SPAN 1001 Beginning Spanish (4 Credits)

The Beginning Spanish sequence aims to provide practical language skills for meaningful communication in real situations, with the goal of connecting with the diverse Spanish-speaking populations around the world and in the US. Three quarter sequence. SPAN 1001 is designed for students with no previous Spanish experience. Students with more than 2 years of high school Spanish or who grew up in a Spanish-speaking environment must take the placement exam and enroll in a higher-level course.

SPAN 1002 Beginning Spanish (4 Credits)

The Beginning Spanish sequence aims to provide practical language skills for meaningful communication in real situations, with the goal of connecting with the diverse Spanish-speaking populations around the world and in the US. Three quarter sequence. Prerequisite: SPAN 1001 or equivalent.

SPAN 1003 Beginning Spanish (4 Credits)

The Beginning Spanish sequence aims to provide practical language skills for meaningful communication in real situations, with the goal of connecting with the diverse Spanish-speaking populations around the world and in the US. Three quarter sequence. Prerequisite: SPAN 1002 or equivalent.

SPAN 1004 Spanish for Socio-Legal Professionals: Essential Communication Skills (2 Credits)

This course introduces students to the Spanish language essentials needed to work effectively in legal, social justice, international, and community-oriented professional settings. Through practical, real-world activities, students develop the skills to describe their educational background and professional experience, discuss their immediate legal or community environment, communicate key legal and social information, and handle predictable professional interactions with confidence using clear, culturally sensitive language. Instruction emphasizes applied scenarios in law, policy, international studies, and community advocacy, preparing students to navigate culturally nuanced situations and function effectively in Spanish-speaking professional contexts. This course is suitable, but not limited to students in Political Science, Public Policy, Sociology & Criminology, Socio-Legal Studies, and International Studies. The prerequisite for this course is successful completion of SPAN 1002 or placement into SPAN 1003. This 2-credit course may be taken concurrently with SPAN 1003 but does not fulfill the language requirement for the Common Curriculum.

SPAN 1008 Spanish for Healthcare and Wellness Professionals: Essential Communication Skills (2 Credits)

SPAN 1008 introduces students to the essential Spanish needed to communicate effectively in healthcare and wellness settings. This course is designed to meet the critical and growing need in the health professions and emphasizes practical, real-world interactions with Spanish-speaking patients and clients. Students will develop skills to communicate in clear, culturally sensitive, and patient-centered ways by integrating language, culture, and basic clinical communication strategies. Instruction focuses on accessible, everyday communication that helps students understand patients’ perspectives and make health information understandable and respectful. This course is ideal, but not limited to students in pre-med, kinesiology, psychology, neuroscience, biology, biochemistry, public health, and other health-related fields. As part of the 4D Fridays Initiative, SPAN 1008 connects language learning directly with professional preparation and career pathways. It is also the first course in the Spanish for the Professions Healthcare and Wellness Track, followed by SPAN 2008, where students further strengthen workplace communication skills. The prerequisite for this course is successful completion of SPAN 1002 or placement into SPAN 1003. This 2-credit course may be taken concurrently with SPAN 1003 but does not fulfill the language requirement of the Common Curriculum.

SPAN 1701 Topics:Practice Spanish Abroad (4 Credits)

This course is designed for 1003-level SPAN students who want to enhance their Spanish language skills in an immersive, real-world setting in a Spanish-speaking country while preparing for the next level of language study. Students will strengthen their language proficiency and cultural competence through structured learning and real-world practice, equipping them for more advanced Spanish coursework. The course includes a 2-3 week-long stay in a Spanish-speaking country. This course is offered for elective credit only.

SPAN 1988 Study Abroad Resident Credit (0-18 Credits)

SPAN 2001 Intermediate Spanish (4 Credits)

Grammatical structures, close rapid conversation, reading of cultural and literary materials. Prerequisite: SPAN 1003 or equivalent. Three quarter sequence.

SPAN 2002 Intermediate Spanish (4 Credits)

Grammatical structures, close rapid conversation, reading of cultural and literary materials. Prerequisite: SPAN 2001 or equivalent. Three quarter sequence.

SPAN 2003 Intermediate Spanish (4 Credits)

Grammatical structures, close rapid conversation, reading of cultural and literary materials. Prerequisite: SPAN 2002 or equivalent. Three quarter sequence.

SPAN 2004 Spanish for Socio-Legal Professionals: Expanding Communication Skills (2 Credits)

This intermediate-level course expands students’ ability to use Spanish in legal, policy, and community advocacy contexts. Building on SPAN 1004, students develop greater confidence and complexity in socio-legal communication, including summarizing cases, conducting more detailed interviews, preparing community-facing explanations, and navigating culturally nuanced interactions. Through scenario-based tasks, such as mock intakes, policy briefings, case summaries, and community outreach dialogues, students learn to communicate with more detail, accuracy, and intercultural awareness. This course is ideal for, but not limited to students in Political Science, Public Policy, Sociology & Criminology, Socio-Legal Studies, International Studies, and Pre-Law who want to expand their Spanish for professional use. The prerequisite for this course is the successful completion of SPAN 2002 or placement into SPAN 2003. This 2-credit course may be taken concurrently with SPAN 2003 but does not fulfill the language requirement for the Common Curriculum. Although SPAN 1004 is not required, students who completed SPAN 1004 will find that it provides helpful preparation for the content and skills covered in this course.

SPAN 2008 Spanish for Healthcare and Wellness Professionals: Expanding Communication Skills (2 Credits)

SPAN 2008 is the second course in the Spanish for the Professions Healthcare and Wellness Track and builds directly on the foundational skills acquired in SPAN 1008. Designed for students in health, wellness, kinesiology, psychology, public health, and related fields, this intermediate–low course strengthens students’ ability to conduct more sustained, accurate, and culturally mindful interactions with Spanish-speaking patients in real clinical environments. While SPAN 1008 introduced essential vocabulary and short exchanges, SPAN 2008 moves students toward longer, more detailed professional conversations, including patient interviews, wellness counseling, treatment explanations, and navigating culturally specific health beliefs. Students will analyze authentic communication challenges, negotiate meaning in unfamiliar situations, and practice responding to patient concerns using empathetic, patient-centered Spanish. Scenario-based tasks now include expanded consultations, motivational interviewing techniques, preventive-care conversations, team-based huddles, and patient education with culturally grounded adaptations. The course continues to highlight cultural humility and health equity in Spanish-speaking communities in Colorado and the U.S., including disparities in care, community wellness practices, and the influence of folk medicine and traditional healing systems. The prerequisite for this course is the successful completion of SPAN 2002 or placement into SPAN 2003. This 2-credit course may be taken concurrently with SPAN 2003 but does not fulfill the language requirement for the Common Curriculum. Although SPAN 1008 is not required, students who completed SPAN 1008 will find that it provides helpful preparation for the content and skills covered in this course.

SPAN 2050 Form, Meaning and Communication in Spanish (4 Credits)

This course is an overview of advanced Spanish grammatical structures necessary for creating meaning and communication through a cultural, political and social framework. As such, it emphasizes that the Spanish language has a variable grammatical system that changes across its communities and according to contexts of use. This course offers extensive oral and written practice to improve students’ standard grammatical accuracy as well as an overall understanding of the structure of the language. This course provides the metalinguistic knowledge necessary for students to successfully communicate in Spanish both in oral and written form and prepare for upper-level courses, while validating and honoring the rich linguistic differences that characterize the Spanish-speaking world.

SPAN 2100 Conversation and Composition (4 Credits)

Targeted practice in topics related to written and oral development in Spanish. Subject areas may include: literacy and cultural readings, contemporary politics, films, podcasts, music, and contemporary music articles. Prerequisite: SPAN 2003 or equivalent.

SPAN 2200 Spanish for Heritage/Bilingual Speakers I (4 Credits)

Development of the linguistic, literacy and academic language skills of bilingual/heritage speakers of Spanish for preparation to advanced courses and professional settings. Overview of topics relevant to Spanish-speaking communities in the United States. This section is for bilingual/heritage speakers of Spanish only.

SPAN 2250 Spanish for Heritage Speakers II (4 Credits)

Second course of the 2-course sequence for heritage speakers. Continuation of the development of linguistic, literacy and academic language skills of bilingual/heritage speakers of Spanish for preparation to advanced courses and professional settings. This section is for heritage speakers of Spanish only.

SPAN 2300 Iberian Culture & Civilization (4 Credits)

Intensive study of culture of Spain; manifestations of culture found in history, art, architecture, music, literature, and politics of early and modern Spain. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement. Prerequisite: SPAN 2100 or 2200 or 2250 or equivalent.

SPAN 2350 Latin American Culture and Societies (4 Credits)

An introductory and interdisciplinary course on the political, historical, and cultural dynamics that have shaped Latin America, the Caribbean and U.S. Latinos. An examination of the political and intellectual movements and economic forces embedded in relations of power from pre-Colombian civilizations, colonialism, independence, nation building, and imperialism to the struggle for democracy. Analysis of diverse cultural practices such as literature, music, film, and visual art within a national and transnational context. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement. Prerequisite: SPAN 2100 or 2200 or 2250 or equivalent.

SPAN 2400 Latino Cultures in the United States (4 Credits)

Interdisciplinary study of Latino contemporary issues in the United States incorporating aspects of the distinct socio-historical, political, economic, and cultural dynamics that have contributed to the shaping, development and increasing prominence of Latino communities. Includes an examination of how Latino cultural forms and practices intersect with socio-historical, economic, and political forces as a framework for understanding the Mexicano/Chicano, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican and other Latino communities embedded in the very fabric of what constitutes the United States. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement. Prerequisite: SPAN 2100 or 2200 or 2250 or equivalent.

SPAN 2701 Topics in Spanish (4 Credits)

Selected topics, genres, authors and/or literary, cultural, sociopolitical, or historical movements in the Spanish-speaking world. Course with same number but with a different topic may be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: at least one of SPAN 2300, SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 2702 Topics in Spanish (4 Credits)

Selected topics, genres, authors and/or literary, cultural, sociopolitical, or historical movements in the Spanish-speaking world. Course with same number but with a different topic may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.

SPAN 2703 Topics in Spanish (4 Credits)

Selected topics, genres, authors and/or literary, cultural, sociopolitical, or historical movements in the Spanish-speaking world. Course with same number but with a different topic may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 2704 Topics in Spanish (4 Credits)

Selected topics, genres, authors and/or literary, cultural, sociopolitical, or historical movements in the Spanish-speaking world. Course with same number but with a different topic may be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: SPAN 2300 and SPAN 2350.

SPAN 2705 Topics in Spanish (2 Credits)

Selected topics, genres, authors and/or literary, cultural, sociopolitical, or historical movements in the Spanish-speaking world. Course with same number but with a different topic may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: SPAN 2400.

SPAN 2801 Writing, Memory & Terror: Post-Dictatorship Literature of the Southern Cone (4 Credits)

This course explores the representation of violence, repression and disappearance in the post-dictatorship literature of Argentina, Chile and Uruguay in literature and memorialization projects. Students will examine literary testimony in a variety of genres: narrative, poetry, theatre, and critical essays in their social, political and historical contexts, as well as its manifestations in music and film. We will discuss the role of memory in reconstructing discourses; testimonial literature and the modern and postmodern views of representation and memorialization; and points of convergence between this literature and other survivor testimonial narratives, particularly those of the Shoah. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement. No knowledge of Spanish is required or expected. This class will be conducted in English and will not count toward the minor in Spanish. A total of only 4 credits from any SPAN28XX course may count toward the major in Spanish.

SPAN 2802 Afro-Latinos in the US (4 Credits)

Afro-Latin@s (Afro-Latinos and Afro-Latinas) is a group designation for a community that, until recently, had not tended to call itself, or to have been called, in that way. The group’s past, however, demonstrates a sense of tradition and shared social and cultural realities, and the term is increasingly being used in the twenty-first century. Particular to the USA context, as opposed to Latin American countries, is that here the Afro-Latin@ experience has to do with the cross-cultural relation between the Afro and the Latin@, which means most conspicuously the relation between Latin@s and African Americans. It is important, however, not to limit the concept to that connection and recognize the presence of a group that embodies both at once. This class explores the history of Afro-Latin@s in the USA, as well as examples of unique lived experiences of Afro-Latin@ individuals navigating their social identities as they intersect with other Blacks and Latin@s. The identity field linking Black Latin Americans and Latin@s across national and regional lines will remain within focus. The class will be grounded in the analysis and discussion of a variety of texts and artifacts including essays, poetry, narrative, and film. This class will be conducted in English and will not count toward the major or minor in Spanish. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement.

SPAN 2803 Religion and Violence in Latin America (4 Credits)

The Spanish and Portuguese imposed Catholicism in the Americas during the conquest and colonization, brutally repressing indigenous religious expression through persecution and forced conversions. While Catholic doctrine officially replaced the polytheism, animism and ancestor worship of indigenous religions, in actuality, the Colonial period saw great diversity in religious practice, as indigenous populations and African slaves developed systems of religious syncretism adapting the Catholic dogma to their beliefs and practices. However, although Latin America is currently home to more than 425 million Catholics –an estimated 40% of the Catholic population worldwide– and the Roman Catholic Church now has a Latin American pope for the first time in its history, the region is far from being religiously homogeneous. Since independence, immigration, politics, and economics have played an important role in effectively changing the religious demography of Latin America. This course will examine religion and violence in Latin America, from pre-Columbian times until 1983, focusing on the relationship between religion and political power. We will explore pre-Columbian religions; the role of religion in the conquest and colonization of the Americas; African religion and slave religious ritual; religious syncretism; religious art; immigration and religion; revolution and religion; and the political implications of Protestantism and Liberation Theology. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement. This class will be conducted in English and will not count toward the major or minor in Spanish.

SPAN 2804 Latin American Popular Culture (4 Credits)

This course is an introduction to the study of Latin American popular culture. Basic theoretical notions about the subject will be introduced but the emphasis of the class will be on the discussion of literature analyzing specific situations, events or expressions drawn from various Latin American countries during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as well as the United States in the twentieth century. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement. No knowledge of Spanish is required or expected. This class will be conducted in English and will not count toward the minor in Spanish. A total of only 4 credits from any SPAN28XX course may count toward the major in Spanish.

SPAN 2805 The Sociopolitics of a Majority-Minority Language in the U.S. (4 Credits)

This course is an introduction and critical exploration of the sociohistorical, sociopolitical and sociolinguistic implications of Spanish as a language of use in local communities across the United States. Because the primary focus of exploration, in this case, is the social and political issues related to Spanish in the U.S., we will focus on its use and representation, rather than on its linguistic representation. Similarly, we will conceive of language—any language—as social action, particularly the ways in which people use language to convey social and political meanings. To achieve such an undertaking, students will be exposed to an interdisciplinary, sociopolitical approach to a language spoken by more than 40 million people in the United States today (American Community Survey, 2020), exploring the complex historical context that makes Spanish the de facto second language spoken locally as well as nationally. Key to this analysis will be the introduction of social constructionism and other critical sociolinguistic notions that explain social categories such as race, language, gender and class as not fixed but rather, socially constructed. In all, this course will explore how Spanish, as a minority-majority language, presents fertile ground for recognizing the social and political implications of language use. Students will engage with the material through course lectures, active discussions, and analyses of real-life examples of Spanish use on the ground. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement. No knowledge of Spanish is required or expected. This class will be conducted in English and will not count toward the minor in Spanish. A total of only 4 credits from any SPAN28XX course may count toward the major in Spanish.

SPAN 2806 Latin American Food Landscapes (4 Credits)

This course focuses on the ways in which Latin American food landscapes —alimentary cultivation, production, purveyance, preparation, and consumption— reveal the complexities of various political, socioeconomic, ecological, and cultural contexts. Students will be challenged to consider the ways in which, throughout the Américas and since the pre-conquest era, diverse food landscapes have often provided marginalized individuals and communities with opportunities to creatively resist policies or prejudices aimed at erasing local food and agricultural practices and preferences. Course lectures and readings are informed by key tenets of global and interdisciplinary food studies and offer students with the opportunity to explore a variety of genres and areas of knowledge. Course topics include the intersections of Latin American Food Landscapes and: notions of freedom, identity, and nationality; gastro-imperialism; culinary arts and seduction; food-related religious and spiritual practices; agroecology & Indigenous epistemologies; agrarian reform & food security activism; urban agriculture; breastfeeding practices and polemics; gastrotourism; cross-cultural food & mountain studies. No knowledge of Spanish is required or expected, although interested students may choose to complete select course readings or assignments in Spanish, Portuguese, and/or Quechua. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement. This class will be conducted in English and will not count toward the minor in Spanish. A total of only 4 credits from any SPAN28XX course may count toward the major in Spanish.

SPAN 2807 Salvador Dalí and His Surrealist Friends (4 Credits)

This interdisciplinary course is an exploration of Salvador Dalí´s Surrealist art and life, focusing particularly on the influence that his early friendships had on his work. Students will analyze surrealist art while also learning about Dalí´s fertile artistic collaborations and personal relationships with a select group of artists such as filmmaker Luis Buñuel, writer Federico García Lorca (both intimate friends of Dalí); poets André Breton and Paul Éluard (leading voices in the Surrealist group); Éluard’s wife, the enigmatic Gala (who will ultimately become Dalí´s wife, muse and business manager); and Sigmund Freud who personally met Dalí and whose ideas about the subconscious became the ideological foundation for this experimental movement. Students will also learn about other Avant-Garde movements such as Dadaism, Ultraism and futurism.

SPAN 2808 Inventing Latin America (4 Credits)

In this course we will explore the Idea of Latin America in a broader context of social constructs and social formations using theoretical frameworks from History, Anthropology, Geography and Semiotics. Students in this course will learn and assimilate theoretical tools to identify what a social construct is, how it is built, used, and how it changes. Based on readings focused on specific examples in the history of the mass of land called first new world, first America, west indies and later, Latin America, we will analyze the ways in which temporal and spatial dimensions are enforced to build these and other concepts that are part of the global process of cultural negotiations. Modernity, traditional, underdeveloped, exotic, “western” or “not western” are part of the vocabulary that informs what has been called “politics of time and politics of space”. We will focus specially on the ways the binominal Latino/a and Latin America is used in the context of the multicultural idea of the USA, underlaying the difference in meaning when the term has been employed in the context of national discourses in Latin America. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement. No knowledge of Spanish is required or expected. This class will be conducted in English and will not count toward the minor in Spanish. A total of only 4 credits from any SPAN28XX course may count toward the major in Spanish.

SPAN 2900 Introduction to Literary and Cultural Studies (4 Credits)

Intended as a transition between 2000-level advanced language and cultural courses and 3000-level cultural and literature analysis courses, SPAN 2600 presents students with the opportunity to refine their analytical and interpretive skills, by examining a wide variety of Spanish language texts drawn from the literary cultural milieux of Latin America, Spain, and the United States. Throughout this course, students will acquire and utilize fundamental tools and strategies for contemporary literary and cultural studies in Spanish, including: gender and sexuality studies; race and ethnicity; decolonial thinking; pop culture; nationalism; ideology; and formal elements of interpreting texts. At the end of this course, students should be able to demonstrate relationships between distinct texts of varied media and genre (journalism, essay, short story, autobiography/memoir, historiography, oral tradition, film, photography, the plastic arts, etc.) in the interdisciplinary perspective that characterizes literary and cultural studies in the 21st century. This course counts toward the Analytical Inquiry: Society and Culture requirement. Prerequisites: SPAN 2100 and SPAN 2300 or SPAN 2350.

SPAN 2930 From Tenochtitlan to A Global City: Urban Landscapes in the Making of Modern Mexico (4 Credits)

This course is an intensive examination of the past and present of one of the most fascinating cities in the world, Mexico City. Paying particular attention to space and place, we will examine the historical processes (political, intellectual, ecological, social, and cultural) that are manifest in the urban development of the megacity. By taking this class in Mexico City, students will be able to visit some of the landmarks of Mexican History, as well as several other significant museums and archaeological sites. Similarly, by engaging in an in-depth reflection structured along textual, visual, and in-sight materials and experiences, students will be invited to reflect about matters of change and continuity as well as how national socio-political trends are reflected in local contexts, thus also learning to reflect about the interpretive relationship between the micro-macro levels of analysis. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350.

SPAN 2988 Study Abroad Resident Credit (0-18 Credits)

SPAN 3200 Eroticism and Nation in the Latin American Novel (4 Credits)

A study of the foundational fictions of Latin America and their twentieth-century rewriting. Nineteenth-century novels showcasing the interplay of sentimental love, eroticism, class struggle, and political agendas in the formative years of the Latin American nations are analyzed and contrasted with twentieth-century narratives where such nation (and narrative) building is put to question. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3230 Musicalized Literature (4 Credits)

Introduction to musicalized literature: a study of literary texts that provoke in the reader a sense of being related to music or prompt a "musical" experience while reading. The course focuses on various Latin American narrative texts whose relation with songs or genres of popular music is more or less explicit. The analysis aims first to illuminate their musical aspects, but also addresses other angles (social, historical, political). Basic information about several genres of popular music is provided in order to facilitate comprehension. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3300 Travel Narratives (4 Credits)

Travel accounts, rather than candid and unbiased testimonies about places and people, are challenging texts that require critical analysis. This class offers an overview of the evolution of travel narratives, from the times of the Grand Tour to contemporary accounts representing cross-cultural interactions between Spaniards and their ‘others’. Travelogues by authors such as Washington Irving, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Julio Camba and Juan Goytisolo. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.

SPAN 3320 Class and Gender in 19th-Century Spain (4 Credits)

Spain underwent social and political revolutions during the nineteenth century from which new values emerged. Through the analysis of literary, political and cultural texts from the late nineteenth-century, students explore the changed view of gender and class identity. Students will read and critically examine several works by prominent authors of the Spanish Realist tradition, including Benito Pérez Galdós, Leopoldo Alas (Clarín) and Emilia Pardo Bazán. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.

SPAN 3330 Rebels, Lovers and Outlaws in Spanish Romanticism (4 Credits)

This course studies the literary and cultural tropes of Spanish Romanticism. Themes discussed include the rebellion against an unjust social order, the portrayal of marginal social groups and the creation of subjectivity in the Spanish Romantic tradition. The literary genres studied are drama, essay and poetry; the primary authors include Larra, Zorrilla, Espronceda, Bécquer, and de Castro. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.

SPAN 3333 The Fertile Friendship: Bunuel, Lorca, Dali and Spanish Surrealism (4 Credits)

An interdisciplinary study of the relationships of three Spanish artists (Salvador Dalí, Federico García Lorca and Luis Buñuel) and the development of Surrealism in Spain. Through the intriguing intersections of the life and art of the painter, the poet, and the filmmaker, a better understanding of this fascinating artistic movement is achieved. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.

SPAN 3400 Spanish Theatre in Performance (4 Credits)

Reading, discussion and performance of plays written in Spanish. The focus will be on improving pronunciation, intonation and dramatic expression as well as providing a better understanding of contemporary theatrical movements in the Spanish speaking world such as teatro del absurdo, teatro posibilista or teatro campesino. The course includes a final performance (in front of a real audience) of the play. Plays by authors such as Susana Torres Molina (argentine), Federico Garcia Lorca (Spain), Emilio Carballido (Mexico), and other authors from the Spanish speaking world. No prior experience in theater is required. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3420 Contemporary Film in Spain (4 Credits)

Through contemporary Spanish film and essays this course examines the representation of key cultural aspects of Spanish society, such as national and regional identities, immigration, and gender issues. Students critically evaluate the causes, cultural manifestations and consequences of the social themes studied first by reading about them and then by viewing films that consider the same issues. They learn to identify the formal elements of film and develop a critical vocabulary with which they analyze and write about them. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.

SPAN 3490 The Quixote Archive: Cervantes in Context (4 Credits)

This course offers students a critical introduction to one of the most influential texts ever written: Miguel de Cervantes' "Don Quixote" (1605, 1615). Careful attention will be paid to the historical, social, political, and literary contexts with which Cervantes' text dialogues. We will also assess a variety of adaptations of Cervantes' work in other media, and will engage with the substantive body of secondary critical literature informing interpretations of "Don Quixote" for the past 400 years. Prerequisite: SPAN 2300 or equivalent.

SPAN 3500 Interrogating 'convivencia': Muslims, Christians, and Jews in Iberia (4 Credits)

This course proposes to critically interrogate the complex relationship between the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula, and the lasting impact of the historical relationship between these communities on the culture, literature, art, politics, and economy of Spain, with particular emphasis on the period 711-1700. Special attention is paid to problematizing the notion of ‘convivencia’ and to considering how diverse representations of the ‘three cultures’ are appropriated in the construction of national(ist) ideals that are overtly reflected in literature and art, both in Medieval and Early Modern Iberia and in contemporary Spain. Enforced Prerequisites and Restrictions: SPAN 2300, 2350, 2400, or equivalent.

SPAN 3510 Sex, Bodies, and Power in Imperial Spain (4 Credits)

This course considers the body a key locus of social and political struggle in the 16th and 17th Centuries in Spain and in the Indies. Contemplating the role of a variety of discourses from diverse fields (medicine, law, philosophy, theology, politics), we will ask such questions as: What is the body and how does it work in physical terms? How is the body used to perform or problematize legal, moral, and social identities? How is the body used as a mechanism to marginalize, control, or exclude individuals or groups, or to legitimize the authority and power of other individuals or groups? We will contemplate representations of the body in diverse media and genres (painting, sculpture, engravings, theater, novels, poetry, autobiography, medical treatises, moralizing tracts) in order to reconstruct the complex epistemology through which the body, and especially problems of race, gender, and sexuality, was conceptualized in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Particular attention will be paid to the representation of the materiality of the body (physiology as a key to moral and cultural difference), eroticism and desire, cross-dressing, ‘monsters,’ sickness, and reproduction, considering the representation of such corporeal phenomena to be a privileged space for interrogating the ideologies and structures upon which Power is built. Prerequisites: SPAN 2300, SPAN 2350, SPAN 2400 or equivalent.

SPAN 3600 Caribbean Blackness: Conflictive Identity (4 Credits)

Introduces the student to the Caribbean region, particularly examining cultural characteristics of the Spanish speaking Caribbean, with an emphasis on race relations and the contributions of peoples of African descent. The focus is interdisciplinary and includes readings on anthropology, religion, and history among other subjects, together with close readings of literary texts. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3650 The Andean World: Artistic Representations of Power, Resistance and Social Change (4 Credits)

Survey of Andean literature and art created during the nineteenth, twentieth and twenty-first centuries; artists' portrayals of strategies for resistance and the struggle for social justice in modern Andean society. Study of a wide variety of genres including short stories, novels, testimonials, poetry, essays, songs, visual art and film. Class discussions, theoretical texts and student analyses focus on the central theme of representations of power, resistance and social change in the Andes. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3660 The Fantastic Short Story in Latin America (4 Credits)

Introduction to the genre of the fantastic short story in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Latin American literature. Study of the rise of the short story genre in Latin America and the ways in which we can understand the Fantastic and its relationship to the Gothic and the Magical Real. Assigned readings by authors such as Horacio Quiroga, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortazar, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Carlos Fuentes, Silvina Ocampo and Rosario Ferre. Class discussions, theoretical texts and student analyses focus on a text's themes, literary devices, and writing styles, as well as metatextual and historical references. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3670 Exploring the Amazon: A Literary, Filmic and Ethnographic Journey (4 Credits)

Introduces the student to the Amazonian region of South America and the ways in which this fascinating landscape and the diverse peoples who inhabit it have been portrayed and exploited by "outsider" novelists, filmmakers, explorers, anthropologists, businessmen, and scientists beginning in the sixteenth century. This course also includes a survey of texts selected from the oral traditions of indigenous Amazonian groups such as the Ashanika, Machiguenga, Cashinahua and Ese'eja. Assigned readings underscore the course's interdisciplinary focus and encourage students to hone their course reading and analytical writing skills through the study of anthropological, historical, literary and filmic texts. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3680 Food, Power and Identity in Latin American Literatures and Cultures (4 Credits)

A study of culinary representations and the role of food in Latin American literature, film, culture and politics. Assigned texts include short stories, novels, films and a selection of literary, historical and political essays that relate to food politics and poetics. A review of key food policies and politics throughout colonial and contemporary Latin America reveal legacies of colonial power struggles, as well as the important intersections between food and constructions of identity, nationality, and socioeconomic and cultural emancipation. The course also explores themes such as the art of cooking as a tool for seduction, culinary witchcraft, and contemporary national and regional struggles to achieve food sovereignty in an era of globalization and neoliberal politics. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3702 Topics in Spanish (4 Credits)

Selected topics, genres, authors and/or literary, cultural, sociopolitical, or historical movements in the Spanish-speaking world. Course with same number but with a different topic may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: at least one of SPAN 2300, SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3703 Topics in Spanish (4 Credits)

Selected topics, genres, authors and/or literary, cultural, sociopolitical, or historical movements in the Spanish-speaking world. Course with same number but with a different topic may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: at least one of SPAN 2300, SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3704 Topics in Spanish (4 Credits)

Selected topics, genres, authors and/or literary, cultural, sociopolitical, or historical movements in the Spanish-speaking world. Course with same number but with a different topic may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: at least one of SPAN 2300, SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3705 Topics in Spanish (2 Credits)

Selected topics, genres, authors and/or literary, cultural, sociopolitical, or historical movements in the Spanish-speaking world. Course with same number but with a different topic may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: at least one of SPAN 2300, SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3800 Central American Blackness: Forgotten Roots (4 Credits)

Introduces the student to the Central American region, with an emphasis on race relations and the cultural contributions of peoples of African descent. The focus is interdisciplinary and includes readings in history and demography among other subjects, together with close readings of literary texts. Prerequisite: SPAN 2350 or equivalent.

SPAN 3988 Study Abroad Resident Credit (0-18 Credits)

SPAN 3990 Senior Seminar (4 Credits)

This is the capstone course of the Spanish major and requires students to complete an in depth, scholarly study of a topic or issue pertinent to their seminar's central theme(s). Spanish majors must take a minimum of one senior seminar and this course must be taken at DU once a student has reached senior standing. Prerequisites: SPAN 2300, SPAN 2350 (or equivalent) and at least twelve credits at the 3000 level. A selection of seminar topics includes Latin American Popular Culture, Contemporary Spanish Novel, Pre-Columbian and Colonial Andean Literature and Culture, Puerto Rican Literature and Society, Layqas, Ñakáqs and Saqras: Representations of the ‘Supernatural’ in Quechua Oral Traditions, Latin American Narrative, El Romancero, Contemporary Socio-Political Poetry in Latin America, Latin American Women Poets, and Masterpieces of Latin American Literature. Prerequisites: SPAN 2300, SPAN 2350 (or equivalent) and at least twelve credits at the 3000 level and senior standing.

SPAN 3991 Independent Study (1-4 Credits)

SPAN 3997 Internship in Spanish (4 Credits)

This course serves as curricular, intellectual, and professional support to a 10-week Spanish internship. Students will be matched to an internship with a community partner (private or public agency, institutional office, non-profit or community organizer) whose mission aligns with students’ professional aspirations in a variety of disciplines. Through the exploration of notions in critical service-learning, students will be given the opportunity to reflect upon their own positionality and its implications for issues in social justice, equity and linguistic diversity as they participate in an internship site. Students are expected to mobilize their linguistic skills in Spanish as part of the experience, and especially as part of their role in supporting community partners explore and understand better ways to serve Spanish-speaking communities across the Denver Metro area. Students will engage with readings, workshops, reflections and a portfolio that showcases their community-engaged work while furthering an understanding of the sociolinguistic implications of Spanish as a U.S. language which is spoken and used in a variety of communities across Denver. An end-of-term showcase will be expected as part of participation in this course. Prerequisite: SPAN 2200, SPAN 2250, or SPAN 2400.

SPAN 3998 Honors Thesis (1-10 Credits)