Course Descriptions
SP 11-12 Basic Spanish
The goal of this two-semester sequence is to teach the essentials of pronunciation, structure, and usage in order for students to acquire the skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Three/four classes per week, as determined by the Department, and utilization of ancillary materials in the Culpeper Language Resource Center, as determined by the instructor.
6/8 semester hours
SP 222 Spanish Conversation
The goal of this course is to develop and improve the student's conversational ability. This is accomplished through class discussion of a variety of contemporary topics. Opportunity is provided for practice in improvement in pronunciation, increasing vocabulary, and correct use of grammar.
3 semester hours
SP 253 Spanish American Civilization
This course presents a general view of Spanish-American civilization from Pre-Columbian times to the present. The culture, history, and fine arts of Spanish-America are studied through selected readings, slides, and films.
3 semester hours
SP 271 Hispanic Film
This course will examine and analyze film by Spanish and Latin American Directors (Bunuel, Saura, Littin, Sanjines, etc.). Films will first be studied as an independent genre using specific structural form as the means of analysis (close-up, soundtrack, frame, etc.). Students will then begin to formulate interpretations that move between the formal, technical composition of films, and the concrete socio-historic and cultural reality to which each film refers. Course activities include screening of films, discussion of articles that deal with literary theory and analysis of film, and writing short papers.
3 semester hours
SP 287 U.S. Latino/a Literature
An exploration of definitive works in a rapidly expanding body of bilingual literature which includes Chicano, mainland Puerto Rican, and Cuban American literature. Works such as Tomas Rivera's ... y no se lo tragu la tierra, Piri Thomas' Down These Mean Streets, and Dolores Prida's Botanica bring into clear focus themes of bicultural identity, the struggle for justice and equality, and the politics of language. Reading ability in Spanish is required. For major/minor credit in Spanish, all oral reports and papers must be completed in Spanish.
3 semester hours
SP 303-304 Survey of Spanish-American Literature
Reading and critical analysis of the more important writers. Special emphasis on literary currents in Spanish America and their relationship to socio-historic and aesthetic reality.
6 semester hours
SP 346 Spanish American Drama
The course initiates the student in the process of critical thinking conducive to understanding and appreciating drama. Course procedure centers on student analysis and discussion of the definitive works of the 19th and 20th century in Spanish America. Selections will be taken from dramatists such as F. Sanchez, R. Usigli, R. Marques, Egon Wolff, and G. Gambaro, but may also include Chicano, testimonial, and collective theater. Critical papers and/or oral reports may be required.
3 semester hours
SP 347 Masters of the Spanish American Novel
Critical reading and discussion of key works in the novel genre with special emphasis given to the 20th century and authors as diverse as Azuela, Gallegos, Carpentier, Asturias, Garcia Marquez, Puig, and Skarmeta. Consideration may also be given to current trends, popular culture, the testimonial novel, and others. Critical papers and/or oral reports may be required.
3 semester hours
SP 353 Spanish American Short Prose Fiction
The short story is arguably Spanish America's strongest and most favored form of narrative fiction. The course is designed to immerse the student in the narrative world with emphasis on the contemporary period in order to facilitate the comprehension of the peculiar nature of short fiction in American Spanish. To be included among others, are: E. Echeverria, R. Dario, H. Quiroga, Borges, and Cortazar. Attention will also be given to the Short Story of Fantasy, Microstories, and narrative experiments in popular culture. Critical papers and/or oral reports may be required.
3 semester hours
SP 359 Puerto Rican Literature and Culture
Study and explanation of distinctive elements of the language of Puerto Rico. Discussion of the fusion of indigenous, Hispanic, and Anglo-Saxon influence as manifested in the island's culture. Reading, study, and critical analysis of the more important writers of the contemporary period.
3 semester hours
SP 371 Images of Latin American Indians
This course will study the vision of Latin American Indians from the first letters of the "Discoverers" and Conquistadores (Colón, Cortés, Bernal Díaz del Castillo), and missionaries (Bartolomé de las Casas) through relevant novels, short stories, and films of the 19th and 20th centuries. To understand post-Discovery vision of the Indians, this course will also study the major Pre-Columbian civilization of Mesoamerica and the Andean region. Authors such as the following shall be included: Matto de Turner, Icaza, Arguedas, Castellanos, etc.
3 semester hours
LAC 300 Justice and the Developing World
This interdisciplinary course combines the insights of history, politics, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, business, and economics to examine problems of poverty and justice in the developing world - including health, education, and environmental sustainability - with particular focus either on Central or South America, or the Caribbean. Significant of the course is a one-week immersion in one country, which is not required but strongly encouraged. Students plan and carry out a research project asking the critical questions and using the research methodologies of their academic major or minor. The immersion trip provides students with an intensive field research opportunity, the findings from which they incorporate into their papers.
Three credits.
LAC 301 Latin America and the United States
This interdisciplinary course is NOT a course in diplomatic relations. Rather it considers the ways in which Latin Americans have perceived, analyzed, depicted, reacted to, and dealt with the United States. The course considers essayists, poets, film makers, social scientists, statesmen, journalists, revolutionaries, artists, vendepatrias, and yes, diplomats. This course, which fulfills the requirement for the capstone seminar in Latin American and Caribbean studies and counts as a history course, includes research papers and oral presentations.
Three credits.
LAC 302 The Human Condition in Latin America
This seminar presents the human condition in Latin America through a multidisciplinary approach that combines history, sociology, anthropology, politics, literature, economics, and the arts. The central theme of "community" serves as the base for the exploration of a variety of topics such as tensions between rural and urban; struggles over land; gender roles; the place fantasy; spirit; and obsession with music, dance, sport, religion, etc. The countries studied vary depending on the expertise of the seminar leader and invited guests. The most recent seminar focused on Mexico and Brazil, but other likely choices include Colombia, Haiti, and Cuba. The course includes research papers and oral presentations.
Three credits. | 
