Rudiments of Music

In this half-semester course students will become familiar with the elements of music notation (staves, clefs, pitch names, note and rest values) and with some of the basic skills necessary for college-level music instruction (e.g., construction and identification of scales, intervals, triads, and basic diatonic functions).

Elementry Greek: Homer's Iliad

An introduction to the ancient Greek language and epic meter through the study of the Iliad. The grammar of the Iliad, originally an oral poem, is relatively uncomplicated. By the middle of the first semester, therefore, students will begin to read the poem in Greek. By the end of the year they will have read a portion of Iliad, Book I.

Masculine Identity/Medieval

In this course we will read the canonical works that have shaped the national identity of European Romance countries such as Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, and Romania: from the medieval Chanson the Roland and Cantar del mio Cid to the early modern Don Quixote, Os Lusíadas, Orlando Furioso, and Mesterul Manole. We will discuss the performed masculinity of heroes, enemies, and mediators at the threshold between worlds.

Pedro Almodóvar

This course studies the films of Pedro Almodóvar, European cinema's favorite bad boy turned acclaimed auteur. On the one hand, students learn to situate films within the context of contemporary Spanish history (the transition to democracy, the advent of globalization, etc.) in order to consider the local contours of postmodern aesthetics. On the other hand, the films provide a springboard to reflect on larger theoretical and ethical debates. For instance, what can a weeping transvestite teach us about desire?

Female Autobiog. in Latin Am.

Who speaks in a text? What relationship exists between literature, images and identity? How can we portray ourselves in specific socio-political contexts? How do women writers build themselves as authors in the context of a patriarchal literary tradition? How do they address problems of subjectivity, self-representation and self-legitimation?

Gendered Violence in Spain

This survey course will review the complex interaction of gender and violence as a personal and institutional issue in Spain from Medieval times to the present. What are the ideological and sociocultural constructs that sustain and perpetuate violence against women? What are the forms of resistance women have put into play?

Preparation for Adv Studies

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.
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