Undergraduate Spanish and Latin American Studies 2025-2026

This is a fast-paced and intensive language course for students with very little or no previous knowledge of Spanish. It is aimed at students intending to pursue an honours (single or joint) degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies but is also suitable for students on other degree programmes.

This course involves intensive language study. Upon successful registration to this course, you are expected to complete a short online entry test on MyAberdeen to ensure that you are registered for the most appropriate course for your language ability. You will not be able to access the course site until you have completed this short test.

It is strongly recommended that you complete this test at the earliest opportunity as your timetable/course selections may be subject to change if your language ability would be better suited to an alternative course. You will be informed of this as soon as you complete the test.

The short entry test does not count toward your overall grade for this course.

It is recommended (subject to individual entry test results) that:

• Students who have no experience of Spanish register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to National 5 level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to Higher level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to Advanced Higher level or A Level (or equivalent) register for SP1028: Spanish Language 2

This is a fast-paced language course for students with some previous knowledge of Spanish. It is aimed at students intending to pursue an honours (single or joint) degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies but is also suitable for students on other degree programmes.

This course involves intensive language study. Upon successful registration to this course, you are expected to complete a short online entry test on MyAberdeen to ensure that you are registered for the most appropriate course for your language ability. You will not be able to access the course site until you have completed this short test.

It is strongly recommended that you complete this test at the earliest opportunity as your timetable/course selections may be subject to change if your language ability would be better suited to an alternative course. You will be informed of this as soon as you complete the test.

The short entry test does not count toward your overall grade for this course.

It is recommended (subject to individual entry test results) that:

• Students who have no experience of Spanish register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to National 5 level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to Higher level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to Advanced Higher level or A Level (or equivalent) register for SP1028: Spanish Language 2

The course introduces students to colonial encounters ranging from Muslim Iberia to the pre-conquest Americas and continuing into the period of the Spanish Empire.  From the nineteenth century, conquest and colonial encounters continued as newly-independent Spanish American states seized indigenous territories, while colonial mentalities re-surfaced in contexts as diverse as the Spanish Civil War and Southern Cone dirty wars. These examples show how colonial encounters helped shape contemporary Spain and Spanish America. 

This is a fast-paced language course for students with some previous knowledge of Spanish. It is aimed at students intending to pursue an honours (single or joint) degree in Spanish and Latin American Studies but is also suitable for students on other degree programmes.

This course involves intensive language study. Upon successful registration to this course, you are expected to complete a short online entry test on MyAberdeen to ensure that you are registered for the most appropriate course for your language ability. You will not be able to access the course site until you have completed this short test.

It is strongly recommended that you complete this test at the earliest opportunity as your timetable/course selections may be subject to change if your language ability would be better suited to an alternative course. You will be informed of this as soon as you complete the test.

The short entry test does not count toward your overall grade for this course.

It is recommended (subject to individual entry test results) that:

• Students who have no experience of Spanish register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to National 5 level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to Higher level (or equivalent) register for SP1027: Spanish Language 1
• Students who have studied Spanish to Advanced Higher level or A Level (or equivalent) register for SP1028: Spanish Language 2

This course follows Spanish Language 2 or can be taken by students who have the required level of Spanish. 

This course aims to prepare intending Honours students of Spanish and Latin American Studies for their compulsory period abroad in a Spanish-speaking country.

The course will develop further Spanish language skills, both receptive and productive. Classes on grammatical and linguistic analysis will contribute to the development of both sets of skills. In addition students will complete a structured self learning programme of audio-visual study and grammatical reinforcement study.

This course uses texts, which can include plays, films, novels, music, letters and an etiquette guide, to understand issues, concerns and themes in Latin American history. The course is organised chronologically and each week classes focus on texts from a particular country as a means to discuss bigger questions, such as how to make a new nation after three hundred years of colonial rule and a decade of warfare, how to demonstrate your honourability in an anonymous city and what cultural models are the best source of inspiration. The course also focuses on 'context' shared throughout Latin America.

This course follows Spanish Language 2 or can be taken by students who have the required level of Spanish. 

This course aims to prepare intending Honours students of Spanish and Latin American Studies for their compulsory period abroad in a Spanish-speaking country.

The course will develop further Spanish language skills, both receptive and productive. Classes on grammatical and linguistic analysis will contribute to the development of both sets of skills. In addition students will complete a structured self learning programme of audio-visual study and grammatical reinforcement study.

This course follows Spanish Language 4 and aims to prepare non beginners intending Honours students of Spanish and Latin American Studies for their compulsory period abroad in a Spanish-speaking country.

The course will develop further Spanish language skills, expanding on the vocabulary and introducing formal documents and letters. Classes on grammatical and linguistic analysis will contribute to the development of both sets of skills. In addition students will complete a structured self learning programme of vocabulary and grammatical reinforcement study.

This is a core prescribed course open only to Junior Honours Spanish and Latin American Studies students and a selected range of other programmes at the appropriate level. This course aims to enable you to identify and use, accurately, fluently, and with an appropriate level of sophistication, a range of vocabulary and linguistic registers at advanced level.

This is a core prescribed course open only to Mode B Junior Honours Spanish and Latin American Studies students. This course aims to enable you to identify and use, accurately, fluently, and with an appropriate level of sophistication, a range of vocabulary and linguistic registers at advanced level.

The aim of the Residence Abroad Project is to develop an in-depth understanding of a specific aspect (anthropological, political or cultural) connected with one of the Spanish and Latin American countries in which students are staying. Students are expected to study a topic in its socio-and to complete a report in Spanish of c. 2000-2500 words.

This course examines Chile’s political and cultural landscape from 1960 to the present. This period encompasses radical transformations, including agrarian reform and a democratically-elected socialist government, as well as the violent rupture of the 1973 coup installing a dictatorship that has influenced national discussions to this day. Linking politics, culture and history, this course discusses these events in Chile on their own terms and within a global perspective.

This is a core prescribed course open only to Mode B Junior Honours Spanish and Latin American Studies students. This course aims to enable you to identify and use, accurately, fluently, and with an appropriate level of sophistication, a range of vocabulary and linguistic registers at advanced level.

This course will introduce students to several key texts from Latina/o cultural production. It will also introduce a key question in contemporary cultural and plant studies analyses: how plants are represented in Latina/o American narrative from colonial to contemporary times? To this end we will study chronicles, poems, novels, plays, short stories and audio-visual narratives that have had a broad impact in the Spanish and English-speaking world. It will investigate how the plants from these stories have an influence in these narratives. 

The crónica and testimonio genres share the urgency and authority of witness and the drive to propel the reader to action. From the early days of the Spanish conquest, witnesses used the crónica to understand the past and present, pointing out injustice and demanding reform. Testimonio, a more recent genre of ‘ordinary’ people bearing witness, which is intended to give voice to historically marginalised groups, has itself generated debates about whose ‘truth’ is being told, whose voice is ‘authentic’ and who gets to tell whose stories. This course brings these narrative forms, from the colonial period to the recent past, together as a way of listening to marginalised voices, understanding a range of perspectives on Spanish America and understanding the enduring power of bearing witness. This course will also examine the debates which these texts have prompted, debates which, even when they include critical voices, show the enduring power of the first-hand account.

In the popular imagination, Spain invokes a number of alluring stereotypes: sun, sand, passion, and flamenco. In this course, students will be encouraged to look beyond these dominant stereotypes. Co-taught by lecturers in music, FVC and Spanish, students will explore how music, film and visual culture can reveal deep-seated tensions regarding national identity, politics and cultural representations of Spain throughout the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Developing countries are often described as lawless lands, where anything goes. We will see in this course that law has been crucial to many of them. The problem is that the rich and powerful can put themselves above it, which means that law often ends up serving to keep the poor in their place.

“Rule of law” means that the law should apply to everyone, including the rich and powerful. In recent years, there have been increasing calls for rule of law across the global South.

We will study attempts to hold the rich and powerful to account in a variety of world contexts. Half of these will be in Latin America, but students will be able to focus their projects on any world region.

This year-long course unit combines dissertation research with research methods training. The dissertation is a piece of extended independent research (8,000-10,000 words long), structured as a critical evaluation, analysis or argument, about a topic germane to Spanish and Latin American Studies. The topic is chosen by the student, in conjunction with the dissertation coordinator and an individual Departmental supervisor, both of whom approve the topic. Students are encouraged to design their topic building on their previous studies, especially honours courses. The dissertation offers a chance for students to carry out in-depth independent study in Spanish and Latin American Studies, and to acquire and develop valuable research skills. The course begins, in the first half session, with workshops on diverse research methods and the creation of peer support groups. The second half session includes structured meetings with the dissertation supervisor and meetings with the peer support group, as well as independent research and writing.

This is the final Spanish language course within the degree that will provide students with advanced comprehension and writing skills in general and specialised registers.

This course examines Chile’s political and cultural landscape from 1960 to the present. This period encompasses radical transformations, including agrarian reform and a democratically-elected socialist government, as well as the violent rupture of the 1973 coup installing a dictatorship that has influenced national discussions to this day. Linking politics, culture and history, this course discusses these events in Chile on their own terms and within a global perspective.

This course will introduce students to several key texts from Latina/o cultural production. It will also introduce a key question in contemporary cultural and plant studies analyses: how plants are represented in Latina/o American narrative from colonial to contemporary times? To this end we will study chronicles, poems, novels, plays, short stories and audio-visual narratives that have had a broad impact in the Spanish and English-speaking world. It will investigate how the plants from these stories have an influence in these narratives.

The crónica and testimonio genres share the urgency and authority of witness and the drive to propel the reader to action. From the early days of the Spanish conquest, witnesses used the crónica to understand the past and present, pointing out injustice and demanding reform. Testimonio, a more recent genre of ‘ordinary’ people bearing witness, which is intended to give voice to historically marginalised groups, has itself generated debates about whose ‘truth’ is being told, whose voice is ‘authentic’ and who gets to tell whose stories. This course brings these narrative forms, from the colonial period to the recent past, together as a way of listening to marginalised voices, understanding a range of perspectives on Spanish America and understanding the enduring power of bearing witness. This course will also examine the debates which these texts have prompted, debates which, even when they include critical voices, show the enduring power of the first-hand account.

In the popular imagination, Spain invokes a number of alluring stereotypes: sun, sand, passion, and flamenco. In this course, students will be encouraged to look beyond these dominant stereotypes. Co-taught by lecturers in music, FVC and Spanish, students will explore how music, film and visual culture can reveal deep-seated tensions regarding national identity, politics and cultural representations of Spain throughout the 20^th and 21^st centuries.

Developing countries are often described as lawless lands, where anything goes. We will see in this course that law has been crucial to many of them. The problem is that the rich and powerful can put themselves above it, which means that law often ends up serving to keep the poor in their place.

“Rule of law” means that the law should apply to everyone, including the rich and powerful. In recent years, there have been increasing calls for rule of law across the global South.

We will study attempts to hold the rich and powerful to account in a variety of world contexts. Half of these will be in Latin America, but students will be able to focus their projects on any world region.