Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures

An extensive introduction to the Catalan language with an emphasis on oral communication as well as the reading and writing practice that will allow the student to function comfortably in a Catalan environment.

A beginning course designed for students who wish to start their study of Portuguese and have no proficiency in another Romance language. The four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing are developed at the basic level.

Prerequisites: knowledge of Spanish or another Romance language. An intensive beginning language course in Brazilian Portuguese with emphasis on Brazilian culture through multimedia materials related to culture and society in contemporary Brazil. Recommended for students who have studied Spanish or another Romance language. The course is the equivalent of two full semesters of elementary Portuguese with stress on reading and conversing, and may be taken in place of PORT W1101-W1102. For students unable to dedicate the time needed cover two semesters in one, the regularly paced sequence PORT W1101-W1102 is preferable.

Prerequisites: PORT UN1120 or PORT UN1320 or the equivalent. General review of grammar, with emphasis on self-expression through oral and written composition, reading, conversation, and discussion.

Prerequisites: a score of 0-279 on the department's Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An introduction to Spanish communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing, and cultural knowledge. Principal objectives are to understand and produce commonly used sentences to satisfy immediate needs; ask and answer questions about personal details such as where we live, people we know and things we have; interact in a simple manner with people who speak clearly, slowly and are ready to cooperate; and understand simple and short written and audiovisual texts in Spanish. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: a score of 0-279 on the department's Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An introduction to Spanish communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing, and cultural knowledge. Principal objectives are to understand and produce commonly used sentences to satisfy immediate needs; ask and answer questions about personal details such as where we live, people we know and things we have; interact in a simple manner with people who speak clearly, slowly and are ready to cooperate; and understand simple and short written and audiovisual texts in Spanish. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: a score of 0-279 on the department's Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An introduction to Spanish communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing, and cultural knowledge. Principal objectives are to understand and produce commonly used sentences to satisfy immediate needs; ask and answer questions about personal details such as where we live, people we know and things we have; interact in a simple manner with people who speak clearly, slowly and are ready to cooperate; and understand simple and short written and audiovisual texts in Spanish. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: a score of 0-279 on the department's Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An introduction to Spanish communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing, and cultural knowledge. Principal objectives are to understand and produce commonly used sentences to satisfy immediate needs; ask and answer questions about personal details such as where we live, people we know and things we have; interact in a simple manner with people who speak clearly, slowly and are ready to cooperate; and understand simple and short written and audiovisual texts in Spanish. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: a score of 0-279 on the department's Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An introduction to Spanish communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing, and cultural knowledge. Principal objectives are to understand and produce commonly used sentences to satisfy immediate needs; ask and answer questions about personal details such as where we live, people we know and things we have; interact in a simple manner with people who speak clearly, slowly and are ready to cooperate; and understand simple and short written and audiovisual texts in Spanish. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: a score of 0-279 on the department's Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An introduction to Spanish communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing, and cultural knowledge. Principal objectives are to understand and produce commonly used sentences to satisfy immediate needs; ask and answer questions about personal details such as where we live, people we know and things we have; interact in a simple manner with people who speak clearly, slowly and are ready to cooperate; and understand simple and short written and audiovisual texts in Spanish. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: a score of 0-279 on the department's Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An introduction to Spanish communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing, and cultural knowledge. Principal objectives are to understand and produce commonly used sentences to satisfy immediate needs; ask and answer questions about personal details such as where we live, people we know and things we have; interact in a simple manner with people who speak clearly, slowly and are ready to cooperate; and understand simple and short written and audiovisual texts in Spanish. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: a score of 0-279 on the department's Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An introduction to Spanish communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing, and cultural knowledge. Principal objectives are to understand and produce commonly used sentences to satisfy immediate needs; ask and answer questions about personal details such as where we live, people we know and things we have; interact in a simple manner with people who speak clearly, slowly and are ready to cooperate; and understand simple and short written and audiovisual texts in Spanish. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: a score of 0-279 on the department's Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An introduction to Spanish communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing, and cultural knowledge. Principal objectives are to understand and produce commonly used sentences to satisfy immediate needs; ask and answer questions about personal details such as where we live, people we know and things we have; interact in a simple manner with people who speak clearly, slowly and are ready to cooperate; and understand simple and short written and audiovisual texts in Spanish. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1101 or a score of 280-379 on the department’s Spanish as a Second Language Placement exam. An intensive introduction to Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on basic oral interaction, reading, writing and cultural knowledge as a continuation of SPAN UN1101. The principal objectives are to understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of immediate relevance; communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a direct exchange of information on familiar matters; describe in simple terms aspects of our background and personal history; understand the main point, the basic content, and the plot of filmic as well as short written texts. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: Scoring at this level on the department’s Spanish as a Heritage Language Placement test (https://columbia-barnard.vega-labs.com).

The principal aim of SPAN UN1108 is to build upon and further develop the informal knowledge of Spanish that heritage learners bring to the classroom—usually from family and neighborhood exposure to the language—and cultivate formal speaking, listening, reading, and writing abilities. Students are not expected to have any academic training in written Spanish prior to enrolling in this course.

Spanish heritage language courses at Columbia/Barnard focus on the development of communicative abilities and literacy from sociolinguistic and sociocultural approaches. Throughout the semester, students will be reviewing spelling patterns, building vocabulary, acquiring and effectively using learning strategies, and strengthening composition skills in Spanish. Cultural projects and readings reinforce learners’ understanding of the multiple issues related to Hispanic cultures in the United States and in other Spanish-speaking societies.

Prerequisites: Scoring at this level on the department’s Spanish as a Heritage Language Placement test (https://columbia-barnard.vega-labs.com).

The principal aim of SPAN UN1108 is to build upon and further develop the informal knowledge of Spanish that heritage learners bring to the classroom—usually from family and neighborhood exposure to the language—and cultivate formal speaking, listening, reading, and writing abilities. Students are not expected to have any academic training in written Spanish prior to enrolling in this course.

Spanish heritage language courses at Columbia/Barnard focus on the development of communicative abilities and literacy from sociolinguistic and sociocultural approaches. Throughout the semester, students will be reviewing spelling patterns, building vocabulary, acquiring and effectively using learning strategies, and strengthening composition skills in Spanish. Cultural projects and readings reinforce learners’ understanding of the multiple issues related to Hispanic cultures in the United States and in other Spanish-speaking societies.

Prerequisites: Scoring at this level on the department’s Spanish as a Heritage Language Placement test (https://columbia-barnard.vega-labs.com).

The principal aim of SPAN UN1108 is to build upon and further develop the informal knowledge of Spanish that heritage learners bring to the classroom—usually from family and neighborhood exposure to the language—and cultivate formal speaking, listening, reading, and writing abilities. Students are not expected to have any academic training in written Spanish prior to enrolling in this course.

Spanish heritage language courses at Columbia/Barnard focus on the development of communicative abilities and literacy from sociolinguistic and sociocultural approaches. Throughout the semester, students will be reviewing spelling patterns, building vocabulary, acquiring and effectively using learning strategies, and strengthening composition skills in Spanish. Cultural projects and readings reinforce learners’ understanding of the multiple issues related to Hispanic cultures in the United States and in other Spanish-speaking societies.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 in the departments Placement Examination. An intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence, with stress on oral interaction, reading, writing and culture as a continuation of SPAN UN2101. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 or a score of 450-625 on the Department’s placement examination. This is an intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence with an emphasis on oral interaction, reading, writing, and culture at an Intermediate II level with focus on health-related topics in the Spanish-speaking world. In an increasingly interconnected world, and in multilingual global cities such as New York City, the study of a foreign language is fundamental not only in the field of the humanities but also in the natural sciences. This interdisciplinary course analyzes the intersection between these two disciplines through the study of health-related topics in Iberian and Latin American cultural expressions (literature, film, documentaries, among other sources) in order to explore new critical perspectives across both domains. Students will learn health-related vocabulary and usage-based grammar in Spanish. Students will develop a cultural understanding of medicine, illness, and treatment in the Spanish-speaking world. Finally, students will be able to carry out specific collaborative tasks in Spanish with the aim of integrating language, culture, and health. * This course fulfills the last semester of the foreign language requirement. Therefore, students who have taken SPAN UN 2101 (Intermediate Spanish I), or have a score of 450-625 on the Department’s placement exam, and are interested in health-related topics may proceed and enroll in SPAN UN 2103 (Intermediate Spanish II: Health-Related Topics in the Spanish-Speaking World). Pre-med and pre-health students, as well as those students majoring in the natural sciences—including biology, general chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, and physics—will be given registration priority. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

This is an intensive course in Spanish language communicative competence with an emphasis on oral interaction, reading, writing, and culture at an Intermediate II level focused on climate discourse and environmental topics. Prerequisites: SPAN UN2101 (Intermediate Spanish I) or a score of 450-625 on the Department’s placement examination. This course fulfills the last semester of the foreign language requirement. After SPAN UN2104, students can continue learning Spanish and its cultures in SPAN UN3300.

This transdisciplinary course blends together Spanish language/s, Hispanic cultures, and climate in the field of the broadly defined ‘Climate Humanities’. It examines how climate change is discursively framed in the media, literature, and other cultural productions in the Spanish-speaking world including the US. We will explore how it becomes reframed as it travels from the scientific sphere to the social spaces where public opinion is negotiated, and how those linguistic and textual strategies shape and are shaped by the political economy of climate debates, that is, by the specific geopolitical and social positions of the different stake-holders. The purpose of this course is, first, to explore the possibilities of a new space at the interface between language/sociolinguistics, cultural studies, and environmental discourse to raise awareness of the challenges faced when we position ourselves outside of our communities of scholarly practice. Secondly, the course aims at providing students with tools to perform a mediating role between specialized knowledge production in Spanish and the public. From a multiliteracies framework, we will offer a language and content-based course with spaces for discussion of key emerging issues related to environmental justice using a critical discourse methodology while we continue honing students’ skills in Spanish through climate-related vocabulary and usage-based grammar.  

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1108 or scoring at this level on the department’s Spanish as a Heritage Language Placement test (https://columbia-barnard.vega-labs.com).

The principal aim of SPAN UN2108 is to build upon and further develop the knowledge of Spanish that heritage learners bring to the classroom – from SPAN UN1108 and/or from family and neighborhood exposure to the language. This course cultivates intermediate-level formal speaking, listening, reading, and writing abilities.

Spanish heritage language courses at Columbia/Barnard focus on the development of communicative abilities and literacy from sociolinguistic and sociocultural approaches. Throughout the semester, students will be reviewing spelling patterns, building vocabulary, acquiring and effectively using learning strategies, and strengthening composition skills in Spanish. Cultural projects and readings reinforce learners’ understanding of the multiple issues related to Hispanic cultures in the United States and in other Spanish-speaking societies.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN1108 or scoring at this level on the department’s Spanish as a Heritage Language Placement test (https://columbia-barnard.vega-labs.com).

The principal aim of SPAN UN2108 is to build upon and further develop the knowledge of Spanish that heritage learners bring to the classroom – from SPAN UN1108 and/or from family and neighborhood exposure to the language. This course cultivates intermediate-level formal speaking, listening, reading, and writing abilities.

Spanish heritage language courses at Columbia/Barnard focus on the development of communicative abilities and literacy from sociolinguistic and sociocultural approaches. Throughout the semester, students will be reviewing spelling patterns, building vocabulary, acquiring and effectively using learning strategies, and strengthening composition skills in Spanish. Cultural projects and readings reinforce learners’ understanding of the multiple issues related to Hispanic cultures in the United States and in other Spanish-speaking societies.

Independent study. 

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2102 or AP score of 4 or 5; or SAT score. An intensive exposure to advanced points of Spanish grammar and structure through written and oral practice, along with an introduction to the basic principles of academic composition in Spanish. Each section is based on the exploration of an ample theme that serves as the organizing principle for the work done in class (Please consult the Directory of Classes for the topic of each section.) This course is required for the major and the concentration in Hispanic Studies. Formerly SPAN W3200 and SPAN BC3004. If you have taken either of these courses before you cannot take SPAN UN3300. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2102 or AP score of 4 or 5; or SAT score. An intensive exposure to advanced points of Spanish grammar and structure through written and oral practice, along with an introduction to the basic principles of academic composition in Spanish. Each section is based on the exploration of an ample theme that serves as the organizing principle for the work done in class (Please consult the Directory of Classes for the topic of each section.) This course is required for the major and the concentration in Hispanic Studies. Formerly SPAN W3200 and SPAN BC3004. If you have taken either of these courses before you cannot take SPAN UN3300. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2102 or AP score of 4 or 5; or SAT score. An intensive exposure to advanced points of Spanish grammar and structure through written and oral practice, along with an introduction to the basic principles of academic composition in Spanish. Each section is based on the exploration of an ample theme that serves as the organizing principle for the work done in class (Please consult the Directory of Classes for the topic of each section.) This course is required for the major and the concentration in Hispanic Studies. Formerly SPAN W3200 and SPAN BC3004. If you have taken either of these courses before you cannot take SPAN UN3300. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2102 or AP score of 4 or 5; or SAT score. An intensive exposure to advanced points of Spanish grammar and structure through written and oral practice, along with an introduction to the basic principles of academic composition in Spanish. Each section is based on the exploration of an ample theme that serves as the organizing principle for the work done in class (Please consult the Directory of Classes for the topic of each section.) This course is required for the major and the concentration in Hispanic Studies. Formerly SPAN W3200 and SPAN BC3004. If you have taken either of these courses before you cannot take SPAN UN3300. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2102 or AP score of 4 or 5; or SAT score. An intensive exposure to advanced points of Spanish grammar and structure through written and oral practice, along with an introduction to the basic principles of academic composition in Spanish. Each section is based on the exploration of an ample theme that serves as the organizing principle for the work done in class (Please consult the Directory of Classes for the topic of each section.) This course is required for the major and the concentration in Hispanic Studies. Formerly SPAN W3200 and SPAN BC3004. If you have taken either of these courses before you cannot take SPAN UN3300. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2102 or AP score of 4 or 5; or SAT score. An intensive exposure to advanced points of Spanish grammar and structure through written and oral practice, along with an introduction to the basic principles of academic composition in Spanish. Each section is based on the exploration of an ample theme that serves as the organizing principle for the work done in class (Please consult the Directory of Classes for the topic of each section.) This course is required for the major and the concentration in Hispanic Studies. Formerly SPAN W3200 and SPAN BC3004. If you have taken either of these courses before you cannot take SPAN UN3300. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Prerequisites: SPAN UN2102 or AP score of 4 or 5; or SAT score. An intensive exposure to advanced points of Spanish grammar and structure through written and oral practice, along with an introduction to the basic principles of academic composition in Spanish. Each section is based on the exploration of an ample theme that serves as the organizing principle for the work done in class (Please consult the Directory of Classes for the topic of each section.) This course is required for the major and the concentration in Hispanic Studies. Formerly SPAN W3200 and SPAN BC3004. If you have taken either of these courses before you cannot take SPAN UN3300. All Columbia students must take Spanish language courses (UN 1101-3300) for a letter grade.

Between 1400 and 1600, in the context of the Iberian conquest and colonization of the “four parts of the world," artifacts were looted, melted, and destroyed; other objects traveled between continents in physical and textual forms. They were sent and offered as proof of the new territories, desired and collected. The powerful subtlety of unexpected artistic forms, media, and monuments triggered a new space of inquiry. Novel materials, techniques, and ideas about artistry were observed far and near—in the Americas, in Asia, in Africa, and in Europe. They were also described, compared and analyzed in letters, histories, or inventories. All around a sphere that could now be mentally embraced, missionaries, collectors, historians, and artists felt under the power of novel creations: intricate shell jewelries, wood and stone sculptures, turquoise masks, feather mosaics, painted manuscripts and folding screens, ivory spoons, carved temples, monumental cities, and so on. These splendid artworks deeply challenged conceptual boundaries such as those between: idol and image, beautiful and frightening, civilized and barbarian, center and periphery, classic and modern, and ancient and new. The artworks and their descriptions contributed to define humanity as immanently creative and to conceive artistic creation as a distinctive form of thought. Section 001 will be taught in Spanish; section 002 will be taught in English.

When Colombian novelist and literary critic Soledad Acosta de Samper declared in 1895 that the cause of “moralizing” Spanish American society was a task that female writers shared with the rest of the continent’s women, she was, in effect, placing a gender claim on a very old notion of the purpose of literature. A hundred years before the Peruvian-born Pablo de Olavide had begun his long epistolary novel (El evangelio en triunfo) by lamenting that the publishing industry of his era had not yet managed to harness its resources into a single volume that would make Christian doctrine and morality palatable to enlightened readers. What both writers shared was a sense of the imperceptible ability of narrative to transmit moral sensibility. This power—U.S. educational reformer Charles Brooks would call it “moral electricity”—served at once as a justification and a social charge for writers and publishers. Believers in the book as the media force capable of shifting social consciousness, the writers and critics of nineteenth-century Latin America peppered their works with equal parts optimism and dread, as the same art that renders virtue desirable could be turned over to the service of vice. Their new or at least newly distributed art conjured a notion of the American hemisphere on the one hand as a new moral Paradise and on the other as a place where the battle against moral chaos could still go disastrously wrong.

Welcome to our exploration of Latin American Cyberpunk, a genre that reimagines and revolutionizes the traditional cyberpunk narrative. Unlike the cyberpunk classics like William Gibson's Neuromancer, Blade Runner, and The Matrix, which established the genre's foundations with their visions of high tech and low life in dystopian futures, Latin American authors and creators have rewritten and subverted these tropes. They have turned their region's complex realities into a unique and vibrant cyberpunk laboratory, offering a fresh and engaging perspective. In this course, we will dive into the works of several prominent Latin American cyberpunk authors including Bernardo Fernández BEF, Jorge Baradit, Erick Mota, Ramiro Sanchiz, Juan Mattio, Karen Andrea Reyes, Maielis González Fernández, and Flor Canosa. In this course, our focus will be on how Latin America's complex realities have not only shaped but embodied cyberpunk concepts. As Chilean author Jorge Baradit states, Latin America doesn't just imagine cyberpunk - it lives it. The region's stark contrasts between ultra-modern technology and grinding poverty, its history of political upheaval and corporate exploitation, and its rich tapestry of cultures create a perfect backdrop for cyberpunk narratives that feel viscerally real. We'll delve into how Latin American cyberpunk doesn't limit itself to envisioning a high-tech dystopia but reflects and critiques an existing one, blending futuristic elements with the region's present-day challenges and cultural heritage.

This course surveys Latin American literary texts that have deeply engaged with disability in the
20 th and 21 st century. Against the tendency to treat disability merely as a useful metaphor or to
simply import Global Northern vocabulary and methodologies of disability studies to other
locations, this course turns to Latin American literary texts by authors that have been directly
“touched” by disability to foreground the concerns, vocabularies, and commitments that their
texts reveal. This includes authors who either through their personal experience with disability
or as caretakers—as parents, siblings, or close friends of people with disabilities—have closely
grappled with the experience of non-normative bodies and minds in the Latin American
context. In this course we ask how are subjects with disabilities represented in a variety of
genres (novel, essay, poem, graphic novel) and what constraints and possibilities circumscribe
these subjectivities and their lives. Ultimately, we will ask what vision of disability justice
emerges from these localized experiences and creative interventions beyond now globalized
disability discourses of inclusion/access and independence/autonomy.

Advertising emerged in modern societies as they developed into bourgeois market economies. As a creative industry involving verbal/visual communication and technology, it is intertwined with cultural production in general, and many of its products can be seen as artistic in their own right. As it both caters to and creates a consumer public with needs and desires, it is intertwined with broad social and ideological currents, and can provide an angle for their historical analysis. This course posits analysis of a “discursive formation” that includes the language of advertising as well as literary, cinematographic, and other social languages engaging publicity as a vehicle for the study of modern/contemporary Spanish cultural history, from the birth of the modern constitutional monarchy (1812), through the Franco dictatorship (1939-75), and into the transition to present-day democracy. Topics will include the evolution and professionalization of Spanish advertising itself, advertising and aesthetics, early bourgeois reflection on art vs. commerce, the special role of women as both publicity and public, changing views on consumer culture, and marketing’s function in consolidating substate political identities.

This interdisciplinary course explores the intersections between law, literature, and gender within the Hispanic world, examining how literary and legal texts shape and reflect cultural norms, identities, and power dynamics. The course will analyze key works of literature and legal texts from Spain and Latin America, paying special attention to how gender is constructed, represented, expressed, problematized or instrumentalized in legal texts and literary narratives.

Both literature and legal texts use language as their primary tool to construct meaning, navigate ambiguity, and shape social realities: style, rhetoric,  implicit and explicit narratives, form and character construction are essential in the writing of the law. Legal language, like literary language, can be ambiguous and open to interpretation. By examining how laws and legal texts are written, interpreted, used and argued, students will explore how language in both realms functions to maintain or challenge power structures related to gender.

In the last decades, Latin American and Spain have seen a wide variety of radical transformations along with striking immobilism in legal and literary treatments of gender.  A clear-cut path to  "liberation", "recognition" or "inclusion" has been problematized  not only by political, ideological and social resistance but also by  political and rhetorical uses of gender discourse as  strategies of "pink-washing" or a convenient mask to hide different sets of conflicts. "Progressive" gender discourses imported from the north have been sometimes the condition of possibility for transformation but also a problematic imposition on local social, political and symbolic structures with very different genealogies.

Through texts that address issues such as gender violence, sexual identities, family law, and women's rights, students will explore how legal and literary narratives intersect in their portrayal of gender norms. Authors from Latin America and Spain will be studied alongside legal reforms. Through these analyses, students will develop a deeper understanding of how literature and law both reflect and shape gender relations in the Hispanic world, offering nuanced perspectives on cultural and political representation, justice, identity, and power.

The death of absolutist King Fernando VII in 1833 constituted the end of Spain’s Antiguo Régimen, and ushered in the arrival of a constitutional monarchy. The country soon furnished itself with the requisite trappings of modernity, including a liberal juridical system intended to turn subjects into citizens and replace the Black Legend of the obscurantist, Catholic empire with the image of a modern state organized around the rule of law. Inspired by a literature emerging in Europe and the United States as the symbolic counterpart of this turn to ideals of order and reason, Spanish writers tried their hand at appropriating its conventions throughout a century of domestic political turmoil stretching from the First and Second Republics (1868-74 and 1932-36) to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939-75) and the transition to democracy soon after his death. In their own crime and detection novels, Spanish authors probed the contours of the nation’s uneven political and cultural evolution. Class readings and discussion are conducted in Spanish.

This course proposes to make a theoretical reYlection on Latin American literature, art, video, and cinema in the present. Starting from a diagnosis of the new scene, we are going to study some alternative forms. We will start with reading theoretical texts in the four proposed topics: Archive, Gender, Nature, and Intermediality.

The study of these works will also allow us to understand the dynamics between the different media and how artists conceive their practice in the midst of contemporary conditions. We are going to explore in these works the relationships between imagining, documenting, creating communities, intervening in the social field, and discussing global issues that often, from a precise location, involve planetary issues.

We will study works by Cristina Rivera Garza, Tamara Kamenszain, Ariana Harwicz, Fernanda Trías, Daniela Catrileo, Verónica Gerber-Biceci, among others. We will discuss the constellation of problems around aesthetics, mediality, exhibition, politics, materiality, and immateriality in art and literature, mimesis and institutions, artists and intellectuals.