Syllabus Semester in Spain: Intercultural Communication and Spanish Popular Culture (original) (raw)

This course will draw on students' experiences in Spain to introduce them to foundational and contemporary concepts, practices, and processes of intercultural communication, methods of intercultural analysis, and the scholarly field of intercultural studies. Students in this course will engage in a critical assessment of intercultural communication theories and their applications to their immediate Spanish context, with the explicit goal of addressing issues of social justice and ethical, mindful, and self-reflective intercultural practices. From our study abroad site in Valencia, in this class we will also experience the popular culture of Spain, and discuss its comparative and relational ties to New Mexico, and the US more broadly. Through direct exposure, among others, to flamenco music and dance, social movements, film and TV productions, local festivities, sustainable agricultural practices, or native architectural landmarks, we will explore historical, social and cultural issues shaping past and present-day “Spain,” including: Internal and external colonialism, national(ist) ideologies, past and recent social movements, or economic, geographical, and identity-shaped struggles for equality. In their final projects, students will develop their comparative, analytical, and critical skills as they work to connect popular cultural items discussed in the Spanish setting to their New Mexican contexts.