This transdisciplinary course is an introduction to Latin America through its cultural production (literature, film, music, painting, dancing, comics, performance, among others). We are going to address some of the most important moments of the continents' history: independence period, modernization, nationalism, Mexican Revolution, Latin America and the Cold War, Cuban Revolution, Literary Boom in Latin America, Southern Cone cultural production during dicatorships, politics of memory, popular media and mass culture.

With a historical approach, this survey course will explore bi/multicultural identities and communities in the Spanish- speaking world primarily of the 20th and 21st centuries. Korean-Argentineans, Cuban-Americans, Afro-Peruvians, Moroccans and Gypsies in Spain, Chinatowns, Spanglish, Is Catalonia Spain? Through literary and audiovisual texts, we will put situations of ethnic and linguistic hybridity in dialogue with one another and focus on how communities and identities are represented, aspired to, reclaim rights and space, and/or slip away when we try to define them.

This course will equip students of Spanish with a variety of skills that prepare them for upper-division courses. Specific areas of study will include introduction to literary genres and movements; practice in critical reading and writing; study of figures of speech, rhetoric, and style; presentation of oral reports; use of library resources. In addition, students acquire basic knowledge of the geography, history, and culture of the Hispanic world.

Emphasis on written expression in Spanish through frequent assignments emphasizing difficult grammatical structures or idiomatic usages, sentence and paragraph structure, making smooth transitions, writing the short essay, writing descriptions, engaging in personal or business correspondence, analyzing texts, doing library research, and drafting and completing research papers. Students will comment on each other's work in the classroom and/or via the use of email or Web sites and will practice techniques of self-editing and self-criticism.

Strives for mastery of complex grammatical structures and continues work on writing and reading skills. Frequent compositions, selected literary readings, class discussions, and debates on films and current events. Weekly conversation sessions with a native language assistant. May be taken without Spanish 199 to satisfy the language requirement.

Strives for mastery of complex grammatical structures and continues work on writing and reading skills. Frequent compositions, selected literary readings, class discussions, and debates on films and current events. Weekly conversation sessions with a native language assistant. May be taken without Spanish 199 to satisfy the language requirement.

A fast-paced review of basic Spanish grammar. Stresses Spanish and Spanish American culture through readings, films, and weekly conversation sessions with a native language assistant.

A fast-paced review of basic Spanish grammar. Stresses Spanish and Spanish American culture through readings, films, and weekly conversation sessions with a native language assistant.

A fast-paced review of basic Spanish grammar. Stresses Spanish and Spanish American culture through readings, films, and weekly conversation sessions with a native language assistant.

A dynamic and interactive introduction to Spanish and Spanish American cultures. Covers the basic grammar structures of the Spanish language through extensive use of video, classroom practice, and weekly conversation sessions with a native language assistant. Assumes no previous study of Spanish.