Spanish Fall 2015: Expanded Upper Division Course Descriptions

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Spanish 100. Principles of Hispanic Literature & Criticism (4 units) 

Section Instructor Days / Time Room CRN
001 Charles Oriel, Professor MWF 10:00-10:50A 125 Olson Hall 70424
002 Cristina González, Professor TR 9:00-10:20A 233 Olson Hall 70425

Course Description: This course is an introduction to textual analysis with readings from Spanish and Spanish American literature and culture. The course will deal with basic genres: narrative, poetry, drama, and essay and will provide students with the opportunity to acquire the basic technical vocabulary of the Hispanic literary and cultural critic.

Prerequisite: Spanish 024/024S or 033.

GE credit (Old): None.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Extensive Writing or Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbook:

  • Carmelo Virgillo, Edward Friedman, and Teresa Valdivieso, Aproximaciones al Estudio de la Literatura Hispánica [Séptima Edición]  (McGraw Hill, 2011)
     

Spanish 116. Applied Spanish Linguistics (4 units) 
Robert Blake, Professor

TR 10:30-11:50A
2016 Haring Hall
CRN 70429

Course Description: In this course students will review both the most difficult structural properties of Spanish (e.g. aspect, mood, subordination, sequence of tenses) as well as the most promising methodological approaches to teaching Spanish.  The course will be informed by insights from the field of applied linguistics, including CALL, computer-assisted language learning, and pragmatics.  The material is appropriate for anyone in general wishing to deepen their linguistic knowledge of Spanish as well as for future language professionals who specifically seek a career in teaching Spanish at the secondary or post-secondary levels.

Prerequisite: Linguistics 001 and Spanish 024 or Spanish 033, or consent of instructor (rjblake@ucdavis.edu).

GE credit (Old): Social Sciences.
GE credit (New): Social Sciences.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Extensive Writing or Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

  • Electronic materials to be distributed by instructor
     

Spanish 131N: Survey of Spanish Literature: 1700 to the Present (4 units) 
Charles Oriel, Lecturer

MWF 1:10-2:00P
168 Hoagland Hall
CRN 73021

Course Description: This survey course focuses on Spanish literature from the year 1700 through the present day. This long period includes various literary, social, political and cultural movements, such as the Enlightenment, Romanticism, Naturalism, the Generation of ’98 and Surrealism, all of which will be taken into account and discussed in class. Readings include examples of all the main literary genres: essay, poetry, novel, short story and drama.

Prerequisite: Spanish 100/100S or 141/141S or 170/170S.

GE credit (Old): Social Sciences.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities and World Cultures.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper or Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

  • Fernando Ibarra and Alberto Machado da Rosa, Antología de Autores Españoles, Vol II: Antiguos y Modernos  (Prentice Hall, 1995)
  • Miguel de Unamuno, Abel Sánchez: Una historia de pasión  (Espasa Calpe/Austral, 2005)
  • Federico Garcia Lorca, Bodas de sangre  (Catedra, 1990)
     

Spanish 133N. Golden Age Literature of Spain (4 units) 
Diego Valdecantos-Monteagudo

MWF 2:10-3:00P
217 Olson Hall
CRN 73520

Course Description: In this survey course, we will explore the major literary works of Golden Age Spain (16th and 17th century) through the topos of reality and appearances (ser y aparecer).  We will examine how writers confronted the question of truth, and the nature of reality from a variety of perspectives, and discuss the history of Spain in this period and the cultural shift from the Renaissance to the Baroque period.  We will read representative works from a variety of genres (drama, novel, and poetry), including texts from Cervantes, María de Zayas, Calderón de la Barca, Garcilaso de la Vega, mystic poets, Quevedo, Góngora, the anonymous Lazarillo de Tormes, and others. 

Prerequisite: Spanish 100/100S or 141/141S or 170/170S.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

  • Lope de Vega, El Castigo sin Venganza  (European Masterpieces, 2012)
  • Lope de Vega, El Perro del Hortelano  (European Masterpieces, 2011)
  • Anonymous, Vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus Fortunas y Adversidades, edited by Annette Grant Cash and James C. Murray  (Juan de la Cuesta, 2002)
  • Elias L. Rivers, Renaissance and Baroque Poetry of Spain: With English Prose Translations  (Waveland Press, Inc., 1988)
     

Spanish 144. Imágenes de la Immigración (4 units)
Cristina Martínez-Carazo, Professor

MW 12:10-2:00P
158 Olson Hall
CRN 73030

Course Description: Imágenes de la immigración se centra en la representación de la figura del inmigrante en España tal y como se plasma en la literatura, cine, prensa, televisión y fotografía. Exploraremos el impacto de estas construcciones en la sociedad española y en especial en la redefinición de la identidad nacional en la era de la globalización. La transformación de una sociedad homogénea articulada durante el franquismo en una sociedad plural encuentra su eco y su modelo en los productos culturales de los últimos 15 años. Estos textos por un lado reflejan el realidad de la España actual y por otro la construyen, reforzando en el proceso el protagonismo de las imágenes a la hora de perfilar la identidad de España.

Prerequisite: Spanish 024/024S, or 033.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities and World Cultures.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Project.

Textbook:

  • A Course Reader
     

Spanish 151. Survey of Latin American Literature from 1900 to the Present (4 units) 
Emilio Bejel, Professor

TR 12:10-1:30P
158 Olson Hall
CRN 73022

Course Description: SPA 151 ofrece una introducción a la literatura y la cultura latinoamericanas desde fines del siglo 19 hasta el presente a través de la lectura cuidadosa de algunos de las obras (textos escritos y películas) más importantes de la región. En el curso transitaremos libremente entre diversos textos y producciones culturales (cuentos, poemas, ensayos y películas) que nos servirán como punto de entrada al debate sobre algunos problemas centrales de la cultura latinoamericana moderna. En cada clase, además de un análisis formal y temático de cada obra, se vinculará la misma con una reflexión en torno a la construcción de las identidades, la lucha de las mujeres y los grupos minoritarios por sus derechos, los chicanos, la violencia, los homosexuales, y cómo estos asuntos se relacionan con las épocas que llamamos modernidad y post-modernidad. Mientras vamos leyendo y comentando los textos, nuestro objetivo será entender cómo la literatura y el cine hablan a su manera de la historia, la política, la identidad y la cultura.

Prerequisite: Spanish 100/100S or 141/141S or 170/170S.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities and World Cultures.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper or Discussion - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

  • Reading materials will be put online
     

Spanish 170. Introduction to Latin American Culture (4 units) 
Michael Lazzara, Professor

TR 10:30-11:50A
146 Robbins Hall
CRN 70437

Course Description: This course provides a general introduction to Latin American culture while presenting students with critical tools for analyzing a broad range of cultural texts, including short stories, poetry, essays, crónicas, political discourses, films, popular music and testimonies. Sample cultural texts from different periods will be analyzed—though emphasis will be placed on the post-1960s era—with an eye toward understanding their politics, aesthetics, ethics, and ideologies. This course will serve as a “gateway” to equip students with the tools needed to succeed in more advanced upper division Spanish courses. Topics to be considered may include: colonialism, the “idea” of Latin America, cultural heterogeneity, identity formations, social movements, violence and dictatorship, globalization, and neoliberalism. Students will practice oral and written skills extensively.

Prerequisite: Spanish 024/024S or 033.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Diversity.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Visual Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

  • A Course Reader will be available at Campus Copies in the MU
     

Spanish 175. Immigration, Diaspora, and Exile in 20th Century Mexico (4 units) 
Theresa Bachmann

MWF 9:00-9:50A
217 Olson Hall
CRN 73215

Course Description: Although immigration is a very current topic, the flow of coming and going is old and accompanies the history of humanity. The very idea of Latin America is related to the arrival of the European element and the consequences that came from this encounter, which Fernando Ortiz calls Transculturation. Within so-called Latin America, Mexico exercises an important role not only as a place of arrival but also as a place of departure for the human element. Politics practiced by Mexico over the course of various governments during the 20th century facilitated and incentivized the arrival of various migratory flows from different countries, mainly from Republicans of Franco’s Spain, in the 1940s; Argentines and Chileans who sought to escape repression by the dictatorial governments in the 1970s; and Central American refugees during the 1980s. All of this made Mexico a vanguard country in terms of concession of political asylum. On the other hand, in sharing a border with the United States, Mexico exercises a strategic role. Within a Latin America full of social disparities, it leads to the point of entry for the realization of the American dream, creating an exit flow which has given rise to a large and controversial debate. As they are a topic with significant personal and social impacts, migratory flows, directly or indirectly, have been a constant theme in cultural production. The goal of this course is to discuss Mexico as a migratory entry point and how the consequences of this movement are reflected in cultural production, specifically in cinema and literature, focusing on the arrival of foreigners in Mexico during the 20th century.

Prerequisite: Spanish 024/024S or 033.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Diversity.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Visual Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Project - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

  • A Course Reader
     

Spanish 176. Literature in Spanish Written in the United States (4 units) 
Francisco Alarcón, Lecturer

MWF 11:00-11:50A
1130 Hart Hall
CRN 73024

Course Description: This course is a survey of the literary and cultural contributions of the main Spanish-speaking populations present in the U.S.: Chicanos, Puerto Ricans, Cuban-Americans, Central Americans, and other Latinos.

Prerequisite: Spanish 024/024S or 033.

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities and Diversity.
GE credit (New): American Cultures, Arts & Humanities and Domestic Diversity.

Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Term Paper.

Textbooks:

  • TBA
     

Spanish 182. El arte de la traducción literaria: un taller/ The Art of Literary Translation: A Workshop (4 units)
Michael Lazzara, Professor

T 1:10-4:00P
203 Wellman Hall
CRN 73214

Course Description: Translation, as we know, is not a simple activity. More than finding a word for word equivalency, translation means rendering a text creatively in another language with an eye toward its nuances, poetics, and cultural codes. It is also an illuminating way of engaging with and studying literature. What is translatable? What eludes translation? How should we approach translating the literary word artfully and responsibly? This senior seminar is meant for lovers of language and literature, for students eager to dive into the literary word closely and intimately. You will be amazed at how much can be learned by interacting so deeply with the literary word!

The class will be structured as a true workshop, a space in which we will work together to figure out what translation is and how to do it effectively. Part of each class session will explore perspectives on translation written by philosophers, critics, and practitioners of the craft. But most of our time will be spent actually doing translation. Students will work closely with texts by Spanish language writers (mostly from Latin America), translating them in part or in whole into English (a minimal amount of translation from English-to-Spanish will also be included). Students will also offer constructive feedback on their fellow students’ work. As a capstone to the seminar, the class will work together on a collective translation of a literary work.

Students who have taken Professor Lazzara’s SPA 151 course, “Introduction to Latin American Literature,” will find this seminar particularly enjoyable, as many of the texts to be translated are those studied in Professor Lazzara’s sections of SPA 151.

Because our main task will be translation into English, the seminar will be a bilingual space in which linguistic and cultural codes can shift and be explored freely. Because of the nature of the work we’ll be doing, English will be spoken in many moments.

Most student work will take place in groups of 3-5. Students should expect to spend time each week meeting with their groups outside of class. If your schedule is particularly hectic and does not permit time for group meetings, you may not want to take this course.

Prerequisite: Senior standing, a major in Spanish or consent of instructor (mjlazzara@ucdavis.edu).

GE credit (Old): Arts & Humanities.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities, Oral Literacy, World Cultures and Writing Experience.

Format: Seminar - 3 hours; Term Paper - 1 hour.

Textbooks:

  • José Emilio Pacheco, Las batallas en el desierto  (Ediciones Era, 2011)
  • Edith Grossman, Why Translation Matters  (Yale University Press, 2011)