Fall 2022

Please note that the language of instruction is noted at the end of each course title. (ie IN SPANISH or IN ENGLISH). For courses taught IN SPANISH prerequisites are listed above the course description. All Spanish Language courses are taught primarily in Spanish.

All students are required to take a Spanish language course (or course taught in Spanish) for graded credit. This course cannot be taken Pass/Fail.

Courses focusing on Conversation and Spanish Literature can be found under the heading Spanish Studies below.

Prerequisite: SPAN-UA 9001 or SPAN-UA 1 or by placement exam.

Focus is on the basic elements of Spanish grammar not covered in SPAN-UA 1. Emphasis is on building vocabulary and language patterns to encourage spontaneous language use in and out of the classroom.

Spanish for Beginners II - Sample Syllabus Coming Soon

Prerequisite: SPAN-UA 9002 or SPAN-UA 9010 or by placement exam.

Review of grammar, language structure, and culture, concentrating on fluency and accuracy through listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities.

Intermediate Spanish I - Sample Syllabus 

Prerequisites: SPAN-UA 4 or SPAN-UA 20 (or equivalent courses) or qualifying placement test score

For non-native speakers only.

Highly recommended to be taken concurrently with SPAN-UA 9109 Understanding Current Issues in Spain. Students of Spanish Speaking background see SPAN-UA 9051

For non-native speakers only. Expands and consolidates students' lexical and grammatical understanding of the language and introduces them to the fundamental principles of expository writing. Utilizes exercises, readings, and intensive practice of various prose techniques and styles.

Advanced Grammar and Composition - Sample Syllabus

Prerequisite: Spanish for Spanish Speakers (SPAN-UA 11) or placement/permission of the director of the Spanish language program.

This course, the equivalent of SPAN-UA 9050 for Spanish speakers, requires permission for registration. 

For native and quasi-native speakers of Spanish whose formal training in the language has been incomplete or otherwise irregular.

Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speakers Sample Syllabus

Registration priority for Stern (Business) courses will be given to NYU Stern students. Other students will be able to register as space remains available. Please pay close attention to course notes displayed in Albert.

NYU Stern Students: It is strongly suggested that Stern students take no more than two business courses while abroad.

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore or above standing to enroll. 

Information Technology (IT) has radically changed the internal operations of organizations and the structure of the markets in which they compete. As a result, the toolkit of the business professional must include an understanding of the fundamentals of IT and its impact on other functional areas, such as strategic management, finance, accounting, marketing, and operations. This course is intended to provide this base set of knowledge and skills.

Information Technology in Business and Society - Sample Syllabus

Expressive Culture is intended to introduce you to the study and appreciation of human artistic creation and to foster your ongoing engagement with the arts. Through critical engagement with primary cultural artifacts, it introduces you to formal methods of interpretation and to understanding the importance of expressive creation in particular and historical contexts.

This course analyzes the films of the two most well-known Spanish filmmakers, Luis Buñuel and Pedro Almodóvar, from the standpoint of grotesque expression. There are serious differences between the two directors. Buñuel is the most representative filmmaker of Spanish modernity, while Almodóvar is the clearest representative of postmodernism. They were born in very different times: Buñuel in 1900 and Almodóvar fifty years later. Despite these differences, there are things they share that allow us to investigate very different moments in the cultural history of Spain with a specific focus: both were born and received their first sentimental education in rural areas, under strong religious influence (and religious repression), and in their works we can see a strong use of the grotesque expression. Both repression and grotesque expression will be related in our analysis of the films, since grotesquery is a way of degrading and decentralizing what is considered the center of social authority. Almodóvar and Buñuel react in their grotesquery to the dominant Catholic culture of their times, both rejecting and admiring this culture at the same time. The presence of that religion is something that the students will be able to see constantly in the field trips and visits to Museums.

Expressive Culture: Film - Sample Syllabus

Open to Global Liberal Studies students only.

"City as Text” is a rigorous, 4-credit seminar designed to introduce students to the study away environment through an intensive academic program of cultural preparation and local immersion. Through scholarly and journalistic readings from interdisciplinary perspectives, students develop a nuanced understanding of the local, regional, national, and global forces that bring shape to the character of the city. Multiple class sessions take place in locations around the city, such as ports, markets, industrial centers, parks, pedestrian zones, and other points of interest, where students apply direct observation to examine critically formed questions of place, space and identity. Students draw on the city as a primary resource for academic research and critical inquiry and they produce innovative research projects (digital or print) that reflect on the city at the crossroads of local and global identity.

City as Text - Sample Syllabus

Travel is a form of knowledge. "The traveler," wrote the British travel writer Robert Byron, “can know the world, in fact, only when he sees, hears, and smells it.” This course offers students a unique opportunity to further expand and deepen the knowledge they will gain from their semester in Madrid, by making them venture beyond the confines of campus and engage with the everyday people and proceedings of the city. From their observations, reporting, interviews and research about what they have encountered, students will compose a feature-length narrative in the form of a classic “Letter From….” piece in The New Yorker magazine. 

Letters from Afar: Travel Writing Abroad - Sample Syllabus

From the 8th century until the 17th century, Islam played a crucial role in the history of the Iberian Peninsula. Today this period is often portrayed as one of inter-religious harmony, while al-Andalus is simultaneously mourned in contemporary Islamist discourse as a lost paradise. While we look at the history of Al-Andalus and assess the importance of the contributions of Al-Andalus to Europe and America, we evaluate the significance of its legacy in modern Spain. Furthermore, we will study the protagonist role that Spain has played in relations between Europe and the Mediterranean Islamic countries during the Modern Age. Students will gain further understanding and contextualization of current Arab-Muslim geopolitics. As a case study, we will address the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco, as well as its ensuing process of decolonization and the consequences that shape the current international relations between the two neighboring countries, Spain and Morocco.

Islam and Spain - Sample Syllabus 

A founding tenet of the Performance Studies field is the significance of the site where performance takes place–including its metropolitan environment. This course serves to introduce students to the many performance cultures of Madrid and to the ways in which its unique urban environment, its many histories, cultures, sub-cultures, and multi-cultures are staged and performed by the city’s residents, migrants, and visitors. The class will take Madrid itself as its main “performance” to analyze – by exploring the city’s past and present, its significant live art venues, and the varied public spaces where the population gathers in a collective spectacle of social relations. Readings in urban performance studies will be supplemented by class trips to all sorts of live events: from flamenco to skateboarding ramps, from public parades and religious processions to experimental theater and dance, from jazz to tourism performance, from small art galleries to its grand museums.

Performance of the City: Madrid - Sample Syllabus 

A study of Spain and its integration into the European Common Market. The historical background examines Europe in the aftermath of World War II, Spain under Franco's dictatorship and its relationship to other European countries, as well as the events leading up to the actual foundation of the European Economic Community (EEC). Emphasis is on the negotiations leading to Spain's incorporation into the EEC, and a detailed analysis is given of the present-day European Common Market and its goals for the future.

Spain and the European Union: Political and Economic Issues - Sample Syllabus

Prerequisite of SPAN-UA 50: Advanced Spanish or SPAN-UA 51: Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speakers (or equivalent courses) or qualifying placement test score 

Course can be taken concurrently with SPAN-UA 9050 or SPAN-UA 9051.

This course considers how different societies project and, at the same time, perceive cities. Using Madrid as a case study, we will study the city’s trajectory, beginning with the consolidation of modernity in the early decades of the 20th century, to today. In order to offer a broad view of its evolution and development, these topics will be analyzed in relation to different key moments in the history of contemporary Spain: the Primo de Rivera Dictatorship of the 1920s, the Second Republic, the Franco Dictatorship and Democracy. These chronological segments, which have had such important political repercussions, will allow us to reflect on the relationship between city and society.

Two lines of work are proposed. On one hand, we will analyze the urban development in Madrid and its social impact from a historical perspective. On the other, we will deepen our understanding of the urban experience. In this way, the resources necessary for the understanding of urban issues will be obtained, and will also be applicable in other contexts. To this end, the materials used will be mainly the city itself, texts of urban theory, architecture and visual culture.

Madrid: Urban Visions Sample Syllabus

Prerequisite for NYU students: SPAN-UA 50 Advanced Spanish or concurrently with SPAN-UA 9050. For non-native Spanish speakers only.

This is an advanced conversation course.

This course aims to develop students’ awareness about the contemporary culture of Spain, while improving students’ oral competence in Spanish. The culture and daily life of Spain in the 21st century will be examined throughout oral presentations, formal and informal conversations, interviews, reports, etc. Spain will be presented in its diversity, richness, and uniqueness with the help of supporting materials such as newspaper articles, TV and radio programs, commercials, short films, chats, etc. Finally, our goal is that the students gain an understanding of the new culture and that they be able to create new intercultural spaces by means of the comparisons to their own culture. This course is based on culture, language and training in oral communication.

Understanding Current Issues in Spain - Sample Syllabus

Prerequisite of SPAN-UA 50 Advanced Spanish or to be taken concurrently with SPAN-UA 9050. For non-native Spanish speakers only.

This is an advanced conversation course.

This course is designed for students who wish to attain a command of Spanish in relation to the worlds of business and international relations. Special emphasis on the development of oral expression through activities that focus on business practices. 

Spanish For Commerce - Sample Syllabus

Prerequisite of SPAN-UA 50 Advanced Spanish OR SPAN-UA 51 Advanced Spanish for Spanish-Speaking Students (or equivalent courses) OR Qualifying Placement Test Score 

This course will provide students with basic journalistic skills so that they may report on their cultural experience in Spain. We will work with newspaper articles, podcasts, radio and TV programs from the Spanish media to cover current social, political and cultural issues, such as immigration, national identities, regional differences, gender roles, tourism and famous personalities. The coverage of political and cultural developments in Spain in the American media will also be examined to complement our newsgathering and research. Course projects include the publication of a blog with articles on the students´ experience at NYU in Madrid – planned trips, visits to museums and other activities - as well as visits to a radio or TV station in Madrid. Our aim will be to acquire a broad understanding of contemporary Spanish society while developing new linguistic skills in Spanish. 

Blogging Spain - Sample Syllabus

Prerequisite of SPAN-UA 50: Advanced Spanish or SPAN-UA 51: Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speakers (or equivalent courses) or qualifying placement test score 

Course can be taken concurrently with SPAN-UA 9050 or SPAN-UA 9051.

The course analyzes Spanish literature and culture and, specifically, the crisis as a literary, historical, ideological, artistic structure. In this way, key problems of art and modern thought will be debated, such as the crisis of the subject and language, the relationship between writer and society, urban experience, the rewriting of collective history, critical fiction from women’s perspectives, metafiction as an analytical resource, the political and economic crisis, and the most recent crisis, the pandemic and the artistic effect produced during confinement.

Culture and Crisis in Contemporary Spanish Literature- Sample Syllabus Available Soon

Prerequisite of SPAN-UA 50: Advanced Spanish or SPAN-UA 51: Advanced Spanish for Spanish Speakers (or equivalent courses) or qualifying placement test score 

Course can be taken concurrently with SPAN-UA 9050 or SPAN-UA 9051.

This course considers how different societies project and, at the same time, perceive cities. Using Madrid as a case study, we will study the city’s trajectory, beginning with the consolidation of modernity in the early decades of the 20th century, to today. In order to offer a broad view of its evolution and development, these topics will be analyzed in relation to different key moments in the history of contemporary Spain: the Primo de Rivera Dictatorship of the 1920s, the Second Republic, the Franco Dictatorship and Democracy. These chronological segments, which have had such important political repercussions, will allow us to reflect on the relationship between city and society.

Two lines of work are proposed. On one hand, we will analyze the urban development in Madrid and its social impact from a historical perspective. On the other, we will deepen our understanding of the urban experience. In this way, the resources necessary for the understanding of urban issues will be obtained, and will also be applicable in other contexts. To this end, the materials used will be mainly the city itself, texts of urban theory, architecture and visual culture.

Madrid: Urban Visions Sample Syllabus

This course will look at Spanish art, past and present, from the point of view not of the conventional finished products --works of art in a museum, eg-- but rather in the context of the processes by which art is commissioned, conceived, created, collected, exhibited, marketed, bought and sold.  The course will also have a component of "making"  --students will be exposed to hands-on experiences of a number of artistic practices, such as modeling clay, and making plaster molds-- and will also include visits to artisans' workshops, artists´studios, auction houses, flea markets, etc.

Sample Syllabus available soon

Prerequisites: Completion of 300 level Spanish course or to be taken concurrently with 300 level Spanish course.

Students who completed SPAN-UA 200: Critical Approaches to Textual and Cultural Analysis meet the prerequisite.

In this course, we will read both the first and second part of the Don Quijote and analyze its significance from literary, philosophical, political and social perspectives.

Cervantes and Don Quixote - Sample Syllabus

From the 8th century until the 17th century, Islam played a crucial role in the history of the Iberian Peninsula. Today this period is often portrayed as one of inter-religious harmony, while al-Andalus is simultaneously mourned in contemporary Islamist discourse as a lost paradise. While we look at the history of Al-Andalus and assess the importance of the contributions of Al-Andalus to Europe and America, we evaluate the significance of its legacy in modern Spain. Furthermore, we will study the protagonist role that Spain has played in relations between Europe and the Mediterranean Islamic countries during the Modern Age. Students will gain further understanding and contextualization of current Arab-Muslim geopolitics. As a case study, we will address the Spanish Protectorate in Morocco, as well as its ensuing process of decolonization and the consequences that shape the current international relations between the two neighboring countries, Spain and Morocco.

Islam and Spain - Sample Syllabus 

Prerequisites: Completion of 300 level Spanish course or to be taken concurrently with 300 level Spanish course.

Students who completed SPAN-UA 200: Critical Approaches to Textual and Cultural Analysis meet the prerequisite.

This course analyzes current migratory flows and their implications, one of the key topics in Spain and the EU today. From an anthropological perspective, the course seeks to offer students conceptual frameworks to analyze critically the diversity and complexity of migrations and their effects on society and culture.

Migrations and Cultural Diversity in Spain: Anthropological Approaches - Sample Syllabus

Open to LS First-Year Students Only

This course focuses on the world's great traditions in literature, music, and the visual and performing arts from the most ancient civilizations to the Middle Ages. It familiarizes students with the earliest foundations of the world's major cultural traditions and the connections between these cultures. The course includes such literary works as The Odyssey, The Ramayana, andthe Shih Ching; students personally encounter foundational achievements of visual art in museums as well as learning about them in art history texts.

Arts and Cultures across Antiquity - Sample Syllabus

Open to LS First-Year Students Only

This course focuses on the world’s great traditions in philosophy, theology, history, and political science from the most ancient civilizations up to the Middle Ages. It familiarizes students with the earliest foundations of the world’s major discourses about the nature of human identity and society through a comparative study of seminal texts. The course includes such works as The Analects, Bhagavad Gita, and the Republic of Plato.

Global Works and Society: Antiquity - Sample Syllabus 

Open to LS First-Year Students Only

Writing I has two main objectives: first, to develop the students’ self-confidence and fluency by engaging them in the use of writing to express, explore, and develop ideas through a variety of forms, including informal writing (free writing, journal writing, etc.); second, to engage them in practicing the same kinds of critical and analytical skills they will use throughout their two years in Liberal Studies’s writing intensive program. The class is conducted as a workshop. Students produce a wide range of writing, both in and out of class, which forms the basis for classroom activities. All papers go through multiple drafts, often with input from peers as well as the instructor.

Writing as Exploration - Sample Syllabus