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The purpose of this course is to provide context and opportunities to improve the students' grammar through reading, writing, and speaking. This class provides an intensive review of the fundamentals of Spanish grammar and is designed to help students perfect their knowledge and usage of the language.

Prerequisites: SPAN 2301 or SPAN 2302 or equivalent (with a “C” or higher)

Description: After completing this online synchronous course, students should achieve intermediate performance ability in Spanish. In addition, students will expand and will gain knowledge and understanding of Hispanic cultures. Students will improve their written and oral communication abilities through different class activities and homework assignments and develop insight into the nature of language and culture. This course will be primarily conducted in Spanish.

By the end of the Francoist dictatorship, a seismic shift occurred in Spanish music and popular culture, catalyzed by the emergence of long-haired musicians. This course delves into the phenomenon of rock andaluz, which blossomed in the early 1970s through the harmonious fusion of progressive rock from Great Britain and the United States with the rhythms of flamenco, reshaping the musical landscape of Spain. Throughout this journey, we will uncover the genre's intricate tapestry, spanning its inception, the trailblazing pioneers such as Triana, Alameda, Mezquita, and Medina Azahara, and the subsequent wave of visionary Andalusian rock artists who carried the torch forward.

This course provides an overview of the fundamentals of Spanish contemporary life, culture, and history. The course aims to provide students with grammatical and lexical knowledge as well as cultural and pragmatic skills to use Spanish in everyday interactions across a variety of social contexts (service encounters, debates, public spaces, etc.). Specifically, the course will cover Spanish history (from Medieval to Contemporary Spain), Andalusian cultural and socio-pragmatic/politeness norms, and local linguistic practices. Throughout the course, we will rely on methods and concepts from the fields of sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, and linguistics as we conduct participant observation of culture in Sevilla and Andalucía, which will then allow us to reflect on what is (West) Texas culture (differences and similarities). In-class discussions will be conducted in Spanish. No previous knowledge of linguistics is needed. All are welcome.    

Linguistics is the scientific discipline that studies (human) language from all points of view. This course offers an introduction to the discipline focusing on the Spanish language. The first part of the course will be a review of the fundamentals of general linguistics, during which the scope of the discipline will be defined and several key notions will be introduced, paying special attention to linguistic distinctions that are implicit in modern Spanish (e.g., lengua/lenguaje). Once these foundations have been covered, the focus will shift to Spanish in particular – its structure, history, internal variation, etc.

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This course provides students with an overview of (1) the sound system of Spanish as well as (2) the phonetic variation that exists across the Spanish-speaking world. The course begins by focusing on the sound inventory and phonological organization of the Spanish language. Here we also examine the phonetics of bilingualism, with particular emphasis given to the phonetics of Spanish-English bilingual speakers. The course then explores the socio-phonetic variation that exists across different dialects throughout Latin America, Spain, and the United States. We also examine how some sounds vary by social factors (gender, age, education, etc.) as well as how listeners socially evaluate phonetic variation. The course provides hands-on activities to produce, visualize, and analyze sounds to understand phonetic differences in speech. No previous knowledge of phonetics or linguistics is needed. All are welcome.    

In this course, we will study the transformations of everyday life in Mexico from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Focusing on different media such as film, photography, music, literature, and architecture, we will explore how Mexican cultural production has registered the exhilarations and dissatisfactions generated by the advent of globalization and neoliberal capitalism. How do luchador films, pop music, and public housing projects capture the rhythms of the every day and offer us an opportunity to interrogate the socioeconomic forces that modulate the experience of the social? This course serves as an introduction to the fields of Mexican literary and cultural studies.

The advent of the digital communication age has compelled us to consider traditional academic writing and digital genres in flexible and creative ways. (Digital) genres—as a significant multimodal and flexible form and function of communication—match our current social, professional, and personal needs and make knowledge more accessible and sharable than ever, thanks to their connection to media. In this course, you will work on several writing projects (e.g., one of them related to your major) that support interactivity, collaborative work, and multiliteracies development while developing the necessary Spanish language to communicate professionally with others.

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This course is designed to enhance oral and written communication in the medical field. Provide and allow students with greater interaction among medical service providers and their clientele. It will also refer to health-related issues facing Hispanic communication. The main goal of this course is to enhance the knowledge of Spanish of those who work in the medical/healthcare fields or intend to do so. It will provide the students with skills to better communicate with the ever-growing Spanish-speaking community of the United States in situations commonly encountered by medical professionals in the different areas of healthcare.

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This course explores the plantation and its afterlives in contemporary film, literature, and popular culture from Latin America and the United States. We will examine how artists and writers across the Américas have interrogated the plantation—from sugarcane monocultures in Colombia, Argentina, and the Caribbean to cotton fields in the southern United States—as a socio-environmental space where colonial hierarchies of race, labor, and species were (and continue to be) forged. With a particular focus on the counter-plantation futures envisioned by Black and Indigenous cultural practitioners, this course engages with fundamental questions about power and resistance at the intersection of race, gender, sexuality, and environmental studies. The syllabus includes works by Beyonce, Junior Jein, Astrid González, Carlos Mayolo, Nicolás Guillén Landrián, Kara Walker, Kütral, Seba Calfuqueo, Samantha Schweblin, and Cristina Rivera Garza.

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The purpose of this course is to provide context and opportunities to improve the students' grammar through reading, writing, and speaking. This class provides an intensive review of the fundamentals of Spanish grammar and is designed to help students perfect their knowledge and usage of the language.

In a world where American comics and their superheroes dominate the scene, alongside the global manga phenomenon, graphic novels have emerged as a compelling and influential medium for storytelling. They seamlessly blend visual art with narrative, creating a unique mosaic of cultures and experiences. This course aims to cultivate a profound appreciation for the artistic and storytelling brilliance found in Hispanic graphic novels. Through an exploration of the intersections between culture, art, and narrative, students will gain valuable insights into the diverse voices and perspectives that enrich the tapestry of Hispanic literature and visual storytelling. Whether you're an enthusiastic reader, an aspiring artist, or simply curious about the world of graphic novels, this course offers an unparalleled journey into the tradition of Hispanic graphic novels, promising a one-of-a-kind and enriching experience.

This course introduces students to translation and interpretation studies through theoretical and practical approaches to both mediums. Students will learn the different uses and advantages of both translation and interpretation from a theoretical perspective and will get the chance to work on their own translation skills in both Spanish and English. Students will also learn about different translation tools, such as machine translation, as well as the applicability of translation and interpretation in different sectors of the professional world.

Indigenous Literatures, Oralities, Visualities 

This course introduces students to Indigenous cultural expressions in 20th- and 21st-century Latin America. Through works of literature, film and performance art, we will consider how Indigenous writers, artists and activists have imagined anti-colonial futures, and how these visions may intersect with or diverge from feminist, Marxist and other currents in political and social thought. This course examines cultural expressions that highlight the imbrications of race, sex, gender, territory and political community, covering topics such as the politics of autonomy and territorial sovereignty; bilingualism; environmental justice; and historical memory. 

Spanish Grammar Overview  

 The main purpose of this course is to provide the context and opportunities to improve your grammar through the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This course provides an intensive review of the fundamentals of Spanish grammar (with an emphasis on verb tenses and moods). The content and pace of this course are based on the assumption that you have formally and successfully studied Spanish grammar in the recent past. The course is primarily conducted in Spanish.  

Spanish Grammar Overview    

The main purpose of this course is to provide the context and opportunities to improve your grammar through the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This course provides an intensive review of the fundamentals of Spanish grammar (with an emphasis on verb tenses and moods). The content and pace of this course are based on the assumption that you have formally and successfully studied Spanish grammar in the recent past. The course is primarily conducted in Spanish

Spanish Grammar Overview    

 This asynchronous course will be conducted primarily in Spanish. The course content is divided by week.  It is 100% online. The main purpose of this course is to provide the context and opportunities to improve your grammar through the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. This course provides an intensive review of the fundamentals of Spanish grammar (with an emphasis on verb tenses and moods). The content and pace of this course are based on the assumption that you have formally and successfully studied Spanish grammar in the recent past. 

This course explores how fashion has been closely tied to identity since the pre-Columbian times, the colonial period, and the contemporary era in Latin America. Together, we will study this main theme through various sources, including historical and cultural scholarship, literature, visual documents, and film and music. 

  While some of the readings will be in English, class discussions will be conducted in Spanish. 

This course introduces students to the cultural history and current debates around human rights in Latin America. Since the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, Latin American intellectuals have played a critical role in shaping, contesting and redefining what it means to invoke “human rights” as a framework for political action. Long before 1948, however, Latin America also produced its own corpus of philosophical, political and artistic engagements with human rights that reveal alternative genealogies of the concept. We will begin with some of the earliest examples of what might be considered “human rights writing” from the colonial era and trace the development of Latin American human rights thinking through the twentieth century to the present day. Far from a self-evident category, we will examine how mobilizing “human rights” in social justice discourse raises fundamental questions about who or what counts as “human” and whether “rights” are sufficient to protect life from violence and precarity. From migration to military dictatorships, civil wars, “transitions to democracy,” police violence, racism and systemic inequality, we will study cultural materials from across the Hemisphere, considering topics such as: the relationship between human rights and revolutionary politics; the aesthetics of solidarity; visibility and its limitations; and contested meanings of “human rights” in Black, Indigenous, feminist, LGBTQ and environmentalist movements. 

Throughout history, human beings have been fascinated with the supernatural and monsters; being afraid reminds us that we are still alive. The main purpose of this course is to provide students with a panoramic view of some important Hispanic literary texts and films, and the way authors and filmmakers utilize horror to construct their stories using vampires, zombies, and other creatures to explore different social issues. As part of this course, students will also learn the techniques and the literary devices that will help them read and analyze in a critical manner selected works of fiction. The genres studied in this course will include narrative, poetry, drama, graphic novel, and film.

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This course focuses on race and race relations in different Latin American countries, including Brazil. Emphasis will be given to black, brown, and indigenous groups.

Prerequisites: SPAN 3305, and any 3000-level course. Spanish language, syntax, and grammar. 

Prerequisites: 6 hours of SPAN courses at the 3000-level. Oral and written Spanish with special attention to idiomatic expressions and cultural practices of business in the Hispanic World.

This course introduces students to translation and interpretation studies through theoretical and practical approaches to both mediums. Students will learn the different uses and advantages of both translation and interpretation from a theoretical perspective and will get the chance to work on their own translation skills in both Spanish and English. Students will also learn about different translation tools, such as machine translation, as well as the applicability of translation and interpretation in different sectors of the professional world.

This course is designed to enhance oral and written communication in the medical field. Provide and allow students with greater interaction among medical service providers and their clientele. It will also refer to health-related issues facing Hispanic communication. 

A survey of some of the most important literary works in the Hispanic world through the ages, although focus will be in the contemporary period. International historical,cultural and political contexts will be analyzed. Different genres will be considered: the novel, poetry, theatre, essay; and the respective film and artistic adaptations.

With over 483 million native speakers of Spanish across the world, Spanish has come into contact with a variety of different languages. These different situations of language contact have led to a number of general and regional linguistic changes in different varieties of Spanish.  Likewise, the Spanish language has also been the source of structural changes in many languages across the globe. In this class, we will talk about the linguistic and social relationship that Spanish shares with languages in Europe such as Catalán, Gallego, and Euskara, Continental African languages like Kokimbo, as well languages in the Americas such as Quechua, Portuguese, Mapudungun, Maya and English. We will examine how the Spanish language has influenced and been influenced in different ways by these languages and the social connotations of these contact situations.  Likewise, different, and many times competing, language contact theoretical frameworks will be analyzed and critiqued in order to evaluate the state of the field, identify gaps in the research, and outline what can be considered a contact-induced linguistic change.

This course explores Latin American perspectives on medicine and the body, from the social hygiene debates of the 19th century to contemporary narratives of illness, disability, addiction, suffering and environmental toxicity. We will consider how representations of the body function as vehicles for critical reflection on politics, society and the global economy, as well as how discourses of health, illness and disability intersect with ideas about race, sex, class and the nation. The course will also examine the role of literature and film in silencing, preserving or recuperating Black, Indigenous, queer and feminist health knowledges.

According to the adage, “it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” In this seminar, we will examine the Mexican literary registration of this paradox to construct a viable periodization of the contemporary moment. How do novels conceive the unimaginable and cohere the unthinkable? What literary modalities and genres can give form to eco-catastrophe, climate migration, financial speculation, and extractive capitalism? Reading copiously and intensely, we will explore how contemporary Mexican literature approximates (thinks, synthesizes, quantifies, rebukes) the multilayered crises that confront humanity.

US Latinx/e literature is a field as varied as the histories, countries of origin, and personal experiences of the almost 60 million people of Latin American descent living in the United States. Ilan Stavans addresses the growing body of literature that tells their stories as “the tension between double attachments to place, to language, and to identity,” and Frederick Luis Aldama adds that the category of Latinx literature has emerged “out of a demographic presence generationally and linguistically rooted in a common Hispanic ancestral heritage and shaped by the movement of national borders and migration flows” (Stavans liii, Aldama x). In this course, we will explore these complexities through coming of age stories from Chicano/ Mexican-American, Puerto Rican, Dominican-American, and Cuban-American writers. We will study a series of narratives of growth written between 1972 and 2020, addressing themes including class inequality, sexual identity, familial and state violence, generational inheritance, parental expectations, religion, and codeswitching, and border crossing. 

Drawing on a broad range of short written texts (essays, journalism, stories and poems) and performance and visual resources (feature films, documentary and music videos), SPAN 4338 examines Spain's cultural evolution from the late 19th century to the present. In the first half of the course, we will analyze concepts of culture, nationhood, and identity against the backdrop of Spain's loss of the last of their colonies in Spanish America, the Spanish Second Republic, the Spanish Civil War and the Franco dictatorship. In the second half of the course, we evaluate the reinvention of Spainafter the death of Francisco Franco and more recent and demographic shifts that have made Spain one of the most multicultural, multilingual and ecologically-conscious countries in Europe. SPAN 4338 is an ideal course for students who are going to, recently back from, or simply exploring the possibility of participating in the Texas Tech Study Abroad program in Sevilla, Spain.