Spanish Spring 2017

Spanish (SPAN) Courses – Taught in Spanish

SPAN 1020 – Elementary Spanish  

Please check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors.

Prerequisites:  Passing grade in SPAN 1010. SPAN 1020 is for true beginners only. Students with prior experience with Spanish in high school must take the UVA Spanish placement exam. Students may not self-place in a language course. All students will submit proof of placement by January 23.

Elementary Spanish (SPAN 1020) is a four-credit introductory level hybrid course for true beginners designed to provide a thorough foundation in all the language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This is a technology-enhanced language course in which students will complete online activities on Connect on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of attending class all five days of the week.  Students should expect an average of 1-2 hours of online homework 5 days a week, plus an extra hour of work that substitutes for class time each on Tuesday/ Thursday. This is a flipped class, which means that students will learn grammar and vocabulary at home, and class time will be devoted to meaningful, authentic, and interactive practice. Class is conducted in Spanish only.

SPAN 1060 – Accelerated Elementary Spanish  

Please check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors.

Prerequisites: Placement score of 420-510 on the SAT II Exam or a score of 0-325 on the UVA Placement Exam. Students may not self-place in a language course. All students will submit proof of placement by January 23.

Accelerated Elementary Spanish a four-credit accelerated introductory level hybrid course designed to provide a thorough foundation in all the language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This is a technology-enhanced language course in which students will complete online activities with Connect on Tuesdays and Thursdays instead of attending class all five days of the week.  Students should expect an average of 1-2 hours of online homework 5 days a week, plus an extra hour of work that substitutes for class time each on Tuesday/ Thursday. This is a flipped class, which means that students will learn grammar and vocabulary at home, and class time will be devoted to meaningful, authentic, and interactive practice. Class is conducted in Spanish only.

SPAN 2010 – Intermediate Spanish  

Please check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors.

Prerequisites: SPAN 1020, SPAN 1060, or SAT II score of 520-590, or Placement Test score of 326-409. Students may not self-place in a language course.  All students will submit proof of placement by January 23.

Intermediate Spanish is a three-credit intermediate level course, the third course in a four-course sequence, which fulfills the language requirement.  The goal of this course is to bridge the gap between elementary and advanced levels in the further development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. This is a flipped class, which means that students will learn grammar and vocabulary at home, and class time will be devoted to meaningful, authentic, and interactive practice. Class is conducted in Spanish only.

SPAN 2020 – Advanced Intermediate Spanish  

Please check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors.

Prerequisites: Spanish 2010, SAT II Test score of 600-640, or UVA Placement Test score of 410-535. Students may not self-place in a language course. All students will submit proof of placement by January 23.

Advanced Intermediate Spanish is a three credit intermediate level course, the fourth course in a four-course sequence which fulfills the language requirement. The goal of this course is to bridge the gap between elementary and advanced levels in the further development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. This is a flipped class, which means that students will learn grammar and vocabulary at home, and class time will be devoted to meaningful, authentic, and interactive practice. Class is conducted in Spanish only.

SPAN 3000 – Phonetics  

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 or equivalent.

Spanish Phonetics provides an introduction to the sound system of both Peninsular and Latin American Spanish. Class discussions focus on how the sounds of Spanish are produced from an articulatory point of view, and how these sounds are organized and represented in the linguistic competence of their speakers. When appropriate, comparisons will be made between Spanish and English or Spanish and other (Romance and non-Romance) languages. This course seeks to improve the student's pronunciation.

  • Section 001  MWF 1:00-1:50PM in New CAB 027  with Omar Velázquez-Mendoza
  • Section 002  MoWe 2:00-3:15PM in New CAB 395  with Joel Rini
  • Section 003  TuTh 12:30-1:45PM in New CAB 291 with Emily Scida (S E C T I O N   C A N C E L L E D)

SPAN 3010 – Grammar and Composition I  

Please check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors.

Prerequisite: SPAN 2020 (or equivalent); or UVA placement test score of 536-650; or AP score of 4; or SAT II score of 641-700; or IB Spanish (High) score of 7.

This course seeks to develop advanced literacy in Spanish through extensive reading, writing, analysis, and discussion of authentic literary texts and videos. Emphasis is placed on how grammatical forms codify meaning and how grammar and meaning interact to construct the language and textual structure expected in the following academic genres: the critical review, the persuasive essay, and the research paper.

SPAN 3020 – Grammar and Composition II  

Please check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors.

Prerequisites: SPAN 2020 (or equivalent) AND either of the following: a UVA placement test score of 651+; an AP score of 5; an SAT II score of 701-800; an IB Spanish A1 or A2 score of 5, 6 or 7.

This course seeks to develop advanced literacy in Spanish through extensive reading, writing, analysis, and discussion of authentic literary texts and videos. Emphasis is placed on how grammatical forms codify meaning and how grammar and meaning interact to construct the language and textual structure expected in the following academic genres: the comparative essay, the argumentative essay, and the research paper.

SPAN 3030 – Cultural Conversations 

MWF 1:00-1:50  in GIB 341  with Carrie Bramlet

Prerequisite: SPAN3010 or the equivalent level of Spanish, in which case students will need to speak with the instructor ahead of time for permission to take the course.

How does a heterogeneous society live and thrive on a daily basis and how does it mediate diversity? What are the challenges that face a society enriched by ethnic and socioeconomic diversity? How do varying shades of culture blend to create a “society”? How do political and geographical histories affect modern-day political trends, public policy decisions, health care experiences, educational systems, and GDP? The study of Bolivia offers a wealth of material to the interested spectator who desires to increase his/her knowledge of Latin American countries and is particularly fascinating to Americans, whose country has traditionally not held the best of political ties with the nation.

This course has been designed to offer students an interdisciplinary taste of the historical, political, geographical and sociocultural aspects of the country of Bolivia while working toward further acquisition of the Spanish language and intercultural identity. Students will be paired with conversation partners in a classroom in La Paz, Bolivia who are learning English and will be asked to reflect on what they are learning about Bolivia and the language-learning process itself in weekly ePortfolio postings.

This course is primarily meant to provide students with maximum exposure to practice their spoken Spanish in a setting that comes as close to being an immersion experience as possible without leaving campus. Writing is also a key component to the course, including exploratory, journalistic and argumentative writing. Grades will be based upon in-class participation, ePortfolio development, and a final reflective paper in which students assess their learning throughout the course of the semester. This course will be conducted solely in Spanish and is ideal for Spanish majors and minors, those in the Latin American Studies Program as well as students in other fields (such as global studies, anthropology, politics, etc.) who have above an Advanced Intermediate level of Spanish. 

SPAN 3040 – Business Spanish  

Please check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors.

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 or departmental placement

This course deals with topics related to the business world. Some of the aspects we will study in detail include the writing of business letters (buying and selling products, recommendations, Curriculum Vitae, etc.), labor relations, systems of organizing businesses, the banking system and financial sector, publicity and marketing, types of companies, and the economic and commercial realities of Spain and Latin America. The study of politics will also be a central part of the course given that this determines the economic path of a country, including its currency, commercial relations, and investments. SPAN 3040 (Business Spanish) prepares students to converse about business topics in Spanish. Each student will develop a basic vocabulary for the business world and create commercial business documents that will be useful in the Hispanic world. Even though we will discuss topics related to the business world in Spanish-speaking countries, this is NOT a traditional "Business Class" like you might find in the McIntire School of Commerce. Since it is a conversation class, participation is key and students will need to be actively reading and actively engaged in every class.

SPAN 3050 – Spanish for Medical Professionals

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 or departmental placement

This course is designed for students planning to work in the health care field and who want to develop fundamental written and oral skills and vocabulary for the assessment of Spanish speaking patients in a variety of settings. Students will gain familiarity with non-technical and semi-technical functional vocabulary, along with idiomatic expressions and situational phrases that are used in medical Spanish.

  • Section 001  MWF 12:00-12:50PM  in New CAB 415  with Alicia Lopez Operé
  • Section 002  MWF 1:00-1:50PM  in New CAB 415  with Alicia Lopez Operé

SPAN 3200 – Introduction to Hispanic Linguistics 

MWF 2:00-2:50PM  in New CAB 027 

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 (or equivalent) or departmental placement

Please direct inquiries to the instructor.

SPAN 3300 – Texts and Interpretation  

Please check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors.

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 or departmental placement. (Note: SPAN 3300 or instructor permission is prerequisite for any course in Spanish literature or culture with a number above SPAN 3300.)

In this course we will be covering a variety of basic approaches to literary texts that enable us to analyze and understand them better. The course will be organized on the basis of literary genre (narrative, theater, poetry, etc.), with a portion of the semester dedicated to each. Short texts in Spanish for readings will be drawn from both Spanish and Latin American literature, and from a range of time periods.

SPAN 3400 – Survey of Spanish Literature I (Middle Ages to 1700) 

TuTh 12:30-1:45PM  in New CAB 383  with E. Michael Gerli

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement

El curso comprende una  introducción a la literatura castellana de la Edad Media, el renacimiento, y el barroco hasta 1680. Las obras se estudiarán en su contexto histórico-cultural. Además de intentar de estimular un aprecio por algunas obras maestras de estos períodos, el curso intentará dar a conocer el marco histórico-intelectual de varios aspectos de la cultura peninsular.

SPAN 3420 – Survey of Latin American Literature I (Colonial to 1900) 

MoWe 3:30-4:45PM  in Minor Hall 130 with Fernando Operé

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement.

This is a survey course of Latin American Literature to introduce students to the major authors, and literary movements of Latin American literature from the discovery in 1492 up to 1900.  Students will read and discuss selections of works from accounts of the conquest, colonial period and 19th century, studying its historical and literary importance. Some authors include: Columbus, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, José María de Heredia, Esteban Echeverría, Ricardo Palma, José Martí y Rubén Dario among others.

SPAN 3430 – Survey of Latin American Literature II (1900 to Present)

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement.

  • Section 001  TuTh 2:00-3:15PM i n New CAB 338  with Anne Mahler

This course provides students with a survey of Latin American literature and the context in which it has developed from 1900 to the present. Students will leave this course with a general understanding of the region’s major literary trends, including their social and political dimensions. “Literature,” in this course, refers to a wide range of cultural production from literary texts (novels, stories, essays, poems) to visual art, film, and song lyrics. Throughout the course, we will consider the following questions: How has Latin America’s cultural production shaped and been shaped by its cultures, peoples, and historical events? How do the consciousness, memory, and imagination expressed within the region’s literature both reflect and create the region’s realities? And perhaps most importantly, who has (and has not) had access to Latin America’s literature and how has that shaped the way the region has represented itself through both the written word and image?

  • Section 002  MWF 1:00-1:50PM  in New CAB 107  with María-Inés Lagos

This course is a survey of Modern Spanish American literature to introduce students to major authors, works, and literary movements of Spanish America from 1880 to the present taking into account the socio historical context to understand the issues presented in the literary works. Students will read poetry, short essays, and short prose selections from an anthology (Huellas de las Literaturas Hispanoamericanas) as well as a novella. We will also watch films and documentaries that will provide additional information on the social background and the changing times. Class participation and attendance, two papers, two exams and other assignments.

SPAN 4040 – Translation from Spanish to English  

Check SIS for sections, dates, times, locations, and instructors

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010 and 3300, or departmental placement

Please direct inquiries to the instructor.

SPAN 4319 – Borges 

MWF 11:00-11:50AM  in New CAB 303  with Gustavo Pellón  

Requisitos: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 créditos de 3400-3430, o permiso del profesor.

Este curso se propone estudiar la obra de Jorge Luis Borges con énfasis en sus cuentos, sin excluir algunos ensayos y poemas.   El curso examinará la obra de Borges desde la perspectiva de la literatura comparada y a Borges como lector y escritor de literatura mundial. 

Tu nota se basará en 3 ensayos y las reflexiones sobre la lectura para cada clase.  Cada uno vale 25% de tu nota total.

Lecturas:

Ficciones (1944)

El Aleph (1949)

El informe de Brodie (1970)

Poesía completa.

Textos en Collab

SPAN 4320 – Contemporary Latin-American Short Fiction 

MoWe 3:30-4:45AM  in New CAB 303  with María-Inés Lagos  

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.

We will explore the great variety of the short story in Spanish America during the 20th and 21st century. Starting with Baldomero Lillo’s stories about life in the coal mines in Southern Chile at the turn of the 20th century, we will read short stories addressing a multiplicity of themes (family relationships, the workings of power and politics, love relationships, friendships, the intersection of social, political, gender, class and race issues, etc.) taking into account the socio historical context. Among the authors we will include Horacio Quiroga, María Luisa Bombal, Jorge Luis Borges, Juan Rulfo, Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, Carlos Fuentes, José Donoso, Elena Poniatowska, Luisa Valenzuela, Rosario Ferré, Liliana Heker, Ana María Shua, Roberto Bolaño, Cristina Peri Rossi, and a group of young writers born around 1970. We will also watch films and documentaries that will help us better understand the socio historical background. Class participation, 2 exams, quizzes and written assignments, and one research paper.

SPAN 4500 – Special Topics Literature Seminar

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement

  • Section 001 – “Adventures in the Latin American Jungle”  MWF 12:00-12:50PM  in New CAB 303  with Charlotte Rogers

This course studies representations of the jungle in twentieth-century Latin American literature. In particular, we will study stories of travelers who journey into the wilderness and “go native” in the South American forest.  The course will address the following questions: How does the environment inform literary works? How does jungle travel change an individual’s conception of him- or herself in the world?  Is it possible to “go native,” and what does that process imply?  How has the environment shaped literature about South America, and vice versa? We will explore how the discourses of imperialism, anthropology, medicine and science shape the answers to this question.  Other elements common to these jungle novels, such as the encounter with the Other, the protagonists’ negotiation of sexuality and madness, and the enduring popularity of the jungle adventure myth will also be addressed. Texts by Quiroga, Rivera, Carpentier, Vargas Llosa, Mutis and Hatoum.

  • Section 002 – “Cervante’s novelas”  TuTh 3:30-4:15PM in New CAB 207  with E. Michael Gerli

El curso se centrará en las Novelas ejemplares de Cervantes (1613). Cada una de las doce obras se examinará desde una doble vertiente, por una parte teórica y por otra histórica, para explorar a fondo la compleja imaginación cervantina. Se pondrá un énfasis especial en la teoría literaria y linguística en la temprana  modernidad, sobre todo en los comentarios  italianos y españoles a la Poética de Aristóteles, y las polémicas humanísticas sobre la mimesis (la imitación y la problemática de captar y mediatizar la verdad por medio de un artificio representacional). Por otra parte, se tratará de la historia y recepción de las novellas y la prosa imaginativa en general en Europa durante los siglos XVI y XVII. Se llevarán a cabo lecturas atentas de las obras a leer para ver cómo Cervantes se enfrenta con el problema  de la representación de una realidad y verdad tambaleantes por medio del lenguaje y el papel que hace la imaginación en este proceso, acabando finalmente con la proclamación del mismo estatus ficticio de la ficción.

  • Section 003 – “Chilean Literature”  MWF 12:00-12:50PM in NCH 383  with Distinguished Visiting Professor Kemy Oyarzún (Professor Mané Lagos will temporarily manage the permission list.)

Literature and Culture in Contemporary Chilean Literature: will focus on questions of identity, memory and sexuality in a selected corpus of essays, poetry, novels and films. It will include works by Mercedes Valdivieso, José Donoso, Adolfo Couve, Raúl Zurita, Carmen Berenguer, Elvira Hernández, Elicura Chihuailaf and Diamelal Eltit. We will cover film productions by Miguel Littín and Patricio Guzmán, among others.

SPAN 4520 – Special Topics Culture & Civilization Seminar

Prerequisite: SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement

  • Section 001 – “Sephardic Jews and Conversos”  MWF 11:00-11:50AM  in New CAB 395  with Alison Weber

Before 1492, Jews, although a small minority, played a significant role in the cultural life of Islamic and Christian Spain. After their expulsion from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497, the Sephardim traveled throughout the Mediterranean, north into Europe, across the oceans to the Americas, the Far East, and Africa, sometimes maintaining ties with or returning to the peninsula. This class will explore the history of the Sephardim and the Sephardic diaspora from the 13th century to the present (with an emphasis on the 14-17th centuries), addressing a number of issues: the origins of anti-Judaism, anti-Semitism, and racism; literary and visual representations of Jews; Conversos and the Spanish Inquisition; conversion, crypto-Judaism, and religious syncretism; the origins of religious tolerance; and the labile nature of religious and ethnic identities. The course, taught in Spanish, will be interdisciplinary—we will study legal, religious, literary, and historical documents and address theological, historical, ethical, anthropological, and aesthetic questions. A good reading knowledge of Spanish is essential. Several short papers and an original research paper. Non-Spanish majors may write their papers in English.

  • Section 002 – “Exile & Immigration in Latin America”  MW 3:00-4:15 in NCH 027  with Distinguished Visiting Professor Kemy Oyarzún (Professor Mané Lagos will temporarily manage the permission list.)

Study of nomadic identities and imaginary territories in Latin American cultural productions, contrasting 19th and 20th century representations in visual, oral and written forms, including Mexican and Southern Cone photographic and film production.

SPAN 4530 – Special Topics Language Seminar

Prerequisites:  SPAN 3010; AND SPAN 3000 or SPAN 3200 or another course in Linguistics.

  • Section 001 – "Second Language Acquisition"  TuTh 11:00-12:15PM  in New CAB 291 with Emily Scida 

How do people learn a second language (L2)?  How are first language acquisition and second language acquisition different?  Why are some learners more successful than others in learning a second language?  How do we measure “success” in second language acquisition?  How do we define “competence”?  I invite you to join me in the exploration of these and other exciting questions.  Together we will discover the processes and mechanisms that drive language acquisition by studying how three different areas – linguistics, psychology, and sociocultural perspectives – have contributed to the major theories and ideas informing the field of Second Language Acquisition.

  • Section 002 – "Spanish vis-á-vis Other Romance Lanugages"  MoWe 2:00-3:15PM in New CAB 383 with Omar Velázquez-Mendoza 

Drawing on a comparative approach to language change, this course traces the primitive origins and historical development of the major linguistic changes taking place in the passage from Latin to Spanish and other Romance (i.e., Latin-derived) languages, mainly Portuguese, Italian, and French. Topics to be explored include: Expected and unexpected phonological changes in the neo-Latin language continuum; the role of analogy and ‘contamination’ in language change; etymological and non-etymological nasalization; the object + verb to verb + object shift; the prepositional direct object; pronominal replacement and duplication of direct and indirect objects.

  • Section 004 – "Second Language Acquisition"  TuTh 12:30-1:45PM in New CAB 291 with Emily Scida  

How do people learn a second language (L2)?  How are first language acquisition and second language acquisition different?  Why are some learners more successful than others in learning a second language?  How do we measure “success” in second language acquisition?  How do we define “competence”?  I invite you to join me in the exploration of these and other exciting questions.  Together we will discover the processes and mechanisms that drive language acquisition by studying how three different areas – linguistics, psychology, and sociocultural perspectives – have contributed to the major theories and ideas informing the field of Second Language Acquisition.

SPAN 4559 – New Course in Spanish "Translation II" 

TuTh 2:00-3:15PM  in New CAB 211  with Melissa Frost 

Prerequisite:SPAN 3010, 3300, and 3 credits of 3400-3430, or departmental placement.

SPAN 4559 es un curso diseñado para ser una continuación de SPAN 4040. En este curso los alumnos tendrán la oportunidad de ampliar su experiencia con la traducción literaria además de profundizar su conocimiento teórico relacionado a la traducción. A lo largo del semestre se traducirán textos de varios géneros literarios incluyendo cuento, novela, ensayo y poesía. Este semestre el enfoque será en grandes autores latinoamericanos del siglo XX. La meta de SPAN 4559 es de ayudar al alumno a entender su propio proceso como traductor y reflexionar sobre como cambia dicho proceso según el género literario y su familiaridad con autor y obra. Además, reflexionaremos sobre los contextos históricos, económicos, lingüísticos y políticos de los textos y cómo éstos afectan la traducción.

SPAN 4710 – Latin American Culture and Civilization 

MoWe 2:00-3:15PM  in Minor Hall 130  with Fernando Operé 

This course intends to acquaint the student with the history and culture of two countries in Latin America: Argentina and Mexico. We will start with pre-Columbian cultures, and the historical evolution from colonial times, the Independent period up to the present. Half of the course will be dedicated to study cultural and social topics: identity; race and ethnicity; city and countryside; artistic and music production; food and cuisine; fluctuations in the economy; religion and its many manifestations; and violence and resistance among others. The methodology is the consistent comparison of these two countries in the most important faces of their history and development.

SPAN 5750 -- Contemporary Spanish Literature

Th 3:30-6:00PM  in New CAB 036  with Andrew Anderson

In this core course we will study and analyze well-known texts from twentieth-century Spain drawn from the reading list for the qualifying exams. Over the course of the semester, we shall be looking at plays (texts by Valle-Inclán, García Lorca, and Buero Vallejo), poems (a broad selection of representative poems by a number of Spanish poets), novels (texts by Cela, Laforet, Martín Gaite and Mendoza), and essays (Ortega y Gasset).  The approach will be based essentially on close-reading, though attention will also be paid to the socio-historical context in which the works were composed and received.  Discussion/seminar format.

SPAN 5850 -- Spanish America: Modern Period

Mo 3:30-6:00PM  in New CAB 038  with Charlotte Rogers

This course is designed for graduate students in Spanish, and those from other departments with sufficient competency in the language to participate.  It aspires to comprehensively analyze many major texts of Spanish American literature of the Modern Period, as defined by our department’s MA program.  Beyond merely preparing students for examinations, this course also contextualizes contemporary Spanish American literature within broader discussions of literary history and theory.

SPAN 7100 -- Literary Theory

MoWe 2:00-3:15PM  in New CAB 415  with Gustavo Pellón

The last forty years have witnessed a veritable explosion of literary theory. As each new school of thought has arisen, it has challenged previous conception of the object and practice of literary studies. The course will undertake an examination of how the developments in literary theory have altered the definition of criticism. We will consider the major critical tendencies of the twentieth century, among them: formalism, myth criticism, structuralism, deconstruction, reader-response criticism, feminist criticism, new historicism, and post-colonial theory.

Written work will consist of a review of a theoretical text (25%), and a longer paper where you will apply a particular theoretical approach to the study of a Spanish or Spanish American literary text (50%).  Everyone will write a 250-word commentary on some aspect of the reading assignment for each class (25%).  These commentaries are an important part of your preparation and they should be available to you during class discussion.  The course will be conducted in English and Spanish.

Readings from:

LEITCH - NORTON ANTHOLOGY OF THEORY & CRITICISM – Second Edition, 2010.

And articles in Collab.

SPAN 7559 -- New Course in Spanish: Latin American Digital Humanities

Section 001 – “Latin American Digital Humanities”  TuTh 11:00-12:15  in Alderman Library 317  with Allison Bigelow & Rafael Alvarado

From the colonial period to the present day, the Popol Vuh, sometimes called the Maya book of creation, has been translated, edited, paraphrased, and glossed in more than 25 languages. WorldCat suggests that there are over 1,200 known editions of the work, published in verse (Christenson 2004), scholarly editions (Tedlock 1996, Christenson 2007), and illustrated volumes (Montejo and Garay 2012). In addition to differences in form and genre, Spanish-language volumes offer very different interpretations of the K’iche’ source text. The opening line of Adrián Recinos’s translation is, “Este es el principio de las antiguas historias de este lugar llamado Quiché,” while Emilio Abreu Gómez renders it as, “Entonces no había ni gente, ni animales, ni árboles, ni piedras, ni nada.” Readers’ interpretations of the text, and of Maya cultural and spiritual traditions conveyed in translation, thus depend upon the editions they consult, and these editions vary widely.

Thus, we propose to design a thematic research collection of the Popol Vuh, currently housed at the Newberry Library, and digitally hosted by the Ohio State University Library. By encoding the manuscript with tools that show the graphic and narrative complexity of the Popol Vuh, this project will allow readers to engage deeply with questions of historical, spiritual, and cultural translation. Such tools will ideally include images (glyphs, vases, figures from codices), maps, and clips from various editions of the work. Primary readings include translations and editions of the Popol Vuh; secondary sources will address key topics in Classic and Post-Classic Maya Studies (archaeology, art history, linguistics), as well as critical paradigms in DH scholarship (evaluation, methodology, pedagogy). On seminar days (Tuesdays, led by professor Bigelow), we will analyze primary and secondary readings and identify features we want to encode in our digital critical edition. How will we determine that? By reading the texts carefully, through the lens of historical/cultural translation, and thinking about their place as digital, public texts. On studio days (Thursdays, led by professor Alvarado), we will learn how to encode textual variants and graphic forms using Drupal software. How will we do that? Students will work in small teams (2-3 people) to encode a section of the manuscript (about 6 folios per person). In this way, you will build skills in literary/translation analysis and DH research, thinking critically about the problems that DH platforms do and do not resolve in Mesoamerican Studies.

This course is offered in the spring of 2017 so that students can present work at the 2018 DH conference in Mexico City, the first time that the conference will be held in Latin America.

SPAN 7559 -- New Course in Spanish: The Global South Imaginary

Section 002 – “The Global South Imaginary”  Th 3:30-6:00PM  in New CAB 111 with Anne-Garland Mahler

The “Global South”––referring both to a situational location that indexes spaces of inequity around the globe and a transnational political imaginary that results from a shared experience of the negative effects of globalization­­––has become a significant category of critical cultural analysis over the last ten years. While the term “Global South” has gained the most currency, many have described how contemporary capitalist globalization yields rescaled socio-spatial relations that produce new transnational political collectivities. Arjun Appadurai calls this trend “grassroots globalization” or “globalization from below;” Boaventura de Sousa Santos uses “subaltern cosmopolitanism” and “counter-hegemonic globalization;” Fernando Rosenberg refers to it as “alternative, southern cosmopolitanism,” and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri describe it simply as “the multitude.”  This course will critically examine these “new” concepts, considering their deep roots within hemispheric American political thought and tracing the way these ideas attempt to respond to and depart from nationally-scaled comparative frameworks.  Questions driving this course will include: What is the Global South?  What are the ramifications of a Global South paradigm for literary and cultural production in our contemporary moment of globalization? What does a Global South reading look like? What might the Global South provide as an analytical filter that postcolonial or world-systems frameworks do not? What are potential pitfalls of this critical category and how might Global South scholarship avoid a totalizing category that veils local and internal inequities?

SPAN 8510 -- Seminar: Golden Age, "Eucharistic Discourse"

Tu 3:30-6:00PM  in New CAB 415  with Alison Weber

During the Middle Ages and early modern period, the Eucharist was a fertile ground for ways of thinking about the relations between the human and the divine, and between Christians and ethnic Others. The Eucharist continued to be a locus of intense cultural and ideological work in the early modern Spanish empire. The period witnessed, for example, a surge in stories, paintings, and sculpture depicting narratives of the profanation of hosts and of revenge miracles. Eucharistic enthusiasm, especially among unlettered women, became associated with heterodixy. The mystery of the Eucharist was celebrated in thousands of autos sacramentales, performed in the streets of major cities. While churchmen on the peninsula struggled to impart the distinction between orthodox and heterodox Eucharistic devotions, missionaries to the New World faced another challenge: teaching the distinction between indigenous practices of theophagy and Catholic transubstantiation.

This seminar will explore the textual and artistic responses to a doctrine perceived to be under siege, not only by Protestants without but by skeptics and ethnic minorities within. We will begin with the anti-Judaic poems of Gonzalo de Berceo, followed by arguably philo-protestant texts (Erasmus’s The Godly Feast; Montaigne’s “Of Cannibals,” and Lazarillo de Tormes). We will then explore the Eucharistic piety of female mystics. We will compare the Eucharistic poetry of Lope de Vega and Francisco de Quevedo with that of women poets like Luisa de Carvajal. We will continue with reading several autos sacramentales by Calderón de la Barca, Las Casas's Apologetica historia sumaria, Guaman Poma de Ayala’s Primera crónica, Lope de Vega’s “El Nuevo mundo de Cristobal Colón,” and Lope’s rewriting of the blood libel legend, “El niño inocente de la Guardia.” We will focus on these major questions: What can Eucharistic beliefs and practices tell us about the extent and limits of social discipline (the efforts of church and state to form obedient and docile citizens)? How did Moriscos, Conversos, and indigenous peoples challenge Eucharist doctrine? How is the Eucharist related to the need for “enemies” in times of reform and social crisis? What accounts for the extraordinary power of the Eucharist to evoke the tension between belief and skepticism, communitas and otherness, rebellion and submission? During three weeks of the course, the class will merge with an interdepartmental faculty/graduate Colloquium led by Dr. María Tausiet. Course requirements include active participation in class and in Collab discussion groups, short reaction papers, and a fifteen to twenty-page research paper.

SPAN 8550 -- Seminar: Colonial Period to 1900, "Hispanic Asianography” 

We 3:30-6:00PM  in New CAB 291  with Ricardo Padrón 

We are all familiar with the so-called "crónicas de Indias" which deal with Spain's experience in the New World.  In this course, we will examine similar texts written by Spaniards in Spanish about Spain's experience in the Pacific and Asia between 1513 and 1610, approximately.  We will examine what the Spanish meant by the "Indies" in light of various early modern "metageographies" and will learn how to read historical narrative for its spatial and geographical strategies.

Spanish in Translation (SPTR) Courses – Taught in English

SPTR 3402 – Don Quixote in English with Ricardo Padrón 

(This course requires enrollment in the lecture AND one discussion section.)

NOTE: SPAN majors and SPAN minors may count SPTR 3402 as either a 4000 literature course or a 4000-level elective. (You may only count one SPTR course toward your SPAN major or SPAN minor requirements.)

Lecture 100-LEC  

MoWe 2:00-3:15PM  in Claude Moore Nursing Educ Bldg G120 (Open to ALL)

  • Discussion 101-DIS  Th 5:00-5:50PM  in New CAB 364 (This section is for SPAN majors and minors only.)
  • Discussion 102-DIS  Fr 10:00-10:50AM  in Bryan 235 (This section is open to all, EXCEPT Spanish Majors & Minors.)
  • Discussion 103-DIS  Fr 11:00-11:50AM  in Gibson 141 (This section is for SPAN majors and minors only.)

Pre-requisites: None for students who want to do the work in English. All U.Va. students welcome. Students who want to do the work in Spanish should have taken at least one SPAN survey course (3400s) or its equivalent. NOTE: This course CAN be counted toward the Spanish major or minor.

In this class, we will read Miguel de Cervantes’s masterpiece Don Quixote de la Mancha in its entirety. We will try to figure out whether the protagonist is a hero, a fool, or a criminal.  We will see what the novel has to say about Spanish imperialism, the Renaissance, and the Reformation.  We will explore its concerns with pacifism, the role of women in society, and philosophical skepticism.  We will learn how the novel plays with us in many ways, including some that seem almost postmodern.  And we will discover what it has to say to us today about truth, authenticity, identity, love, friendship, and many other things that matter deeply.   

Students will be able to pick between reading and writing in English, and participating in an English-language discussion section, or reading and writing in Spanish, and participating in a Spanish-language discussion section.  There are no pre-requisites for the former.  In order to do the latter, you must have completed SPAN 3300 and at least one survey course (SPAN 3400s), and will be able to count the class as a 4000-level literature class or elective toward a Spanish major or minor. The course requires a midterm, a final, and a paper, as well as weekly comments on the readings and occasional quizzes.

Spring
2017
Undergraduate Courses
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