This advanced Spanish language program is based at the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), one of Spain’s top academic institutions. Courses include Urban Studies, Political Sciences, and Art History, as well as Pragmatics in context. All 20 credits count towards the Spanish major or minor. In addition to their coursework, students are allowed to audit a course of their choice.
The Carleton Madrid program is a language and socio-cultural immersion program designed for students who wish to grow fluent in Spanish while living and studying in a bustling metropolis. Most students participating in the program are non-majors in their sophomore and junior years. Applicants must have completed Spanish 205 or above by spring term 2020. Given the competitive nature of the program, student selection also rests on a combination of factors, such as performance during the interview, GPA, letters of recommendation, application form, language proficiency, and group dynamics.
20 Credits
Students enroll in three regular courses and an additional language skill development course for a total of 20 credits. All credits count towards the Spanish major and minor. ARTH 232 counts toward the Art History major. In addition to their coursework, students are allowed to audit a course of their choice at Complutense.
Spanish 230: Madrid: Urban Transformation and Cultural Tensions in a Global City (6 credits)
This course proposes an exploration of Madrid in a historical perspective to track those tensions between the persistence of the city and the pulsion of modernity, between the local traditions and peculiarities and the influences arriving as an effect of globalization. In this journey we will study the transformation of Madrid from the Middle Ages to the present, focusing on the struggles and strategies of the community adapting to the new circumstances. In more general terms, we will understand Madrid’s way of life, the problems and particularities of its community, and as well as an introduction to the threats to urban society in a global world.
Professor Rubén Pallol
ARTH 232: Spanish Art Live (6 credits)
This course offers an introduction to Spanish art from el Greco to the present. Classes are taught in some of the finest museums and churches of Spain, including the Prado Museum, the Museo Nacional de Arte Reina Sofía, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Toledo Cathedral in Toledo, and the Church of Santo Tomé.
Professor Francisco J. Moreno
SPAN 347: Welcome to the Spanish Revolution. From the “Spanish Miracle” to the “Indignant Movement” (1940-2021). (6 credits)
When we travel to another country are we tourists or travelers? What are our expectations when traveling? How do we get to know a place, its people, and culture? In this course we will walk through the history of some of the most important cultural and historical landmarks that mark the different transitions that Spain has gone through. We will become travelers who read, think, observe, and reflect upon political, cultural and social questions connected to each text we read and every place we visit. This program includes several workshops with guest speakers, and significant contact with social collectives and communities in Spain.
Professor: Palmar Alvarez-Blanco
SPAN 213: Participatory Video in Madrid (2 credits)
Understanding the process of video production as a practitioner is an essential skill in an era in which video/image consumption is growing exponentially. In this two-credit experience, participants will produce a collaborative and reflective video about their experiences as travelers in a foreign country.
Professor: Local Instructor
Palmar Álvarez-Blanco, Professor of Spanish
Palmar Alvarez-Blanco was born in Spain and has been a professor at Carleton since 2007. Her research works at the crossroads of contemporary Spanish literature, film and cultural studies with special focus on the transformation of cultural paradigms in the frame of capitalism and its crisis. She is the architect, curator and creator of the Constellation of the Commons —an audiovisual archive of the culture of the commons in communities of practice and self-managed collectives that have emerged over the past decade in Spain.
Students will stay with families at their homes.
Cultural activities, speakers, and trips within Madrid will supplement course work. In addition, there will be an excursion to Sevilla (three nights and four days), Barcelona (three nights and four days), and Castilla (two nights, three days) as well as opportunities for individual travel throughout Spain.
Program dates roughly correspond to the Carleton academic term. Specific dates will be communicated to program participants.
All Carleton-sponsored 10-week off-campus study programs charge the Carleton comprehensive fee, which includes instruction, room and board, group excursions, public transportation, medical and evacuation insurance, travel assistance, and most cultural events.
Students are responsible for books and supplies, passports and visas (when required), transportation to and from the program sites, and personal expenses and travel during the seminar. Students will receive a program-specific Additional Cost Estimate at the time of acceptance.
Student financial aid is applicable as on campus. See the Off-Campus Studies website for further information on billing, financial aid, and scholarships.
