

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

Can we imagine a “decolonial” history of colonial Latin America and the Caribbean? This course invites you to try. “Decolonization” requires us to acknowledge, work through and overcome the structures of power and privilege originating in the colonial experience itself. To do so one must analyze history, historiography (the writing of history) and non-written historical sources across varied time frames and vast geographic expanses, while also grasping the nuances of specific local histories. In Latin America, Spanish and Portuguese rule of the region lasted more than three centuries--in most countries from 1492 until the early 1820s, and in Cuba and Puerto Rico until 1898--and the legacies of colonial rule have conditioned social relations, economic life, culture, and political conflict into our twenty first century. The Caribbean (“Iberian” and non “Iberian”) presents an even more complex tapestry, with a diverse array of colonial, as well as neo- and post-colonial political arrangements mediating at times fierce struggles for local autonomy and self-determination, from the sixteenth century up until the present. This course challenges us to think in new ways about past and present as it engages history and theory, the local and the global, and place and space.

HIST H274  HISTORY OF THE ANDES  (1.0 Credit)

Marlen Rosas

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course presents a cultural and political history of the Andean region of South America. We will examine unique historical developments in this part of the world. The themes we will analyze include the influence of geography on early Andean civilizations, the cultural impact of conquest, land and labor systems, popular resistance movements, revolutions, military governments, neoliberalism, and the politicization of ethnic identities.

HIST H291  INDIGENOUS WOMEN: GENDER, ETHNICITY AND FEMINISM IN LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Marlen Rosas

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course gives students an introduction to the themes and debates in the intersectional fields of Gender and Women’s Studies, Race, Ethnic and Indigenous Studies, Latin American History, and Feminist Theory. Pre-requisite(s): None Lottery Preference: History majors, first and second year students, LAILS, and GenSex concentrators, with first priority for History and LAILS.

HIST H309  KNOWLEDGE, POWER, AND THE PRODUCTION OF HISTORY IN LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Marlen Rosas

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course examines the revolutionary politics, emancipatory pedagogies, and struggles for liberation espoused by grassroots intellectuals, students, and working-class, peasant and indigenous activists in modern Latin America. We will consider questions of intellectual and political agency, as well as the political power of literacy, education, memories, and archives in the face of imperial threats throughout history.

HIST H314  TOPICS IN GLOBAL LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY: LAND AND THE LEFT IN THE AMERICAS  (1.0 Credit)

Marlen Rosas

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

This course traces the debates over land distribution and agrarian reform that have been at the forefront of modern political strife and Indigenous activism in the Americas. We will explore how Latin America’s rural poor have supported socialism and environmentalism as alternatives to capitalist extraction, as a strategy to break colonial vestiges, and as an anti-imperialist ideology. The course focuses on various case studies to address the meaning of socialism in largely agrarian societies, how states have implemented nationalist policies to redistribute land, and how new social movements approached land and community rights in ways that challenged the status quo. This class requires every student’s vocal participation in discussions. Students will also complete historical research papers on a topic of their choice, related to the course themes. Lottery Preference: History Majors; Latin American Studies concentrators; Seniors/Juniors

HIST H317  TOPICS IN LATIN AMERICAN HISTORY: RIO DE JANEIRO, PAST AND PRESENT  (1.0 Credit)

James Krippner

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This research-oriented seminar invites you to analyze the fascinating history of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as it is transformed over the centuries by an intricate mixture of local and global histories. This geographic space has been a zone of indigenous settlement from antiquity through the formation of a hybrid colonial culture into the present; a sixteenth and seventeenth century frontier outpost blessed with a beautiful natural harbor utilized by early modern religious dissidents, pirates, smugglers, and adventurers seeking their fortunes; the home of an important whaling industry as the colony matured; a vibrant port city and increasingly massive human trafficking center during the era of mass enslavement beginning in the sixteenth and extending through most of the nineteenth century; the seat of colonial and national governments from the mid- eighteenth through the mid-twentieth centuries; a transregional trade center linking the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia from the sixteenth century through the present; a site of conflictive labor, ethnic, racial, gender and sexual politics for several centuries; and since the end of WWII a cosmopolitan global tourist destination renowned for its multi-faceted popular culture, especially its beaches, music, dance, carnival, soccer and religious traditions. As we shall see, Rio de Janeiro has been all these things and more since its founding on March 1, 1565.

(Offered: Fall 2025)

Independent College Programs Courses

ICPR H271  COMPARATIVE AND TRANSNATIONAL STUDIES: FROM KUALA LUMPUR TO KANSAS CITY  (1.0 Credit)

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

How can comparative lenses on the one hand, and transnational lenses, on the other, make sense of a globalizing world and its workings? This course uses both lenses to understand the ways we live now. Also, the ideas and practices that shaped them. So we study, for example, how modernity was built by the Black Atlantic, by creolizing, and by different diasporas and their homelands. And how constitutionalisms in Spanish America and U. S. states resemble each other. Or how the Arab world and East Asia shared debates over dealing with Eurocentrism.

Linguistics Courses

LING H010  INTRODUCTION TO ZAPOTEC  (1.0 Credit)

Felipe Lopez

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course is an introduction to Dizhsa (San Lucas Quiaviní Zapotec; Valley Zapotec) and is designed to give you an introduction to Dizhsa, an Indigenous language of Oaxaca, Mexico. Students will gain skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing and will learn about cultural context in both Oaxaca and the diaspora. As a 0.5 unit course, this course does not satisfy the language requirement. This course is funded through the Mellon Together with Humanities grant. Pre-requisite(s): LING 215 (can also be a co-requisite) or instructor consent. Lottery Preference: This course is funded by the Mellon Together with Humanities grant and may be offered for up to three years. It is funded under the schema of "course cluster" and will be in a cluster with Ling 215. Thus, students in Ling 215 should have priority in enrollment. Any open seats could be open lotteried.

(Offered: Fall 2025)

LING H214  SPANISH IN THE US: LANGUAGE, IDENTITY AND POLITICS  (1.0 Credit)

Ana López-Sánchez

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

The course introduces students to basic concepts of (critical) sociolinguistics with a focus on Spanish in the US. It examines the history and politics of Spanish in the US, the relationship of language to Latinx identities, and how language ideologies and policies reflect and shape societal views of Spanish and its speakers (and contribute to discrimination and social injustices). Course taught in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): Course at the 200-level in Spanish or Linguistics

(Offered: Fall 2025)

LING H215  THE STRUCTURE OF COLONIAL VALLEY ZAPOTEC  (1.0 Credit)

Brook Lillehaugen

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

A detailed examination of the grammar of Colonial Valley Zapotec, an indigenous language of Oaxaca, Mexico. Focus on hands-on research, morphological analysis, and translation of archival documents. Prerequisite(s): LING 113; and one of the following: LING 101, 114, 115, or instructor consent

(Offered: Fall 2025)

Music Courses

MUSC H140  TRANSATLANTIC SOUNDS  (1.0 Credit)

Edwin Porras

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course provides an overview of the world's musical traditions, with selected case studies from each of ten regions: Oceania, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, North America, Europe, Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America. It introduces ways to think and write about the huge diversity of musical genres from different parts of the world, together with their performers, audiences, and cultural contexts.

MUSC H240  MUSICAL CULTURES OF AFRO-LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Edwin Porras

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course considers Afro-Latin American music within a broad cultural framework. The course surveys the historical and musical development of various social groups, who constitute the African diaspora in the Americas and the Caribbean. It explores African-influenced musical cultures and practices that emerged from syncretic practices among indigenous, African, and European people, focusing on folkloric, ritual, and popular forms of expression. Lottery Preference: Music majors

Peace, Justice and Human Rights Courses

PEAC H316  WOMEN AND THE ARMED STRUGGLE IN LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Aurelia Gómez De Unamuno

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

An examination of socialist armed struggles in 1970s, women’s rights and feminist movements in Latin America. A comparative study of literary texts, testimonials and documentary films addresses theoretical issues such as Marxism, global feminism, hegemony and feminisms produced in the periphery. This course is conducted in Spanish. Cross-listed: Spanish, Gen/Sex, and PJHR Prerequisite(s): One 200-level, preferred 300- level course, or instructor consent

Political Science Courses

POLS H131  INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS  (1.0 Credit)

Susanna Wing

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

An introduction to basic concepts and themes in comparative politics analyzed through case studies. Themes include political authority and governance structures; political culture and identity politics; political participation and representation; and political economy. Enrollment Limit: 35 Lottery Preference(s): Sophomores, then juniors and seniors. 15 spaces reserved for first year students,An introduction to basic concepts and themes in comparative politics analyzed through case studies. Themes include political authority and governance structures; political culture and identity politics; political participation and representation; and political economy.

(Offered: Fall 2025, Spring 2026)

POLS H131  INTRODUCTION TO COMPARATIVE POLITICS  (1.0 Credit)

Susanna Wing, Staff

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

An introduction to basic concepts and themes in comparative politics analyzed through case studies. Themes include political authority and governance structures; political culture and identity politics; political participation and representation; and political economy. Enrollment Limit: 35 Lottery Preference(s): Sophomores, then juniors and seniors. 15 spaces reserved for first year students,An introduction to basic concepts and themes in comparative politics analyzed through case studies. Themes include political authority and governance structures; political culture and identity politics; political participation and representation; and political economy.

(Offered: Fall 2025, Spring 2026)

POLS H241  IMMIGRATION POLITICS AND POLICY  (1.0 Credit)

Anita Isaacs

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

Examines the causes and rights of forced migrants and refugees along with the responses and responsibilities of the international community. Focus on Mexico and Central America. Prerequisite(s): One political science course or instructor consent

(Offered: Fall 2025)

POLS H271  COMPARATIVE AND TRANSNATIONAL STUDIES: FROM KUALA LUMPUR TO KANSAS CITY  (1.0 Credit)

Staff

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

How can comparative lenses on the one hand, and transnational lenses, on the other, make sense of a globalizing world and its workings? This course uses both lenses to understand the ways we live now. Also, the ideas and practices that shaped them. So we study, for example, how modernity was built by the Black Atlantic, by creolizing, and by different diasporas and their homelands. And how constitutionalisms in Spanish America and U. S. states resemble each other. Or how the Arab world and East Asia shared debates over dealing with Eurocentrism.

POLS H330  TOPICS IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS  (1.0 Credit)

Susanna Wing

Division: Social Science
Domain(s): B: Analysis of the Social World

This is a workshop course built around student interests and senior thesis topics. We will explore issues including, but not limited to, ethnicity, religion, gender and the state. We will look at how states pursue both political and economic development and how they cope with violent conflict. Prerequisite(s): Three courses in POLS AND junior or senior status, or instructor consent

(Offered: Fall 2025)

Spanish Courses

SPAN H201  EXPLORING CRITICAL ISSUES THROUGH WRITING  (1.0 Credit)

Ana López-Sánchez

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

The course aims to provide students with the skills necessary to successfully undertake writing assignments in the upper-division Spanish courses. Students will be engaged in discussions of, and write about topics such as identity, borders and migrations, and manifestations of violence. This course is conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 102, placement, or instructor consent

SPAN H206  DIGITALLY NARRATING SECOND LANGUAGE IDENTITIES  (1.0 Credit)

Ana López-Sánchez

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

An exploration of the students’ experience in bicultural/bilingual home, or abroad, and of the subjectivities they develop through their use of a second/foreign language. Readings include biographical texts by bilingual authors, and articles on the role of language in the construction of the self. This course is conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): Interning/studying/knowing 2+ languages, or instructor consent.

(Offered: Spring 2026)

SPAN H210  SPANISH AND SPANISH AMERICAN FILM STUDIES  (1.0 Credit)

Raquel Vieira Parrine Sant'Ana

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Exploration of Latin American film. The course will discuss approximately one movie per week. The class will focus on the analysis of cinematic discourses as well as the films’ cultural and historic background. The course will also provide advanced language training with particular emphasis in refining oral and writing skills. This course is conducted in Spanish. Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 102, or placement, or instructor consent.

(Offered: Fall 2025)

SPAN H213  READING AND GLOSSING MEDIEVAL IBERIAN LITERATURE  (1.0 Credit)

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course provides students with an in-depth exploration of medieval Iberian literature through the lens of literary analysis. In the course, students will develop essential reading techniques of close reading, annotation (glossing), and outlining to help them interpret literary works and build arguments. Through guided readings, discussions, and assignments, students will explore various genres (poetry, drama, prose), topics, and theoretical frameworks to enhance their ability to engage critically with medieval Iberian literature and the historical and cultural discourses of the primary sources. Ultimately, the reading strategies learned in the course will give them confidence in their analytical skills and deepen their understanding of medieval texts and literature in general. Taught in Spanish. Pre-requisite(s): Completed 102, placement exam at the 200 level, or instructor consent Lottery Preference: Majors; minors; LAILS concentrators

SPAN H216  MAPPING IBERIA: GEOCRITICAL APPROACHES TO MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN IBERIAN NARRATIVES  (1.0 Credit)

Staff

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course will introduce the student to Medieval and Early Modern Iberia through the lenses of Geocriticism and space. Students will examine literature, cultural objects, and maps to understand the encounters among the different religious, ethnic, and linguistic groups in the Peninsula and understand the spatial shifts throughout its history. Topics include the fluidity of the political boundaries, the role of the Mediterranean in mercantile networks, urban and rural spaces, public rituals and imperial architectures. Pre-requisite(s): SPAN 102; placement exam Lottery Preference: Majors; minors; LAILS concentrators

SPAN H218  INTRODUCTION TO MAGICAL REALISM  (1.0 Credit)

Ariana Huberman

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course introduces the body of Latin American literature known as magical realism. The authors of the literary boom transculturate European cultural elements with aspects of criollo, indigenous and African traditions in their works. This style’s leit motifs include folk beliefs, time and space warping, and the normalization of magic. Critical moments in Latin American history, such as the Cuban Revolution, the long history of dictatorships and strongmen, and the shadow cast by U.S. foreign policy and corporations, are essential to understanding these texts. Issues of race, gender, and class will be central in class discussions. This class can be taken in connection with the 300-level class on magical realism or independently. Pre-requisite(s): Students who completed SPAN 102 or placed into 200-300 level courses can take this course

SPAN H221  NARRATING MODERN MEXICO  (1.0 Credit)

Aurelia Gómez De Unamuno

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course analyses the construction of foundational narratives when rebuilding a nation. In the wake of the Mexican Revolution (the first revolution of the Twentieth Century), an extraordinary post-revolutionary culture and art production (Kahlo, Orozco, Rivera, among others) called the attention of intellectuals, leftists, and post-war artists such as André Breton, Leonora Carrington, Tina Modotti, and Leon Trotsky, among others. Social and political context will assist to understand avant-garde literary and visual works; to examine debates around revolutionary art, cosmopolitanism, Mexican roots, and national identity; and to assess why rural sectors including campesino and Indigenous groups still claimed the debts of the Mexican Revolution. This course is conducted in Spanish.

SPAN H230  INTRODUCTION TO IBERIAN STUDIES: MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN LITERATURE AND CULTURE  (1.0 Credit)

Luis Rodriguez-Rincon

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course surveys over a thousand years of literary, cultural, and political history in the Iberian Peninsula. In the context of European and world history, course readings will span from the 5th century CE to roughly 1700, that is to say, from the final dissolution of the Roman Empire through the middle ages and ending with the early modern period and the first centuries of Iberian colonization in the Americas. While most readings will be in Castilian (i.e. Spanish), the Arabic and Hebrew writers that called the Iberian Peninsula home from 711 CE to 1492 as well as early Gallego-Portuguese writers will likewise be discussed. These non-Castilian voices represent a linguistic, cultural, and religious diversity at odds with the commonplace notion of Spain as an exclusively Spanish-speaking and Catholic monarchy. Topics of discussion will include the politics of history, love and epic poetry, writing the self, and the changing role of women in Iberian society. This course is conducted in English; students taking it for SPAN credit will write a final paper in Spanish. Crosslisted: COML 200

(Offered: Fall 2025)

SPAN H240  INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICAN, IBERIAN, AND LATINX STUDIES  (1.0 Credit)

Ariana Huberman

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

A multidisciplinary introduction to Latin American, Iberian, and Latinx Studies, this course offers an overview of the field’s cultural production in a socio-historical context. It introduces cultural expressions from crucial moments in the region’s history: the peak of Indigenous civilizations, the Spanish conquest, early modern and colonial times, the rise of independence and nationalism, various forms of religious syncretism, and internal and transnational migrations. We will pay close attention to issues related to class, race, and gender, as well as transnational experiences and linguistic variations in written and visual texts, music, and performance studies. This course is designed to serve as the introduction to the concentration in Latin American and Iberian studies. It will be taught in English, but students who wish to obtain Spanish credit are expected to read Spanish language texts in the original and write all assignments in the language.

SPAN H250  QUIXOTIC NARRATIVES  (1.0 Credit)

Luis Rodriguez-Rincon

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course proposes a bilingual reading of Miguel de Cervantes’ famous novel, El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha. The adventures of Don Quijote and Sancho Panza force readers to probe the fraught and circular relationship between life and art. How do we know when something is true? What happens when fictions, dreams, or outright lies become confused with the truth? What role does art play in catalyzing this desire to transform the world? Course readings and discussion will be largely in Spanish with the option of reading the novel in translation and participating in course discussion in either Spanish, English or Spanglish. Please be advised: Students who wish to receive credit towards a SPAN major or minor must complete course readings and assignments in Spanish. This course fulfills the “pre 1898” requirement. Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature.

SPAN H253  HISPANIC CARIBBEAN MIGRATION TALES  (1.0 Credit)

Staff

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Students will learn about different Hispanic Caribbean migratory experiences through a selection of short stories, novels, memoirs, and essays, as well as in film, and performative production. The tales featured in this course will consider how gender and sexuality shape migration experiences. The texts that will be analyzed are mostly originally written in Spanish. Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature Prerequisite(s): SPAN H102 or 200-300 level in the placement test

SPAN H273  THE INVENTION OF PABLO NERUDA: POETICS AND POLITICS  (1.0 Credit)

Roberto Castillo Sandoval

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course deals with the principal works of Pablo Neruda’s long career as a poet. Close readings of his major poems will be accompanied by an examination of the criticism and reception of Neruda’s poetry at different stages of his trajectory. Special attention will be paid to the creation and elaboration of Neruda’s image as a poet, cultural icon, and political figure in Chile and in the Spanish-speaking world. This course is conducted in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 102, placement, or instructor consent

(Offered: Fall 2025)

SPAN H307  CREATIVE FICTION AND NON-FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP  (1.0 Credit)

Roberto Castillo Sandoval

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

A fiction- and creative nonfiction-writing workshop for students with advanced Spanish writing skills. The class is conducted as a combination seminar and workshop, with time devoted to discussion of work by established authors and by students. The course will focus on the development of essential elements of craft and technique in fiction and non-fiction writing (point of view, voice, dialogue, narrative and rhetorical structure, etc.) We will focus more on how fiction and non-fiction stories work rather than on what they mean. This writerly perspective can be useful for reconsidering and judging pieces of writing long accepted as “great,” as well as a practical method for developing individual styles. Short fiction, crónicas, personal essays, travel narratives, and memoirs are some of the forms we will work on. At the end of the semester, each student will produce a dossier with four edited, full-length pieces of original writing, consisting of a combination of fiction and non-fiction work. Previous experience in creative writing is recommended, although it is not necessary. Prerequisite(s): At least one 300-level course in Spanish, or instructor consent

SPAN H308  BLACKNESS IN LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Lina Martinez Hernandez

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course offers a historical and cultural approach to blackness in Latin America. Understood as an epistemological discourse and as embodied practices, blackness has been at the center of Latin American identity since colonial times. Taught in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): 200 level Spanish course

(Offered: Fall 2025)

SPAN H314  SPANISH IN THE US: LANGUAGE, IDENTITY AND POLITICS  (1.0 Credit)

Ana López-Sánchez

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

The course introduces students to basic concepts of (critical) sociolinguistics with a focus on Spanish in the US. It examines the history and politics of Spanish in the US, the relationship of language to Latinx identities, and how language ideologies and policies reflect and shape societal views of Spanish and its speakers (and contribute to discrimination and social injustices). Course taught in Spanish. Prerequisite(s): Course at the 200-level in Spanish or Linguistics

(Offered: Fall 2025)

SPAN H316  WOMEN AND THE ARMED STRUGGLE IN LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Aurelia Gómez De Unamuno

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

An examination of socialist armed struggles in 1970s, women’s rights and feminist movements in Latin America. A comparative study of literary texts, testimonials and documentary films addresses theoretical issues such as Marxism, global feminism, hegemony and feminisms produced in the periphery. This course is conducted in Spanish. Cross-listed: Spanish, Gen/Sex, and PJHR Prerequisite(s): One 200-level, preferred 300- level course, or instructor consent

SPAN H322  POLITICS OF MEMORY IN LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Aurelia Gómez De Unamuno

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

An exploration of the dynamics of memory, narration, censorship and oblivion after a period of state violence either under a dictatorship or an official democracy. This course analyses and compares literary genres (testimonies, diaries, poetry and fiction), visual archives, documentary films, practices and projects of memory (Parque por la Paz Villa Grimaldi, Museo de la Memoria in Chile, Museo Casa de la Memoria Indómita in Mexico, “sitios de memoria” and digital resources). Students will be able to compare debates, outcomes and current controversies of production of memory in Chile after the coup and dictatorship of Pinochet, and in Mexico after the repression of the student movement of ‘68 and the guerrilla movement. This course is conducted in Spanish. Cross-listed: Spanish, Comparative Literature, PJHR

SPAN H329  FEMINIST FUTURES: SPECULATIVE FICTIONS OF LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Staff

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

An exploration of twentieth and twenty-first century feminist science fiction from Latin America and the Caribbean. Through novels, short stories, performances, and films, students will evaluate how the genre of science fiction addresses questions of gender, sexuality, race, class, and colonialism. Students will consider how feminist science fictions (re)imagine gender and sexuality in the future and the progression or regression that awaits. Pre-requisite(s): One 200 level Spanish course Lottery Preference: Majors; minors & LAILS concentrators.

SPAN H331  LIMINAL BODIES: EMOTIONAL LANDSCAPES AND GENDER IN PAN-MEDITERRANEAN LITERATURES AND CULTURES  (1.0 Credit)

Staff

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

The course explores gender in late medieval to 17th century Iberia, including canonical and lesser-known works, texts written by women, cultural materials, plays, and popular chapbooks. It will delve into specific analyses of the liminal representations of gender and sexuality in Ibero-romance materials, including a critical review of the limitations and liberties afforded by gender and giving special attention to the thematical evolution of gender across centuries in Pan-Mediterranean literatures and cultures. Taught in Spanish. Pre-requisite(s): Completed 102 or placement exam in 200-300 level courses or instructor consent. Lottery Preference: None

SPAN H336  HUMANIMALS IN SPANISH LITERATURE AND CULTURE FROM PREHISTORY TO THE EARLY MODERN PERIOD  (1.0 Credit)

Luis Rodriguez-Rincon

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

Humans are animals and yet most people consider animals to be something other than humans. This course sets out to understand from a specifically Iberian perspective how humans have come to define themselves in relation to animals and vice versa how animals have come to be defined in relation to humans. Readings in this course will approach animals as both living and literary figures with an emphasis on the medieval and early modern periods as well as key theories in Animal Studies. Crosslisted: COML. Pre-requisite(s): A 200 level-course; or permission of the instructor Lottery Preference: Spanish majors; Spanish minors; Comparative Literature majors; LAILS concentrators

SPAN H338  “I NEED A HERO”: CHIVALRIC SAGAS IN LATE MEDIEVAL IBERIAN LITERATURES AND CULTURES  (1.0 Credit)

Staff

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts)

This course explores the rich tradition of chivalric literature in late medieval Iberia. Students will evaluate the sociocultural and literary significance of chivalric literature in Iberia through a wide range of texts, including chanson de geste, ballads, chivalric romance, and legends from the 13th-16th century. The course evaluates themes cardinal to the chivalric genre, such as courtly love, honor, knightly conduct, revenge, adventures, warfare, fantastic geographies, world creation, and the origins of the novel. Pre-requisite(s): 200-level, placement exam at the 300 level, or instructor consent Lottery Preference: None

SPAN H360  LEARNING-TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE  (1.0 Credit)

Ana López-Sánchez

Division: Humanities,
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts),

This course is designed for the advanced student of Spanish, who is interested in the processes involved in learning a foreign language, and/or contemplating teaching it. This course is conducted in Spanish. Crosslisted: Spanish, Education Prerequisite(s): One 200-level course, or instructor consent

SPAN H385  POPULAR CULTURE, IDENTITY & THE ARTS IN LATIN AMERICA  (1.0 Credit)

Roberto Castillo Sandoval

Division: Humanities
Domain(s): A: Meaning, Interpretation (Texts); B: Analysis of the Social World

This course examines the interaction among mass, élite, traditional, and indigenous art forms and their relationship with the dynamics of national/ cultural identity and politics in Latin America in the 19th, 20th, and early 21st centuries. Among the forms of expression to be studied are oral poetry and narrative, musical and political movements such as “neo-folklore,” “New Song,” “Nueva Trova,” “Rock Nacional” and 21st-century derivations, popular dance, and the cinema. This course is conducted in Spanish. Crosslisted: Spanish, Comparative Literature Prerequisite(s): One 200-level course in Spanish or instructor consent

(Offered: Spring 2026)