Spain (June - July)

ANT395Y0 Special Topics in Anthropology: Andalusian Cuisine – A Window to Spanish Culture

(Taught in English) Food is one of the most central phenomena defining any culture. This is especially true in Spain, and in Andalusia specifically, where its cuisine has defined the region for centuries. In this course, we will take an interdisciplinary approach to explore the history and tradition of food within Andalusia and in Spain in general. We will examine the relationship between food and culture, and how both have transformed and shaped each other over the years. Our learning inside the classroom will be supplemented by weekly cooking classes, in which we will get to explore the local cuisine with a more hands-on approach.

Prerequisites: None
Breadth Requirement = None
Recommended Preparation: ANT100Y1 or ANT200Y1 or ANT203Y1 or ANT204H1 or ANT207H1
ANT395Y0 Syllabus

Course Video

Food is one of the most central phenomena defining any culture. This is especially true in Spain, and in Andalusia specifically, where its cuisine has defined the region for centuries. In this video, Professor Natalia Couste shares what she's planning to cover in this course in 2021.

Field Trips

This course will include field trips to the Cathedral of Seville and the Royal Palace. There will also be excursions to a local market, winery, local beach, an olive oil factory, and a flamenco show. The program will conclude with a two-day trip to Córdoba and Granada during which students will visit Alhambra, the famous Moorish fortress of Spain and one of the most visited monuments in the world. 

Instructor

Dr. Natalia Couste completed her doctoral studies at The University of Toronto, where she worked as a course instructor. She has done extensive research on urban spaces and participated in numerous symposiums in Canada and Spain. Based on a transatlantic perspective she carried out a comparative study between contemporary Mexico City, Santiago de Chile and the Golden Age urban spaces of Madrid and Seville. She earned her Master’s Degree at the University of Western Ontario specializing in Southern Cone literature. She’s currently the acting coordinator for the Canada-Spain Summer Abroad Program. Her professional interests include international education and the development of innovative cultural programs for international students and scholars.

FAH390Y0 Studies Abroad in Spanish Art & Architecture: Seville – Twenty Centuries of Art History

(Taught in English) This course will explore facets of Spain’s rich artistic tradition by placing a special emphasis on Seville’s very own unique and extensive art history. We will survey artistic trends and developments across twenty centuries in Seville, beginning with the Antiquarium Roman ruins and ending with architect Santiago Calatrava’s contemporary Alamillo Bridge. Seville’s varied artistic history will allow us to examine Roman monuments, Islamic palaces and Gothic cathedrals. We will also analyze works by many of Spain’s greatest painters and architects. Weekly site visits and field trips will allow students to use Seville’s rich cultural heritage as a sort of “laboratory” where they will be able to engage with the material covered in class in a meaningful way.

Prerequisites: None
BR = 1
FAH390Y0 Syllabus

Course Video

Course instructor, Eric Davis, describes his course in greater detail in this video.

Field Trips

This course will include field trips to the Cathedral of Seville and the Royal Palace. There will also be excursions to a local market, winery, local beach, an olive oil factory, and a flamenco show. The program will conclude with a two-day trip to Córdoba and Granada during which students will visit Alhambra, the famous Moorish fortress of Spain and one of the most visited monuments in the world. 

Instructor

Eric Davis was born in Laramie, Wyoming, and raised in Lawrence, Kansas. He has a BFA in Fine Arts from the University of Kansas and a Master´s degree in Art from the University of Seville (La Facultad de Bellas Artes de Sevilla). He is currently doing his doctorate at that same Seville University. He has worked as an artist painting in Seville since 1992 and has taught Art and Art History to international students in several university programs in Seville. He has also worked as a tour guide in Spain and in Africa for fifteen years. 

SPA100Y0 Spanish for Beginners 

This is an intensive introductory course designed to present the fundamentals necessary for understanding, speaking, reading, and writing Spanish and to provide a range of opportunities for students to gain practical insights into the customs and cultural contexts of the contemporary Spanish-speaking world. In-class instruction combines lectures with small group sessions where grammar practice and conversation skills will be emphasized through a variety of activities. Not eligible for CR/NCR option. 

Prerequisites:  No previous knowledge of Spanish, or placement test results.  
Exclusion: SPA120Y1, SPA219Y1, SPA319Y1, SPA220Y1, SPA320Y1, SPA420H1 
Distribution Requirements: Humanities
Breadth Requirements: Creative and Cultural Representations (1) 
SPA100Y0 Syllabus

Field Trips

This course will include field trips to the Cathedral of Seville and the Royal Palace. There will also be excursions to a local market, winery, local beach, an olive oil factory, and a flamenco show. The program will conclude with a two-day trip to Córdoba and Granada during which students will visit Alhambra, the famous Moorish fortress of Spain and one of the most visited monuments in the world. 

Instructor

Dr. Zarabel Santos holds a PhD in English Philology and two M.A degrees: one in Spanish Language Teaching and another in English and North American Studies.  She is the author of the book “De perdidos al Liffey”, and numerous scholarly articles.  Zarabel worked as a Spanish professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill during the 2018-2019 academic year, and she's been a member of COWA´s permanent faculty since Fall 2019, although she still finds time to serve as COWA´s Executive Assistant for all programs.

SPA255Y0 Introduction to the Hispanic World 

*Canceled for 2023 Summer*

(Taught in English) This course has two main objectives: to explore the diverse cultures and the interrelationship between Latin America and Spain over five centuries (1492 to the present). We will study the institutions, beliefs and symbols that have shaped these cultures. We will also study how Seville served as the cultural axis between the New World and Europe for centuries. The streets, monuments and museums of the city reflect the path to that past but also project into the future. Precisely for that reason, once a week we will meet outside of the classroom and the city will be our laboratory. Our visits to key Sevillian sites will complement the material covered in the text. The course is open to students from other disciplines.

Prerequisites

Prerequisite = None.
Breadth Requirement = 1.

Field Trips

This course will include field trips to the Cathedral of Seville and the Royal Palace. There will also be excursions to a local market, winery, local beach, an olive oil factory, and a flamenco show. The program will conclude with a two-day trip to Córdoba and Granada during which students will visit Alhambra, the famous Moorish fortress of Spain and one of the most visited monuments in the world. 

Instructor

John Julius Reel has a B.S. in mathematics from Davidson College, and an M.A. in English Literature from the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York (CUNY). He has taught journalism and composition at various branches of CUNY, as well as academic writing for the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) in Seville. He is the author of a memoir in Spanish, ¿Qué pinto yo aquí? Un neoyorquino en la ciudad de nunca jamás, and has collaborated as both editor and writer in El derbi final, an award-winning anthology of writings about the Seville soccer derby. His cultural journalism has appeared in Spanish newspapers like Diario de Sevilla, Opinión de Málaga and El Mundo, and his English essays in literary journals such as Gravel, Sweet, Cleaver Magazine, Ruminate Magazine and Sport Literate.