The yearlong module offers highly motivated single honours students in their final year an opportunity unavailable through conventionally taught modules, both in terms of the topics and materials studied, and the independence with which the project is to be pursued. More specifically, the module allows students to engage closely with a particular topic of Hispanic culture under individual supervision by a research-active staff member. This includes defining a suitable research question, investigating the topic using relevant resources, and writing a short study in Spanish (8,000 – 10,000 words) addressing that question. For the purpose of this module, Hispanic culture is understood in a broad sense taken to include literature, history, and visual culture. Students taking this module are expected to have a strong track record in relevant modules from their previous years of study.

Final enrolment on this module will only be confirmed after approval of the proposed project by the prospective supervisor. Students interested in taking this module are required to submit a 500-word proposal stating the topic and research question for their dissertation. The proposal has to reach the Module Leader no later than two weeks prior to the commencement of the Autumn semester. No exceptions to this rule will be made.

• Submit a dissertation of the required length which answers an agreed research question
• Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a specific area agreed with the supervisor
• Present a competent, well-structured argument, using evidence and appropriate terminology / approaches
• Engage critically with primary sources in Spanish, and secondary reading in both Spanish and English
• Demonstrate cultural awareness and sensitivity

The module will be taught through one-to-one tutorials with a research-active staff member of the Hispanic Studies Section in both the autumn and the spring semesters.

• Writing skills
• Organisational skills
• Independent study skills
• Time management skills
• Basic research skills
• Word-processing skills

The module will be assessed by one dissertation, written in Spanish, of between 8,000 and 10,000 words. 70% of the mark will correspond to the content, 30% to the language.
 

Possible areas for supervision include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Spanish Modernismo
• Spanish Post-Civil War narrative literature
• Contemporary Spanish narrative
• Spanish women’s writing
• Spanish American ‘boom’ literature
• Magical Realism / the ‘marvelous real’ in America
• 19th-century Spanish American Realism
• The Picaresque novel
• The Mexican Revolution in literature, film and popular culture
• Adaptation of literature to film
• Spanish and Latin American film
• 20th-century Spanish American poetry and narrative
• 20th-century Spanish history
• Catalan Studies
• Galician Studies
• The works of a single Hispanic author or filmmaker
• Visual cultures of Spain and the Spanish-speaking Americas
• LGBT film and fiction from Spain and the Spanish-speaking Americas
• Film, fiction, and testimony from Cuba since 1959
• Narratives in Spanish of exile, displacement, migration, and marginalisation.

Reading is to be agreed in individual consultation with the supervisor, depending on the agreed research topic.