Bachelor of Arts, BA
Hispanic Studies
Department of Languages, Cultures and Literatures
- MIRKO M. HALL, chair
- RAFAEL E. HERNÁNDEZ
- STEFANIA LICATA
Mission
The mission of the Department of Languages, Cultures and Literatures is to enable Converse students to embrace diversity and complexity in the world through communication in other languages and knowledge of other cultures. The department will achieve this goal by preparing students in the following areas:
- competence in oral comprehension, speaking, reading, and writing of the target language;
- knowledge of the culture and literature of the major language;
- preparation to enter an advanced degree program, public service, business, or the professions.
The Department of Languages, Cultures and Literatures offers a Bachelor of Arts degree with the majors of German Studies and Hispanic Studies. Students majoring in German Studies or Hispanic Studies must complete 30 credit hours in courses numbered 202 and above.
The General Education Program is a requirement for all degrees. The requirements listed below are approved for the Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Fine Arts.
| ENG 101 | 3 hours |
| Language and Culture | 9 hours |
| MTH 108 or higher | 3 hours |
| One course designated as Quantitative Reasoning | 3–4 hours |
| Health and Well-Being Wellness | 2 hours |
| Activity course | 1–2 hours |
| Humanities | 6 hours |
| Literature | 3 hours |
| Fine Arts | 6 hours |
| Natural Science | 7–8 hours |
| Social Science | 6 hours |
| Total | 49–52 hours |
Graduation requirements but not a separate course:
- First Year Seminar
- Writing Intensive course
- Non-European/non-Anglophone course
- Capstone experience
- For more information see the GEP requirements in this catalog.
Calculation of Major and Minor GPA in Languages, Cultures and Literature
To earn a major or minor in German Studies or Hispanic Studies, or a minor in French and Francophone Studies, students must have a minimum GPA of 2.0 across all of their required and elective courses on the Degree Completion Form for that specific program.
Elective credits beyond the required number may not be considered in the calculation.
For the major in German Studies, this GPA includes the allowance of two elective courses from other departments with a substantial Germanic component. For the major in Hispanic Studies, this GPA includes the allowance of one elective course, either SPN 400 or HST 477. Transfer credits from other institutions do not figure into the calculation for major or minor GPAs.
Degrees and Certificates
-
Hispanic Studies Major, -
Hispanic Studies Minor, Minor -
Women's Studies Minor, Minor
Courses
SPN 101–102: ELEMENTARY SPANISH
Class Program
A course for beginners designed to initiate students not only into a foreign language, but also into a new and exciting culture. Up-to-date teaching methods and techniques are employed throughout the program.
Notes
GEP credit.
SPN 125: FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR
Class Program
First-Year Seminars constitute a common and academically significant experience in a student’s first year at Converse University. All incoming first- year students are required to take a 3-credit hour FYS in the fall semester, choosing from a variety of discipline specific topics. Each FYS carries the corresponding departmental prefix, but with the common course number (except for designated honors sections). Each FYS course is designed to have no more than 18 students, and counts in some designated category of the General Education Program. Strong writing and speaking components are required elements of the course.
Notes
GEP credit.
SPN 199H: FRESHMAN HONORS SEMINAR
Class Program
The course is designed to encourage student participation in the intellectual processes through class discussion, research and writing, special projects, problem solving, and evaluation and defense of positions. When the subject matter duplicates that of another course, credit toward graduation will be granted for only one of the courses.
Notes
GEP, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 201: INTERMEDIATE SPANISH
Class Program
This course is a structural review of the language.
Prerequisites
Spanish 101-102, or placement in SPN 201.
Notes
GEP credit.
SPN 202: INTERMEDIATE SPANISH
Class Program
This course will emphasize speaking and listening with progressively increased practice in reading and writing.
Prerequisites
SPN 201 or placement in SPN 202.
Notes
Major, Minor credit.
SPN 203: SPANISH FOR HERITAGE SPEAKERS
Class Program
This course is designed to review Spanish grammar and improve writing focusing on bilingual speakers’ needs. Based on the identity of the Hispanic community in the United States, this course will complement the language skills of heritage speakers by making them reach a more in-depth knowledge of the language. Entirely taught in Spanish, the course will ultimately raise the students’ level of sophistication in Spanish as they use the language in more formal contexts.
Prerequisites
SPN 202, or permission of instructor.
Notes
Major, Minor, Elective Credit.
SPN 205: CONVERSATION AND COMPOSITION
Class Program
Through conversation and composition, this course expands these skills beyond the basics by building students’ oral proficiency using interactional and communicative language and by strengthening writing skills through targeted compositions and other writing activities. Also, the course ultimately aims to develop students’ critical thinking abilities and awareness of Hispanic cultures. Class held entirely in Spanish.
Prerequisites
SPN 202, or permission of instructor.
Notes
Major, Minor credit, Elective credit.
SPN 210: TOPICS IN READING, WRITING AND CONVERSATION
Class Program
A study of a particular topic in Spanish culture selected by the instructor. Subjects will vary from year to year. Non-European/non-Anglophone.
Prerequisites
SPN 201.
Notes
GEP credit.
SPN 265: LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND LITERATURE STUDY SEMINAR
Class Program
Students will study the target language and enroll in a foreign study program or participate in a Converse designed program, studying the language and discussing important topics on culture and contemporary life. Grades in the course will be determined either by the native language teacher or by a Converse professor, based on class participation, tests and graded assignments. Offered during Jan Term or Summer Terms, contingent upon sufficient enrollment. Non-European/non-Anglophone.
Notes
GEP credit.
SPN 299H: INTERDISCIPLINARY HONORS COURSE
Class Program
This course is team taught by members in two departments and is open to Nisbet Honors Program participants and to others who meet Honors Program guidelines. All students registering for these courses must register not only through the Honors Program but also with their adviser and the Registrar’s Office.
Notes
GEP, Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 300: SPANISH PENINSULAR CULTURE
Class Program
Study of the origin, formation and manifestations of the values of the people of Spain and the institutions which reflect them. Emphasizes history, geography, environment, social trends, and sociopolitical events. Class held in Spanish with opportunity for oral, written, reading and comprehension skill building. Offered every other Fall Term. Writing Intensive.
Prerequisites
SPN 202, or permission of instructor.
Notes
Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 301: LATIN AMERICAN CULTURE
Class Program
Study of the origin, formation and manifestations of Latin American values and the institutions which reflect them in the Americas and the Caribbean. Emphasizes history, geography, environment, contemporary trends, and sociopolitical events. Class held in Spanish with opportunity for oral, written, reading and comprehension skill building. Offered every other Fall Term. Non-European/non-Anglophone. Writing Intensive.
Prerequisites
SPN 202, or permission of instructor.
Notes
Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 302: CONVERSING AND WRITING ON SPANISH AND LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURES
Class Program
Helps to develop further, through conversation and composition, the facility in the language necessary to study literature in courses in which lectures, readings, discussion, and papers are in Spanish. Emphasizes analysis and criticism of Spanish and Latin American literatures. Non-European/non-Anglophone.
Prerequisites
SPN 202, or permission of instructor.
Notes
Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 303: CONVERSING AND WRITING ON THE PROFESSIONS
Class Program
Helps to develop further, through conversation and composition, the ability in the language necessary to function in professional fields such as banking, law, medicine, social services, education, architecture, planning, sales, economics and business.
Prerequisites
SPN 202, or permission of instructor.
Notes
Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 304: SURVEY OF SPANISH LITERATURE: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE SPANISH MIND
Class Program
A study of Spanish literature through the centuries in its historical, artistic, and philosophical context. Class held in Spanish with opportunity for oral, written, reading, and comprehension skill building. Centuries and readings will vary. Writing Intensive.
Prerequisites
Permission of instructor.
Notes
GEP, Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 305: SURVEY OF MODERN LATIN AMERICAN LITERATURE: REFLECTIONS ON ARTISTIC, SOCIAL, AND POLITICAL TRENDS
Class Program
An introduction to the main movements, authors, and works of Spanish American literature from Modernism to the present. Class held in Spanish with opportunity for oral, written, reading, and comprehension skill building. Writing Intensive. Non-European/non-Anglophone.
Prerequisites
Permission of instructor.
Notes
GEP, Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 306: DON QUIJOTE
Class Program
A thematic and textual study of Cervantes’s masterpiece, Don Quijote. Discuss Cervantes’s work through narrative elements explored by other authors of the Baroque period and through modern critical approaches. The novel will be read in its entirety and the course will be conducted in Spanish. Writing Intensive.
Prerequisites
Permission of instructor.
Notes
GEP, Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 307: SPAIN: “ENLIGHTENED, ROMANTIC, REAL”
Class Program
A study of the eighteenth and nineteenth century Spain through its literature, art, history and philosophy. Class held in Spanish with opportunity for oral, written, reading, and comprehension skill building.
Prerequisites
Permission of instructor.
Notes
GEP, Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 308: CONTEMPORARY SPAIN
Class Program
Themes and aesthetic trends in film and literature of Spain. Readings, viewings, lectures, and discussions will examine the social, historical and political forces shaping Spain’s contemporary cultural production. This course is conducted in Spanish. Writing Intensive.
Prerequisites
Permission instructor.
Notes
GEP, Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 309: MODERN LATIN AMERICA: THE NOVEL OF THE “BOOM” AND THE POLITICAL DRAMA
Class Program
Latin American literature of the last fifty years. Emphasis will be placed on artistic and historical events and on the novels and plays by the writers of the literary “boom,” including masterpieces by Nobel Prize winners. Class held in Spanish with opportunity for oral, written, reading, and comprehension skill building. Non-European/non-Anglophone.
Prerequisites
Permission of instructor.
Notes
GEP, Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 310: MODERN LATIN AMERICA: IMAGES AND SYMBOLS OF CHANGE IN POETRY AND SHORT STORY
Class Program
Latin American literature of the last fifty years. Emphasis will be placed on the poems and short stories by the writers of the literary “boom,” including masterpieces by Nobel Prize winners. Class held in Spanish with opportunity for oral, written, reading, and comprehension skill building. Non-European/non-Anglophone.
Prerequisites
Permission of instructor.
Notes
GEP, Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 311: CONTEMPORARY LATINO AMERICAN THEATRE
Class Program
Latino American theatre has an extensive history, dating back to long before the conquest of the Americas by Europeans. Throughout the centuries, indigenous memory, Spanish Catholicism and political upheaval have intermixed to create a potent combination, leading to the breadth of theatre we know today. But not all Latin American theatre has its roots in these heady streams—fun and frivolous works have their place too. We will explore the serious and sublime, the silly and crowd-pleasing—the theatre of Contemporary Latino America. Fine Arts and Non-European/non-Anglophone.
Prerequisites
SPN 205 or permission of instructor.
Notes
GEP, Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 312: AFRO-HISPANOPHONE PERSPECTIVES ON MIGRATION THROUGH THE MEDITERRANEAN
Class Program
This course aims to provide students with the fundamental knowledge to understand migration in the Mediterranean area through the Afro-Hispanophone (Equatorial Guinea and Moroccan) perspective. Specifically, it jointly considers two contemporary processes occurring between Africa and Europe: the circulation of cultures across the globe and the border-crossing of migrant subjects. Through the study of a broad variety of texts including novels, poems, theater and art produced by Equatorial Guinea and Moroccan authors (artists and writers), the course is specifically designed to link people and places, and to investigate the cultural impact and interrelations between these two continents. Non-European/non-Anglophone.
Prerequisites
SPN 205 or Permission of Instructor.
Notes
GEP, Major, Minor, Elective credit.
SPN 314: SPECIAL TOPICS IN HISPANIC STUDIES
Class Program
This interdisciplinary seminar explores a special topic in the language, culture, and literature of Spain and the Latino Americas. Particular emphasis is placed on the transnational and multicultural contexts of Hispanic cultural studies. Topics may include transatlantic/border studies, gender studies, sexuality, mass media, and colonialism. This seminar may be repeated as long as the course topic is different. Depending on content, it may also be considered Non-European/non-Anglophone.
Prerequisites
Prerequisite SPN 202 or approval of coordinator.
Prerequisite Courses
Notes
Major, Minor, GEP credit.
SPN 314H : SPECIAL TOPICS IN HISPANIC STUDIES
Class Program
This course aims to provide students with the fundamental knowledge to understand the African Migration in the Mediterranean with a specific focus on Spain. Through the study of a broad variety of scholarly articles, movies and documentaries we will address questions regarding borders, identity, political and ethical issues that migration poses. The selection of texts and audio-visual materials encourages students to explore the phenomena of migration under the perspective of migrant subjects and to link it with other geographies. It will help us to think how social images about Africa were constructed through a Eurocentric lens between the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries. Classes will be taught in English and will include lectures, discussions, audio-visual material, students’ presentations and a final research project.
Notes
Major, Minor, Elective, and Humanities, Non-European/Non-Anglophone credit.
SPN 315: INTRODUCTION TO LATINO STUDIES
Class Program
Latinos, Latina/os, Latinx, Chicanos, Boricuas, Nuyoricans, Cubanos, Dominicanos, Salvadoreños, Hispanics. US Latinos go by many different identities and now number more than 50 million—the largest minority group in the country. In this class we look at Latinx cultural production from literature to theory to television, broken down into thematic units including historical contexts, immigrant stories, transnational identities, feminisms, queer identities and Latinos in entertainment. Class held in English. Non-European/non-Anglophone and Literature GEP.
Notes
GEP, Major, Elective credit.
SPN 316: LATIN AMERICA CINEMA
Class Program
Latin America has a rich cinematic tradition, spanning from 1898 to the present day. The course offers a close analysis of select feature films from Latin America, studied as both an aesthetic practice and a medium of cultural history. Special emphasis is placed on developing techniques for critical visual literacy. Taught in Spanish.
Notes
GEP, Non-Western/Non-Anglo, Fine Arts
SPN 365: LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND LITERATURE STUDY SEMINAR
Class Program
Students will study the target language and enroll in a foreign study program or participate in a Converse designed program, studying the language and discussing important topics on culture and contemporary life. Grades in the course will be determined either by the native language teacher or by a Converse professor, based on class participation, tests and graded assignments. Offered during Jan Term or Summer Terms, contingent upon sufficient enrollment.
Notes
GEP credit.
SPN 415: ADVANCED GRAMMAR
Class Program
A study of more complex grammatical structures and vocabulary usage. Class held primarily in Spanish with emphasis on integrating the material into appropriate oral and written context.
Prerequisites
SPN 202
Notes
Major, Minor credit.
SPN 490: DIRECTED INDEPENDENT STUDY
Class Program
This course allows students to pursue a course of study not covered by regular offerings in Spanish. Both teacher and student will select the topic of study according to the student’s needs and interests. Non-European/non-Anglophone.
SPN 496: FOREIGN LANGUAGE INTERNSHIP
Class Program
An internship in business or a public or private agency requiring the use of the student’s foreign language skills. Pass/fail grading.
Prerequisites
One course numbered 300 or above and permission of the instructor.
Notes
Major, Minor credit.
SPN 499: SENIOR SEMINAR
Class Program
A final course for majors treating topics in Spanish language and contemporary Spanish and Latin American cultures and literatures. Students complete a bilingual portfolio—including personal statement, independent research project, and public presentation—that highlights their experiences, accomplishments, and scholarly work in the program. Non-European/non-Anglophone. Capstone.
Notes
Major, Minor credit.