Overview
The study of a foreign language, literature, and culture like Spanish traditionally has been one of the central components of an undergraduate education in the humanities.
Today there is an added practical dimension to this. With economic and cultural globalization, our links as a nation with Spain and Latin America have become much closer. At the same time, Spanish is not only a foreign language for us; it has become—much like French in Canada—a de facto second language in the United States.
With a Hispanic population of just over fifty million (2010), the United States itself is the third largest country of the Spanish-speaking world. Spanish is the fastest growing field in the humanities today (more than 50 percent of enrollments in language classes in the United States are in Spanish). As a result, there is a growing demand for persons trained in Spanish (and also Portuguese) in many fields, especially education, where there is a shortage of new teachers of Spanish language and literature.
The Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures is especially noted for its faculty strengths in the area of Latin American literature and culture, including Brazil, but we also cover Spain and U.S. Latino culture and areas of Hispanic linguistics.
The department works in close cooperation with the University of Pittsburgh Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), and many students choose as a related area the CLAS undergraduate or graduate certificate program. We also have strong ties to the Film Studies Program, West European Studies, and the Graduate Program in Cultural Studies.
Events
(In)visible Cosmovisions:
Dialogues in Afro and Indigenous
Latin America and the Caribbean
Keynote speaker:
Catherine Walsh
Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar
Quito, Ecuador
October 21-22, 2011
With the emergence of subaltern and postcolonial studies over the past quarter century, scholars have increasingly shifted attention to the political, epistemic, and poetic force of indigenous and Afro-descendent communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Nonetheless, the potential analogies and resonances between the worldviews, textualities, and recurrent political struggles of these populations remain largely overlooked and underexplored.
(Des)articulaciones 2011 seeks to create a productive dialogue between these perspectives and explore new possibilities for decolonizing conceptual frameworks in the 21st century. This two-day conference brings together graduate students from various departments across the United States whose research engages with these issues.
Schedule:
Friday, October 21 9:00 am – 5:15 pm Student Sessions in 527 William Pitt Union
5:30 – 6:30 pm Roundtable discussion in 548 William Pitt Union
Saturday, October 22 9:00 am – 4:15 pm Student Sessions in 540 William Pitt Union
4:30 – 6:30 pm Keynote Address in 548 William Pitt Union
Keynote address: “Afro and Indigenous Life-Visions in/and Politics.
(De)colonial Perspectives”
Dr. Catherine Walsh,
Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar.
This conference is sponsored by the Department of Hispanic Languages and Literatures, the Center for Latin American Studies, the School of Arts and Sciences, the Humanities Center, and the Graduate Program for Cultural Studies.
For more information, contact us at des.articulaciones@gmail.com
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8th Undergraduate Research Symposium
on Latin America and the Caribbean
University of Pittsburgh, March 16, 2012
Present your research with other undergraduate students on any topic related to Latin American Studies in literature, linguistics, art, or professional academic disciplines.
An abstract consisting of 150-200 words is to be submitted by March 1, 2012
The VIII Undergraduate Research Symposium on Latin America and the Caribbean will be held on Friday, March 16, at the Pittsburgh Athletic Association. The Symposium
will begin at 10:30 a.m. till 4:30 p.m. Students will have about 15 minutes to make
their presentations. They will have access to power point equipment, or use posters if they choose. Presentations can be made in Spanish, Portuguese or English.
For information about previous symposia, click here
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