Spanish Graduate Studies

Our graduate program offers course work in all the major periods and areas of Spanish and Latin American literatures, from medieval to post-Franco Spain, and from the Southern Cone of Latin America to the Caribbean and its diaspora. Students may also take courses in the different languages and literatures offered by our faculty and are encouraged to investigate interdisciplinary relations from a comparatist perspective.  They often participate in such programs as Caribbean Literary Studies, and the Center for Latin American Studies. All our students receive excellent training in the latest methodologies in second language acquisition.

Our faculty has particularly strong interests in literary theory, postcolonial studies, theater and performance studies, gender and queer studies, comparative and cultural studies. Their recent publications cover a broad range of topics, including medieval hagiography, the picaresque novel, Franciscan evangelization in New Spain,  Latin American modernisms, homosexual transgression in Brazilian poetry, Arab immigrant identity in Argentina, hybrid US-Cuban identities in performance art, and queer cultural transitions of Spain’s ‘la movida.’  

Current students are developing a range of innovative dissertation projects, including: Existentialism in 1930s and 1940s Latin American narratives, queer Latin American theater, anti-totalitarian street theater productions in Argentina, African women immigrants in contemporary Spanish fiction and film, and African women's presence and influence in Latin American culture.

Recent alumni hold appointments at a range of institutions, from community and liberal arts colleges to research-oriented universities, including University of London, SUNY-New Paltz, Indiana University, Saint Joseph's College (Long Island, NY), Notre Dame University, and Lewis and Clarke College.

 

Course work

Minimally, students complete at least one three-credit course in each of the traditionally defined areas of literary history, as well as introductory courses in theories of literary interpretation and Modern language teaching.  The seminars themselves, however, are not traditional surveys but rather innovative explorations of current theoretical and interdisciplinary work in their respective fields.  The recent course titles and descriptions listed below give some idea of the range of the curriculum.

Medieval Iberia

SPA611 Topics in Spanish Medieval Literature

Golden Age Spain

SPA613 Topics in the Golden Age

Colonial Latin America

SPA633 Topics in Colonial Literature

18TH/ 19th Century

SPA615 Topics in 18th - 19th Century Spanish Literature

SPA635 Topics in 19th Century Latin American Literature

20th/21st  Century

SPA616 Topics in 20th Century Spanish Literature

SPA636 Topics in 20th Century Latin American Literature

SPECIAL TOPICS IN Spanish Studies

SPA621 Special Topics in Hispanic Studies

MISCELANEOUS

SPA691 Writing Practicum

SPA692 Directed Readings

SPA693 Teaching Practicum

SPA730 Pre-Candidacy Doctoral Dissertation

SPA740 Post-Candidacy Doctoral Dissertation

SPA750 Research in Residence

 

Additional courses may be required, depending on students’ backgrounds; students who have previously completed graduate course work may petition for a waiver of some course areas. In general, students have ample opportunity to elect additional courses according to their particular areas of interest. Recent elective offerings include:

Linguistics

MLL601 Introduction to Foreign Language Teaching: Theory and Practice

MLL602 Romance Philology

MLL603 Advanced Topics in Second Language Acquisition

MLL604 Sociocultural Theory and Foreign Language Teaching

MLL605 Literacy Development in Advance Foreign Language

Theory Courses

MLL611 Introduction to Literary Theory

MLL614 Readings in Literary Theory

Special Topics

MLL612 Topics in Early Modern Comparative Literature

MLL621 Special Topics in Literature

MLL626 Topics in Comparative Literature

MLL693 Teaching Practicum

Courses for Reading Knowledge

FRE625 Elementary French for Graduate Research

ITA625 Italian for Graduate Research

POR625 Portuguese for Graduate Research

 

 

POR635 Portuguese Language Skills for Graduate Studies