Catalan Studies

Catalan Language Beginners

Social and Political History of Iberia and Latin America

This module examines the historical trajectory of Spain, Catalonia and Portugal, their emergence as states or regions with aspirations to statehood in the Iberian Peninsula, their linguistic evolution and expansion throughout the peninsula and overseas, the eventual independence of the colonies and their development and consolidation into the various modern-day states we know today. The module will explore the social, political, linguistic and cultural characteristics of these nations and states, and their peoples, and highlight the importance of understanding their complex history in the formation of their identities, languages and cultural and political values.

Below are a number of areas directly related to Catalan which may be addressed in this module (note that not all topics will be covered each year)

• The political and social reasons why Latin split into the different Romance Languages (Catalan, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian) 
• The emergence of Catalonia from the Catalan territories and its incorporation into the kingdom of Aragon and then the kingdom of Spain. 
• Christianity, Islam and Judaism: the social and linguistic effects of the Reconquest and the expulsion of the Jews and Moors from the Iberian Peninsula. 
• The Catalan speaking regions and the Spanish Empire 
• Liberalism and Revolution 
• Republicanism and Anarchism 
• Dictatorships and Democracies
• Latin America and Catalan exiles 
• Catalan aspirations to independence in the 20th and 21st centuries

Intersections: Text, Image, Thought in the French-speaking world

The aim of the module is to introduce students to significant French texts and to illustrate and explore a range of possible critical approaches to them, including cross-media or intermedial reinterpretations. 

This module will focus on two important French texts per semester (with "text" taken in its largest sense of book, film, art work, piece of music, cultural product, etc.). Each text will form the basis for a close reading, followed by analyses using French cultural, historical, literary and critical theory approaches as well as adaptations into other media (such as film, art and music) where appropriate. The module will be taught and assessed in English, but the materials will be made available in both French and English, with French students required to use and cite the French materials. 

Resist! The Art of Protest in Berlin and Amsterdam

Berlin and Amsterdam: two capitals at the forefront of protest and alternative lifestyles from the early 20th century right up to the present. Where did their radical traditions spring from? What do these protests say about how the cities and nations see themselves? How does creative resistance fuel gentrification and urban tourism? 

This module explores the culture of resistance and protest from the first women's march for the vote and posters and activism against war and fascism, to the creative resistance of the Amsterdam PROVO movement in the 1960s to Black Lives Matter/Kick out Zwarte Piet. 

We will cover concepts such as populism, activism, colonial resistance, feminism, BLM, climate activism. How do these movement use art and image to press their causes?  

Comparative Visual Cultures

This is a school-wide module taught by specialists from across the school who have research interests in visual culture. It introduces students to some of the main movements in European cinema and art, and includes a strong Russian and East European element. The module includes seminars and film viewings.

Understanding Spanish and Latin American Culture

Why has the gypsy culture of Andalucía been so crucial to ideas about Spanish identity and how and why has this changed? How did gender politics and the role of women change after the Franco dictatorship in Spain? How and why has historical memory about the Civil War becomes such a feature of contemporary Spanish life? How and why was modernity experienced as a crisis in Latin America? What is machismo and why is it thought to be so central to Latin American culture? How do revolutionary politics and sexual politics relate in Latin America?

The Soviet Union 1917-1991

This module provides an overview of the historical changes affected the territories of the former Russian Empire from the Revolutions of 1917. This includes the dramatic economic, political, demographic, institutional and ideological changes that occurred in the period. Attention will also be paid to the multinational dimension of the USSR and to the international context within which the USSR rose and declined as a power. Students will be introduced to some of the various theoretical approaches to the history of the USSR and will be encouraged to develop a critical approach to received categories.  

Taught and Assessed in English

Catalan Language Intermediate

Hispanic Spaces

This module is an exploration of Hispanic spaces and their representation in various contexts. It will consider the ways in which spaces dialogue with reality or, in some cases, transform themselves in the imaginary. The case studies led by each of the tutors will consider space in the analysis of, for example, islands and/ or cities, and analyse texts (in the broadest sense, including fiction, images and films) from the Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese-speaking worlds. Topics considered may include contested space (tourism, migration, insiders and outsiders), space/place (literary constructions of place) and ideal/utopian spaces. The spaces studied may include islands such as the Balearics, the Canary Islands, and the Azores or Cape Verde, and cities such as Madrid and Lisbon. 

No prior knowledge of Catalan or Portuguese is required since the works analysed in those languages will be available in English translation. In addition to those studying Spanish, we welcome students enrolled on Catalan and Portuguese language modules.

Language and Society in Luxembourg and the French Borderlands

With a focus on the French borderlands, this course explores the status and function of the French language in relation to its speakers and to speakers of other languages. We will apply key theoretical insights to issues concerning linguistic minorities in the officially monolingual country of France, in addition to the bordering multilingual countries of Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. In this way, we will investigate how language becomes the target of struggles and debates that are embedded in broader socio-political issues. More broadly, this module underlines the necessity of questioning the presupposed homogeneity conveyed by the use of labels such as the ‘French language’ and ‘French-speaking countries’, which potentially mask the social and linguistic complexity inherent to the social world.

Catalan Language Advanced

Questioning Spain

*This module must be taken in final year to validate the Catalan pathway.
Students will examine specific moments or periods in Spanish cultural history from the late nineteenth century to the present day in which a questioning of the status quo is foregrounded. They will examine a range of key texts, primary and secondary sources, and explore the issues raised. In so doing, they will acquire sophisticated techniques in interpreting the discourse of cultural expression on such subjects as the nature of social and gender roles, and Spanish (and other) identities.

Students will:
- examine specific moments or periods in Spanish cultural history in which a questioning of the status quo is foregrounded. The ambiguity of the title implies analysis of those who question the prevailing situation and the nature of that interrogation.
- develop skill in cultural analysis focussed on the examination of key texts which exhibit a questioning of social attitudes as expressed in historical writings and cultural products.
- acquire sophisticated techniques in interpreting the discourse of cultural expression on such subjects as the nature of social and gender roles, and Spanish identity using appropriate primary and secondary sources.
- develop the ability to present oral and written accounts of relevant issues, setting out arguments coherently, demonstrating powers of intellectual analysis, using the English language with clarity and citing source materials appropriately.

Content Warning
S1 written and visual material contains references to physical violence and abuse, incest,
implied child abuse, exploitation, discrimination / bigotry (including two racist slurs), and a very
short sex scene. These will be presented and explained sensitively in classes as part of an
intellectual framework for understanding the psychological content and the socio-historical
context of the texts.

Languages & Cultures Project

Guided by individual supervision and support seminars, you will plan and execute an extended piece of independent research on a topic that complements but does not duplicate work you have done (or will do) in SLC taught modules. Alternatively, you may translate a substantial text into English accompanied by a full commentary to contextualize it. Your project must relate to at least one of the countries or cultures whose languages you are studying. As well as writing an extended piece of work, all students present their work at the end of the year.

Comparative Critique of Consumer Culture

Critiques of consumer cultures are as old as capitalism itself. This module takes the long view, starting in the eighteenth century and tracing our conflicted identities as modern consumers into the present day. Especially applying German cultural theory to European cultural history, we shall ask what is meant by economic and social liberalism, and whether even culture owes a debt to consumer society. Consumerism can entail complicity in exploitative modes of production (causing poverty and displacement, and profiting from serfdom and slavery). It has been both celebrated and satirised for enabling hedonism and individual bad taste (or kitsch). And consumption has been nationalist, yet also cosmopolitan; today, it threatens our shared environment. Theory, the visual arts, and literature have all been critical of capitalism - but ironically, they can themselves be packaged as consumer goods. Examining a wide range of primary texts (including film and caricature) and critical reflections, you will translate and write a commentary on a historical source, and submit an essay on a topic of your choice.

Social Approaches to Multilingualism

This course begins by outlining key theories about multilingualism and then explores language contact and variation, language and identity and differences between individual and societal multilingualism. Students design their own research projects to examine the ways in which issues of language are linked to broader socio-political practices, policies and debates. Project topics include language and digital media, language and migration, multilingual education and linguistic landscapes in multiple sites around the world to obtain global perspectives.