Spain

This course studies the history of Spanish film from the ''camara oscura'' to the present. Historical accounts of film as an aesthetic form, a social force, an economic institution, and a technology are considered. The course also covers major Spanish directors including Luis Bunuel, Benito Perojo, Fernando Fernan Gomez, Luis Berlanga, Carlos Saura, Victor Erice, Fernando Trueba, and Pedro Almodovar. Close attention to their film composition, choices of subject and character, and the relationship of their movies to Spanish culture and society is given.

This course is divided into two parts. Part one examines Spanish narrative prose of the 19th and 20th centuries, taking as thematic reference the city of Barcelona and its writers. Part two explores Latin American culture through representative artistic works (music, writing, painting, and film) and their socio-cultural and artistic framework.

This course offers a study of the body and emotions from the interactions between biological, social, and cultural dimensions taking into account the contributions from different branches of anthropology such as symbolism, rituals, religion, politics, and health and disease.

This course offers a study of political behavior. Topics include: the role of citizens and political participation in contemporary democracies; forms and levels of participation; development and evolution of political attitudes; political participation theories at the individual, meso, and macro levels; non-institutional participation and protest; consequences and causes of inequality in political participation; new forms of participation and online activism. 

This course explores the topic of individual differences and why individuals are so different. Topics include: mental aptitudes; personality traits; biological and genetic foundations of individuality; the role of society, culture, and environment in shaping who we are.

This course offers a study of the fundamentals of computers. Topics include: machine and assembly language; processor design; memory system of a computer.

This course provides a study of the audiovisual storytelling: construction, narrative devices, and the history and theory of film narrative.

This course explores the diachronic aspect of culture and the use of culture as a means of ideological and political legitimacy by those in power. Topics include: cultural production; literary production in service of the first theocracies; creation of the historical narrative; the emergence of universal empires and narrative fiction; translatio imperii; humanistic culture; court culture and absolute monarchies.

This French language course is level A2 of the Common European Reference Framework for Languages (CEFR), or the second semester of beginning French. It focuses on practical French through listening and writing comprehension, oral expression, and writing. The course prepares students to achieve tasks in various sectors of social life through the acquisition of communicative, linguistic, and cultural knowledge. The course uses learning strategies aligned to the contents of the CEFR: work on defined tasks, formative evaluation, self-evaluation, and overture to the plurality of languages and cultures.

This introductory course offers a long-term view of the interactions between human societies and their natural environment in order to better understand sustainable development challenges in the present.