As part of the featured talk organized by Art History professor Dr. Leslie Todd titled “Mediators of the Sacred: The Southern Andean Religious Tradition and the Viceregal Cult of Angels”, presenter Dr. Maya Stanfield-Mazzi visited Dr. García-Santana’s class. Students learned about linguistic aspects of archival work and the relevance of textiles in ritual practices.
International students Nahuel Martínez and Dante Chamorro Studenko present in prof. García-Santana’s class. They shared customs from Paraguay in the context of learning about the Jesuit missions of Guarani Paraquaria.
HOLA, along with other organizations is hosting their annual soccer tournament this Saturday at Trez Field. You may sign up here, and the registration fee is $5/player with all proceeds going to Our Little Roses, a charity supporting young girls in Honduras by providing education, housing, and healthcare. There will be prizes awarded throughout the event and there will be tacos! Bring your own water and cleats!
Students worked hard practicing their songs in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Latin, Russian, and Spanish. There was food from around the world and prizes for best solo, small group, and whole class acts. Read more to find out who won and hear a bit of their songs.
Under the direction of Gabriela Jirau Delgado of Spain, a number of fun cultural events have been planned at the Spanish House including a "Graveyard Gala" with the French & Eastern European houses to celebrate Día de los Muertos with games and food. The Spanish House has also hosted movie screenings for Encanto, "Viernes Gigante" a trivia and games night, and a night where students dressed as their favorite Hispanic artist.
On Tuesday, March 21, 2023, new members were inducted into the Spanish Honorary Society: Sigma Delta Pi. New members are Patricia Ramirez-Miranda, Hannah Kathryn Rosser, Adri Elle Silva, and Madison Stinson Spann.
The ceremony was presided over by Caroline Gramig, who was assisted by Anna Hoyt, President and Vice-President of the Sewanee Chapter.
Felicidades a todas!
Are you looking for a different Greek experience? Consider joining Alpha Psi Lamda, a gender inclusive, not Latinx exclusive social order. Contact at @apsisewanee or apsissewanee@gmail.com
On a beautiful sunny Saturday, February 18, students got to see how Carnival is celebrated around the world by visiting each of the Language Theme Houses: Mardi Gras at the French House, Fasching at the German House, Carnevale at the Italian House, Maslenitsa at the Russian House, and Carnaval at the Spanish House.
The development of 'cuir' (queer) music video and their influence on contemporary films was the topic of the presentation given by professor Arturo Márquez-Gómez at the Universidad de Santiago, in Chile. The presentation, titled "Y el video musical creó el filme: Nunca vas a estar solo (2016) de Alex Anwandter/ And the music video created the fim: Alex Anwandter's You will never be alone (2016)", analyzed the particular use of music in the film that freely adapted a well-known homophobic murder in Chile in 2012. Márquez-Gómez argues that the previous experience of the director, Alex Anwandter, in directing music videos is fundamental to create effective 'musical moments' (Amy Herzog, 2009) in the film. In the musical moments, the narration is suspended and the audience is able to connect to affective and creative dimensions of the characters. Márquez-Gómez's presentation was based on a previously published chapter titled “Video Built the Cinema Star. Alex Anwandter’s Nunca vas a estar solo” published in Chilean Cinema in the Twenty First Century World (2020) edited by Vania Barraza y Carl Fischer, available here.
At International Karaoke Night, students of all levels sing songs in the language that they are studying. It's a night of fun, food, music, prizes, friendly competition, and learning about other cultures and their music. Read more to see video highlights and find out who won!
Dr. Lisa Burner will give a talk on November 9 at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga about her research entitled, Gold or Guano? Fictions of Resource Extraction and Sustainability in Latin America, which examines if natural resources a blessing or a curse as expressed in Latin American fiction in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Former Spanish majors will talk about how they are using Spanish in their professional lives post graduation. This is a great opportunity to explore the possibilities of being bilingual after Sewanee.
Tuesday, October 25 at 7:00PM
Torian Room of DuPont Library
In honor of Transgender Awareness Week (November 13th to the 19th), the Spanish and Italian Department would like to contribute to the active and informed discussion along campus. On Monday, November 7 at 7:00PM, we will host a talk entitled "El Salvador: Migration and Transliteratures" by professor Sebastián Reyes Gil from Universidad de Santiago in Chile. This talk will discuss the novel El verbo J (2018) by the Salvadoran writer Claudia Hernández, and it will address issues of trans-bodies and subjectivities in the context of the current migration movements in Central America. This talk will be delivered in English via Zoom. For further information contact prof. Arturo Márquez-Gómez aamarque@sewanee.edu
Join us for a night of fun, food, music, and prizes! Brave students will sing in the language that they are studying at Sewanee. Get your name on the roster to sing by contacting Helen Stapleton hfstaple@sewanee.edu.
Dr. Lisa Burner has a forthcoming article "Guano and Nitrates" in the book Latin American Literature in Transition (1870-1930), published by Cambridge University Press. The article presents a comparative analysis of Peruvian and Chilean literature written during periods of economic boom driven by the extraction and export of the natural resources guano (bird excrement) and nitrates. By placing novels about luxury consumption and economic crisis in dialogue with economic essays from both countries, Burner demonstrates how Peruvian and Chilean elites expressed anxieties about the potential "fictitiousness" of these extractive export booms. Latin American Literature in Transition (1870-1930) is slated for publication in November 2022. As the website describes: "This volume shows the new directions in turn-of-the-century scholarship that developed over the last two decades by investigating how the experience of capitalism produced an array of works that deal with primitive accumulation, transnational crossings, and an emerging technological and material reality in diverse geographies and a variety of cultural forms. Essays provide a novel understanding of the period as they discuss the ways in which particular commodities, intellectual networks, popular uprisings, materialities, and non-metropolitan locations redefined cultural production at a time when the place of Latin America in global affairs was significantly transformed."
Come to a concert that honors the Virgin Mary and Latinas in general.
Thursday, October 6 at 7:30PM
All Saints Chapel
Come to a fiesta at the Spanish House this Friday, October 7 and enjoy typical Spanish food, drinks, and some reggaeton.
Come to the Annual International Potluck Dinner Party to try dishes from around the world. Bring a dish you love, and fall in love with another. This event is sponsored by the Organization for Cross Cultural Understanding and the Spanish & Italian House and others.
Date TBA
Vanderbilt's Dr. Michelle Murray will discuss her research of a twitter account posing as a Republican in the Spanish Civil War who was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp in Austria. Her talk entitled "Transmitting Trauma through Twitter @Deportado4443 and Memories of Mauthausen" will be on Thursday, October 13 at 4:30PM in Gailor Auditorium
Do you want to be outside, learn about growing things sustainably, de-stress, all while reinforcing your Spanish skills? If so, join Dr. Mylonas Leegstra every Monday at 2:00 at the University Farm on Breakfield Rd.
Meet the residents of the Spanish House and Spanish faculty, learn about study in Spain, while enjoying chips and salsa.
September 1, 2022
Enhorabuena to Spanish professor Ruth Sánchez, who has been named Robert M. Ayres, Jr. Distinguished University Chair. The honor is well deserved for Professor Sánchez's tireless dedication to the University and the Department of Spanish and Italian.
Read more to find out about Sewanee's first Italian major, Szonja Szurop.
Join the Spanish House in Geographical Trivia for a chance to win a prize and to learn about and try out Hispanic cuisine! Friday, April 15 from 3-5
The Department of Spanish and Italian at the University of the South will welcome the Basque writer Kirmen Uribe for a campus visit and public talk on Sunday, April 10, at 7pm, in Gailor Auditorium on Sewanee's campus. Uribe's lecture, titled "How to Tell a Real Life: My Year Writing at the New York Public Library," will be held in English.
Experience how Carnival is celebrated around the world by touring the Language Theme Houses on February 25.
-Try King Cake, make crafts with Mardi Gras beads, and play bead toss at the French House!
-The German House will offer Faschingskrapfen (jam-filled donuts) and face painting!
-Decorate masks at the Italian House!
-Enjoy bliny (thin pancakes), a bonfire, tug-o-war and other games at the Russian House!
-Foam fight, piñatas, and other games at the Spanish House!
Whether it's Mardi Gras in the Francophone world, Fasching in Germany, Carnevale in Italy, Maslenitsa in Russia, or Carnaval in the Hispanic world, Europeans welcomed the return of the sun and the approach of the Spring Equinox with celebrations involving pancakes and other traditional foods, games, bonfires, costumes, parades, and role reversals. With the arrival of Christianity, these celebrations evolved into one last indulgence before the austerity of the Lent.
Our Spanish majors have just taken their comprehensive exams and are set to graduate in May. Get to know them!
Azareen Van der Vliet Oloomi, winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award for Call me Zebra will speak on February 8 at Gailor Auditorium.
The 7th Annual International Karaoke Night was held on October 27 and featured acts in all the modern languages that Sewanee offers: Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish. There was fun, food, music, and incredible talent on display. Read more to find out which Spanish acts won.
Students of Spanish are invited to join ‘El Coro’ for the Advent semester 2021. This is the ensemble (instruments and voices) that will be leading worship for the Spanish Eucharist every other week of the semester. If you are interested, please contact Yuri Rodriguez at rodriy0@sewanee.edu for more information. All songs will be sung in Spanish, but no advanced Spanish required. Musical experience is appreciated but not necessary either.
Leigh Preston and Sway Rosario lead a discussion bout Religion and Hispanic/Latinx culture on Sept 22. Meet at the Bishop's Common Hearth Room or join through Zoom: 852 6985 6544. There will be 4 $25 Amazon gift cards raffle off for all attendees.
There will be two opportunities to learn about Sewanee's excellent spring semester in Spain:
Tuesday, May 4 at 5:00pm in Gailor 225
Friday, May 7 at 1:00pm in Gailor 225
Post your best photo from Carnivals past on our Photo Contest Wall by March 20. We will vote and award prizes on March 24. Include a caption in both English and in the language you are studying.
Students gathered at Cravens Hall for the The 6th Annual International Karaoke Night on Saturday, October 24. It was a little different from past International Karaoke Nights when students sang live in front of a panel of judges and an audience. Instead, they submitted videos of themselves singing in the language that they are studying. The videos representing Chinese, French, German, Latin, Russian, and Spanish were screened at the event, and students and faculty were able to view the videos and vote online in person or remotely.
Costa Rican singer Yuri Rodríguez, who recently moved to Sewanee, will be holding a virtual concert to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month on October 15 at 8:00 pm.
You will have the chance to learn about traditions in different countries. Many students and professors are collaborating with this event representing their own countries and we encourage you to come and take part in this celebration of culture on Wednesday, March 4!
In many parts of the world, some form of Carnival is celebrated, combining Christian and pre-Christian traditions indigenous to the region. This celebration goes by many names: Maslenitsa Масленица in Russia; Mardi Gras in the Francophone world; Carnaval in Latin America, Carnevale in Italy, Fasching in Germany-to name a few. Common threads include celebrating the end of winter darkness, sometimes parades, often outrageous costumes, role reversal, consuming pancakes, or marking the beginning of Lent. On Sunday, February 16, various language houses hosted a progressive festival starting at the Russian House, continuing on to the Spanish House, the German House, the Italian House, and ending at the French House.
A group of students and faculty gathered in the Torian Room at Dupont Library on February 7 to hear about the critical effects that the War in Iraq had in Latin America. Gonzalo Montaner presented his book "Están con nosotros o con los terroristas. El efecto Al Qaeda y la Guerra de Iraq en América Latina" in which he discusses crucial issues in Latin America after the War on Terrorism. The group of students and faculty had also the opportunity to Chilean journalist Andrea Arístegui who along Montaner's presentation, reflected on the role of media in times of war and social crisis.
Come to the Spanish House for the following events this semester: -Película: Thursday, Feb 6 at 6:00pm -Fiestas y Tradiciones Populares: Thursday, March 5 at 6:00pm -Noche de Karaoke: Friday, April 3 at 7:00pm -Hola Colaboración: Finals Week
The 5th Annual International Karaoke Night took place on November 7, 2019 at the Tiger Bay Pub. There were songs in 8 different languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Latin, Russian, and Spanish.
