All courses explore the historical and political context of the material, and provide both theoretical and cultural frames of reference for study. Students thus have the opportunity to explore a vast range of disciplines, periods, genres and cultures in the small, student-centered classes for which Williams is known.
Our graduates have gone on to secure prestigious Fulbright teaching and research grants in Latin America and Spain, and many have used their linguistic and cultural training as they pursue careers in fields including law, health care, journalism, labor and community organizing, education, and doctoral degrees in various fields.
Want to study Spanish? Curious about going abroad, or becoming a major? Whether you are exploring Spanish for the first time, plan to major in Spanish or want to earn a formal Certificate in Spanish, we invite you to explore our courses and meet our faculty.
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RLSP 101(F)Elementary Spanish
This course focuses on grammar, elementary composition, practice in conversation, and reading of easy modern prose. It is taught by the intensive oral method. [ more ]
Taught by: Leyla Rouhi
Catalog detailsRLSP 102(S)Elementary Spanish
This course focuses on grammar, elementary composition, practice in conversation, and reading of easy modern prose. It is taught by the intensive oral method. [ more ]
Taught by: Janneke van de Stadt
Catalog detailsRLSP 103(F)Intensive Intermediate Spanish
This course is a continuation of Spanish 101-102. It is designed to help students improve their proficiency in each of the major skill-groups (listening, speaking, reading and writing) while providing an introduction to the cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. Classroom activities and homework are designed to increase vocabulary and improve your ability to handle daily life in a Spanish-speaking country, to express your views on complex subjects such as art and politics, and to increase your knowledge of the cultural traditions of Latin America and Spain. Film screenings and readings in Hispanic literature, culture and politics will provide material for in-class discussion and some writing assignments. This course provides the linguistic and cultural training that is necessary to engage the diverse Spanish-speaking communities of Latin America,Spain and the US; it will help to prepare students for further literary and cultural studies as well as provide skills that are increasingly essential in fields such as medicine, law, and education. Conducted in Spanish. [ more ]
Taught by: Gene Bell-Villada, Jennifer French
Catalog detailsRLSP 104(S)Upper Intermediate Spanish
This course is a continuation of Spanish 103. It focuses on the review of grammar as well as on refining writing and speaking skills. A variety of written and audiovisual journalistic media will enable students to deepen their understanding of Hispanic cultures. [ more ]
Taught by: Carolina Melgarejo-Torres
Catalog detailsRLSP 105(F)Advanced Grammar, Composition, Conversation
In this course students will refine their knowledge of Spanish grammar and vocabulary towards further fluency in speaking and writing. The focus of the class is grammar through active engagement with relevant cultural, literary, and political materials centered for the most part on Spain. Students will produce regular grammar and composition exercises as well as oral reports. [ more ]
Taught by: Leyla Rouhi
Catalog detailsRLSP 107(F)Advanced Grammar and Conversation
This course focuses on the development of Spanish linguistic accuracy and oral communication skills. To acquire oral fluency, students will have several opportunities to give presentations in class. They will further guide discussions around topics reviewed in the course. Finally, oral fluency will be developed through daily discussions and conversations with native speakers. Students will perform regular exercises to improve syntax skills, using authentic and meaningful texts. In addition, they will practice their writing by developing different discursive genres. [ more ]
Taught by: Carolina Melgarejo-Torres
Catalog detailsRLSP 200Advanced Grammar and Composition through Literature
Last offered Spring 2019
This course is designed for advanced students who wish to further polish and refine their grammatical, lexical, and writing skills in Spanish. The course may be taken immediately after 105, by placement exam results, or even after students have begun to sample the Department's literature and culture offerings at the 200- and 300-level. Classic works of short fiction by celebrated Latin American authors such as Gabriel García Márquez and Julio Cortázar will be discussed; selected Latin American films will be viewed as well. For written and oral assignments: weekly essays, in-class presentations, and language-laboratory activities. Conducted in Spanish. [ more ]
Taught by: Gene Bell-Villada
Catalog detailsRLSP 201The Spanish Labyrinth
Last offered Fall 2018
Do Spaniards really dance flamenco and have dinner at 10:00 pm? Does everyone in Barcelona speak Catalan? How can you learn to separate the stereotypical images of Spain from reality? How can we talk about one "Spain", when the country a complex composite of ancient and diverse cultural remnants mixed with recent influxes of immigrants and separatist movements? How has the vulnerable peninsula survived centuries of violent upheavals and divisiveness; dramatic economic rises and collapses? In this course we will approach Spain by studying examples of its literary and artistic production, from periods of brilliant cultural exchange, and times of censorship and repression. Some topics of focus will be the Inquisition, the Civil War, and contemporary Spain's obsession with its own recent past. Secondary texts will also be provided for historical and socio-political background and reference. Conducted in Spanish. [ more ]
Taught by: Soledad Fox
Catalog detailsRLSP 202Spain's Fin de Siglo and the Crisis of Ideas
Last offered Spring 2016
In this class we will read the works of some of modern Spain's influential writers from the late part of the nineteenth century and the first three decades of the twentieth. Our aim is to understand how fiction and philosophy represented this significant time in Spain's history. The loss of the war with the U.S. in 1898, the turbulent shifts of power within the country, Spanish regional identities, and the cultural and intellectual movements that shaped Spain on the eve of the Civil War are among the key issues we will address. Our primary sources--largely fiction and poetry by artists such as Miguel de Unamuno, Azorín, Antonio Machado, Pío Baroja--will be complemented with a rigorous study of the cultural landscape of Spain at that time. Our principal engagement with philosophy will be through José Ortega y Gasset, in particular his output from the 1920s. [ more ]
RLSP 203(F)From Modernismo to El Boom de la Novela
A survey of some of the leading imaginative writers of Ibero America. Readings will begin with the modernista poets and go on to include fiction of Mexico by Rulfo, a wide sampling of verse by Pablo Neruda, and narratives of the "Boom" period by authors such as Borges, Cortázar, Lispector, and García Márquez. Conducted in Spanish. [ more ]
Taught by: Gene Bell-Villada
Catalog detailsRLSP 205The Latin-American Novel in Translation
Last offered Fall 2018
A course specifically designed to enable students who have no knowledge of Spanish to read and discover those Latin-American authors who, in the twentieth century, have attracted world-wide attention. Among the texts to be discussed: Borges, Labyrinths; Cortázar, Blow-up and Hopscotch; Lispector, the Hour of the Star lesser works by Fuentes and Puig; and by Nobel Prize-winner Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Conducted in English [ more ]
Taught by: Gene Bell-Villada
Catalog detailsRLSP 206Latin-American Civilizations
Last offered Spring 2017
An introduction to the multiple elements constituting Latin-American culture. Class assignments include readings from selected Latin-American essayists and screenings of classic films. Particular focus on the conflict between local and foreign cultural traditions. Areas to be considered: Spanish Catholicism, the influence of European liberalism and U.S. expansion, the Indian and African contribution, and the cultural impact of social revolution in Mexico and Cuba. Conducted in Spanish. [ more ]
Taught by: Gene Bell-Villada
Catalog detailsRLSP 208The Spanish Civil War in Literature and Film
Last offered Spring 2015
The Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) has generated a vast bibliography and filmography that to this day reflect widely antagonistic interpretations of the conflict itself, its roots, and its impact. From the Spanish perspective, the war is the most important single event in understanding modern Spain. The ideals, passions, and consequences of the Spanish Civil War still divide Spaniards and have been recreated and relived by writers, artists, and filmmakers, and debated by historians. The course will begin with a historical introduction to the origins, development, and outcome of the war. Was the Spanish war a national struggle or an international struggle played out on Spanish soil? Along with studying internal Spanish political divisions, we will also consider the impact of the foreign policy positions of other countries-including Germany, Italy, the United States, and Russia--vis-a-vis Spain, as well as the role of the thousands of foreign volunteers who formed the International Brigades and came from all over the world to fight against Franco. With this historical basis, we will see how the themes and issues of the war are reflected in Spanish poetry, short fiction, novels, and films from the time of the war up through the present day. Readings will include works by Ayala, Cernuda, Neruda, Goytisolo, Sender, Fernan-Gomez, and Matute. Films will include documentaries as well as classic and contemporary features. Conducted in Spanish. [ more ]
RLSP 209(F)Spanish for Heritage Speakers
This course is intended for students of Latino/a heritage. It will address the unique needs of students whose knowledge of Spanish comes primarily from informal and family situations rather than a conventional classroom experience. The goal of the course is to build on and expand students' existing knowledge of Spanish while developing skills for using the language in more formal/academic contexts. [ more ]
Taught by: Carolina Melgarejo-Torres
Catalog detailsRLSP 211(S)A Survey of Spanish Literature from the 11th to the 17th Centuries
This course will introduce the student to some of the major works of Spanish literature from its beginnings through the Golden Age. We will study the historical context in which the works were written as well as the literary history of the periods in question. Students will learn methods of textual analysis through readings of relevant literary criticism. Readings will include selected canonical prose, poetry, and drama of the periods; special emphasis will be given to the myth of the coexistence of three religions in Iberia and the often misguided idea of dividing this literature into the categories of 'medieval' and 'Renaissance'. Conducted in Spanish.This course fulfills the pre-1800 requirement for the Spanish major [ more ]
Taught by: Leyla Rouhi
Catalog detailsRLSP 214"Ecologismo": Literature, Culture and the Environment in Latin America
Last offered Spring 2019
How have Latin American authors and artists responded to environmental concerns, from the logging and rubber booms that threatened the Amazon in the early 20th century to contemporary global warming? How do the realities of Latin American societies--including massive disparities of wealth and poverty; the cultural and political impacts of the region's indigenous populations; and the complex histories of colonialism, dependency and neoliberalism--inform Latin American responses to environmental issues? How does Latin America's environmental imaginary differ from those of the U.S. and Europe? In this course we will explore these issues and more through literature and other cultural texts from Latin America. We will consider short stories and novellas by authors including Horacio Quiroga (Uruguay), Luis Sepúlveda (Chile), Mempo Giardinelli (Argentina), and Ana Cristina Rossi (Costa Rica); poetry by Esthela Calderón (Nicaragua), Juan Carlos Galeano (Colombia), Homero Aridjis (Mexico); the paintings of Tomás Sánchez (Cuba); and feature films as well as shorter documentaries. In Spanish. [ more ]
Taught by: Jennifer French
Catalog detailsRLSP 217 TLove in the Spanish Golden Age
Last offered Spring 2013
The principal focus of this course is the Spanish "comedia" of the seventeenth century (with supplemental readings from prose and poetry) to provide us with a dynamic and critical understanding of the theme of love as constructed by the greatest dramatists and authors of the period. Works by Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina, Calderón, Cervantes, San Juan de la Cruz, and others will show us how the theme was treated from diverse perspectives, and how it related to key concepts such as honor, religion, and artistic creativity. Conducted in Spanish or English depending on student ability. [ more ]
RLSP 220Women on the Verge
Last offered Spring 2018
From the early twentieth century to the present day, the radical changes in the lives of Spanish women have clearly reflected the tug of war between progress and tradition in recent Spanish history. The dramatic upheavals in Spanish politics have marked and transformed the lives of women to such a great extent that one can often gauge the political and social climate of any given historical moment by considering how the role of women was defined by the law, the Catholic church, education, and other social and political institutions. Using literary and historical texts as well as films and graphic materials, this course will look at the transformations in the public and private lives of Spanish women during the following periods: the turn of the century, the Second Republic, the Spanish Civil War, the Franco years, and the transition to democracy. [ more ]
Taught by: Soledad Fox
Catalog detailsRLSP 223 TColonial Landscapes: Latin America's Contemporary Environmental Literature
Last offered Fall 2014
"It is not by coincidence that our societies are both racist and anti-ecological," wrote the Chilean sociologist Fernando Mires in his now-classic study, The Discourse of Nature. This tutorial explores works of contemporary literature that implicitly and explicitly link Latin America's ongoing environmental crisis to the region's long and multi-layered history of colonialism: novels by Sylvia Iparraguirre (Argentina), Mayra Montero (Puerto Rico), Giaconda Belli (Nicaragua), Luis Sepúlveda (Chile); poetry by Homero Aridjis (México); essays by Octavio Paz (Mexico), Eduardo Viveiros de Castro (Brazil), and more. Representing a wide variety of geographies, literary styles and ideological perspectives, these writers nevertheless converge in challenging us to consider the effects of environmental crisis within structures of power that are radically unequal at the local, national, and global levels; and to recognize that consciousness of environmental vulnerability can prompt new forms of inclusion and community as well as exclusion. Topics to be explored also include the role of indigenous cosmologies in contemporary environmental politics, the place of urban ecologies within the environmental imaginary, and the ongoing debates among academic critics and others regarding the scope and methodologies of ecocriticism as an approach to Latin American literature. Students have the option of tutorial in Spanish or in English; partners will be assigned accordingly. Each tutorial pair will meet with me for one hour during the week, during which time we will discuss a 5-page paper that one of the partners has submitted the night before. This adds up to a substantial amount of (reading and) writing for each student in the course, i.e., six 5-page essays over the course of the semester. [ more ]
RLSP 225Subalternity, Dictatorship, and the Dream of Emancipation: Paraguay, 1811-Present
Last offered Fall 2016
Paraguay is at once the most "typical" of Latin American countries and the most enigmatic. With a predominantly Guarani-speaking population, enormous disparities of wealth and poverty, and a political tradition that favors authoritarian dictatorship, Paraguay is also celebrated, in certain circles, as the only Latin American nation that actually achieved economic and political independence when the other republics were fast becoming economic dependencies of Britain and the US in the 19th century. This course explores the subjects of subalternity, dictatorship, and the "dream of emancipation" in Paraguay's cultural production of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. We will examine together the writings of the brilliant novelist Augusto Roa Bastos, especially Son of Man and I the Supreme; stories and poems by Teresa Lamas, Josefina Pla, and others; Paraguay's rich and vibrant tradition of visual art; and works of classic and contemporary film. Conducted in Spanish. [ more ]
Taught by: Jennifer French
Catalog detailsRLSP 228 TVelázquez, Goya, and Picasso
Last offered Spring 2019
This course will provide an introduction to three major Spanish painters--Velázquez, Goya, and Picasso--who lived and worked, respectively, in the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. Though these painters are world famous, they are rarely studied comparatively, and in the context of their Spanish artistic roots. The syllabus will cover the historical and social contexts in which they started working, and how they followed, and departed from, artistic conventions of the time. Through specific paintings, we will consider the historical evolution of the artists' relationship to their patrons and subjects, from the elite status of Velázquez within the royal court, to Goya's dramatic rise with the reigns of Charles III, and Charles IV, and his subsequent exile to France. Picasso was free of royal patronage and also lived in France, yet despite this freedom he remained deeply connected to the themes and concerns of his Spanish artistic predecessors. In addition to key paintings including Velázquez's "Las Meninas" and other royal portraits, Goya's "Maja Desnuda" and his series "The Disasters of War," Picasso's "Guernica," and his own 20th century reinterpretation of "Las Meninas," we will focus on the artists' shared subjects of portraits and war, and consider the following issues: How does the role of the Spanish artist change over the periods covered? How did the artist exercise his freedom whilst under the scrutiny of the court and the Catholic Church? How were these painters' lives and work shaped by key historical events such as the Inquisition, Napoleon's invasion of Spain, or the Spanish Civil War? How does the work of art evolve in its role from private royal commission to public display in museums open to all? We will read short literary pieces from each period, primary materials such as letters and other documents, and historical and critical works. All readings will be in English. Knowledge of Spanish is encouraged, but not required. [ more ]
Taught by: Soledad Fox
Catalog detailsRLSP 230Mexican Literature and Film
Last offered Fall 2018
This course will offer a survey of the rich and varied cultural production of Mexico, from the colonial period to the present. Students will explore a variety of literary genres (novels and shorter works of prose fiction, poetry and essays) as well as film, journalism and other kinds of cultural production within a framework of historical contextualization and formal analysis. Conducted in Spanish. [ more ]
Taught by: Roxana Blancas Curiel
Catalog detailsRLSP 251(F)Somos Sur: US-Mexico-Central American Borderlines
What are borderlands? How have they been created? How do they affect the life of those who cross or are being crossed by these borders? This course focuses on the cultural production that explores US-Mexico-Central American borderlands and the diverse policies and practices that (re)create and (re)image these borders. In consideration of some of the dictatorships in Central America, the NAFTA agreement and post 9/11 policies, as well as war zones and the drug war; we will explore the concepts of citizenship, migration, nationalism, and (in)visibility in its intersection with gender, racial positioning, and social class. Drawing upon cultural studies, feminist theory, history, and ethnography we will examine materials such as photography, installation art, journalism, literature, film, and music. This interdisciplinary approach aims to shed light on the causes and consequences of the political, cultural, and economic narratives involved in our current understanding of these fronteras. This class is conducted in Spanish; readings will be in both English and Spanish. [ more ]
Taught by: Roxana Blancas Curiel
Catalog detailsRLSP 266The Exemplary Fiction of Miguel de Cervantes
Last offered Spring 2010
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616) is considered by some to be the father of the modern novel, and known worldwide for authorship of Don Quijote. This course will offer students the opportunity to read another body of work by Cervantes: his collection of short prose works collectively titled Las novelas ejemplares. Attention will be given to the structure and design of the tales, the socio-political and literary context that shaped them, and the often unsettling implications of Cervantes' approach to themes such as honor, social and moral presuppositions, marriage, adultery, and the place of representation in art and life. [ more ]
Taught by: Leyla Rouhi
Catalog detailsRLSP 274Women's Contemporary Cultural Production in Latin America
Last offered Spring 2019
In Latin America, women have been largely displaced as historical subjects and reduced, in many ways, to symbolic figures or icons whose trajectories have been depicted as essential to the construction of diverse social projects within the context of patriarchal nation-states. Each country has formed a specific idea of what a woman is, and can be, through its cultural production, and this constant erasure/objectification has led to a complex problematic when it comes to addressing women as cultural producers. Keeping this in mind, in this course we will explore the concept of "Woman" as a representation and women as cultural producers in contemporary Latin America. We will address intersections of race/ethnic positioning, sexual identity, and social class to explore their role in the reception and understanding of the work of these female artists. Through the analysis of varied cultural production, the syllabus will present an interdisciplinary approach to the contributions of female artists to the cultural representation of race/ethnicity, masculinity, femininity, violence, sexuality, gender identity, nationalism, citizenship, and social movements. We will explore the work of artists such as Sara Castrejón, Nahui Ollin, Citlali Fabián, Amparo Dávila, Alejandra Pizarnik, Rosario Castellanos, Reina Roffé, Ana Tijoux, Lucrecia Martel, Chavela Vargas, Graciela Iturbide, Celia Cruz, Lucía Puenzo, Cecilia Barriga, Cristina Rivera Garza, María Novaro, Cristina Peri Rossi, Maruch Sántiz Gómez, Leonora Carrington, and Maris Bustamante, among others. In addition, we will read theoretical texts on diverse subjects corresponding to each specific cultural product.
. [ more ]Taught by: Roxana Blancas Curiel
Catalog detailsRLSP 280(S)From Roma to Yalhalhj: Race and Identity Politics Through Contemporary Mexican Cultural Production
In 2017, the National Institute of Statistics in Mexico (INEGI) used for the first time a color palette to measure individuals' skin tone. The study showed that "Mexicans who were classified by the interviewers as having darker skin tones tend to have lower levels of education and are worse off economically than their lighter-skinned counterparts" (Zizumbo and Flores, 2017). Raising controversy among those who would like to think of Mexico as a post-racial nation and those who recognize social inequality and discrimination on the basis of skin tone, the debate resonates in the way Mexican citizenship and cultural identity are both represented in mainstream media, even with the intention of showing diversity. The prevalent whitewashing dominating mass media in Mexico extends from advertisements to films, promoting an image of wealth and education intrinsically related to not only skin tone but also with race/ethnic positionality and gender. This course will explore the representation of these variables and their intersections through the analysis of photography, films, novels, paintings, reality shows, telenovelas, advertising campaigns, and music videos. In addition, we will take into account questions of representation, agency, and visibility addressed by cultural producers from pueblos originarios who do not consider themselves Mexican citizens. This class will be conducted in Spanish. [ more ]
Taught by: Roxana Blancas Curiel
Catalog detailsRLSP 301Cervantes' "Don Quijote"
Last offered Spring 2015
We will devote the entire semester to the study of one novel: Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quijote, published in the early part of the 17th century. We will try to understand the reasons for the novel's immense and ongoing influence on Western literature and thought. To do so, we will study Cervantes' masterful handling of issues that continue to have an uncanny relevance to our lives today: relationships between men and women, the perception of Muslims by Christians and vice versa, the role of fiction in life, the shapes of mental illness, how we decide who we are, how our governments and families and friends decide who we are, the fun and annoyance of going on a totally disorganized road trip with someone else, the meaning of justice, and the meaning of storytelling, to name a few things. In the process, we will continually set things in context and make sure that we understand what was going on in Cervantes' world that might better explain what goes on in his novel. Finally, we will find that even an entire semester is not enough to engage fully with this extraordinary work, but we will be very glad that we made some headway. Conducted in Spanish [ more ]
RLSP 303(S)Cervantes' "Don Quixote" in English Translation
A close study of one of the most influential and early European novels. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616 C.E) was a hit in its day in the seventeenth century, and has not ceased to influence artists and thinkers since. Moving between humorous and serious tones, Cervantes takes on several issues in the Quixote: the point of fiction in real life, the complications of relationships between men and women, the meaning of madness, the experience of religious co-existence, the shapes of friendship, and the task of literary criticism, just to name a few. We will read the book in a fine modern English-language translation, and set it in several relevant contexts to better understand its original intellectual horizon--seventeenth-century Spain--as well as the reasons for its continuing relevance. [ more ]
Taught by: Leyla Rouhi
Catalog detailsRLSP 306 TLatino Writing: Literature by U.S. Hispanics
Last offered Spring 2017
Writing by U.S. Hispanics constitutes a new voice in American letters. In this tutorial, we will read and discuss work by U.S. Latinos and examine the social backgrounds to their texts. The experiences of immigration and assimilation, and the specific complexities of being both Hispanic and North American will be addressed. Authors to be studied: Jose Antonio Villarreal, Tomas Rivera, Richard Rodriguez, Sandra Cisneros, Rudolfo Anaya, Piri Thomas, Oscar Hijuelos, Cristina Garcia, Junot Diaz and historical texts by Carey McWilliams, and Rodolfo Acuña. Given the absence of a critical consensus around these recent titles, our task is to gain some sense of their common traits as a tradition, and place them within the larger body of literature of the Americas and the world. The tutorial will examine one work or set of authors per week. A student will bring, written out in full, an oral presentation focusing on the artistic features and sociocultural content of the assigned reading. Questioning of the presenter, on the part of the second tutee and the tutor, will follow. The course is designed to accommodate both Spanish and English speaking students. A student able to read and speak Spanish will be paired with another student of similar proficiency. Students who neither read nor speak Spanish will be paired together. [ more ]
Taught by: Gene Bell-Villada
Catalog detailsRLSP 308(S)The Subject of Empire: Race, Gender and Power in the Colonial Era
This class studies Latin American literature of the colonial era (1492-1898) from the perspective of the constitution of the subject: the autobiographical 'yo' that is both the subject of discourse and the object of sovereign power. Our readings will include the most outstanding texts of the group collectively known as the Chronicles of the Conquest--the letters of Christopher Columbus and Hernán Cortés and Bernal Díaz del Castillo's True History of the Conquest of New Spain, among others--whose authors endeavor to establish their historical authority and legitimate their actions before the Spanish king. We will also read later works in which racially and sexually marginalized subjects struggle to contest the identities and the conditions imposed on them by a distant sovereign through far-reaching institutional networks: the mestizo historian known as El Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, the cross-dressed soldier Catalina de Erauso, the poet Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and the slave Juan Francisco Manzano.
[ more ] Taught by: Jennifer French
Catalog detailsRLSP 319Dictatorship and the Latin-American Novel
Last offered Spring 2019
Military dictatorship is among the most crucial factors in Latin-American society and history, and some of the continent's leading novelists have taken it upon themselves to depict the experience in their work. In this course we will examine both the fact of dictatorship itself and the diverse representation thereof in Spanish-American fiction. Novels by García Márquez, Vargas Llosa, Poniatowska, and Tomas Eloy Martínez will be closely studied. Students will also read Absalom! Absalom! by Faulkner, whose influence on Latin-American authors' techniques of representation has been decisive and profound. [ more ]
Taught by: Gene Bell-Villada
Catalog detailsRLSP 322Islam in Spain
Last offered Spring 2017
The presence of Islam--in all its diverse manifestations--is not new to Europe, least of all to Spain. In this course we will focus for the most part on the medieval and early modern periods, and study several works--primarily of literature, though we will supplement with other texts--in which Muslims and Islam have been portrayed in the Iberian Peninsula. We will cover a wide range of perspectives that include Christian and Muslim writers as well as converts on both sides. While the bulk of the course is focused on the period prior to 1700 CE, we will devote the final few weeks of class to the study of Islam in contemporary Spain using fiction, legal debates, and issues related to immigration. Conducted in Spanish [ more ]
Taught by: Leyla Rouhi
Catalog detailsRLSP 401(F)Climate Changes (Latin America): Aesthetics, Politics, Science
In her 2007 book, In Catastrophic Times: Resisting the Coming Barbarism, philosopher Isabelle Stengers offers a chilling observation: "we are more badly equipped than ever for putting to work the solutions defined as necessary" to avoid the most devastating effects of global warming--the extinction of 25 to 75% of existing species; an increase in sea levels that will drown island nations and coastal cities; the breakdown of agricultural systems, leading to widespread famine; and the recurrence of powerful hurricanes and other so-called "natural" disasters. All of this, as Stengers and others point out, will create human upheaval, conflict and suffering on an unprecedented scale. This senior seminar examines works of literature, art and film that Latin Americans have produced in response to the catastrophic times in which we live. We will discuss the political, economic, and cultural histories that have led to our present moment, including neoliberalism, dictatorship, and the rise and fall of the leftwing Pink Tide. Through works of new and experimental fiction, poetry, film, performance and visual art, we will consider the lives and work of environmental activists, including Berta Cáceres and others who were murdered because of their outspoken opposition to extractive capitalism, examine the struggle for the decolonization of environmental knowledge, an epistemological battle increasingly waged on behalf of all living things, and experience the politics of mourning for the hundreds of thousands of life-forms disappearing from the planet. Cultural texts to be explored throughout the semester may include: La vorágine (José Eustasio Rivera, Colombia, 1924); Distancia de rescate (Samanta Schweblin, Argentina, 2014); Lo que soño Sebastián (Rodrigo Rey Rosa, Guatemala, 1995); Serras da desordem (Andrea Tonacci, Brazil, 2006); Boi Neón (Gabriel Mascaro, Brazil, 2015); American Fork (George Handley, USA, 2018). [ more ]
Taught by: Jennifer French
Catalog detailsRLSP 402Senior Seminar Madrid: 1939-2004
Last offered Spring 2017
In this course we will examine life in Madrid during two key periods: the Franco Dictatorship (1939-1975), and the first four decades of democracy (1975-2016). We will consider how representations of urban landscapes (churches, convents, prisons, museums, slums, bars and schools) have shaped and reflected the lives of madrileñas and madrileños past and present. We will study works by 20th century and contemporary Spanish authors, filmmakers, photographers, and journalists, as well as period advertisements and examples of popular culture. How was Madrid's image as international capital of art, sun, soccer and bullfighting forged? What remnants of the past lurk behind this appealing façade? How do the Atocha train Station bombings of 2004 relate to unresolved political tensions from 1939? [ more ]
Taught by: Soledad Fox
Catalog detailsRLSP 403Senior Seminar: Early Modern Love and Marriage
Last offered Fall 2018
We might think that love is a natural human feeling and marriage its happiest consequence, but in fact these two conditions are among the most carefully constructed phenomena in any society, highly dependent on time period and place. In this senior seminar we will focus on pre-modern Iberia to study the many manifestations and constructions of love (and marriage), several of which continue to influence definitions of both to this day. We will look at sacred, profane, family, and married love through treatises, medical writings, plays, short stories, poems. Our theoretical underpinnings will come from reflections on love from the time period under consideration as well as contemporary critiques of love and marriage. Primary sources will include early lyrical traditions, the poetry of King Alfonso X, the works of Santa Teresa, Lope de Vega, Calderón de la Barca, Cervantes, among others. Conducted in Spanish. [ more ]
Taught by: Leyla Rouhi
Catalog detailsRLSP 493(F)Senior Thesis: Spanish
Spanish senior thesis [ more ]
Taught by: Jennifer French
Catalog detailsRLSP 494(S)Senior Thesis: Spanish
Spanish senior thesis [ more ]
Taught by: Jennifer French
Catalog detailsRLSP 497(F)Independent Study: Spanish
Spanish independent study. [ more ]
Taught by: Jennifer French
Catalog detailsRLSP 498(S)Independent Study: Spanish
Spanish independent study. [ more ]
Taught by: Jennifer French
Catalog details
WELCOME~¡BIENVENIDOS!
Are you new to Spanish at Williams? If you are a first-year student, or a returning student interested in taking your first Spanish class at Williams, please READ THIS CAREFULLY.
SPANISH PLACEMENT TEST, 2019-2020
ALL students interested in studying Spanish must take the WILLIAMS COLLEGE SPANISH PLACEMENT TEST. The only exception is students who have never taken Spanish before and plan to enroll in RLSP 101 in the fall.
Please mark your calendars: Our online placement test will be available on Tuesday, August 27th, 2019 between 8:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. You can take the test from any computer (including your own) at any time during that 3-hour window. The test should take you about 1 hour to complete. Click here to enroll for the test, and return to this course on Tuesday August 27th to take the test.
**You will need your Williams College user account in order to enroll.
Spanish Placement Test FAQs
I. Do I still need to take the test if…?
1. “I took Spanish many years ago but don’t remember much.” YES
2. “I’ve never studied Spanish, but we speak Spanish at home.” YES
3. “I took AP Spanish.” YES
4. “I went to a bilingual school.” YES
5. “I have never studied Spanish. I do not speak, write, or read it. Do I need to take the test?” NO
II. Is the test offered at another time?
NO, the Placement Test is only offered once a year.
III. I’m not sure yet if I want to take Spanish this year. Should I take the test anyway?
YES! That way we will have your score on file if and when you decide you’re ready to study Spanish.
**In case of technical problems during the test, please email [email protected]
Still have questions?
Please contact:
Lucy J. Green
Departmental Administrative Assistant
Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
413-597-2391
[email protected]
The Spanish Language Certificate
There is more information about the requirements for the Certificate in Major and Certificate page.
