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Spanish
Department of Romance Studies' Lecturers in Spanish
Seated, from left: Mildred Basker-Seigel, Monica del Haya, and Tino Villanueva
Standing, from left: María Luisa Parra, Sue Griffin, Liliane Duséwoir, Nicole Adamowicz,
and Elizabeth Lozano
The study of Spanish at Boston University engages learners at all levels in a rich and varied program. Six semesters of communicative language courses put beginners and intermediate students directly in touch with the language, literature and culture of the Spanish-speaking world, preparing them for global citizenship and international careers. All four skills – speaking, writing, reading, listening—are given attention. Advanced learners at the 305 level may focus on such diverse topics as Latino culture, business Spanish, or the techniques of poetry writing. Students whose interest lies primarily in translation from Spanish to English may opt for Spanish through translation courses.
Courses for majors, minors, M.A. and Ph.D. graduate students in Spanish explore a range of periods and topics. Recent courses have dealt with the contemporary city ("Writing the City/Walking the Text"); textual criticism and biography ("Lives and Texts"); Latin American and Spanish film; poetry, painting and the sister arts; intellectual currents between Spain and the Americas; the social poetry of Central America; women's writing in early-modern Spain, and individual authors like Borges, García Lorca, García Márquez or Rubén Darío.
Medievalist Irene Zaderenko, known for her ground-breaking research on the Poem of the Cid, teaches epic poetry, the sentimental romance, and the history of Spanish. Pedro Lasarte explores a range of Colonial topics, from European and American Baroque poetry to the satirical world of 17th-century Lima. Adela Pineda explores the relations between Mexican, U.S., and French culture from the nineteenth century to the present. Alicia Borinsky, widely known as a poet and fiction writer, teaches modern and contemporary Latin American literature. James Iffland, an authority on Quevedo, Cervantes, and Golden Age prose, also offers courses on literature and social justice in Central America, and Alan E. Smith offers a range of subjects, from Galdós to the Generation of 27 to modern and contemporary Spanish poetry and theater. Christopher Maurer teaches Spanish poetry as well as the intersection of biography, editing, and translation. Alberto Medina tackles problems of shifting national identities in periods of intense political change (for example, the Eighteenth Century, Post-Franco Spain and occasionally Latin America.)
Spanish majors and minors have study-abroad and internship opportunities in Madrid, Burgos, Lima, Buenos Aires, and Quito, and some of these offer opportunities both for undergraduates — who study for a semester or year — and graduate students, who serve as teaching assistants.
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