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ABOUT THE MAJOR
The Department of Romance Languages and Literatures (RL&L) is a cornerstone of the humanities at Wesleyan and the University’s gateway to the French-, Italian-, and Spanish-speaking worlds. We represent literary and cultural traditions that extend from the Middle Ages to the present. We teach languages, literatures, and cultures that span Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Our students develop and apply their knowledge and skills through the extracurricular activities and study-abroad opportunities that we promote. Through a network of collaborations across departments and divisions, we support a wide array of majors, academic programs, and initiatives.
Students interested in enrolling in French, Italian, or Spanish at the elementary or intermediate levels are urged to do so during their first and sophomore years.
Department policy gives priority to first-year and sophomore students in our language classes (numbered 101-112) to allow students to study abroad and to meet the requirements of those programs requiring language study. Juniors and seniors who wish to take elementary and intermediate language courses should submit an online enrollment request and attend the first class. They may be accepted during the drop/add period if seats become available. Should a junior or senior enroll in the first course of an ampersand sequence (such as 101-102), he or she will have priority for the second course, just like first-year and sophomore students.
Hispanic Literatures and Cultures
As of January 2012, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures is offering Wesleyan students the opportunity of majoring in Hispanic Literatures and Cultures. This program combines features of the options—Spanish or Iberian Studies—previously available. Students enrolled at Wesleyan in the fall of 2011 may choose to major in either Hispanic Literatures and Cultures, Spanish, or Iberian Studies. As of January 2012, newly matriculated Wesleyan students will choose Hispanic Literatures and Cultures.
The major is designed for students committed to achieving fluency in Spanish and a broad and deep knowledge of the literatures and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. The major emphasizes both the historical interest and cultural diversity of a world whose geographic reach is vast and whose heritage extends from the Middle Ages to the present. The major focuses primarily on literary and related modes of representation (performance and the visual media). It recognizes course work outside the department insofar as such courses bear on the Spanish-speaking world and contribute to a fuller understanding of the themes writers and artists routinely address or the conditions for literary, theatrical, and media production. Students majoring in Hispanic Literatures and Cultures have the flexibility to tailor the major to their intellectual interests as long as they meet our expectations for coherence.
Students qualify for this major with a grade of B- or better in SPAN221 or the equivalent.
- Nine coursesnumbered 221 and above.
- Five courses in SPAN taken on Wesleyan’s Middletown campus.
- Breadth requirements: at least one course in early modern (Spanish Golden Age or colonial Latin America), modern Spain, and modern Latin America. Breadth requirements may be fulfilled at Wesleyan or abroad.
- Students will take at least one course in SPAN at Wesleyan during their senior year. (Tutorials do not apply.)
- Students are expected to maintain at least a B- average in the major program.
- Courses must be taken for a letter grade, unless the student is also majoring in COL.
Options:
- Students may apply up to four units for courses taken in Spanish in related fields on selected programs abroad. (See criteria for related field courses taken in Spanish and English and list of selected programs below)
- Of the nine required courses, students may take one course in a related field through the medium of English.
- Students who do not study abroad may, with approval from the advisor, take up to two courses in a related field through the medium of English.
- Special provision for students interested in majoring in both HISP and LAST: Students may count no more than four courses toward satisfying requirements of both majors concurrently.
Sample transcripts:
| STUDENTS WHO DO NOT STUDY ABROAD | ||
| SPAN (Spanish Golden Age – Colonial Latin America) | SPAN (Spanish Golden Age – Colonial Latin America) | SPAN (Spanish Golden Age – Colonial Latin America) |
| SPAN (Mod Spain) | SPAN (Mod Spain) | SPAN (Mod Spain) |
| SPAN (Mod Latin America) | SPAN (Mod Latin America) | SPAN (Mod Latin America) |
| SPAN | SPAN | SPAN |
| SPAN | SPAN | SPAN |
| SPAN | SPAN | SPAN |
| SPAN | SPAN | SPAN |
| SPAN | SPAN | SPAN |
| SPAN | SPAN | Related field in English at Wesleyan |
| SPAN | Related field in English at Wesleyan | Related field in English at Wesleyan |
| STUDENTS WHO STUDY ABROAD | |
| SPAN (breadth req or elective) | SPAN (breadth req or elective) |
| SPAN (breadth req or elective) | SPAN (breadth req or elective) |
| SPAN (breadth req or elective) | SPAN (breadth req or elective) |
| SPAN | SPAN |
| SPAN | SPAN |
| Span or related field | Span or related field |
| Span or related field | Span or related field |
| Span or related field | Span or related field |
| Span or related field | Related field in English at Wesleyan |
Notes: Breadth requirements may be satisfied at Wesleyan or abroad
Related-Field Courses Taken Abroad in Spanish
Courses in related fields that will be accepted toward the major are defined as ones that have a strong interpretive dimension, with a focus on matters of representation and/or discourse, courses, therefore, whose content does not rely on methods linked to either empirical analysis, the measurement and application of data, or mathematical or statistical models. Courses that meet the above criteria are commonly found in sociology, anthropology, history, art history, music, and philosophy but can also be found in government, economics, and psychology when the goal is not mastery of critical terms, concepts, and methods proper to the field in question but critical engagement with how the field is represented, conceived, or used in particular debates or contexts involving the nation, culture, ideology, etc.
Related-Field Courses Taken at Wesleyan in English
Courses in related fields that will be accepted toward the major are defined as ones that (a) concentrate predominantly on Latin America or Spain and (b) have a strong interpretive dimension, with a focus on matters of representation and/or discourse, courses, therefore, whose content does not rely on methods linked to either empirical analysis, the measurement and application of data, or mathematical or statistical models. Courses that meet the above criteria are currently found in College of Letters, history, sociology, art history, music, and the Center for the Humanities.
- Vassar-Wesleyan Program in Madrid (Spain)
- CIEE in Buenos Aires (Argentina)
- Middlebury in Chile (Various cities)
- CIEE in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic)
- IFSA Butler at the Universidad Autónoma (Mérida, Mexico)
Students may petition for ad hoc approval of other programs abroad. For more information concerning study-abroad opportunities, visit the Office of International Studies, 105 Fisk Hall.
Students are encouraged to present a substantial piece of work during their senior year that is comparative and transnational in nature, either within the framework of a single course (a term paper, for instance) or as their senior essay or thesis.
See department web site, click on Honors & Regulations.
See department web site, click on Honors & Regulations.
See department web site, click on Honors & Regulations.
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