LAST - Latin American Studies

Prerequisite: SPAN 203 or satisfactory performance on placement examination or permission of the department chair. A selection of films and documentaries from Latin America, Spain and the United States will be discussed as social texts that articulate through different genres and époques, crucial issues of national identity, violence, repression, north/south relations, gender and memory as a collective reconstruction of the past. Directors may vary.

Prerequisite: SPAN 202 or satisfactory performance on placement examination or permission of the department chair. A look at Latin America as it is today: historical, social, economic and geographical factors that are shaping the different countries and their people.

Prerequisite: SPAN 203 or satisfactory performance on placement examination or permission of the department chair. A survey of the main trends in literary and popular culture from the 20th century. A close reading of the foundational texts of literary historiography from Modernism to Postmodernism. Discussion of the region’s key concepts: transculturation, "magical realism/marvelous real," "Boom and Postboom," "testimonio" and the new historical novel.

Prerequisite: LSSP 220 or permission of the instructor. An interdisciplinary study of the Third World that uses aspects of literature, culture, politics, biology, demography, history and economics to understand how the world works for most of humankind. The course features field trips, guest speakers and a team approach to investigating problems of the developing world.

Prerequisite: SPAN 208 or permission of the department chair. (Student teachers may enroll for one credit) Study of selected poetry, essay and drama by Spanish-American writers such as Martí, Darío, Neruda, Gabriela Mistral, Usigli and Octavio Paz.

Prerequisite: SPAN 208 or permission of the department chair. Main trends in contemporary novels and short stories. Azuela, Gallegos, Asturias, Borges, García Márquez, Fuentes, Sábato and other major writers.

Prerequisites: Completion of a 200-level ART, HIST, GLBS, or LSSP course. A survey of pre-Hispanic art and archaeology of indigenous civilizations in Mesoamerica from the peopling of the Americas to A.D. 1519, focusing on the art, architecture, and ritual of the Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, and Aztec cultures.

An upper-level special topics course offered at the discretion of the department. The content and methods vary with the interest of students and faculty members

Prerequisites: 12 credits in Spanish above the intermediate level. A study in depth of a subject selected according to the special interests of the students and those of the faculty.