Current New & Special Courses

SP316: Topics in Hispanic Literature and Culture: Spanish Poetry Workshop.

In this workshop format class students will learn about poetic devices and styles and participate in the poetry craft to produce their own poems in Spanish. In order to expand their poetic knowledge and skill, they will become familiar with the most significant Spanish poets and poetic currents, ranging from the medieval romances to the COVID-19 trauma-poetry. Additionally, students will examine theoretical texts to grasp the importance of poetry and what poetry can do both on a personal and collective level. By the end of the block, each student will be expected to have a portfolio to showcase their best work and participate in a final poetry recital which will be open to the CC community. Students will engage in all aspects of the creative process including revision, performance and diction exercises. There will be extensive constructive criticism, peer editing, generative exercises, and the option to explore the integration of other disciplines (music, visual art, film, etc.) into the poems. In addition, the students will be expected to reflect on the creative process itself, to increase their ability to evaluate their own work more objectively and strengthen their creative process. No prior poetry knowledge nor writing experience necessary.  Prerequisite: SP306.

Professor: Carrie Ruiz.

SP303: Spanish for Heritage Learners.

Course designed for heritage speakers who have been exposed to Spanish at home and via community experiences and cultural traditions. Students will expand their Spanish language proficiency in writing, reading, oral production and listening comprehension through engagement with Latino/Hispanic artistic productions relevant to their bilingual experiences in the U.S. Ultimately, we aim to raise students' critical awareness regarding their role in their community and address the sociopolitical realities of Spanish in the U.S. Meets the Critical Learning: AIM requirement. Meets the Language Requirement requirement. Prerequisite: COD. (2 Units)

Professor: Jessica Sánchez Flores.

SP360: Studies of Periodization: La construcción racial en las Antillas coloniales

This course focuses on the Caribbean as a site of encounters between Indigenous peoples, Europeans, and Africans in the early modern Atlantic world. Through a variety of texts, including film, chronicles, speculative fiction, paintings, and diaries, we will study indigenous societies, imperialism and settler colonialism, piracy and smuggling, plantation societies, slavery and slave resistance, and creolization to understand the formation of racial ideologies in the Greater and Lesser Antilles prior to and culminating in the Haitian Revolution in 1804. Prerequisite: SP306.

Professor: Naomi Wood.

SP350: Transatlantic Studies: Cinema and the Invention of the “Americas”

Este curso explorará una variedad de expresiones culturales desde un enfoque comparativo en la Península Ibérica, las Américas y África. El objetivo de los estudios transatlánticos es ir más allá de las divisiones Norte/Sur, Este/Oeste y desafiar las aproximaciones desde “lo nacional” y en su lugar privilegiar una mirada crítica, transnacional y comparativa de los archivos atlánticos. Las películas y los textos seleccionados tienen como objetivo ayudarnos a repensar cómo el pasado sigue re-construyendo el presente de una forma directa e indirecta en la idea de lo “transatlántico”. Vamos a examinar también cómo existen, en las representaciones de las Américas y África, diferentes formas de dominación e imposición. Al mismo tiempo, veremos las manifestaciones de resistencia en el arte, cine y literatura. Prerequisite: SP306.

Professor: Angela Castro.

SP312: Writing Practice Abroad. Tiempo y territorio: memoria histórica y resistencias en el Mayab.  (Abroad)

Advanced composition and conversation through the study of literary and cultural texts.

Enfoca en la agencia de los pueblos mayas en los procesos históricos en la península de Yucatán tanto como en la expresión contemporánea de las luchas anti-extractivistas a través del activismo maya y solidaridades pan-indígenas. Clase de escritura intensiva y repaso individual de gramática. Prerequisite: COI & Acceptance into the CC in LA Program.

Professor: Andreea Marinescu.

SP307: Hispanic Culture. Cine y literatura indígena en México hoy. (Abroad)

The study of Hispanic societies and their cultural productions, such as film, art, music, language and literature.

La clase examina el papel social de obras por artistas de pueblos originarios en las últimas décadas. Exploraremos el cine comunitario, la relación entre escritura y oralidad y la relación de las comunidades con el Estado y el derecho a la autodeterminación. Prerequisite: COI & Acceptance into the CC in LA Program.

Professor: Andreea Marinescu.

PG300: Portuguese for Romance Language Students. (Abroad)

This course is designed for individuals who speak or have knowledge of one of the Romance languages, such as Spanish, Italian, French, or Latin. The course will rely on students’ prior language skills, translanguaging, and cross-cultural connections to introduce Portuguese language and Lusophone cultures. Prerequisite: Prerequisite: Spanish 101, French & Francophone Studies 101, Italian 101, Classics 111 & Acceptance into the CC in LA Program.

Professor: Naomi Wood.

PG308/ED290 Topics in Pedagogy: Critical Pedagogy Since Paulo Freire, in Brazil and Beyond. (Abroad)

Cross-listed ED 290

This undergraduate course examines the philosophical foundations, historical development, and global influence of Critical Pedagogy, beginning with the work of Brazilian educator Paulo Freire. Centered on Freire’s core works, we will explore key concepts such as conscientização, praxis, and education as a practice of freedom. Students will situate Freire’s ideas within the social, political, and educational contexts of Brazil, including literacy campaigns and popular education. The course then traces how Freire’s work has been critiqued, expanded, and reimagined by later scholars and practitioners across diverse contexts, with particular attention to the United States and other global settings. Readings will include feminist, decolonial, critical race, and Indigenous perspectives that challenge and extend Freirean thought. Through discussion, reflection, and applied inquiry, students will consider the continued relevance of Critical Pedagogy for education and social transformation. Cross-listed. Prerequisite: COI & Acceptance into the CC in LA Program.

Professor: Juan Miguel Airas.