The chief goals of the course are to expand vocabulary and conversational skills, strengthen grammar, and learn about key social, cultural and historical issues of the Spanish-speaking world. Vocabulary and grammar are taught within the context of the specific themes chosen to enhance students’ familiarity with the "realities" of Spanish-speaking countries. Prerequisite: SPN 112Y, SPN 120 or Spanish Placement Exam (https://www.smith.edu/aboutsmith/ registrar/placement-exams). Enrollment limited to 25.

The chief goals of the course are to expand vocabulary and conversational skills, strengthen grammar, and learn about key social, cultural and historical issues of the Spanish-speaking world. Vocabulary and grammar are taught within the context of the specific themes chosen to enhance students’ familiarity with the "realities" of Spanish-speaking countries. Prerequisite: SPN 112Y, SPN 120 or Spanish Placement Exam (https://www.smith.edu/aboutsmith/ registrar/placement-exams). Enrollment limited to 25.

Offered as WLT 178 & SPN 178. This course focuses on fictional portraits of iconoclastic translators and/or interpreters. The first two months are devoted to a (relatively) “slow reading” of Don Quixote as a pioneer text in terms of attributing a central role to a fictional translator. The third month is devoted to international films and short stories--largely, but not exclusively, from the Spanish-speaking world, which has experienced a remarkable upsurge of “transfictions” (i.e., fictions about translators) since the ‘90s. Taught in English.

Aimed at students who have had some basic experience with Spanish, this course prepares them to communicate in the language about themselves and their environment, and to acquaint them with basic socio-historical aspects of the cultures of Spanish-speaking countries. Students participate in activities that involve interacting with others, presenting information and understanding the target language, which allow them to learn about the structure of the language (its grammar). Priority is given to first- and second-year students.

This course is for students who have had no previous experience with the language and emphasizes speaking, listening, writing, reading and "grammaring". Although it is an "elementary" course, students typically achieve an intermediate proficiency level by the end of the academic year. The course also serves as an introduction to Hispanic culture and a preparation for higher levels. Priority is given to first- and second-year students. Yearlong courses cannot be divided at midyear with credit for the first semester.

Over the last century, the reach of corporations has gradually extended into all facets of our lives, yet most of us rarely stop to think about the corporation as a social entity. This course focuses on the social, economic and legal foundations that both shape its power and provide a dominant logic for its actions. We examine the implications of corporate power and processes for communities, workers and the environment.

This course applies a sociological lens to understanding inequality in American higher education. We examine how the conflicting purposes of higher education have led to a highly stratified system of colleges and universities. We also address the question of how students’ social class, race, ethnicity and gender affect their chances of successfully navigating this stratified system of higher education. Finally, we examine selected public policies aimed at minimizing inequality in students’ access to and success in college. Prerequisites: SOC 101 and permission of the instructor.

This course introduces majors to widely used theoretical perspectives that inform the sociological imagination. It focuses on how these perspectives analyze core facets of social life, such as structure and stratification, power and inequality, culture, agency, self and identity. Each topic is surveyed from several major perspectives, providing a comparative view so that students can make assessments of the insights each theory offers. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 40 with senior majors and minors having priority.

This course introduces students to the basic concepts and theories in global political economy. It covers the history of economic restructuring, global division of labor, development, North-South state relations, and modes of resistance from a transnational and feminist perspective. Issues central to migration, borders and security, health, and the environment are central to the course. Prerequisite: SOC 101. Enrollment limited to 35.

The effects of climate change put great strain on societies, testing the very structures that organize people’s lives and livelihoods. Using sociological frameworks and theories of globalization, inequality, intersectionality, science and technology, policy, migration, sustainability, environmental justice, social movements, and human rights, this course will examine the social, political, and economic impacts of climate change, as well as the ways that local and global groups prepare, mitigate, deny, adapt to, and organize in the face of climate change and its impacts.