PrincetonUniversity
Class of 2004 Sophomore Academic Handbook

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Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures

During the sixteenth century, Spanish and its closely related Iberian/American sibling, Portuguese, became the languages of vast colonial empires and were implanted more widely and deeply and lastingly beyond their original European borders than any other Romance language. Today the great majority of the 350 million speakers of Spanish are found in Latin America, and the present population of the United States includes over thirty million Spanish-speaking Latinos.

In the light of the sheer numbers of speakers of Spanish and Portuguese in Latin America and the dramatic growth of the Latino component of American society, it is not surprising that interest in Spanish has flourished at Princeton.

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures at Princeton teaches these two languages and literatures at the 100, 200, and 300 level. The department offers two tracks for concentrators: 1)concentration in Spanish; and 2)concentration in two languages and literatures (one of which must be Spanish). The department also offers a top-rated graduate program in Spanish.

There are eight faculty members in the department; more than half of them are native speakers of Spanish or Portuguese. They include people of international distinction in all the main branches of the subjects taught, from medieval literature to contemporary Spanish and Latin American film, as well as younger faculty of exceptional promise. All faculty teach undergraduate classes; precepts are limited to 13 students in language-instruction courses, and are only occasionally much larger in literature and other courses.

From July 2001, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese will be found in Dillon Court, in temporary but comfortable modern accommodation, during the refurbishment of our historic "home base," East Pyne. We expect to return in the summer of 2003 to splendidly updated offices in the East Pyne building, which will also house the university's Language Resources Center, a 70-seat auditorium equipped for film projection, and many other state-of-the-art facilities for faculty and for students. Telephone numbers and e-mail addresses will not change during relocation.

The department offers language courses in Spanish and Portuguese from beginners' level through advanced. The 101-102-107 sequence is designed to bring students to a level at which they can operate effectively in speaking, reading, and writing the foreign language. There are also intensive, accelerated courses in Spanish in the spring semester (102-107), and a separate sequence (105-108) for students having acquired elementary Spanish in high school. Selected students interested in pursuing the study of Spanish beyond the language requirement may be allowed to complete their language requirement sequence through summer study at the University of León. Many students obtain advanced placement on the basis of their high school work and enter 200-level courses in the freshman year. Higher levels accompany further study of the literature and culture of the countries concerned.

The department offers a wide range of 200, 300 and 400 level courses in the literatures and civilizations of Spain and Latin America. All periods of literature, from the medieval to the contemporary, are covered; there are also many courses dealing with the culture and social institutions of the relevant countries, as well as with film in the modern period.

Students who elect to concentrate in Spanish are often simultaneously enrolled in special programs, such as European Cultural Studies, Study of Women and Gender, Latin American Studies, or the Program in Theater and Dance. Spanish concentrators may also apply for admission to a special certificate program at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Many students who aim to become engineers, microbiologists, economists, or historians also wish to maintain and extend their knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese. To encourage the wider study of those languages throughout the student body, the department offers the Certificate in Language and Culture. The requirement is three 300-level courses in the language, and the writing of an appropriate piece of independent work using sources in the language and focusing on some aspect of its culture, history, or literature. In appropriate cases &endash; and there are many, especially for historians, art historians, anthropologists, musicians, economists, and students of English and other literatures &endash; the independent work may be the student's senior thesis.

Studying another language in depth is not only a way of acquiring an additional instrument of communication, precious though that is. Learning another language teaches you about language itself. By the same token, it also teaches you to make more effective use of your own tongue. That is why language learning has always been considered a fundamental component of a liberal education. Studying a foreign literature and culture is also a way of asking questions about any literature and culture, including one's own. Graduates in Spanish and Portuguese go on to a wide variety of careers. Some undertake graduate study in literature, others enter the world of business or are recruited for management training programs. Princeton graduates have entered law schools and have also followed pre-med programs and won admission to the most prestigious medical schools in the country. Whether you are planning a career in the humanities, government, science, or business, the study of a foreign language, literature, and culture offers a useful and challenging option in your university education.

Students entering the department are expected to have acquired a sound knowledge of Spanish by the end of their sophomore year, usually by successfully completing two 200-level courses.

Concentrators take eight upperlevel courses in the department. (Up
to three of these may be courses offered by other departments in specific areas of related interest, such as the history, art history, archaeology, music, literature or film of the language of concentration.) The focus of interest ranges from literature and literary history to the critical study of ideology and culture. Visiting faculty frequently offer additional courses that expand the range of the department's offerings.

In the fall semester of their junior year, concentrators write their first "junior paper" (JP) of about 4,000 words, and in the spring semester, their second, longer JP of some 5,000 - 8,000 words. These pieces of independent work, through which elementary research skills are acquired, may be written in English or in Spanish, but a summary of the paper in the other language is always required. Both in the selection of topics and in the preparation of the paper, students work closely with a faculty adviser.

The highlight of senior year is the Senior Thesis, a substantial piece of independent work which crowns a student's academic experience at Princeton. Early selection of the topic is strongly encouraged, as the department is very willing to assist with genuine and well-thought-out proposals for research travel and other possible costs in the summer preceding senior year or in the fall break. The senior thesis is an opportunity to master a specific area of interest and to write an extensive treatment of a topic.

Recent senior theses have covered a very wide range of academic interests, from literature to politics, from film to race relations: "Reading El obsceno pájaro de la noche: A Study of Creative and Critical Interpretations of a "Boom" Novel"; "The Drama of Disappearance: Antígona Furiosa and Argentina's 'Dirty War'"; "Delinear una sombra: Escribir el "Self elusivo" en la obra de Elena Garro"; and "Literary and Cinematic Modes of Consciousness: Chronicle of a Death Foretold, by Gabriel García Márquez and Francesco Rosi's Cinematic Adaptation"

Concentrators in Spanish and Portuguese are strongly encouraged to spend a semester (or a year) in Spain or in Latin America. A number of programs are recommended on the basis of positive experience by Princeton students over the years. Courses taken abroad in approved programs may fulfill departmental requirements up to a limit of two course credits per term. Grades, however, are not calculated into the student's total grade point average for awards and honors.

Princeton's Firestone Library is one of the great treasure-houses of the world, and its holdings are particularly rich in the Romance languages and literatures. The social science section of the library is unusually well stocked with materials pertaining to contemporary Spain and Latin America. Further opportunities for research are provided by special collections, such as the Marquand Art Library or the rare books division of Firestone. The latter contains both old and new materials; among the latter, for example, is a valuable collection of the papers of such important writers as: Vargas Llosa, Donoso, Garro, Fuentes, and Arenas.

If you would like to find out more about Princeton's Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures, please write to the Departmental Representative, Department of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Cultures, Dillon Court West, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544-5264, or call (609) 2584670.

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