Program Courses & Faculty

Tufts in Madrid offers courses designed to match the academic interests of our Spanish track A&S students. Taught entirely in Spanish by highly qualified local faculty at our program center, these classes provide a rigorous yet supportive learning environment.

Below you’ll find a complete list of courses, with descriptions, syllabi, and faculty bios. Class sizes are intentionally small—typically 10 to 14 students—ensuring close attention and active participation. Each course offers critical perspectives on culture and society in Spain and Latin America and is enriched by site visits and guest speakers that bring the material to life.

Headshot Darío Blanco

Cuiring the Queer in Spain: Rebuilding Culture from Pride to Practice

Darío Gael Blanco de Barreda, MA. This course challenges the dominance of U.S.-centric Queer Studies by examining Spain’s distinctive queer histories and practices. Moving beyond identity-based frameworks, the course explores how working-class cultures, political struggles, and everyday practices shape queer expression in Spain. Through literature, film, performance, and social movements, students will analyze how Spanish […]

Headshot Oscar Pirot

Reading at the Crossroads: Poetics of Identity in Ibero-American Literature

Oscar Pérez-Reyes, PhD Course focuses on key and 20th and 21st century Spanish, Latin American transatlantic texts. The term transatlantic is a dialectical interpretation in which these literatures exist in a process of constant cultural reference and exchange. Course focuses on Latin American response to othering and otherness in a polyphony of literary voices: the […]

Headshot Sarah Mackin

Beyond The Classroom: Experiential Learning in Madrid

  Sarah Mackin, MA This experiential learning course uses Madrid as a case study to examine how global issues including migration, inequality, sustainability, and cultural diversity are experienced and addressed locally. Through service-learning, collaboration with local organizations, guided academic inquiry, and an ePortfolio, students analyze Madrid’s social realities and the roles and practices of its […]

Headshot Fani Ocampos

Mural Painting & Urban Art in Madrid

Fani Ocampos, MFA. Course designed for students with previous experience in drawing or painting who wish to immerse themselves in the vibrant and creative world of Mural Painting and Urban Art in Madrid. Course studies the history and evolution of urban art, the different styles and techniques of Mural Painting, and explores its social and […]

Headshot Oscar Pirot

The Imagined Voice: Creative Writing in Spanish

Oscar Pérez-Reyes, PhD.  Course designed for students at any level of Spanish who would like capitalize on their time in Madrid and advance their competencies in Spanish by exploring their identities through creative expression in Spain. Course directed toward students who are already creative writers, and for those for those who have little or no experience […]

Headshot Fani Ocampos

Graphic Arts: Discovering the Colors of Madrid

Fani Ocampos, MFA. Course designed for students with no previous experience in fine arts who would like to begin their creative expression in the world of Graphic Arts! Course explores multiple aspects of art and creative expression, while discovering the most creative corners of Madrid, allowing students to understand and appreciate the richness of cultural […]

Headshot Enrique Santamaría

Advanced Spanish Language Studies

Enrique Santamaría Busto, PhD. Course offers advanced cognitive analysis and practice of Spanish, with special attention to the linguistic difficulties characteristic of American students. Course focuses on helping student to develop and improve communicative and intercultural competencies, taking advantage of linguistic immersion while in Madrid. Course privileges student experience and integration in Spanish through reflections, […]

Headshot Cristina Iborra

CINESTUDIO: Stories of Spain

Cristina Iborra, MA. Through the lens of cinema, course offers students a powerful immersion into Spain’s recent history, sociocultural shifts, and contemporary debates. Students engage critically with seven award-winning Spanish films, exploring topics such as gender and family roles, political corruption, migration, collective memory, and the struggle for identity in modern Spain. Readings and guided […]

Headshot Cristina Iborra

Advanced Spanish Language Studies

Cristina Iborra, MA. Course offers advanced cognitive analysis and practice of Spanish, with special attention to the linguistic difficulties characteristic of American students. Course focuses on helping student to develop and improve communicative and intercultural competencies, taking advantage of linguistic immersion while in Madrid. Course privileges student experience and integration in Spanish through reflections, projects, […]

Headshot Miguel Lera

Advanced Spanish Language Studies for Heritage Learners

Miguel Ángel Lera Rodríguez-Morón, PhD. Español para hablantes de herencia es un curso diseñado para hablantes que utilizan o han utilizado como lengua principal en su casa el español, pero cuya lengua dominante en las relaciones extra familiares y el ámbito académico es el inglés. El curso está dirigido por tanto a aquellos estudiantes que […]