2026-2027 Course Descriptions
PORTUGUESE 101-1: Elementary Portuguese (Spring & Summer Quarters)
Introduction to grammar and development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Brazilian Portuguese, as well as the history and culture of Portuguese-speaking countries.
PORTUGUESE 101-2: Elementary Portuguese (Fall & Summer Quarters)
Introduction to grammar and development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Brazilian Portuguese, as well as the history and culture of Portuguese-speaking countries. Prerequisite: PORT 101-1, instructor permission, or sufficient score on placement test.
PORTUGUESE 101-3: Elementary Portuguese (Summer Quarter)
Introduction to grammar and development of listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in Brazilian Portuguese, as well as the history and culture of Portuguese-speaking countries. Prerequisite: PORT 101-1, instructor permission, or sufficient score on placement test.
PORTUGUESE 105-8: First Year Writing Seminar: TBA (Winter Quarter - Taught in English)
Course description coming soon.
PORTUGUESE 115-1: Portuguese for Speakers of Spanish and other Romance Languages (Fall and Winter Quarters)
For students proficient in Spanish, French or Italian. Comparative sociolinguistic and interactive approach to communicative competence emphasizing pronunciation, intonation, sentence structure, and patterns of spoken and written Portuguese. Prerequisite: AP 4 in Spanish, French or Italian; instructor permission, or sufficient score on placement test.
PORTUGUESE 115-2: Portuguese for Speakers of Spanish and other Romance Languages (Winter and Spring Quarters)
Second course in the sequence for students proficient in Spanish, French or Italian. Comparative sociolinguistic and interactive approach to communicative competence emphasizing pronunciation, intonation, sentence structure, and patterns of spoken and written Portuguese. Students will deepen their knowledge in Portuguese as they learn usages and differences in the application of the subjunctive, and will study sociological and historical aspects of Portuguese speaking countries other than Brazil. Prerequisite: PORT 115-1.
PORTUGUESE 201-0: Reading and Speaking Portuguese (Spring Quarter)
This intermediate course is designed to expand mastery in reading and speaking Brazilian Portuguese through select cultural videos, readings of literary cronicas, periodicals, and the Internet. Prerequisite: PORT 115-2, PORT 121-3, or sufficient score on placement examination.
PORTUGUESE 202-0: Reading and Writing Portuguese (Fall Quarter)
Instruction in reading and writing expository and narrative prose. Emphasis on vocabulary, linguistic skills, and syntax appropriate to formal written Portuguese. Prerequisite: PORT 115-2, PORT 121-3, or sufficient score on placement examination.
PORTUGUESE 210-0: Icons, Legends, and Myths in Brazil (Spring Quarter - Lecture Taught in English)
Representations in graphic materials, documentaries, film, theater, folklore, narrative fiction, and popular music of historical, literary, and popular figures in the national imagination. Includes English or Portuguese discussion sections. Prerequisite for Portuguese discussion section: PORT 201-0, PORT 202-0, or sufficient score on placement exam. Prerequisite for English discussion section: none.
PORTUGUESE 303-0: Topics in Advanced Portuguese: TBA (Winter Quarter)
This course offers an advanced review of grammar concepts and idiomatic use of spoken and written Portuguese. It deals with a variety of topics in the context of Brazilian and Lusophone culture, history, literature, and current events. Students will deepen their knowledge of the Portuguese language through the study of Brazil’s History and Art. May be repeated for credit with different topic. Prerequisite: PORT 201-0, PORT 202-0, or sufficient score on placement exam. Course description coming soon.
PORTUGUESE 396-0: Topics in Lusophone Cultures: Brazilian Literature: The Queer Arquive (Spring Quarter - Taught in English)
Course description coming soon
SPANISH 101-1: Elementary Spanish (Fall Quarter)
First course of a three-quarter sequence in introductory Spanish, designed for students who have never studied Spanish or studied Spanish less than two years in high school. Students will learn Spanish in order to use it beyond the classroom in meaningful and authentic ways at the Novice level of proficiency. This means that students will be able to communicate short messages on everyday topics that affect them directly. No previous experience with Spanish necessary. If you have any knowledge of Spanish or if you have taken a year or equivalent of Spanish, you must take the Spanish placement test.
SPANISH 101-2: Elementary Spanish (Winter Quarter)
Second course of a three-quarter sequence in introductory Spanish. Students will learn Spanish in order to use it beyond the classroom in meaningful and authentic ways at the Novice High-Intermediate Low level of proficiency. This means that students will be able to communicate short messages on everyday topics that affect them directly. Prerequisite: Students must currently be enrolled in, have taken and passed SPANISH 101-1, or have sufficient placement test score.
SPANISH 101-3: Elementary Spanish (Spring Quarter)
Third course of a three-quarter sequence in introductory Spanish. Students will learn Spanish in order to use it beyond the classroom in meaningful and authentic ways at the Intermediate Low level of proficiency. This means that students will be able to communicate messages on everyday topics that affect them directly. Prerequisite: Students must currently be enrolled in or have taken and passed SPANISH 101-2 or have sufficient placement test score.
SPANISH 105-7: First-Year College Seminar: Don Quixote's World (Fall Quarter - Taught in English)
What do we do about a world that doesn't conform to our expectations? Do we set out to mold reality to our vision or accept it as it is? How do we forge ahead with our dreams if others do not share our values or goals? Cervantes' Don Quixote tackles these big questions in ways that are both moving and funny as it narrates the adventures of the bedraggled hero--a man driven mad by reading too many fantasy novels--and his earthy sidekick Sancho Panza. The novel contains themes that resonate with our lives today, exploring not only what it means to write--and read--fiction but also asking us to evaluate what kind of person we want to be in the world. In our class, we'll read the novel closely and debate how its essential questions can shape our personal choices moving forward. We will read the novel in English; no prior knowledge of Spanish or Spanish literature is needed.
SPANISH 105-8: First Year Writing Seminar: TBA (Winter Quarter - Taught in English)
Course description coming soon.
SPANISH 105-8: First Year Writing Seminar: TBA (Spring Quarter - Taught in English)
Course description coming soon.
SPANISH 115-1: Accelerated Elementary Spanish (Winter Quarter)
First course of a two-quarter sequence in introductory Spanish designed for students with previous experience in Spanish. Students will learn Spanish in order to use it beyond the classroom in meaningful and authentic ways at the Novice High-Intermediate Low level of proficiency. This means that students will be able to communicate short messages on everyday topics that affect them directly. Offered in winter. Prerequisite: Sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 115-2: Accelerated Elementary Spanish (Spring Quarter)
Second course of a two-quarter sequence in introductory Spanish designed for students with previous experience in Spanish. Students will learn Spanish in order to use it beyond the classroom in meaningful and authentic ways at the Intermediate Low level of proficiency. This means that students will be able to communicate messages on everyday topics that affect them directly. Offered in spring. Prerequisite: Students must currently be enrolled in or have taken and passed SPANISH 115-1, OR receive sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 121-1: Intermediate Spanish (Fall Quarter)
First course in a three-quarter sequence in Intermediate Spanish. Further development of communicative proficiency with an emphasis on the functional use of Spanish and cultural content and reflection. Prerequisite: Students must currently be enrolled in or have taken and passed SPANISH 101-3 or SPANISH 115-2, OR receive sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 121-2: Intermediate Spanish (Winter Quarter)
Second course in a three-quarter sequence in Intermediate Spanish. Further development of communicative proficiency with an emphasis on the functional use of Spanish and cultural content and reflection. Prerequisite: Students must currently be enrolled in or have taken and passed SPANISH 121-1, OR receive sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam
SPANISH 121-3: Intermediate Spanish (Spring Quarter)
Third course in a three-quarter sequence in Intermediate Spanish. Further development of communicative proficiency with an emphasis on the functional use of Spanish and cultural content and reflection. Prerequisite: Students must currently be enrolled in or have taken and passed SPANISH 121-2, OR receive sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 125-0: Accelerated Intermediate Spanish (Fall Quarter)
Further development of communicative proficiency at the intermediate high level with an emphasis on the Hispanic world and the development of cultural competence. This means that students will be able to communicate familiar and some researched topics, often across various time frames. Offered in fall only. Prerequisite: Second language learners with an AP score of 3 or sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 127-0: Accelerated Intermediate Spanish for Heritage Language Learners: Finding Our Voices (Fall Quarter)
SPANISH 200-0: Advanced Spanish for Heritage Language Learners: Claiming Our Stories (Fall and Winter Quarters)
This course prepares language students for advanced studies by examining issues in the Spanish-speaking world and how history shapes the present in Latin America, Spain, and the U.S. Latine communities. Students develop critical awareness of bilingualism and strengthen reading and writing skills. This course is for heritage learners, equivalent to SPANISH 201-0 and SPANISH 204-0. Offered in fall and winter. Prerequisite: Spanish heritage learners enrolled in or who have taken and passed SPANISH 127-0, OR have an AP of 4, OR sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 201-0: Advanced Spanish I: Contemporary Latin America
This course is designed to develop all modes of communication in Spanish as students progress towards the advanced low level of proficiency through the interpretation and analysis of sociopolitical topics in Latin America. In addition, the critical examination of authentic materials will help students explore how the recent history of Latin America has shaped its present. Prerequisite: Second language learners currently enrolled in or who have taken and passed SPANISH 121-3 or SPANISH 125-0, OR have an AP score of 4, OR sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 204-0: Advanced Spanish II: Artivism in the Spanish-Speaking World
This course is designed to develop all communication modes in Spanish at the advanced-low level of proficiency, through the exploration, interpretation and analysis of multimodal texts centered around socially engaged art. The course will explore the role that the creative arts played in 20th-century Spain and Latin America while connecting these movements to current times. Prerequisite: Second language learners currently enrolled in or who have passed SPANISH 201-0, OR have an AP score of 5, OR a sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 205-0: Spanish for Professions: Health Care (Winter Quarter)
Advanced course to develop communication skills in Spanish for healthcare purposes. Emphasis on language skills for the medical field, specialized terminology and vocabulary, and cultural nuances. Prerequisite: Students must currently be enrolled in or have taken and passed SPANISH 200-0 or SPANISH 201-0, OR have an AP score of 5, OR sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 206-0: Spanish for Professions: Business (Spring Quarter)
Advanced course to develop communication skills in Spanish for business purposes. Emphasis on language skills for the global marketplace: specialized terminology, comprehension of cultural nuances, analytical writing skills and project-based assignments. Prerequisite: Students must currently be enrolled in or have taken and passed SPANISH 200-0 or SPANISH 201-0, OR have an AP score of 5, OR sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 222-0: The Novel in Latin America: Society, State, Nature (Winter Quarter - Taught in English)
Can novels help us understand what Latin America means now and what it has meant in the past? Can they help us understand what the world beyond the region means? This course will examine the modern Latin American novel in terms of three of its obsessions-- society, state, and nature—and through the region’s most significant 20th century literature. The class will be taught in English.
SPANISH 223-0: Cervantes (Fall Quarter - Taught in English)
Don Quixote, one could argue, is a novel about how not to write and how not to read. The author, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, pens the work in order to demonstrate the absurdity of chivalric romances, the bestsellers of his day. The protagonist, Don Quixote, is incapable of understanding the difference between the fictions he reads and the real world around him. While all this happened some four hundred years ago, reading and writing are still central to our everyday lives. In the spirit of Cervantes, we will study his famous text with a focus on the practices of reading and writing—how and why did people read and write in 17th-century Spain? How were different forms of writing connected to class, gender, race, and religion? What did literacy mean in the early modern world and what implications does this have for us today? We will employ different methods of reading (close, distant, collective, etc.) and different forms of writing (analytical, creative, etc.) to gain a better understanding of this key text. The class will be taught in English.
SPANISH 250-0: Literature in Spain before 1700 (Fall & Spring Quarters)
Survey of the origins of the Spanish language and the development of Spanish literature from the Middle Ages to the end of the Spanish Golden Age. Study of representative figures and major literary developments in conjunction with religious and cultural history. Prerequisite: SPANISH 200-0 or 204-0 (may be taken concurrently), OR have an AP score of 5 for heritage students, or an AP of 5 in both Spanish Language and Literature exams for non-heritage students, or sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 251-0: Literature in Spain since 1700 (Fall & Winter Quarters)
Survey of literature in Spain from the 18th to the 20th century. Study of representative figures and major literary developments in conjunction with political and cultural history. Prerequisite: SPANISH 200-0 or 204-0 (may be taken concurrently), OR have an AP score of 5 for heritage students, or an AP of 5 in both Spanish Language and Literature exams for non-heritage students, or sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 260-0: Literature in Colonial Latin America (Fall & Spring Quarters)
Survey of pre-Hispanic, colonial, and romantic traditions in Latin America. Focus on authors and texts such as Popul Vuh, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Martín Fierro. Prerequisite: SPANISH 200-0 or 204-0 (may be taken concurrently), OR have an AP score of 5 for heritage students, or an AP of 5 in both Spanish Language and Literature exams for non-heritage students, or sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 261-0: Literature in Modern Latin America (Winter & Spring Quarters)
Survey of the modern period, including modernismo, the historical avant-garde, the "Boom," and recent literary trends. Authors such as Delmira Agustini, Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Pablo Neruda, and Cristina Peri Rossi. Prerequisite: SPANISH 200-0 or 204-0 (may be taken concurrently), OR have an AP score of 5 for heritage students, or an AP of 5 in both Spanish Language and Literature exams for non-heritage students, or sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 277-0: Introduction to Latinx Literature (Winter Quarter - Taught in English)
In the United States, we often talk about Latinx people using blurry labels. We discuss the Latino vote and the Hispanic population, we move from Latino/a to Latinx to Latine and finally reject the very possibility of a category that can encompass a continuously expanding number of national identities, ethnicities, and languages. Our course readings and discussions will interrogate terms like Latinx, Chicano, and Nuyorican by tracing their emergence in the 1960s and following their evolution since then.
SPANISH 281-0: Spanish Phonetics and Phonology (Spring Quarter)
Introduction to the theory and practice of Spanish sounds and phonology. Articulation and production, classification and description, combination and syllabification, sonority sequencing, and prevalent dialects. Introduction to basic principles of ethnographic research, data collection, and analysis. Prerequisite: Students must currently be enrolled in or have taken and passed SPANISH 200-0 or SPANISH 204-0, OR have an AP score of 5 for heritage students, OR an AP of 5 in both the Spanish Language and Literature exams for non-heritage students, OR sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 302-0: Advanced Grammar (Winter Quarter)
An advanced course designed to polish and improve language usage through in-depth study and development of grammar knowledge and skills, focusing on items most problematic for non-native speakers of Spanish. SPANISH 302-SA restricted to students on Northwestern study abroad programs. Prerequisite: Students must currently be enrolled in or have taken and passed SPANISH 200-0 or SPANISH 204-0, OR have an AP score of 5 for heritage students, OR an AP of 5 in both the Spanish Language and Literature exams for non-heritage students, OR sufficient score on the Spanish Language Placement Exam.
SPANISH 350-0: Visual Culture in Latina/o America and Spain: Ways of Seeing - Photography in Latin America (Fall Quarter)
This class explores the photographic representations of major social and historical events in Latin America from the turn of the 19th century through out the 20th century. We look at when and how photography became a medium of visual expression in Latin American culture and we examine questions on the construction of a shared Latin American experience. We analyze how different kinds of photographic registers (journalistic, ethnographic, territorial surveys, documentary, artistic) work as cultural interpretive tools. We also practice how to write critically about photography in relation to historical and literary works, learn about major Latin American photographers and how their images were produced, circulated and now participate in a larger history of the medium. We will put emphasis on the study of photographic themes that are singular to the Latin American experience: colonialism, revolution, native society, modernization and urban space, politics and self-determination. Prerequisite: 1 course from SPANISH 250-0, 251-0, 260-0, or 261-0.
SPANISH 360-0: Spain: Studies in Culture and Society: Immigration, Literature, and Identity in Contemporary Spain (Fall Quarter)
This course examines the rich and growing body of literature produced by and about immigrants in Spain from the late twentieth century to the present. As Spain has transformed from a nation of emigrants into one of Europe's primary destinations for migrants, its literary landscape has shifted dramatically, giving rise to new voices, genres, and aesthetic strategies that challenge traditional notions of Spanish national identity, belonging, and cultural memory. Students will engage with novels, short stories, poetry, testimonial narratives, and hybrid texts written by authors of African, Latin American, and Asian descent, alongside works by Spanish-born writers who engage critically with migration as a social and political phenomenon. The course explores how these texts negotiate questions of language, displacement, assimilation, racism, labor exploitation, and legal precarity; and how they intervene in broader debates about what it means to be Spanish in an increasingly globalized world. Prerequisite: 1 course from SPANISH 250-0, SPANISH 251-0, SPANISH 260-0, or SPANISH 261-0.
SPANISH 395-0: Topics in Latin American, Latina and Latino, and/or Iberian Cultures: The Witch's Craft: from Medieval Iberia to the Black Atlantic (Fall Quarter)
The Iberian Peninsula occupies a curious position in the history of witchcraft. On the one hand, Iberian judges and theologians expressed a certain skepticism towards the witch-hunting that rocked other parts of Europe. On the other, witch characters dominated the literary and theatrical scene, from Fernando de Rojas’ Celestina to Jorge Ferreira de Vasconcellos’ Filtra and even Cervantes’ bruja Cañizares, all mega bestsellers and household names. To make things more complicated, as Iberian kingdoms expanded into overseas empires, it was witchcraft that was mobilized as one of the dominant lenses for understanding African and Native American spiritual and material realms. What unites Iberian witches and their colonial counterparts – as they appear on the page, onstage, and before the law – is a belief in the power of craft. Iberian witches were matchmakers, fortunetellers, and folk healers. Their services were in high demand even if their methods put them at odds with the law. In this course, we will read poems, novels, plays, and inquisition cases from the Iberian Peninsula and its overseas colonies. We will explore how certain ideas of personhood, embodiment, and desire (tied to social rank, poverty, age, gender, sexuality, race) were mobilized in the construction of the witch, always asking the question: what exactly is being criminalized in the name of witchcraft? May be repeated for credit with different topic. Prerequisite: 1 course from SPANISH 250-0, 251-0, 260-0, or 261-0.
SPANPORT 415-0: Studies in 19th Century Literatures & Cultures: Reading the 19th Century Brazilian Novel with Machado de Assis (Fall Quarter - Taught in English)
In this course we will read 19th century, mostly canonical novels from Brazil, alongside short stories by the afro-descendent writer Machado de Assis (1839-1908), widely considered critics to be the most important author in the entire history of Brazilian literature. Each week we will read one novel and two or three of his short stories by Machado dealing with the same themes, such as: slavery, indigeneity, race and racial mixture, fugitivity, finances, education and the bildungsroman, queer kinship, gender, sexuality and adultery. The purpose of the course is threefold: first, to offer an in-depth survey of the foundational writings and authors of Brazilian literature; second, to understand, from a comparative approach, how these writers approached some of the most pressing issues of 19th-century; third, to imagine Machado de Assis no only as a fiction writer, but as a theorist. Because I want you to expose you to as much Brazilian fiction as possible, the class discussions will not require any secondary readings, although a list of relevant contemporary theory and criticism will be provided and may be utilized in the oral presentations, exam or research paper. All readings will be available in Portuguese and English translations, and almost all in Spanish translations. I will also try to make them available on reserve in the Northwestern library. NOTE: For the first class, we will discuss the short story/novella O Alienista (The alienist)
SPANPORT 450-0: Topics in Early Modern Literatures and Cultures: Archive Poetics: Subaltern Knowledge and Irreverent Uses (Fall Quarter - Taught in English)
The colonial Latin American world has given rise to major modern theoretical frameworks that continue to shape literary and cultural studies (for instance, transculturación, coloniality, hybridity and so on). But how should we understand the role of the corpus of premodern theories that shaped literary and cultural production in the early modern Iberian transatlantic? This seminar engages with the question of premodern theories in the transatlantic world by providing a grounding in key ancient and medieval understandings of (for example) style, mimesis, the sublime, aesthetic form, and sensory experience. Furthermore, this seminar seeks to problematize assumptions about theory itself by studying writers such as Aristotle and Maimonides alongside verbal and visual arts from the premodern and colonial Americas–for instancethe khipu (knotted cords used for recordkeeping in the Andes) and the huehuetlatolli (“speech of the elders,” examples of the Nahua rhetorical tradition).
SPANPORT 496-0: Dissertation Prospectus Writing Workshop (Fall Quarter)
The general goal of this seminar is to provide doctoral students with resources and support as they begin writing their dissertations. The practical goal is the production of a robust, peer-reviewed version of a dissertation prospectus, composed in accordance with the protocols and deadlines stipulated in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese's Graduate Student Handbook. Our seminar will adopt the form and dynamics of a writing workshop envisioned as a collective and welcoming space. This means that, while technical, methodological, and stylistic aspects of academic writing will be paramount and regularly discussed and practiced in class discussions and activities, questions related to general welfare, mental health, and intellectual joy are to be considered just as important. To that end, we will use the class to discuss the current conditions and challenges of academic writing, the professional and institutional positions of students tasked with the production of doctoral dissertations, the typical pressures and pitfalls experienced by course members and peers in the processes of research and writing, and the strategies and techniques that have been used and could be used to navigate the difficulties that may arise during the process. By the same token, the seminar is directed at reflecting and building on participants' previous experiences with academic and professional writing, and all participants will be invited to bring their own practices to the table for collective consideration. To the extent you are willing to share experiences, your personal approach to and relationship with writing—tactics, tricks, and hacks; memorable anecdotes; fears and happy places; practical concerns and professional dreams; and moments of pride and disillusion—will be welcome in the context of our seminar.
SPANPORT 560-0: World Language Teaching: Theory and Practice (Winter Quarter)
Current approaches to the teaching of World Languages. This course is designed for students in the graduate program in Spanish and Portuguese who will be teaching Spanish/Portuguese at Northwestern University, and undergraduate students who are planning to become Spanish-Portuguese instructors.