HESP Academic Offer Fall 2019
CATALAN STUDIES
51600 - Barcelona, the City and its History
Professor: Meritxell Ferrer
Language: English
ECTS: 6
Once labeled by Newsweek magazine as the “coolest city in Europe,” Barcelona enjoys the reputation of a cosmopolitan city with a great international projection. Like all places, however, it is not without its complexities and contradictions. Behind a glossy and tourist-friendly façade, the city has a complex history.
This course introduces the student to the city of Barcelona by studying its past and analyzing its present. This interdisciplinary course covers subject in history, geography, art, architecture, and urban planning. Materials include images, maps, academic and literary texts, videos, field studies, and documentaries. We will also discuss issues relevant to people living within the city of Barcelona today.
51601 - Barcelona, la ciudad y su historia
Professor: Àlex Coello
Language: Spanish
ECTS: 6
Barcelona ha sido etiquetada por Newsweek Magazine como la “coolest city in Europe”, otorgándole a su vez la reputación de una ciudad cosmopolita con una gran proyección internacional. Sin embargo, al igual que sucede con otras ciudades, esta ciudad también presenta sus propias complejidades y contradicciones.
Este curso pretende introducir la ciudad de Barcelona al estudiante mediante el estudio de su pasado y el análisis de su presente. Este estudio interdisciplinar constituido por la historia, la geografía, el arte, la arquitectura y el urbanismo cubre los múltiples ángulos que han conformado esta ciudad. Para ello se usaran imágenes, mapas, textos académicos y literarios, videos, estudios de campo y documentales. Asimismo, también se discutirán los asuntos más relevantes para la gente que en la actualidad conforma esta ciudad.
51664 - Global Culture & Marketing of FC Barcelona
Professor: Manuel Garin, Frederic Guerrero, Hibai López
Language: English
ECTS: 6
European football (soccer) has become a major cultural vehicle in the global world, both in terms of economical impact and social influence. This course focuses on how this sport shapes the social, economical and cultural realms, and tries to interpret the different links between the game itself and the dimensions surrounding it: media coverage, aesthetic value, political targeting, public and corporate policies... In that context, FC Barcelona remains a unique case, studied in business schools as an example of global market branding, while passionately lived by millions of fans all over the world. Moreover, Barcelona city offers a privileged standpoint to better understand football as a growing issue within contemporary culture.
51622 - Barcelona: the Rise of a Design City
Professor: Sasa Markus
Language: English
ECTS: 6
'Barcelona, the Rise of a Design City' looks at one of the most exciting periods of the city's recent history: what is known as the 'Barcelona design boom', a cultural phenomenon that helped define the Spanish transition to democracy in the 1980s and the city's Olympic dream in the 1990s. For a few years and in sharp contrast to the preceding decades, design became one of the main cultural frameworks of Barcelona's identity, both locally and abroad. Paired with architecture in a seemingly unavoidable partnership, it provided the seeds from which ultimately emerged the narrative of the city as it is seen today: that of a sophisticated European metropolis, miraculously emerging from the ashes of a decaying post-industrial provincial capital.
Initially addressing local design practice and design retail, and later embracing architecture as well, this course follows the way in which these disciplines turned ideas about local identity, modernity, social and cultural value into everyday material artefacts and environments. Design and architecture were placed at the heart of the city's popular culture, and of its international success to this day.
51753- Forma, sueño, deseo. Picasso, Miró, Dalí y el arte del s.XX
Professor: Eduard Cairol
Language: Spanish
ECTS: 6
El objetivo del curso consiste en introducir al estudiante en los principales episodios del arte del siglo XX. Con un tema de fondo: las complejas relaciones entre tradición y vanguardia, clasicismo y modernidad, revolución y reacción artísticas a lo largo de todo un siglo.
Todo ello se realizará a través de la aproximación a cinco artistas catalanes o estrechamente vinculados a Cataluña, pero de indudable relevancia universal. Y, como se desprende del título del mismo, tomando como punto de partida sus obras más significativas, con un método que alejándose del discurso historiográfico o biográfico sitúa en primer plano las obras concretas y parte siempre del lenguaje plástico. *this is the former "Arte y Artistas" course. Only the title has been revisited.
51656 - Lengua y Cultura Catalanas
Professor: Carme Bach
Language: Spanish
ECTS: 6
Este curso está indicado para todos aquellos alumnos que quieran conocer un poco la lengua y la cultura de la ciudad en la que vienen a hacer sus estudios desde un enfoque contrastivo con el español y otras lenguas románicas. Este conocimiento les permitirá sin duda situar mejor la lengua y cultura catalana en relación a la española y la europea en general.
En este curso se introducirá a los alumnos en la lengua y cultura catalanas, a través del componente comunicativo, con el objetivo de facilitar el aprendizaje del catalán en un nivel inicial hasta conseguir una competencia mínima que pueda permitir una comunicación básica y la adquisición de las bases para poder seguir avanzando en el aprendizaje del catalán si así se desea. Además se hará un repaso de la cultura catalana a través de las fiestas tradicionales de Cataluña y se presentarán las peculiaridades de la sociedad catalana en relación a cada uno de los temas tratados.
51603 - The Barcelona Leadership Journey towards Sustainability: Economic, Business & Social Transformations
Professor: Mathieu Durrande
Language: English
ECTS: 6
This course celebrates the city of Barcelona and embarks the student in a journey to better understand the concept of Sustainability and its novel applications. Starting with the question "why Barcelona?", we then move to enlightening examples of sustainability in the history and art of the city. Inspired by different concrete realizations, we analyze different approaches to sustainability, experience its emotionally loaded "dark side", visit several research institutions firmly committed to sustainability, visit some natural areas and finish the course with an inspiring experiential session. *this is the former "The Barcelona Journey towards Sustainability" course. Only the title has been revisited.
HISPANIC STUDIES
51606 - Español: técnicas de expresión oral
Professor: Sergi Torner
Language: Spanish
ECTS: 6
El curso está planteado para que el estudiante gane seguridad y fluidez en su producción e interacción oral en español. Para ello, se hace especial hincapié en el vocabulario así como en los marcadores discursivos y expresiones con función fática. Las clases están pensadas para que el estudiante se sienta cómodo hablando en español sobre temas muy diversos. El curso se plantea a partir de las necesidades individuales de cada estudiante; así, a partir de un primer diagnóstico del profesor y de una concreción de objetivos por parte del estudiante, se formula una evaluación individualizada para cada estudiante.
51607 - Contemporary Spanish Art
Professor: Eloy Fernández-Porta
Language: English
ECTS: 6
The objective of this course is to offer a survey approach to the history of artistic developments in Spain from Goya to Barceló. A background on this specific field is not required. For this reason not only the main artistic events will be covered, but also some political, historical and cultural issues that might be relevant. Landscape art, gender production, the Spanish take on Primitivism and the dynamics between artistic creation and finance capital are some of its more relevant aspects. Classical examples of oil painting will be combined with references to such contemporary media as performance, videoart or installation art. Although this course is mainly based on lectures and class debate, three visits to galleries and exhibitions plus a self-guided visit will be also part of the course requirements. These visits will be made during the class time, and are equivalent to a usual in-class session.
51608 - Literatura Española Contemporánea
Professor: Joan de Dios Monterde
Language: Spanish
ECTS: 6
Este curso se proyecta como una panorámica de la literatura española de los siglos XX y XXI. Comienza con el realismo y el modernismo, como movimientos que conectan el siglo XIX con el XX, y estudia a los escritores españoles más importantes de las últimas décadas, desde Juan Ramón Jiménez y Federico García Lorca hasta Enrique Vila-Matas y Javier Cercas. En su voluntad de trazar puentes entre disciplinas y artes diversos, la asignatura observará los fenómenos literarios no sólo en su contexto histórico, sino también en su relación con la pintura, el cine, el cómic y otras manifestaciones artísticas.
ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS: Advanced Spanish. A minimum of 4 semesters of college-level of Spanish.
51609 - Imágenes de España en el cine contemporáneo
Professor: Iván Pintor, Alan Salvadó
Language: Spanish
ECTS: 6
El curso ofrece una introducción al cine español desde el inicio de la democracia, en los años setenta, hasta la actualidad, con una atención particular hacia aquellos cineastas que destacan tanto por su valor artístico como por su capacidad para reflejar los rasgos más destacables de la realidad y la cultura española contemporánea. Las diferentes sesiones del curso exponen el imaginario plural del cine español más reciente, a través de la obra de autores como Pedro Almodóvar, Víctor Erice, Julio Médem, Alejandro Amenábar o José Luis Guerín.
51612 - Sociedad y Política en la España Contemporánea
Professor: Nacho Lago
Language: Spanish
ECTS: 6
This course is designed to give both political science and non-political science majors a robust overview of key features of Spanish Politics. The core of the course is the study of the nature and functioning of the Spanish democratic system established by the late seventies. It pays special attention to the main political processes, institutions, actors, belief systems and political behaviour in the country, including contemporary political violence and international immigration.
At the beginning of the course, some sessions will be devoted to study the previous Spanish democratic experience (1931-1936), its collapse (1936-1939), the authoritarian rule imposed afterwards and the Spanish transition to democracy (1975-1978), episodes that have left their mark on the features of the current Spanish political system.
51695 - "Sepharad": History and Heritage of Jewish Spain
Professor: Lucía Conte
Language: English
ECTS: 6
The course presents an itinerary around the human, historical and cultural heritage of the Spanish Jews, from the Middle Ages to present day. The first part of the course keeps a historical focus, studying the cultural history of Sepharad, from the origins to the expulsion of the Jews in 1492. The Sephardic Diaspora and the development of the judeo-hispanic culture, the return of the Sephardic Jews from the late 19th Century, of European Jews during the inter-war period and how the Shoah relates to Spain will also be covered. The second part of the course will focus focus on the cultural, architectural and human recovery of the Spanish Jewish heritage. Both the human and patrimonial aspects of such recovery will be analyzed, through the case study of different private and public initiatives aimed to develop tourism or marketing projects revolving around the "myth" of Sepharad. Students will work on individual or group projects to delve into questions such as: How is Jewish heritage and history presented in Spain? What are the strategies and outcomes of such projects? What is the prevalent discourse in these cultural initiatives? How does the Spanish society today face its Jewish cultural roots?
EUROPEAN STUDIES
51617- Politics and Society in the European Union
Professor: Javier Arregui
Language: English
ECTS: 6
The course is aimed at introducing the main institutions and the structure of the EU to US students. Module 1 of the course will examine the origin and the development of European integration process, the main theories behind the process of integration and the institutional structure of the EU. Module 2 is more policy-oriented and it will focus on some of the most relevant issues surrounding the contemporary debate on European integration: formulation of the EU budget, enlargement, neighborhood policy, the EU in the international scenario and the democratic deficit. *this is the former "An Introduction to the EU" course. Only the title has been revisited.
51697 - Brand Equity Communications and its Unique Corporate Value
Professor: Blanca Fullana
Language: English
ECTS: 6
Since the globalization of the economy at the end of the last century, the context of brand communications in today's businesses has radically changed. Communication strategies to reach any type of target group are challenged to anticipate stakeholders' interests, build brand equity beyond good products and services and be able to remain competitive in a highly-active technological context that has reversed some of the traditional ways of managing businesses.
In this global environment, corporate communications demand greater levels of ethics and responsibility towards the society in which it operates and larger collaborative synergies and collaboration processes. To this respect, Europe's competitive-edge is like any other's, at stake, but the asset of intellectual capital and cultural identity it portrays in its legacy, may be just the right kind of differentiation brands need to successfully compete in the 21st C.
GLOBAL STUDIES
51620 - Global Media and International Journalism
Professor: Christopher Tulloch
Language: English
ECTS: 6
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the worldwide media panorama has undergone structural changes which have dramatically changed the relationship between global politics and the transnational communication system. The former Anglo-American dominance over global news flow has been replaced by a new circuit of cultural, regional and national systems all competing in what former French president Jacques Chirac called the “global battle of images”. In this sense, the present course looks at world news management up until now before analyzing the consolidation of global media such as Al-Jazeera in the Arab world, Tele Sur (Latin America) or Zee TV (India) to look at their role in the global news story and the development of “South-South” communication.
Through the analysis of case studies such as the media coverage of Islam, the Africa story, the European Union and finally the image of Spain in the foreign press, we can analyze the role of the foreign correspondent as an intercultural mediator, the media construction of the “Other”, the new actors in the global news narrative and ask the question: how does the future of the world news system shape up?
51699 - Crossroad in the Arab Countries: Authoritarianism, Spring and Islamic State
Professor: Albert Garrido
Language: English
ECTS: 6
51734 - Independence, Federalism and Secession: Catalonia and Beyond
Professor: Jaume López
Language: English
ECTS: 6
51621 - Los movimientos sociales en el siglo XXI ante la globalización, la crisis y los procesos de democratización
Professor: Jordi Mir, Enric Prat
Language: Spanish
ECTS: 6
Este curso busca ofrecer análisis de la actuación de los movimientos sociales de diversos lugares del mundo ante fenómenos del siglo XXI como la globalización, la crisis política y económica, y los procesos de democratización. Los movimientos sociales se han configurado como actores sociales y políticos que están incidiendo en la globalización que se está construyendo, en los procesos de democratización en los países árabes y en la profundización democrática en los principales países occidentales.
Se atenderá a las propuestas, las formas de organización y acción, los debates suscitados y los impactos generados. Las principales áreas geográficas de estudio serán América, Europa, el norte de África y Oriente medio. Para el análisis se combinaran las perspectivas que nos ofrecen diferentes disciplinas académicas, destacadamente, la ciencia política, las relaciones internacionales, la sociología, la economía, la historia, la filosofía política, la investigación para la paz, la psicología social, los estudios de género y el periodismo de investigación.
51712 - Political Ideas from the Early Modern Age to the Digital Revolution
Professor: Camil Ungureanu
Language: English
ECTS: 6
The course is a systematic and critical introduction to the major political ideas that have been developed from the emergence of modernity to the current digital revolution. We will tackle fundamental questions such as:
- What is freedom, and how does it square with state authority?
- What is equality, and what kind of equality should we strive for in a democratic state?
- How to rethink politics in plural world? Issues related to Hinduism, Islam, Confucianism, etc.
- What’s the relation between religion and the democratic state?
- Are capitalism and democracy mutually sustaining or in conflict?
- How does technology change war? What are ethical implications?
- What is the impact of the digital revolution on democracy (e.g. Internet, big data, robots, etc.)?. Students will be strongly encouraged to discuss specific texts in the class, propose their own themes, and write the class essay by drawing on their specific background and interests.
51667 - Globalization, Development and Social Cohesion: Which Role for International Development Cooperation?
Professor: Andrea Noferini
Language: English
ECTS: 6
Cooperation for development is a fundamental objective for various international actors such as the United Nations (UN), more concretely the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP); the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD); the World Bank; and the European Union. International cooperation, from a multilevel and integral point of view, implies not only the participation of intergovernmental and State institutions but also of local governments and non governmental organizations. In this context, all actors have to contribute from their own areas of expertise in order to improve the system. The European Union is a paradigmatic illustration of this multilevel approach and commitment to international cooperation for development. Currently, Europe is the main source of funds for cooperation. The European Commission and governments, both at national and at local level, conduct several development programmes and projects that not only seek to provide funds but also to exchange experiences in relation to governability and public policies.
The objective of this course is to introduce the student to the principal issues related to development and international cooperation, with a special emphasis on the role of the EU as main donor in the field of official development assistance (ODA). The main thrust of the course will be on outlining the institutional and political mechanisms of international development, as well as examine their impact in developing territories. At the same time the course aims to offer students a deepened insight into some of the most controversial debates surrounding the current state of affairs of international cooperation.
The aim of this course is to provide students with a general overview of the Spanish Media and European Media. They study the relationship between media and politics, journalism and literature and the impact of media ethics in Europe. In order to achieve this goal, the students will analyze European newspapers, online media and television.
51619 - Understanding Globalization: Historical Roots of Economic, Political and Cultural Exchanges between East Asia, America and Europe (CANCELLED)
Professor: Manel Ollé, Guillermo Martínez-Taberner
Language: English
ECTS: 6
No one can contest that contemporary globalization harbors unprecedented features (internet, global flight connections, multinational corporations, supranational organizations...). But how new is globalization, compared to previous patterns of contact among societies in different regions of the world?. The course puts the contemporary discussion of globalization into historical perspective by examining the long-lasting interactions of East Asian, Latin America and Southern European countries from 1500 to the present day. The course aims to get a rich and better understanding about how it works, to know which different factors are involved, to study the ins and outs of this secular process, and to determine more precisely what is really new about the recent developments. All this will help to answer: Why the world has become more and more global and, at the same time, some local dynamics reacts in a different direction?; When, how and why Europe and North America diverged dramatically in wealth and economic development from the rest of the world?; In which way, did the technological change, the people's movements, the circulation of ideas, religious or languages influenced the globalization process?.
The course will offer a systematic historical look at globalization, generally arguing that relevant changes of globalization should be seen as emerging in phases, that could turn out to be 1500's, 1800's and the late 20th Century. The course tries to move our vision of globalization away from an exclusive focus on essentially contemporary developments and move our vision away from the Western civilization tradition to focus on other major civilizations. The growing need for historical perspective on international relationships, global economic patterns of contacts and cultural exchanges has fueled the increasing interest, from international organizations, global companies and institutions with global targets, to find and hire professionals who could develop some of the competences that this course provides.