2009 Graduate Course Descriptions - Vermont
Six-week session
Schedules, texts, and staffing are subject to change
Course registration materials will be e-mailed by May 22, 2009.
Please Note: Some of the 2009 courses are three-week courses, which offer .5 unit of credit. You must take two three-week courses in order to earn one unit of credit. You may take up to three of these courses for each session, but you are required to take an equal amount in each session. In other words, you cannot enroll in two three-week courses in one session and none in the other session. If you take a “literature” three-week course in one session and a “culture” three-week course in the other session, you may designate the credit for either a literature or a culture requirement; the credit cannot be split between requirements.
LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS
SPAN 6501 Advanced Language for Mastery
Armstrong, Cabrera, González de la Aleja Barberan, Nunley [coordinator]
This course utilizes an integrated approach to bridging the gap between intermediate and advanced levels of language, with particular emphasis on the development of formal speaking and writing. Review of grammar and development of vocabulary are linked to proficiency functions (e.g., narrating, describing, explaining, analyzing, hypothesizing, and defending opinions) in both speech and writing. Authentic cultural readings of diverse types and sources and authentic video segments serve as a context for linguistic practice in the classroom. This course meets two hours a day. (l unit)
Required text: Concha Moreno, Temas de gramática, nivel superior (Madrid: Sociedad General Española de Librería, 2001).
SPAN 6502 Advanced Spanish Language
Bordón, Guitart, Gutiérrez Araus [coordinator]
The main objectives of this fundamental grammar course are the following: 1) review the uses of indicative verb forms, in particular in the past; 2) clarify uses of the subjunctive; 3) study various types of subordinate clauses, focusing on the use of indicative and subjunctive; 4) reflect on the use of ser and estar, with special attention to idiomatic expression; 5) learn the structure and use of verbs periphrases. Grades will be based on three exams, additional graded assignments, and class participation. (l unit).
Required text: Selena Millares, Método de español para extranjeros: Nivel Superior (Madrid: Edinumen, 1999).
SP 6505 Advanced Spanish Writing
del Campo, Fernández Isla [coordinator], Reyes Torres
The course aims at developing students academic writing skills through the understanding of key concepts of discourse analysis such as reference, cohesion, and coherence. A variety of text types will be analyzed in class. Rethoric devices such as argumentation, hypothesis, and exposition will be presented and practiced through writing tasks, with group work integrated into the course. Special attention will be given to the articulation of class activities with the requirements of other courses at the same level. (1 unit).
Required texts: Estrella Montolío (coord), Manual Práctico de Escritura Académica, vol. II (Barcelona: Editorial Ariel, 2002. ISBN: 84-344-2868-7); material in electronic form on Segue; standard Spanish-English Dictionary (recommended: Oxford).
Recommended text: Diccionario de la lengua española (Madrid: Real Academia Española, 2 vols).
SPAN 6607 Verb Tenses within the Indicative Mood: Evolution and Nuances of Meaning
Moreno de Alba
In this course we will explore the values and meanings (temporal, aspect, and modal) of the verb forms or tenses of the indicative mood. We will discuss the general rules governing tense use, studying the oppositions that are set up at the level of paradigm or general system, within the Spanish language (habitual present, historical present, “future” present, for example, or the distinctions between various past tenses). In addition, wherever possible we will ascertain the particular systematic values that some verb forms acquire, in particular dialects or varieties of Spanish—for example, in American Spanish versus European Spanish. (1 unit)
Required texts: José G. Moreno de Alba, Estudios sobre los tiempos verbales (Mexico: Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas, Universidad Autónoma de México, 2003); José G. Moreno de Alba, Valores de las formas verbales en el español de México, 2nd. ed. (Mexico: Instituto de Investigaciones Filológicas, Universidad Autónoma de México, 1986).
SPAN 6609 Values and Uses of the Subjunctive in Spanish
Cabrera
Subjunctive constitutes one of the basic topics of Spanish grammar and is one of the most important problems in the acquisition of Spanish as a second language. This course focuses on the study of how, when, and why the subjunctive is used in Spanish. In addition, it will also pay attention to other issues such as the values and uses of subjunctive in independent and subordinated sentences, and how theses values and uses can be explained by teachers of Spanish in their classes. The course will have not only a theoretical dimension but also a practical orientation, with exercises designed to improve the comprehension of subjunctive in Spanish. (1 unit)
Required text: Material in electronic form to be available for students upon arrival at Middlebury.
Recommended texts: J. Borrego, J. Gómez Asencio, E. Prieto, El subjuntivo. Valores y usos (Madrid, SGEL, 1986. ISBN 84-7143-316-8); Mª Ángeles Sastre, El subjuntivo en español (Salamanca: Colegio de España, 1997. ISBN 84-8640-873-3); Inmaculada Molina, Practica tu español. El subjuntivo (Madrid, SGEL, 2006. ISBN 84-9778-246-1).
SPAN 6614 The Spanish Language in America
Moreno de Alba
This course will study the most important aspects of the Spanish language as it is spoken on the American continent, with the aid of literature, history and, above all, linguistics. Departing from some reflections on the influence of the Andaluz and the Amerindian languages on the development of the Spanish language in the Americas, the course will address the main phonetic, grammatical, and lexical features of the Spanish language as employed on this continent. Current trends will be studied to investigate both the unity and the variety displayed in the Spanish used on this side of the Atlantic. (1 unit).
Required texts: Introducción al español en América (Madrid: Arco / Libros, 2007); other materials will be available upon arrival at Middlebury.
SPAN 6620 History of the Spanish Language
Company
This course will deal mostly with Spanish historical grammar. It puts special emphasis on the relation between basic theoretical aspects of the linguistic change and how it is presented in the historical grammar of Spanish. The course would study in particular the evolution of the language at the morphosyntactic and phonetic levels. At the end of the course the student will be able: a) to know the basic principles that govern the processes of linguistic change; b) to identify a general taxonomy of sound changes; c) to know the fundamental processes of phonic evolution of vowels and consonants in the historical grammar of Spanish, and d) to know the major morphosyntactic changes in the history of Spanish. (1 unit)
Required Texts: Concepción Company & Javier Cuétara Priede, Manual de gramática histórica (Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2008); Paul Lloyd, Del Latín al Español (Madrid: Editorial Gredos, 1993).
SPAN 6621 Syntax of the Spanish Language
Gutiérrez Araus
The purpose of this course is to provide a balanced combination of theory and practice concerning the structure of a sentence in Spanish and the basic problems when teaching Spanish grammar. The course focuses in the grammatical relationships between the components of the simple and dependent sentences. Course topics include: the Spanish order of the words, the alternance between the indicative and the subjunctive in the different types of dependent sentences, the different values of SE, the use of the prepositions, etc. Students will analyze texts in order to better understand the most complex questions of Spanish grammar. (l unit)
Required text: Mariluz Gutiérrez Araus, Problemas fundamentales de la gramática del español como 2/l (Madrid, Arco Libros, 2007, 2nd ed.).
SPAN 6629 Lexicography and the Structure of the Dictionary
Company
This course centers on what are the central, theoretical and practical aspects of the lexicographical work in producing a dictionary of the Spanish language. The course puts special emphasis on a contrastive dictionary of American Spanish. It also tackles theoretical-practical questions that are essential in the making of a dictionary; for example, which is the determination of the word unit, what is the relation between the grammar and the lexicon-dictionary of a language, or what is the impact of the processes of linguistic change in the structure of a dictionary, this is, the processes of lexicalization. At the end of the course the student will be able: a) to prepare a lexicographical entry, indicating the grammatical and sociolinguistic status of the term or locution in question, and to write a definition; b) to know the relation between grammar and dictionary; c) to understand the different types of lexicalization; d) to know the difference between the different types of dictionaries, especially between contrastive and non-contrastive. (1 unit)
Required texts: L.F. Lara, De la definición lexicográfica (Mexico: El Colegio de México, 2004); M.A. Medina Guerra, Lexicografía española (Barcelona: Ariel, 2003).
SPAN 6710 Spanish Phonetics and Phonology
Guitart
An introduction to the sound system of contemporary Spanish. No previous training in phonetics or phonology is assumed. You will learn how Spanish sounds are produced and how Spanish sentences are transcribed using the International Phonetic Alphabet. The course is also intended to make you aware of the psychological aspects of pronunciation, such as the fact that sounds that are physically different may be perceived as identical and sounds that are identical may be perceived as different. Some class time will be dedicated to pronunciation drills, but you will also be able to practice on your own by using the audio CD that comes with the textbook. Special attention will be given to the differences between the sound systems of Spanish and English that create pronunciation problems for second language Spanish learners. (1 unit)
This course is cross-listed with Professional Preparation for Teachers
Required text: Jorge Guitart, Sonido y sentido: teoría y práctica de la pronunciación del español (Georgetown University Press, 2004).
SPAN 6795 Spanish Second Language Acquisition: Pedagogical Applications
Negueruela
This course is cross-listed with Professional Preparation for Teachers. Please see the Professional Preparation for Teachers section for the full description.
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CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION
SPAN 6561 Spanish American Film of the New Millennium
Ruffinelli
Between 2000 and 2008, a young Spanish American film emerges, taking at times a minimalist point of view to narrate individual stories with a subjective tone, or continuing a tradition of the historical panorama to present national tragedies that occurred in the last two or three decades. This course will focus on this new type of film from different countries, with such titles as Babel, El violín, Masángeles, Tony Manero, Whisky, El baño de papa, El cobrador, Suite Habana, La mujer sin cabeza, among others. Films will be shown in the lab. (.5 unit)
(A Three Week course). Second session.
Required Text: Material in electronic form to be made available upon arrival at Middlebury.
SPAN 6564 Theatre: Theory and Practicum
Solís
This course is conceived as a linguistic and cultural experience, to expose students to the nature of drama, and to acquaint them with selections from Hispanic dramatic literature. After a preliminary consideration of the theoretical and historical underpinnings of Hispanic theater, two practical stages will be followed. The first stage introduces the students to the basis of acting through dramatic readings, exercises in speech, and corporal expression. In the second stage, a play will be prepared and performed as a means of bringing together, in one project, all the work of the course. (1 unit)
This course is cross-listed with Literature.
Required text: None
SPAN 6604 Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Medieval Spain
Gómez-Aranda
This course is designed to study the different aspects of Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Cultural Heritage in medieval Spain. Special emphasis is placed on the contribution of Muslims, Christians, and Jews to Spanish literature, history, religion, philosophy, arts, and sciences. A comparative study of these contributions is an important part of the course. The sociological situation of Christian, Islamic, and Jewish communities in either a Christian or a Muslim context, and the role of women in these societies will be analyzed. Special relevance is given to the question of the identity of the minority groups in the multicultural environment of medieval Spain. In class, we will analyze, comment, and discuss primary sources—translated into Spanish—from the period, especially literary documents and historical sources. (1 unit)
Required texts: Material in electronic form to be available for students upon arrival at Middlebury.
Recommended texts: M. R. Menocal, La joya del mundo: musulmanes, judíos y cristianos y la cultura de la tolerancia en al-Ándalus (Barcelona: Plaza y Janés, 2002); J. Valdeón Baruque, Cristianos, judíos y musulmanes (Barcelona: Crítica, 2007); M. Tedeschi, Polémica y convivencia de las tres religiones (Madrid: Editorial Mapfre, 1992).
SPAN 6706 Religions in the Mediterranean World
Gómez-Aranda
This course is designed to analyze the origin and evolution of the most important religions in the Mediterranean world from Antiquity to Modern times. These include Egyptian religion, Canaanite religion, Greek religion, and Roman religion, among others. Special relevance is given to the three monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The mutual influences among religions, the interchange of ideas, as well as the conflicts and confrontations among them will be discussed. How the historical circumstances determined the evolution of religions, and what peculiarities distinguish a certain religion from the rest will also be studied. In class, we will analyze, comment, and discuss primary sources—translated into Spanish—of these religions. (1 unit)
Required text: Material in electronic form to be available for students upon arrival at Middlebury.
Recommended texts: F. Díez de Velasco, Introducción a la historia de las religiones, (Madrid: Trotta, 2002); G. Firolamo, M. Massenzio, M. Raveri & P. Scarpi (eds.), Historia de las religiones (Barcelona: Crítica, 2000); J. Ries (coord.), Tratado de antropología de lo sagrado (Madrid: Trotta 1995-2001). 5 vols. Especially vol. 3: Las civilizaciones del Mediterráneo y lo sagrado & vol. 5: El creyente en las religiones judía, musulmana y cristiana; F. E. Peters, Los hijos de Abraham: Judaísmo, Cristianismo e Islam (Barcelona: Capellades, Laertes, 2007).
SPAN 6708 History of the Mediterranean
Maldonado
This course traces the history of the peoples and civilizations placed in the rims of the Mediterranean, from the prehistoric times up to the beginning of the Renaissance in the 15th century. During this long period, the Mediterranean has been a stage of the birth, splendor, and decline of ancient civilizations, as the Minoan, Mycenaean, Phoenician, Egyptian, etc.; of the classic civilizations of Greece, Rome, and Byzantium; of the Muslim civilization; of the medieval and of the renaissance of the Italian cities and of the classic culture. The goal of the course is to understand in depth the different and diverse trajectories of these peoples and civilizations, their internal developments, struggles, and conflicts. (1 unit)
Required text: Jean Carpentier and François Lebrun, eds., Historia del Mediterraneo, (Barcelona: Editorial Base, 2008).
SPAN 6712 Exiles: Spanish Writers in North America
de la Guardia
One of the least known aspects of contemporary Spanish history is the rich cultural contribution by numerous Spaniards who lived and died in exile. Being a nation that from its origins forged its identity not in linguistic or legal unity, but in ideology, exclusion due to differences was a constant. From the first expulsions of Jews and Muslims at the end of the 15th century, the contributions of the Sephardics and the Andalusians were frequent in the melancholic culture of exile. In this course we will examine the Spanish exiles’ contributions to strengthening Spanish studies in the United States and Mexico. Franco’s victory in the Spanish Civil War triggered the last great wave of exiles to America. Educational and cultural institutions which had already established close ties with the intellectual Republicans, generously accepted these exiles. Their work, influenced by their absence, continued to center on the Spanish culture, thus contributing to the North America’s interest in cultural contributions by a Spain that only existed in their memories. (1 unit)
This course is cross-listed with Literature
Required Texts: A selection of excerpts from the following texts and authors: Isabel García Lorca, Recuerdos míos (Barcelona: Tusquets editores, 2002); Jaime Salinas, Travesías (Barcelona: Tusquets editores, 2003); Victoria Kent, Cuatro años de mi vida, (1940-1944) (Barcelona: Bruguera, 1978); María Zambrano, Delirio y Destino, (Barcelona: Mondadori, 1989); Patricia Fagen, Transterrados y ciudadanos. Los republicanos españoles en México (Mexico: FCE, 1975). These materials will be in electronic form to be made available to students upon arrival.
SPAN 6733 Negotiating Silence: History of Women in Spain and Latin America
de la Guardia
On closer inspection of historical works, one of the most surprising facts is the silence about certain social groups. In history, there are many groups who for reasons of gender, class, or ethnic background are not visible in historiographic discussions. In this course we will examine the process of construction of gender identity at various stages of history and the perception women had of their own situation. We will also try to analyze the political, social, and legal discussions which made possible the perception of the inequality of women as oppressive, and eventually, the emergence of feminism in Spain and Latin America. (1 unit)
Required Texts: A selection of excerpts from the following texts and authors: Anna Caballé (dir.), La vida escrita por las mujeres. La pluma como espada. Del romanticismo al modernismo (Madrid: Círculo de Lectores, 2003); Rosa María Capel (coord.), Mujeres para la historia. Figuras destacadas del primer feminismo (Madrid: Abdad Editores, 2004); Isabel Morant (dir.), Historia de las mujeres en España y América Latina (Madrid: Cátedra, 2005). These materials will be in electronic form to be made available to students upon arrival.
SPAN 6737 Myth and Reality of the Spanish National Identities
Maldonado Gago
This course will explore the combination of factors—historical, sociological, cultural, etc.—that have given rise, over time, to the senses of identity or belonging within the different Spanish collective nationalities: Spain as a national entity, the País Vasco, Cataluña, and Galicia. Since history (and our way of telling it) mingles with mythical histories at the heart of these identity questions, the course will explore both interpretative arenas, and their limitations. (1 unit)
Required texts: José Álvarez Junco, Mater Dolorosa (Madrid: Taurus, 2005); material in electronic form to be available for students upon arrival at Middlebury.
SPAN 6738 Contemporary Art in Mexico
Blanco
The visual arts in Mexico have a remarkable and very old tradition that begins hundreds and even thousands of years ago, and that continues without interruption to our very present time. This course will explore the contemporary art scene in Mexico based in a series of interviews, images, and analysis of the visual art work of some 40 contemporary painters and sculptors, engravers, and mixed media artists, stressing the combination of factors -artistic, historical, sociological, cultural, and philosophical- that have given rise, over time, to the sense of a very powerful and thriving art scene in Mexico. (.5 unit)
(A Three-Week Course). First session.
Required text: Material in electronic form to be made available upon arrival at Middlebury.
SPAN 6744 Surrealism in Mexico
Blanco
This course is cross-listed with Literature. Please see the Literature section for the full description.
(A Three Week Course). First session.
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LITERATURE
SPAN 6560 Literary Analysis
Carreño, Del Campo, Evangelista [coordinator], Grunfeld, Layna, Ríos Sánchez, Roses
This course will introduce the graduate student to the techniques of literary analysis, critical thinking, reading, and interpreting Hispanic literary texts. It is divided into three segments, each of which is devoted to the analytic strategies pertinent to one major genre: narrative, poetry, and drama. Each student will write several papers and actively participate in class discussions. (1 unit)
Required text: Material in electronic form to be available for students upon arrival at Middlebury.
Recommended text: Angelo Marchese & Joaquín Forradellas, Diccionario de retórica, crítica y terminología literaria (Barcelona: Ariel).
SPAN 6580 Literary Theory
Evangelista
The aim of this course is to introduce students to the philosophical and theoretical movements that set the grounds for literary criticism. They are an indispensable tool for
understanding literary and cultural texts in depth. Each theory will be discussed and analyzed in class and illustrated with selected texts to further practical understanding of their complexity. The class will cover a wide range of theories produced during the 19th and 20th centuries, such as Marxism, psychoanalysis, structuralism and post structuralism, feminism, and post colonialism among others. (1 unit)
Required text: Material in electronic form to be available for students upon arrival at Middlebury
SPAN 6564 Theatre: Theory and Practicum
Solís
This course is cross-listed with Culture and Civilization. Please see the Culture and Civilization section for the full description.
SPAN 6581 Spanish Peninsular Literary Works: from Literature to Social Context
Ríos Sánchez
This course will examine the different works of those authors who are most representative of 19th- and 20th-century Spanish literature in the different literary movements comprised within this period: Realism, Fin del Siglo (Modernism and '98), Group of '27, and Post War. Each of the texts will be analyzed according to its movement, context, and author. In addition, the course will also focus on the following: to understand the connections between the literature and its social, cultural, and artistic context; to distinguish the individual characteristics of each author; to develop a capacity for literary analysis and commentary of both fragmented and complete texts. (1 unit)
Required texts: Leopoldo Alas (‘Clarín’), Relatos breves. ed. de R. Rodríguez Marín (Madrid: Castalia Didáctica); Antonio Machado, Poesías completas. ed. de Manuel Alvar (Madrid: Espasa); Pío Baroja. El árbol de la ciencia (Madrid: Alianza Editorial); VVAA, Antología poética de la Generación del 27. ed. de Arturo Ramoneda (Madrid: Castalia Didáctica); Antonio Buero Vallejo, El tragaluz. ed. de Luis Iglesias Feijoo & A. Mª Platas (Madrid, Espasa Austral); Carmen Martín Gaite, Las ataduras (Barcelona: Destino); material in course pack form to be purchased at Middlebury upon arrival.
SPAN 6662 Don Quijote
Layna
Don Quixote is one of the most famous and widely read books in the whole world; therefore its capacity to generate critical literature seems to have no limits. Both the reading and the writing have undergone a revision that will inevitably transform the idea of literature and of the represented fiction. During the course we will focus on questions that belong to the critical canon, questions that will be discussed in the light of recent studies: The consideration that Don Quixote is the first modern novel; the fundamental idea that it breaks the inherited literary rules; its belonging to the category of playful and burlesque literature (the carnival, the parody of the classic paradigms, the ironic critique of the ideological structure, the mockery of its contemporary ones ...), etc... (1 unit)
Required text: Miguel de Cervantes, El ingenioso hidalgo don Quijote de La Mancha, ed. Luis Andrés Murillo (Madrid: Castalia) 2 vols.
SPAN 6667 Creative Writing
Kozer
This course will center on the poetry and short stories written by the participating students, who will present to the class their texts, to be discussed, in an open fashion, by all the members of the group, in terms of quality, sense, sensibility, creative ability, and capacity to convey a forceful and/or beautiful expression. All texts are to be written in Spanish (no translations from other languages are accepted). Texts should have a maximum of 2 pages and each participant is responsible for bringing photocopies of texts for each student in the class, the teacher included. Discussions will aim at creating a final version of the originally presented text, to be considered the best possible written poem or short story that can be produced. The class will center on cleaning the text from any banalities and shortcomings that are as objectively as possible encountered. (1 unit)
Required text: None
SPAN 6712 Exiles: Spanish Writers in North America
De la Guardia
This course is cross-listed with Culture and Civilization. Please see the Culture and Civilization section for a full description.
SPANISH 6718 The Pleasure of Word: Eroticism and Life in Spanish and Spanish American Poetry of the Golden Age
Roses
The aim of this course is to study the presence of vital pleasures in the Spanish and Spanish-American Poetry of the Golden Age (16th and 17th centuries). We will comment on brief texts written by canonical poets, in their relation with social and aesthetics context. After the explanation of historic-literary sources and the analysis of poems, the goal is that the students can make an interpretation about the evolution, during two centuries, of eroticism and other vital pleasures in the poetry of several Spanish and Spanish American poets. The basis of evaluation will be: 1. participation; 2. debates by groups; 3. individual essays. (1 unit)
Required texts: Selected poems by Garcilaso de Vega, Fray Luis de León, San Juan de la Cruz, Luis de Góngora, Lope de Vega, Francisco de Quevedo, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Juan del Valle Caviedes. These materials will be in electronic form made available to students upon arrival.
SPAN 6722 Narrative and Religion in Contemporary Spanish American Literature
González
This course examines the many ways in which religious discourse has been appropriated in 20th-century Spanish American narrative, often with the aim of turning novels into "sacred texts." We will also consider the meaning of the "literary theology" that Spanish American literature has generated by creatively adapting into its makeup a variety of religious concepts, such as "the holy," the notion of an afterlife, reincarnation, salvation, canonization, and the various theories about the nature of God. Primary readings include works ranging from Federico Gamboa's Santa (1903), María Luisa Bombal's La amortajada (1938), and selected essays and stories by Jorge Luis Borges to Gabriel García Márquez's "La santa" and Tomás Eloy Martinez's Santa Evita (1995), among others. (.5 unit)
(A Three Week Course). Second session.
Required texts: Federico Gamboa, Santa (México: Grijalbo, 2001. ISBN: 970-05-0263-5); Maria Luisa Bombal, La amortajada (Barcelona: Barral Biblioteca de Bolsillo, 2000. ISBN: 84-322-3055-3); Gabriel García Márquez, Cronica de una muerte anunciada (Vintage, 2003. ISBN: 978-1400034956); Juan Rulfo, Pedro Páramo (Cátedra, 2006. ISBN: 978-8437604183); Tomás Eloy Martínez, Santa Evita (Punto de Lectura, 2006. ISBN: 978-8466368438).
SPAN 6744 Surrealism in Mexico
Blanco
This course will focus on Surrealism in Mexico. At the very beginning, we will offer an introduction to the Surrealist Movement and to the most important surrealists ideas, techniques, and goals. Immediately, we will devote some classes to the main surrealist figures that visited Mexico -André Breton, Benjamin Péret, Antonin Artaud- as well as to those surrealist artists that decided to remain in Mexico and create an important part of their whole work in Mexico, like Wolfgang Paalen, Luis Buñuel, Leonora Carrington, Edward James, and Alice Rahon. Later on, we will focus on those artists, either born in Mexico -like Frida Kahlo, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Alberto Gironella, Pedro Friedberg, Octavio Paz- or in other countries - like Remedios Varo, Katy Horna, Gunther Gerzso, Alan Glass- that realized their whole work in Mexico. (.5 unit)
This course is cross-listed with Culture and Civilization.
(A Three Week course). First session.
Required texts: Lourdes Andrade, Para la desorientación general, trece ensayos sobre México y el surrealismo (Mexico, Editorial Aldus); materials in electronic form to be made available upon arrival at Middlebury.
SPAN 6750 Writing a Nation: The Literature of Puerto Rico
González
This course deals with the question of literature’s role in the development of Puerto Rico’s sense of nationhood, from the mid-19th-century until the present. We will particularly consider the tension Puerto Rican writers have historically experienced between the conflicting imperatives of political commitment and artistic freedom. Readings will thus be placed in the various social and cultural contexts of Puerto Rican history. Our readings will begin with texts by major 19th-century Puerto Rican authors, such as Alejandro Tapia y Rivera, Manuel Alonso, José Gautier Benítez, Lola Rodríguez de Tió, and Manuel Zeno Gandía. Twentieth and 21st-century readings will include selections by José de Diego, Luis Lloréns Torres, Luis Palés Matos, Julia de Burgos, Juan Antonio Corretjer, José Luis González, René Marqués, Luis Rafael Sánchez, Ana Lydia Vega, and Mayra Santos-Febres. (.5 unit)
(A Three Week Course). Second session.
Required texts: Luis Rafael Sánchez, Indiscreciones de un perro gringo (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico: Ediciones Santillana, 2007. ISBN: 1-57581-925-2); Luis Rafael Sánchez, La pasión según Antígona Pérez (Río Piedras, Puerto Rico: Editorial Cultural, most recent edition); Manuel Zeno Gandía, La charca (Ediciones del Norte, 2007. ISBN: 978-8493549343).
SPAN 6753 Gabriel García Márquez: one short story, two novellas, and The Total Novel: Cien años de soledad
Menton
We'll read, analyze, evaluate, and appreciate "La prodigiosa tarde de Baltasar", El coronel no tiene quien le escriba, Crónica de una muerte anunciada, and Cien años de soledad. The latter will be analyzed intrinsically and placed in the context of García Márquez's complete works; in the context of the "Boom" (Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, et al); as well as in the context of the emergence of Colombia's Caribbean literature. (.5 unit)
(A Three Week Course). First session.
Required texts: García Márquez, El coronel no tiene quien le escriba (Mexico: Ediciones Era, 1968 or a more recent Edition); García Márquez, Cien años de soledad (Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 1985 or a more recent edition); García Márquez, Crónica de una muerte anunciada (Bogotá: Oveja Negra, 1981, or a more recent edition).
SPAN 6758 Contemporary Spanish American Short Story
Ruffinelli
This course will analyze with special attention short forms of narrative (short story as genre in its current forms), poetics, themes, and aesthetics of a literature that inherits and at the same time breaks with the tradition of the “nueva novela” from the 1960s. It will use some of the texts by Roberto Bolaño, Mario Bellatín, Ena Lucía Portela, Cristina Rivera Garza, Rodrigo Fresán, Jorge Volpi, Alberto Fuguet, Patricia Suárez, and others, studying the "new sensibility" produced in the historical framework of the new millennium. (.5 unit)
(A Three Week Course). Second session.
Required Text: Materials in electronic form to be made available upon arrival at Middlebury.
SPAN 6769 A Close Reading of Spanish and Latin American Poetry
Kozer
The course will center on a textual explanation of poems ranging from the Middle Ages to Contemporary poetry. Each poem will be looked into with a fine comb, analyzing each line, word by word, in order to establish and reinforce a given theory or manner of explaining the text in question, based on the biography of the author, the times in which he/she lived, and the way language functions in the poem. Above all, language will be the primary force to be studied, the way it conveys, hides, enriches the text or demolishes itself, and/or its historical period. We will look into poems by such diverse authors as Lope de Vega, Góngora, Juan Ramón Jiménez, San Juan de la Cruz, some Spanish Romances, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Darío, López Velarde, Vallejo, Neruda, Armando Uribe, Marosa Di Giorgio, Coral Bracho, among others. (1 unit)
Required text: Materials will be made available upon arrival at Middlebury.
SPAN 6779 The Spanish American Short Story: from criollismo to feminismo
Menton
The best stories from Horacio Quiroga to Angelina Muñiz: a thematically and aesthetically comparative approach. Contrasts among criollismo, magic realism, and the fantastic; between stories of the Mexican and the Cuban Revolutions; between existentialism in Mallea and Onetti; among different manifestations of feminism in Bombal, Arredondo, Valenzuela, Rosario Castellanos, Ana Lydia Vega, Gloria Guardia, Ethel Krause, and Angelina Muñiz. (.5 unit)
(A Three Week Course). First session.
Required texts: Seymour Menton, El cuento hispanoamericano 7th ed. (Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2003); materials in Electronic form to be made available upon arrival at Middlebury.
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PROFESSIONAL PREPARATION FOR TEACHERS
SPAN 6710 Spanish Phonetics and Phonology
Guitart
This course is cross-listed with Language and Linguistics. Please see the Language and Linguistics section for the full description.
SPAN 6792 Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL), Sociocultural Theory, and the Spanish Classroom
Negueruela
This course explores the use of new technologies applied to the Spanish classroom from a Sociocultural Theory (SCT) perspective. The course has two overarching goals: (1) To develop basic knowledge of the key concepts (semiotic mediation, activity as explanatory principle, minimal unit of analysis, the genetic method, ZPD) associated with the field of Second Language teaching from a Sociocultural Theory perspective and its connections with Technology Enhanced Language Learning (TELL); (2) To familiarize participants with classroom applications and digital pedagogy of TELL centering on the Web 2.0. and Computer-Mediated-Communication (CMC): blog, wikis, email, chat, and web forums. As a final project, students will develop a pedagogical project for appropriately integrating technology into their own instructional approach. (1 unit)
Required text: Materials in electronic form to be made available upon arrival at Middlebury.
SPAN 6795 Spanish Second Language Acquisition: Pedagogical Applications
Negueruela
This course is cross-listed with Language and Linguistics
This course is an introduction to the field of Spanish Second Language Acquisition and its pedagogical applications in the Spanish classroom. The course will be structured around two main topics: (1) Spanish/English Contrasts and pedagogical grammar: Explore and understand the linguistic contrast between Spanish and English to appreciate the complexity of the Spanish language from an English perspective. We will study topics such as: Spanish/English pronunciation differences (from specific phonemes to rhythm and intonation); grammar (verbal tense, aspect, verbal mood, articles and nouns, ser/estar, the “se”, gustar and psychological verbs, word order, adjective placement). (2) Second Language Learning Theories: Pedagogical applications. Study the psychological and linguistics challenges of learning and teaching Spanish from an English perspective. A variety of readings on Spanish second language acquisition will be covered to understand the theoretical explanations given in the field to account for the acquisition of Spanish as a second language. During the course, students will develop practical applications for the Spanish classroom: curriculum and course design, materials development, and lesson planning. (1 unit)
Required texts: M. S. Whitley, Spanish/English Contrasts. A Course in Spanish Linguistics (Washington D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2002); materials in electronic form to be made available upon arrival at Middlebury.
SPAN 6796 Teaching Language Methodology
Lacorte
The purpose of this course is to assist in the development of teaching professionals through active participation and considerate reflection of language teaching, language learning, methodologies and pedagogy. By the end of the course students will have gained an understanding of second language acquisition theories and will be able to translate such theories into practice, will have collaborated with other instructors on varying levels of teaching and development, and will have a better understanding of personal beliefs and practices. In addition to the theoretical readings and discussions, students will develop a portfolio of teaching materials ready for classroom use. (1 unit)
Required Text: Material in electronic form to be made available upon arrival at Middlebury.
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