- For day, time, room, and TA information, see our Spanish PDF SCHEDULE / Portuguese PDF SCHEDULE or the course search tool https://registrar-apps.ucdavis.edu/courses/search/index.cfm.
- Spring Quarter Spanish Teaching Methodology and Portuguese Teaching Methodology
- For all courses not described below, please refer to the General Catalog course descriptions
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Spanish Language Courses
SPA 1-3: Elementary Spanish
SPA 21-22: Intermediate Spanish
SPA 23-24: Spanish Composition
SPA 31-33: Spanish for Native Speakers
Spanish Undergraduate Courses
SPA 100 - Principles Literature Criticism
Instructor Santiago Acosta
SPA 115 - History Spanish Language
Instructor Cory Osburn
Course Description: This course examines the Spanish language from its roots in spoken Latin to modernity. There will be emphasis on the close relationship between historical events and language change, and the role that literature plays in language standardization.
Prerequisite: Spanish 024 or 033, or consent of instructor; Linguistics 001 recommended.
GE credit (New): Arts & Humanities or Social Sciences.
Format: Lecture - 3 hours; Writing or Discussion - 1 hour.
Textbook:
- David A. Pharies, Breve historia de la lengua española: Segunda edición revisada (University of Chicago Press, 2015)
SPA 118 - Topic Spanish Linguistics: Diachronic and Synchronic Variation in Spanish
Prof. Travis Bradley
Course Description: Este curso presenta un estudio de la variación lingüística en el español a través del tiempo y del lugar. Primero, se examinarán los cambios estructurales desde el periodo del latín hablado, provocados por el cambio natural de la lengua y por influencias externas. Esta panorámica sirve de base para una exploración de la estructura dialectal del mundo hispanohablante contemporáneo. Se prestará especial atención a las variedades del español peninsular y americano, así como al judeoespañol, conservado durante más de 500 años por los judíos sefardíes, expulsados de España en 1492.
Pre-requisitos: SPA 24 or 33; no es obligatorio pero se recomienda LIN 1
SPA 133N - Golden Age Literature Spain
Instructor Charles Oriel
This course will focus on literary masterpieces from the Spanish Golden Age (16th and 17th centuries). Readings will include several short novels (the first picaresque novel, Lazarillo de Tormes, and several shorter novels by Maria de Zayas), poetry (Garcilaso de la Vega, Fray Luis de León, Góngora and Quevedo) and well-known dramas by Lope de Vega, Tirso de Molina and Calderón de la Barca. We will try to consider all of these works within their historical, social, political and cultural contexts.
SPA 134B - Don Quijote II
Instructor Charles Oriel
This course will focus on the second part of Cervantes’s masterpiece, Don Quijote, published in 1615. Aside from studying Cervantes’s novelistic technique and its 17th-century context, we will also consider how his novel has affected the subsequent development of more modern fiction, including such authors as Miguel de Unamuno, Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar.
SPA 151: Transnational Latin American Literature
Instructor Robert Patrick Newcomb
SPA 151 (Transnational Latin American Literature) will examine the numerous ways in which Latin American literature of the mid-twentieth century to the present has existed across and between national contexts. Latin America, as the product of European colonialism, and a region comprised of contiguous nation-states and territories that emerged from the Spanish and Portuguese empires, has arguably always been a transnational, globalized space. During the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the multi-national, cross-border existence of Latin Americans and Latinx/Chicanx individuals has been reflected in in literature, among other forms of cultural and artistic expression. Forms of transnationalism to be discussed in this course include exile (Josefina Aldecoa), distance (Julia de Burgos), neocolonialism (Rosario Ferré), code-switching/Spanglish (Gloria Anzaldúa; Lydia Vega), the border crisis (Valeria Luiselli), and the undocumented (Karla Cornejo Villavicencio). Class materials will be mainly in Spanish, and discussions, quizzes, compositions, and presentations will be in Spanish.
While this course does not focus thematically on Latin American women’s literature, all of the writers assigned identify or identified as female. This decision was made to highlight the underrepresentation of women in the Latin American and Latinx/Chicanx literary traditions.
Texts:
Note: all readings are available in PDF format on Canvas. There is no textbook for this course.
- Clarice Lispector, “Love”
- Josefina Aldecoa, Mujeres de negro
- Julia de Burgos, selected poems
- Rosario Ferré, selected short stories
- Lydia Vega, “Pollito Chicken”
- Gloria Anzaldúa, “The New Mestiza”
- Valeria Luiselli, Lost Children Archive; “Papeles falsos: la enfermedad de la ciudadanía”
- Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, The Undocumented Americans
SPA 153 - Latin American Short Story
Prof. Leopoldo Bernucci
SPA 155 - Mexican Novel
Assistant Professor Emily Vázquez Enriquez
SPA 159 Ciencia Ficción Latinoamericana
Lecturer Santiago Acosta
Este curso invita a explorar la ciencia ficción latinoamericana del siglo XXI a partir de los ejemplos más relevantes de la narrativa y el cine recientes. Estudiaremos aquellos rasgos que diferencian la ficción especulativa del continente de su contraparte anglosajona, así como los vínculos entre las obras y el contexto político y social de Latinoamérica. Más que hacer un repaso histórico, nos interesa analizar las temáticas comunes del género en la región, incluyendo: la crítica a nociones eurocéntricas del progreso, la indagación en el pasado prehispánico por medio de la ucronía, el cuestionamiento de la dominación económica y cultural de Estados Unidos, el impacto de nuevas tecnologías como las redes sociales y la inteligencia artificial, y los cambios en la noción de “lo humano” frente a las realidades de la cibernética y la amenaza de la crisis ecológica del presente. Algunos de los autores que leeremos son: Gabriel Benítez (México), Daniel Salvo (Perú), Solange Rodríguez Pappe (Ecuador), Ramiro Sanchiz (Uruguay), Samantha Schweblin (Argentina), Teresa Pilar Mira de Echeverría (Argentina), Erick J. Mota (Cuba) y Fernando Contreras Castro (Costa Rica)
SPA 160 - Latin American Women Writers
Prof. Ana Peluffo
SPA 168 - Introduction to Latinx Culture
Instructor Arthur Vargas
SPA 169 - Topics Chicanx/Latinx
Instructor Hugo Garcia Manriquez
SPA 170 - Introduction Latin American Culture
Instructor Hugo Garcia Manriquez
SPA 171 -
Instructor Carol Hess
Do you just love Latin American music? Does it make you want to get up and dance? Music from Latin America takes human experience as a point of departure for musical understanding. Students explore topics such as music and identity, music and the body, music and religion, and other broad themes as they relate to the study of musics of Latin America, gaining fluency with musical concepts and cultural-historical contexts. We’ll cover nearly 50 genres, including music of indigenous communities, popular genres, folk and classical music. Several assignments revolve around film music. Previous musical background is not required. Class is taught in English. Lectures are three times a week, 50 minutes each, asynchronous.
MUS 127/SPA 171 satisfies the requirement for Arts and Humanities, Visual Literacy, World Cultures, and Writing Experience. Music majors can fulfill the course requirement through a special writing project.
Spanish Graduate Courses
SPA 205 - Spanish Phonology
Prof. Travis Bradley, Wednesdays 4:10-7:00
Course Description: La fonología es el subcampo de la lingüística que intenta describir y explicar lo que sabemos acerca de cómo pronunciar, combinar e interpretar los sonidos de una lengua. Este seminario ofrece una introducción al sistema fónico del español contemporáneo desde la perspectiva de la fonología generativa, un modelo teórico que conceptualiza la competencia fonológica como si fuera un programa informático ejecutado por una computadora artificial. Revisaremos los avances tecnológicos del modelo generativo desde los marcos lineales de los años 1960 hasta los marcos no lineales de los 1980 que todavía se utilizan hoy en día. Haremos comparaciones teóricas y prácticas entre las variedades del español y con otras lenguas. Lxs estudiantes serán capaces de (1) identificar patrones fonéticos a partir de un conjunto de datos transcritos o grabados, (2) describir y analizar los patrones mediante el lenguaje formal de la teoría fonológica, (3) leer, comprender y criticar las propuestas analíticas de la literatura y (4) explorar un tema de investigación en la fonología de una o más variedades del español.
Prerequisite: Some prior experience in linguistics or Spanish linguistics is recommended.
Format: Seminar - 3 hours; Term Paper.
Required Textbook:
ISBN: 9781626160415 (1626160414)
Title: Fonología generativa contemporánea de la lengua española (2a edición)
SPA 230 - Latin American Culture Studies
Instructor Emily Vázquez Enriquez, Tuesdays 4:10-7:00
Stories of migration often intersect with nonhuman worlds. Natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes, climate change drying up agricultural lands, and over-exploited natural resources are notable examples of how nonhuman entities influence migratory movements. Furthermore, dynamic and unpredictable rivers, strange forests, dangerous deserts, apocalyptic technologies, and different forms of labor framed by constant contact with crops, animals, and weather phenomena exemplify how the nonhuman shapes experiences of migration. In this course, we will analyze how 20th and 21st-century literature, film, photography, and other art projects by Central American, Mexican, and Latinx creators respond to the complex entanglement between the environment and migration. We will discuss various theoretical approaches to the environmental humanities and will consider the challenges and possibilities of environmental engagement through literature and art. In analyzing various depictions of the social and ecological factors that exist alongside the journeys of migrants and refugees in Central and North America, we will also discuss their ethical implications. Additionally, we will critically engage with how representations of the intersections between migration and the environment participate in current discussions about race, class, and gender.
SPA 274 - Latin American Literature Studies
Prof. Leopoldo Bernucci, Thursdays 4:10-7:00
Descripción del curso
El objetivo de este curso es explorar y profundizar los diferentes significados que tiene la Amazonía: territorio de las amazonas, paraíso, infierno, la última frontera, los pulmones del mundo, la tierra de los últimos indios, escondrijo del narcotráfico, etc. A través de una serie de textos literarios (novelas, cuentos y ensayos), el/la estudiante tendrá la oportunidad de leer, interpretar y problematizar las diversas representaciones ficcionales e históricas que discutiremos en clase. Nuestra discusión, sobretodo, girará en torno a las nociones de historia y ficción, civilización y barbarie (dicotomía ésta que ha sido apropiada por varios escritores latinoamericanos desde el Romanticismo), neo-colonialismo, la explotación de la Amazonía, viajeros europeos, latinoamericanos y norte-americanos. Los textos que leeremos son de los siguientes escritores: Euclides da Cunha (Brasil, 1866-1909), Horacio Quiroga (Uruguay, 1878-1937), José Eustasio Rivera (Colombia,1888-1928) y Mario Vargas Llosa (Perú, 1936- ).
Sistema de evaluación
Dos pruebas: 60%, Trabajo Final: 30%, Participación: 10% (Presencia y participación activa en las discusiones en clase)
Textos obligatorios
• Euclides da Cunha, “Contra os caucheiros” (1904) en Contrastes e confrontos (1907); “Os caucheros” (1909) en À margem da história (1909); “Judas-Ashverus” (1909) en À margem da história (1909); “Impressões gerais” (introd. À margem da história (1909)(en Canvas)
• Horacio Quiroga, “El salvaje” (1920)1 (en Canvas)
• José Eustasio Rivera, La vorágine (1924).
• Mario Vargas Llosa, La casa verde (1963)
Las novelas de Rivera y Vargas Llosa se encuentran en la librería de UC Davis Memorial Union.
1 El salvaje, publicado como libro en 1920, contiene también un cuento homólogo (“El Salvaje”) y que está dividido en dos partes: Parte I: El Sueño (¿1906-1919?) y Parte II: La Realidad (¿1906-1919?).
POR 031G - Portuguese for Spanish Speaking Graduate Students
Eugenia Magnolia Da Silva Fernandes, Monday, Wednesday and Fridays 10:00-10:50
Restricted to graduate students only. Intensive review of grammar and composition. Development of all language skills, but with emphasis on reading of modern texts, presentation/discussion, and writing on academic topics. Development on the following writing skills: analytical, argumentative, and creative.
Portuguese Courses
POR 003 - Elementary Portuguese
This course follows an online format. For every one synchronous interaction, one class is held asynchronously. Class time is used to build social interactions through the Portuguese language. Outside the in-class interactions, students are required to complete homework assignments, readings, and projects. POR 003 is a continuation of POR 002, focusing on the development of crucial language skills and emphasis on communication through cultural contexts. Unit topics will be presented contemplating the Lusophone communities.
PREREQUISITE: POR 002 or instructor's consent.
POR 023 - Portuguese Composition I
This course follows an online format. For every two synchronous interactions, one class is held asynchronously. Synchronous class time is used to create social interactions with written Portuguese as input. In addition to interactions in the synchronous, student-centered sessions, students must complete homework, readings, and compositions. POR 023 focuses on the development of reading and writing skills through the discussion and analysis of authentic materials and texts in Portuguese. Grammar aspects of standard Portuguese are debated through formal and informal text genres such as academic articles, essays, poems, comic books, letters, emails, and commercials. Upon successfully completing this course, students will be encouraged to obtain their proficiency certificate in Portuguese (Celpe-Bras or ACTFL OPI).
PREREQUISITE: POR 022 or instructor's consent.
POR 031 - Portuguese for Spanish Speakers
This course follows an online format. For every two synchronous interactions, one class is held asynchronously. Class time is used to build social interactions through the Portuguese language. Outside the in-class interactions, students are required to complete homework assignments, readings, and projects. POR 031 aims to develop students' contrastive and interactional competences, focusing on the pronunciation features, vocabulary, and grammar aspects. Unit topics will be presented contemplating Lusophone communities' contemporary issues with underlying comparative themes such as accentuation, official orthography, verbal tenses, lexical differences, treatment pronouns, cognates, adverbs, linking words, determinants, discourse markers, direct and indirect speech, numbers, and gender agreement. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to communicate in oral and written Portuguese at an intermediate proficiency level.
PREREQUISITE: A previous knowledge of Spanish is required, as least, an intermediate level.
POR 031G - Portuguese for Spanish Speaking Graduate Students
Eugenia Magnolia Da Silva Fernandes, Monday, Wednesday and Fridays 10:00-10:50
Restricted to graduate students only. Intensive review of grammar and composition. Development of all language skills, but with emphasis on reading of modern texts, presentation/discussion, and writing on academic topics. Development on the following writing skills: analytical, argumentative, and creative.
This course follows an online format. For every two synchronous interactions, one class is held asynchronously. Class time is used to build social interactions through the Portuguese language. Outside the in-class interactions, students are required to complete homework assignments, readings, and projects. POR 031 aims to develop students' contrastive and interactional competences, focusing on the pronunciation features, vocabulary, and grammar aspects. Unit topics will be presented contemplating Lusophone communities' contemporary issues with underlying comparative themes such as accentuation, official orthography, verbal tenses, lexical differences, treatment pronouns, cognates, adverbs, linking words, determinants, discourse markers, direct and indirect speech, numbers, and gender agreement. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to communicate in oral and written Portuguese at an intermediate proficiency level.
PREREQUISITE: A previous knowledge of Spanish is required, as least, an intermediate level.
POR 163: Modern and Contemporary Brazilian Literature
Instructor Robert Patrick Newcomb
This course is designed to give students an overview of modern and contemporary (20th-21st c.). literature from Brazil, a vast, dynamic, and diverse country with a rich and varied literary tradition. Brazilian literature is broad and diverse, and in order to give a degree of thematic unity to this course, we’ll be focusing on texts that reveal hidden things – hidden feelings or motives, hidden lives or experiences, or hidden aspects of the complex society that produced them. The theme of the hidden brings together literature is that is quite intimate, focusing on individuals, couples, or families, with texts that take a panoramic and other more overtly denunciatory or politicized look at Brazilian society. In terms of genre, we’ll read novels by Machado de Assis, Patrícia Galvão, and Graciliano Ramos, short stories by Clarice Lispector, a first-person testimonial by Carolina Maria de Jesus, and poetry by one of contemporary Brazil’s most celebrated voices, Angélica Freitas. We’ll also view Nelson Pereira dos Santos’ classic film adaptation of Ramos’s novel Vidas Secas.
Texts:
Note: all readings are available in PDF format on Canvas. There is no textbook for this course.
- Machado de Assis, Dom Casmurro
- Patrícia Galvão, Parque Industrial
- Graciliano Ramos, Vidas Secas
- Vidas Secas (dir. Nelson Pereira dos Santos)
- Clarice Lispector, “Amor”; “A Galinha”
- Carolina Maria de Jesus, Quarto de despejo (selection)
- Angélica Freitas, selected poems