The Amherst Spanish Department offers courses in both the Spanish language and in Hispanic culture and literature. We study literature and culture from a modern critical perspective, without isolating it from its context. We teach most courses in Spanish.
Our majors study the Hispanic world throughout the centuries, through courses on Spain, Latin America, the Caribbean and Latinos in the United States.
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This certificate enhances our major and is overseen by the Five College Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies Council.
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We encourage majors to write a senior thesis on a topic related to Hispanic culture, literature, language or arts.
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Majors strengthen their studies with stays in Argentina, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Spain.
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Students speak Spanish at the weekly Spanish Table in Valentine Dining Hall and in the Spanish House, where language assistants and other students live and speak Spanish together.
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Peer tutors help their fellow students learn the language.
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Spanish majors at Amherst go on to careers in public policy, teaching, international relations, translation and nonprofit work, among many other fields.
Learn MoreSpanish is spoken in 20 different countries, as well as the United States, by over 450 million Spanish speakers. In all of our classes, you'll be practicing your Spanish and studying Spanish cultures from around the world.
Spanish faculty are located in Barrett Hall and Grosvenor House. For information on the locations of these buildings, please visit the Amherst campus map.
This course provides an introduction to the diverse literatures and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world over the course of six centuries, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century.
From Pedro Almodóvar to Penélope Cruz, Spanish directors and actors are now international stars. But the origins of Spain’s cinema are rooted in censorship and patriarchy. This course offers an overview of Spanish film from 1950 to the present along with an introduction to film studies..
A patient, careful reading of Cervantes' masterpiece (published in 1605 and 1615), taking into consideration the biographical, historical, social, religious, and literary context from which it emerged during the Renaissance.