Spring 2003

(Course information subject to change)
(Cross-reference with Department roster)

Spanish 115
Spanish for the Medical Professions I
Staff
MW 6:30-8:45 PM

This course introduces beginning students to the fundamentals of practical Spanish usage in medical situations. The course is two-pronged: linguistic competence in Spanish will be stressed along with a focus on applied medical terminology. Emphasis will be placed on all four skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing, with a specific focus on perfecting speaking and listening skills. Students will be expected to participate actively in classroom activities such as role-playing based on typical office and emergency procedures.

Spanish 120
Elementary Spanish
Staff
(See Timetables for times)
(Prerequisite: SPAN 110 at Penn)

Spanish 120 is the continuation of Spanish 110. Students who place into a second-level Spanish course in the placement test should take Spanish 121.

Spanish 121
Elementary Spanish
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

Spanish 125
Spanish For the Medical Professions II
Staff
MW 6:30-8:45 PM

Spanish 130
Intermediate Spanish
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

Spanish 130 is a third semester content-based language course designed to help students achieve intermediate-mid competency in Spanish. It emphasizes the development of reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in an academic context. Throughout the course, students will explore the history and literature of Spanish-speakers in the United States, Spain, Central America and the Caribbean. This course emphasizes the linguistic skills necessary to investigate, understand and express cultural themes in Spanish. Prerequisites: Spanish 120 or equivalent score on the placement exam or SATII.

Spanish 134
Accelerated Intermediate Spanish
Staff
MWF 9-10AM, TR 9-10:30 AM

Spanish 135
Spanish for Medical Professionals, Intermediate I
Staff
MW 6:30-8:30 PM

Spanish 140
Intermediate Spanish
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

Spanish 140 is a fourth semester content-based language course designed to help students achieve intermediate-mid competency in Spanish. It emphasizes the development of reading, writing, listening and speaking skills in an academic context. Throughout the course, students will explore the history and literature of Spanish-speakers in Central and South America. This course emphasizes the linguistic skills necessary to investigate, understand and express cultural themes in Spanish. Prerequisites: Spanish 130 or equivalent score on the placement exam or SATII.

Spanish 145
Spanish for the Medical Professions, Intermediate II
Staff
MW 6:30-8:30 PM

Spanish 180
Spanish Conversation in Residence
Staff
Time TBA

Students must be residents of the Modern Language College House.

Spanish 202
Advanced Spanish
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

The main goal of this course is to build students' oral proficiency while increasing their awareness of Hispanic culture. Reading, listening, and writing skills are also practiced. Reading and listening materials provide opportunities for students to be exposed to authentic language use and to integrate these forms into their speaking. Some expository writing is done with the goal of perfecting students' command of linguistic structures and cohesive devices.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 140 and/or having passed the proficiency exam.

Spanish 208
Business Spanish I
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

This course is designed to develop students' use of Spanish for business purposes. It is conducted in Spanish. In addition to technical vocabulary, an outline of the geography, demography, forms of government, and current economic issues facing Latin American countries and Spain is presented in lectures, readings, and translations.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 140 and/or having passed the proficiency exam.

Spanish 212
Advanced Spanish Syntax
Staff
(See Timetables for times)

A rigorous advanced grammar course. Emphasis on acquisition of a solid knowledge of all important points of Spanish grammar, plus rules governing colloquial usage. Required of all majors and minors. Also useful for non-majors who wish to improve their language skills before beginning advanced courses on culture, or for those who want a practical working knowledge of Spanish for career work. Class work consists mostly of discussion and correction of assigned exercises.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 202 or equivalent.

Spanish 215
Spanish for the Professions I
Prof. Basaluzzo
TR 1:30-3

Spanish for Professions is designed to provide advanced-level language students (post-proficiency) with a wide technical vocabulary and understanding of key areas in the developing Latin American countries. Emphasis is placed on the enhancement of technical vocabulary and solid communicative skills. A series of topics including Politics, Economy, Society, Health, Environment, Education and Science and Technology will reveal realities and underlying challenges in the Latin American scenario. Through essays, papers, articles, research, discussions, case studies, and videotapes we will take an in-depth look at the dynamics of Latin American societies and future outlook. The course will focus on - but not be restricted to - Mexico, Cuba and Argentina.

Spanish 219
Contextos de la Civilización Hispánica
Prof. Espòsito
(See Timetables for times)

The primary aim of this course is to develop students' knowledge of the geographical, historical, and cultural contexts in which Spanish is used. At the same time that they are introduced to research techniques and materials available in Spanish, students strengthen their language skills through reading, oral presentations, video viewing, short papers, and a final research project. The course is designed to give students a broad understanding of Hispanic culture that will prepare them for upper-level course work. Required of all majors and minors.
Prerequisite(s): Spanish 212.

Spanish 319-301
Language, Conflict, and Identity: A Linguistic History of Iberia
Prof. Espòsito
TR 3-4:30

Beginning with the earliest Celtic migrations, the linguistic history of the Iberian Peninsula has been marked by languages in contact and in conflict. This course is an exploration of these Iberian linguistic encounters and struggles. As linguistic historians, we shall follow a canonical chronology that will examine pre-Roman influences, Iberian Latinity, the linguistic fragmentation of the Peninsula, medieval attempts at standardization, the rise of the Academy and the renaissance of the languages of the Autonomías. As critical readers, we shall interpret these linguistic cultures in light of their foundational ideologies. Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 348-301 and 348-302
Don Quijote
Prof. Willstedt
MWF 12-1
or TR 12-1:30

First published in 1605, Miguel de Cervantes's masterpiece has been hailed as the "first great novel of world literature," and its main character as a universal literary myth. Written at a time when a new view of the world was rising, in a country whose imperial dreams were beginning to wane, the hilarious exploits of the madman of La Mancha and his loyal squire literally embody - through Cervantes's keenly ironic eye - the cultural and political upheavals that were taking place. In this course we will study El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de la Mancha against its aesthetic, ideological, and historical background in Renaissance and Baroque Spain. Special attention will be given to Cervantes's use of innovative literary devices (such as the creation of a self-conscious narrator, the subversion of narrative reliability, the multiplication of levels of fictionality, and the manipulation of the point of view, among others) to bring to the fore the complex relation between art and experience, fiction and reality that characterized Spanish culture of the times. Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 350-301
Mystics, Demoniacs, and Virtual Realities: Reading Postmodern Spanish Culture Through the Lens of Early Modern Spain
Prof. Lamas
TR 12-1:30

Hi-tech fantasies have generated a new notion of reality that has displaced the traditional forms of consciousness and experience. By reading texts from a large range of Spanish authors and periods, we will map a genealogy of the contemporary obsession of going beyond the concrete limits of everyday life. The course covers from Sufi mysticism to inquisitorial techniques, from moral medicine to astrology, film, and video games. Among the writers studied will be Ibn Arabi de Murcia, San Juan de la Cruz, Sepúlveda, Torres Villarroel, Goytisolo, and Valente. We will also study critical works by authors such as Virilio, Baudrillard, and Castells. Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 381-301
Poets in an Urban Landscape
Prof. López
MWF 2-3

Through the examination of both lyrical and philosophical texts, we will explore the problematic relationship between desire and reality and between the artist and the social milieu. The relationship of the poet with the modern urban environment--the latter viewed both as an alien horizon and as the space of nostalgia for a primordial existence-will be the guiding theme of the course. We will read texts from some of Spain's most important modern poets, including Bécquer, Rosalía de Castro, Unamuno, Juan Ramón Jiménez, the authors of the Generation of 27, Miguel Hernández, Valente, Gil de Biedma, Atencia, Gimferrer and Carnero. We will complement these readings with texts from Giner de los Ríos, Ortega y Gasset, Zambrano, Aranguren, Eugenio Trías and José Antonio Marina. Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 386-301
Introduction to Spanish Screenwriting
Prof. Solomon
TR 1:30-3

This course explores the art of writing scripts and screenplays in Spanish. The course begins with a brief overview of Latin American cinema followed by close readings of several screenplays, including Fabián Bielinsky's recent "Nueve reinas" (Argentina), Guillermo Arriaga's "Amores perros" (Mexico), and Carlos Cuarón's "Y tu mamá también" (Mexico). Through screenings, class discussions and short writing exercises, students learn how to create or identify adaptable stories, build characters, develop dialogues and generate descriptions. Following the international screenwriting format, students will complete one or two acts of an original or adapted screenplay in Spanish. No previous knowledge of screenwriting is required. This is an excellent course for students who are interested in building their advanced Spanish language skills while exploring the Latin American and Latino film and screenwriting. Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 386-302
Female Beauty in the Hispanic World
Prof. García-Serrano
MWF 10-11

The purpose of this course is to study the concern with female beauty and the embellishment of women's bodies in different historical periods and by different groups in Spain and Latin America. Our readings will cover a wide range of topics: from the early condemnation of the use of cosmetics by Christian authorities, to the dress code of contemporary Mayan women and the politics of beauty pageants in Peru. Part of the course will be devoted to analyze and evaluate the literary representations of "beautiful women" both by male and female Hispanic writers: Blanca (La mujer fría by Carmen de Burgos), Julia Andrade (Recuerdos del porvenir by Elena Garro), Remedios la Bella (Cien años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez) and Narcisa (Hagiografía de Narcisa la Bella by Mireya Robles). Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 386-303
Roads to Modernity: Traveling in Spain from 1750 to the Present
Prof. Crumbaugh
MWF 1-2

Throughout the modern period, the journey to and through Spain has been a recurring motif in different aesthetic trends both within Spain itself and in the Western World in general. This course will study such representations of travel in Spain as strategies used to grapple with otherness, explore subjectivity, gauge modernization, and map both the Spanish nation and its subnational communities. We will also take into consideration the socio-historical role of travel during the modern period, paying particular attention to exploration, immigration, and tourism. The course will include authors such as Domingo Agirre, José Cadalso, Camilo José Cela, Alexandre Dumas, Juan Goytisolo, Ernest Hemingway, Wilhelm von Humboldt, José Martínez Ruíz (Azorín), and Emilia Pardo Bazán; and filmmakers such as Montxo Armendáriz and Juanma Bajo Ulloa. Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 386-401
Postmodern Spain and the Films of Almodóvar
Prof. Lamas
TR 1:30-3

Since the institution of democracy, Spain has seemingly changed itself from an old-fashioned, backwards country, into a modern cosmopolitan state. This course explores the cultural transformations in Spanish culture during the last three decades, and questions their depth and extension. Close-readings of Almodóvar's films will be the principal activity of the course. Viewings will be supplemented with readings from writers such as Leopoldo María Panero, Vázquez Montalbán, and Juan Goytisolo, and theorists such as Vattimo, Habermas, and Savater.Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 386-402
High and Low Angles: Recasting Spanish Film Studies
Prof. Crumbaugh
TR 1:30-3

This course examines the most widely studied and critically acclaimed Spanish movies, from the silent era to the cinema of what has been called "Postmodern Spain," and aims to familiarize students with the critical vocabulary and fundamental concepts of Spanish film studies. This will entail careful consideration of technical aspects, the politics of production and distribution, the role of the spectator, responses to Hollywood genre film, and the dialogue between box-office hits and highbrow art film. In the context of the post-Franco period, we will also explore the flourishing of regional (particularly Basque and Catalan) cinema and the increasing globalization of the film industry. Filmmakers include Pedro Almodóvar, Juan Antonio Bardem, Luis Berlanga, Juan José Bigas Luna, Luis Buñuel, Fernando Fernán Gómez, Juan de Orduña, Florián Rey, José Luis Saenz de Heredia, Carlos Saura, Fernando Trueba, Ladislao Vajda, and Imanol Uribe.

Spanish 392-401
The Body and the Crossroads: Cultural Corporality and New World Encounters
Prof. Solomon
TR 10:30-12

This course explores the notion that the European discovery of the New World encouraged new ways of thinking about the body. Reading primary sources such as medical treatises and natural histories as well as popular works of literature, we will attempt to document evolving and emerging concepts of disease, hygiene, and well being. We will examine the way diseases such as syphilis ("las bubas") promoted new ways of looking at the body, and explore the attempts to define and control the bodies of subalterns such as converted Jews, women, homosexuals and indigenous Americans. Readings include selections from Pedro Mexía's "Silva de varia lección," Juan de Cárdenas's "Problemas y secretos maravillosos de las Indias," and Nicholás de Monardes's "Historia medicinal de las cosas que se traen de nuestras Indias Occidentales". Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 396-401
Liberation and Beyond: Contemporary Radical Discourses in Latin America
Prof. Laddaga
MWF 1-2

The culture of the years after 1960 in Latin America is defined by the recurrence, in the most varied fields of practice and discourse (both high and low, popular and academic), of a particular theme: liberation. "Latin America must liberate itself (culturally, politically, economically)," intellectuals, politicians and artists repeatedly maintained in the most diverse tones and with very different intentions. But, what did "liberation" mean at that time? How was Latin America supposed to attain it? And what was to be expected from its attainment? We intend to examine texts and images that address these questions. We will read essays and narratives by Julio Cortázar, Roberto Fernández Retamar, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Ernesto "Ché" Guevara, and others. Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 396-402
Images of Community in Modern Latin American Literature and Art
Prof. Laddaga
MWF 11-12

What is, in the Latin American context, a good community? What form should a desirable community take? What resources can be found in existing communities in the region that can be used to attain this ideal? Latin American intellectuals and artists have been asking these questions, in one form or another, throughout the 20th century. We will analyze some of the answers that they have given in narratives, essays and poems. We will read texts by José Martí, José Vasconcelos, Ezequiel Martínez Estrada, Gilberto Freyre, and others. Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 396-403
Narratives of the Centennial (1910-1930)
Prof. Giaudrone
MW 3-4:30

During the celebrations of the Centenario, the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Independence movement in Latin America, many authors and intellectuals focused their work on the formulation of a Pan-Hispanic cultural order. In the context of the desire to assert a spiritual essence shared by all Latin American nations, the writings of the Centenario proposed an optimistic, cosmopolitan, and Euro-centric vision that also stressed the ideal of the fusion of races and the recuperation of a common past. This course will offer a broad introduction to the wide rage of Latin American texts written during this period, focusing on issues of self, nation, class, race, and gender. Informed by art, as well as social and cultural history, the course will examine, not only literary texts but also commemorative publications ("Almanaques"), literary histories and anthologies, textbooks, magazines, manifestos, and the most representative iconography of the period. Prerequisite: Spanish 219.

Spanish 397-401
The Discourse of Latin American Liberalism
Prof. Salessi
TR 12-1:30

While examining historical documents, novels and poems by key Latin American historical figures and authors such as Simón Bolívar, Esteban Echeverría, Domingo F. Sarmiento, José A. Silva, Rubén Darío and others, the class will trace the development of liberal discourse in Latin America, from its inception during the first half of the 19th century until its peak and demise at the beginning of the 20th century. We will explore liberalism's relationship to the early movements for independence, to the dilemmas of Nation-making and the idea of "order and progress," and to the articulation of a Latin American economy and culture in the international liberal capitalism of our turn-of-the-century. Prerequisite: Spanish 219.