THE CENTER OF YOUR STUDY ABROAD EXPERIENCE

This course focuses on crucial topics such as Spanish colonialism in Africa, EU migration and border securitization policies, the militarization of the EU-Morocco border, and debates about European identity. As part of this class you will have guest speakers who are experts in the field, and walking tours around neighborhoods that highlight the course content.

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Why are Spaniards currently exhuming mass graves of the Civil War? How can the country tolerate an unemployment rate of 20 percent? Why has Catalan and Basque nationalism dominated politics for decades? Why does a country with a historic reputation for machismo boast such progressive laws on gender and gay marriages? Why does political corruption remain so prevalent? This course examines political and social issues relevant to Spaniards today. It begins by discussing recent history in order to contextualize the major themes of the past few decades. It then moves to those subjects that emerged out of the transition to democracy – regionalism, terrorism, and linguistic pluralism – and still account for many of the peculiarities of Spanish politics. The second half of the course analyzes “Spain’s Second Transition” under José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero by focusing on immigration, Islamic fundamentalism, foreign policy, gender and family relations, historical memory, political corruption, and the economic crisis. The course is multi-disciplinary, consisting of a mixture of readings from political science, history, and cultural studies. Each session will consist of a lecture and a class discussion.

This course aims to instruct the students in the techniques that professional writers and artists use to create and develop their writing projects. From a hands-on perspective, students will need to put theory into practise on a day-to-day basis. They will learn about the writing process from the very beginning, and will have to work on gathering ideas and stimulating creativity, character creation, setting, structure and point of view, among others. 

This class will also use all these elements to reflect on the students’ experience while abroad. All the assignments will be focused on how to use intercultural competences in order to create good writing pieces and, at the same time, will enable them to use literature and creativity to better understand and explain the challenges and takeaways of their study abroad experience. All field studies and activities will enhance students’ critical thinking and will improve their cultural awareness. 

Psychology has conventionally situated itself as universally applicable science, however, it can be described as a “modernist” and European-American phenomenon. This course explores the cultural aspects of psychology, examining how biology, psychology, and culture interact in the context of contemporary Spanish and North American societies.

One of the key contributions of cultural psychology is thematizing the different filters that moderate how psychological phenomena are understood. These filters, which operate at both conceptual and epistemological levels in large part circumscribe how psychology is studied and applied. This course will provide a conceptual foundation for the understanding of psychology and culture, with a focus on human development, the self, intergroup relations, and cross-cultural communication.

Taking as examples the great masterworks of European modern painting, this course aims to examine the various methodologies used for the analysis of art history. Students will start by learning the predominantly literary approaches based on the Renaissance tradition of art historical scholarship, such as the biographical, the iconographical and the formalist readings. Then, they will proceed to consider the more critical approaches used by the New Art History that emerged in the late 1970s, which embrace elements of Marxism, deconstruction and semiotics. Making sense of the complexity of the meaning of a broad selection of European painting masterpieces, students will learn to appreciate the artworks that they experience in the great collections of art in their journeys around Europe and Spain making their cultural experience more rounded.

During the 20th century the sports industry has grown exponentially from its origins as an amateur pastime to a complex phenomenon that moves billions of dollars on a global scale. While sports have been affected by and simultaneously contributed to accelerated globalizing tendencies, some important distinctions can be made between sports industry models in the US and Europe (Szymanski, 2009). Focusing on the European sports industry, this course highlights the structures and systems of governance, and the ownership, financing and management of leagues, teams, facilities and events. Case studies examined include Euroleague Basketball, FC Barcelona, the English Premier League, London 2012 Olympic Games, and innovations in new stadium developments in Europe.

The comparison continues with an analysis of media rights negotiations and commercialization processes for major sports such as Cycling, F1 and Moto Sports. The role of sports marketing, in particular the management of endorsement deals and brands by leading sports apparel companies such as Nike, Adidas and Puma in US and European markets are compared. Throughout the course critical analysis of key issues and controversies affecting the sports industry in Europe is undertaken, including the over-commercialization of sports, ethical scandals involving sports betting, systemic racism in sports and the sustainability of team and league business models.

This course will examine various aspects of the relationship between food, culture and society in the mediterranean basin, where eating is not a simple act of survival but rather a cultural and social activity. Looking at the local culture through the lens of food allows us to discover and understand social constructs, values and even the history of Europe, from ancient Greece to the great chefs of the 21st century such as Ferran Adrià. Through this we will discover the similarities and differences between how the Spanish, Italian and Greece societies work.

In this course we offer a cross-cultural perspective that will focus on history, anthropology, sociology, literature, gastronomy and the business that works behind the food industry.

Like much of Europe and the world, the history of women in modern Spain has been characterized by emancipation. At the same time, alternating periods of dictatorship and democracy, paired with successive crises in the twenty-first century, have endowed the Spanish experience with distinctive attributes. 

The course will begin with the ephemeral emancipation of women during the Second Republic (1931-1936) when Spain became the first Catholic country in continental Europe to grant women the vote. We will then move to the dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1939-1975) when women became converted into mothers, homemakers and caregivers, and were subjected to propaganda campaigns urging them to create large families. 

The course is centered on surrealist theory and how these theories were manifested in artistic works. The theories and poetry of Andre Breton and Sigmund Freud form the basis for the analysis of visual works by a selection of painters and sculptors but focusing on the works of Miró, Dalí and

This course will provide a foundation in some of the most relevant Avant-garde movements of the 20th century in Western art, such as Cubism and Surrealism, through the thorough study of the lives, ideas, and artistic contributions of three great masters of Spanish art: Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and Salvador Dalí. While examining exemplary artworks in several mediums of these three artists, and some of their contemporary European counterparts, the course will explore how Avant-garde movements were synonymous with progress, social disruption and change, and how Avant-garde artists contributed to widen the notion of culture and push the boundaries of what traditionally had been considered art. The course will also examine the level of interaction between international artists, writers, and thinkers, and the mobility of artistic ideas across Europe and the USA. 

Lectures will be illustrated with presentations of many significant artworks and will integrate readings relevant to the various artists and concepts under discussion. In addition there will be several guided visits to the National Museum of Catalan Art, the Picasso Museum, the Miró Foundation and the Dalí Theatre-Museum in Figueres, which will aid students to get into direct contact with art.

In today’s world, all business is international business. Whether you are buying a book, a phone or a new car, the chances are that at some point in the life of that product, several countries or cultures, were involved.

The questions that we look to explore and answer throughout this course are:

• What factors make studying International Business unique to studying “regular” Business?
• Why does understanding international business mean so much more than just speaking another language?
• How are Marketing and Management affected when we talk about international business?
• What developments of the last few decades have propelled business to become international?

This course is meant to be an overview of the tests that businesses face as globalization becomes even more entrenched in everyday life. The primary focus throughout the course is on the economic, political, cultural and legal forces that challenge businesses.

International marketing is more than a simple application of marketing principles to more than one country. In a world that becomes increasingly globalized, marketing strategies become absolutely essential.

Both global and international marketing are attached to each other. In one hand, international marketing involves the firm in making one or more marketing mix decisions across national boundaries. In the other hand, global marketing involves the firm in establishing manufacturing facilities overseas and coordinating marketing strategies across the globe. Cross cultural differences have an important role in both internal and external ways.

This course provides the knowledge of the fundamental concepts of international marketing from a European perspective. It is organized so that each class is either a lecture or a case discussion. In this course you will learn to look at international marketing problems through the lens of an analytical framework that will help you better understand:

• How to anticipate and take advantage of surprising inconsistencies in the customer decision process.
• How to evaluate the attractiveness of different markets.
• How to manage the tradeoff between risk and information in the product development process.
• A structure for thinking about the design and management of distribution channels.
• Why pricing decisions are complex and how they get made.
• How to manage an advertising campaign.VIEW SYLLABUS  

This course will teach students how the camera can be used in a foreign environment as an exciting tool of documentary record, cross-cultural understanding, artistic expression and self-discovery. After an introduction to the fundamentals of photography, both traditional and digital, students will be given several practical assignments to photograph the city of Barcelona itself, its architecture, history, people, and rich culture. As they acquire new technical, compositional and critical skills throughout the course, students will create a portfolio of images that will both showcase and celebrate their unforgettable study abroad experience.

The course load will include class lectures and technique-based lessons held in the classroom, combined with practice sessions in specific outdoor sites. Students will be introduced in class to the history of photography and various photographic genres such as photo-journalism, portraiture or street photography, through the work of well-known classic and contemporary photographers. Other activities include several field trips to visit photo exhibitions in art galleries and museums in the city of Barcelona.

Throughout the course, students will frequently participate in group critiques and individual reviews of their work. They will be required to actively involve themselves in analyzing and evaluating their own work and the work of others, in a collaborative atmosphere of constructive reflection and criticism.

A digital camera SLR or a simple Point & Shoot is required. Students could use a traditional camera (film), but this will require an additional effort from their part. No prior training in photography is required.

This course covers themes of leadership and coaching in the business world with a focus on sensitivity and awareness to the realities of a diverse work environment. Business themes and case studies will be practiced with an emphasis on understanding colleagues and business partners more integrally – taking into consideration diverse backgrounds through gender diversity, racial/ethnic diversity, religious diversity, linguistic and cultural diversity. Students will learn to be better leaders and coaches in a global environment.

The focus of the present syllabus is the analysis of how a business must adapt to different cultural contexts. For this purpose, we study the interaction between the culture and the company’s structure, processes and human resources. In this way, the student will be able to understand strategies used to optimize such interaction. 

The general objective of the course is to learn the main business practices in different cultures, through the analysis of the differences in various countries. This will provide the background to understand and identify threats and opportunities to do business in a global context. 

With a clear emphasis on learning and development, the course encourages students to acquire skills in multicultural competence that will be highly valued by their future employers. This has never been as important as now, in a world where, increasingly, all managers are global managers and where management practices and processes can differ significantly across national and regional boundaries.

The extent and popularity of college foreign exchange programs show the “globalness” of the future.  As students travel and study in a foreign culture, they are faced with the difference in values that are held by the culture in which they were reared and the one the student is currently living in and studying.  

One of the greatest noticeable differences between American cultural values and those of other cultures is regarding business ethics.

No other institutions have permeated multiple cultures more than the multinational corporations like IBM, Microsoft, Nestle, BASF, etc.  With this permeation, managers from many different cultures are relocated to new and alien cultures.  More and more decisions made by future global managers will need to be assessed in terms of an understanding of the multiple cultures the decisions will affect.  Future global managers can only do this by knowing how different cultural business ethics are derived, tested, and used.  This course has as its purpose the introductory exploration of business ethics in a cross-cultural setting.  This can no better be achieved than in a foreign culture where the students can immediately receive information from their surroundings and managers who have had to face difficult decisions in the past.

The course will explore the different marine and freshwater ecosystems throughout the Mediterranean, highlighting their unique biodiversity and ecological importance, main threats, and conservation priorities. The first part of the course will look into the dynamics that characterize some of the most important marine and freshwater ecosystems, highlighting their conservation needs. The second part of the course will focus on the human impact on coastal and aquatic habitats, including fishing and tourism, and identify the key threats posed by these industries, as well as priority actions to reverse and mitigate the current situation.  The last element will focus on restoration and conservation efforts for these vulnerable ecosystems in the region and will ask students to formulate habitat-specific conservation plans for selected locations. The course will feature a number of field trips to complement the in-class elements, and to provide a more direct exposure to the subjects discussed in class. 

Spain is one the most diverse countries in continental Europe.  The Peninsula has long been a destination for peoples coming north from Africa, west from Europe, and most recently, east from the Americas. We will open with a brief exploration of the “ethnic fusion” – the native Iberian, Celtic, Latin, Germanic, and Semitic peoples that settled the Peninsula. We will then move to the historical roots of those linguistic groups that enjoy political autonomy and clamor for independence today, including Catalans and Basques. The next subject is religion.  We will discuss the famous three religions of medieval Al-Andalus, address similarities with contemporary multiculturalism, and explore the return of Jewish and Islamic minorities to Catholic Spain today. The last few weeks will be dedicated to an in-depth analysis of the latest wave of migrants. These include refugee populations from war zones in Syria and sub-Saharan Africa, and more traditional economic migrants from the Americas, Morocco and Asia. Along the way, we will address resistance to diversity. To be sure, Spain has and continues to suffer from conflict, antisemitism, and the imposition of cultural and religious uniformity. The course incorporates field studies and interactive components to ensure that students will have the opportunity to explore first-hand the successes and tensions inherent in Spanish diversity today. 

This course is based in cultural studies and sociology of social movements and aims to provide students with a solid foundation of the motivations and struggles which frame social activism from a human rights perspective.

In these “liquid times” as coined by Bauman, social movements and social activism are characterized by, amongst other things, their global reach, speedy dissemination and their power to mobilize. From the rise of climate change activism to nationalist populism, the spread and ease of access to social media facilitates the dissemination of activist messages and also has the power to mobilize a large number of people to the same place in little time to advocate, protest and make themselves heard.  This has not always been the case, of course; social movements in previous eras were characterized by rather different messages and processes. 

What is the story behind social movements? What have people been fighting for then and now? What are the main trends around the globe?

Barcelona is a particularly emblematic city. It has seen some of the most massive demonstrations in Europe over the past years: from the Indignados movement to the feminist demonstrations and the self-determination rallies, this city not only witnesses but actively participates and encourages social movements to flourish and even succeed in effecting social change. Civil society, political parties, Unions, Cooperatives and NGO’s constitute the social fabric upon which the voices of people are united in the definition of common goals.

This course aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of the main topics concerning social movements and activism around the globe, focusing in particular on the USA and on Europe, by means of a comparative gaze and through the lenses of sociology and cultural studies but also framed by social psychology and with a human rights perspective, with the goal of promoting critical thinking and informed analytical capacity.

The objective of this course is to acquire general knowledge of the main events of the history of Spain and their influence upon contemporary Spanish life and culture. Additionally, we will discuss the major areas of Spanish life and how they have changed in the last century so as to better understand principal current ideological, political and cultural tendencies. Finally, by comparing U.S. and Spanish cultural trends, students should gain a new understanding of their own culture and cultural adaptation. We will look at far-reaching social issues such as politics, gender, class and religion, as well as issues facing Spain today such as the economic crisis, the role of the European union, the new social movements, regionalism, etc.

The main objective of this course is to provide students with a general overview of the Spanish Cinema and TV Series that are distributed through streaming media services, such as Netflix. 

These digital platforms are becoming important agents in the transmission of values and sociocultural changes, and TV series are one of their key vehicles, with a growing, increasingly global audience and a particular influence in young people. Moreover, entertainment media is often a portal to historical narratives and a reflection of dominant modern tendencies, factors that shall be used to explore Spanish contemporary history and culture, to be compared with the students’ own. The course will also examine the globalization of audio-visual content, paying attention to the set of homogenizing messages and ideas that are penetrating societies at an unprecedented level, and which should not go on without a critical analysis of what exactly it is that is being consumed – very often beyond the awareness of the users.

This course will examine various aspects of the relationship between sport and society in Spain, with a particular emphasis on sports with a long tradition in Catalonia. We will examine both the impact of sport on Spanish society and the influence of society on the practice of sport in Spain. The course begins with a consideration of general theoretical questions in the study of sport before moving on to an account of the historical development of sports in Spain in general and in Catalonia in particular. We also examine the reciprocal influences of sport violence, gender, race and ethnic and national identities in Spain.

The focus is the study of the entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial start-up process. Areas of concentration include the search for new venture opportunities, evaluation of the viability and attractiveness of the new venture; determining the resources required and the sources of those resources; preparation of financial statements addressing cash flow, valuation and investment justifications; and the development of a business plan appropriate for presentation to funding sources.

The course is also designed to be an experiential learning experience: During the course, students will work in teams to design and test a business venture of their choosing, by applying the concepts learnt in class and tackling the challenges they encounter. This course may appeal to business and non-business majors alike, as well as to individuals who would want to launch their own business in the future, pursue employment in the startup world, or work in venture capital or entrepreneurial support.

The course will analyse the key environmental challenges in Spain, with the goal of finding solutions towards a sustainable management of natural resources. The first part of the course will identify the defining elements of Mediterranean ecosystems, climate and landscape characteristics, as well as historical patterns of resource exploitation in the region. The second part of the course will highlight the key environmental challenges in Spain and explore sustainable management solutions. The third and final part will feature case studies where the students will be able to understand the shared threats among the different regions and the differences posed by the elements studied in the first part of the course, resulting in the complex nature of the problematic and the need for innovative solutions. Throughout each topic, the role of humans as key drivers of ecosystem changes will be studied, the main geographical limitations, and the current and potential efforts to reverse the ecological damage caused by these activities with a focus on sustainable development. 

This course examines the main political and socio-economic processes that help understand present-day Barcelona, particularly after the 1992 Olympics turned it into a vibrant global city. Through the lens of politics, human geography and history students will explore topics like massive tourism, gentrification, environmental sustainability, the real estate bubble, or immigration dynamics. Special attention will be paid to the tense power relations between Catalonia and Spain, the political heritage of Franco’s fascist dictatorship and the rise of the Catalan independence movement.

These courses initiate a student’s development of the four basic language skills – speaking, listening, reading, and writing – through daily in-class activities, frequent assignments completed at home, and activities outside of the classroom. These courses are designed for those with a basic knowledge of Spanish. 

Among the many objectives, after completion of this course, the student will able to:

• Use  frequent  polite  structures,  speak  in short  social  exchanges,  describe what s/he does at work or in his/her leisure time, arrange an appointment,
• Ask   for   information   in   different   situations   (in   shops,   banks,   travel agencies…),
• Describe personal experiences in the past. Describe objects and places.
• Explain what s/he likes or prefers.

IH Barcelona Spanish courses emphasize what the student can do with the language not simply what the student knows about the language. The syllabus is organized functionally, around objectives that students need to achieve as they adjust to living in the Spanish culture and the grammatical structures students need to achieve these objectives. Each of the four skills (oral expression, written expression, listening comprehension and reading comprehension) is emphasized throughout the course.

Classes use communicative language teaching methodologies similar to those pioneered in contemporary American and British language programs. Each level includes grammatical goals, language functions, and cultural themes. Grammar is always presented in context and with brief, practical explanations. Students focus on real-life application of language through participatory exercises, games, group discussions, and other hands-on activities. Cultural themes are woven throughout the language classes. Students use Spanish language materials developed specifically for use in Spain. Classes are taught entirely in Spanish to maximise exposure to the target language.

These courses continue the student’s development of the four basic language skills – speaking, listening, reading, and writing – and augment their knowledge of the world’s Hispanic peoples and their cultures. Building on the foundation of previous Spanish study or direct experience with the language, these courses are designed for those who have already achieved elementary mastery.

Among the many objectives, after completion of this course, the student will able to:

• Tell detailed accounts that occurred in the past
• Understand the main ideas in semi-complex Spanish debates,
• Justify an opinion in informal debates,
• Ask for specific information, complain, ask for an explanation
• Give detailed instructions about how to do something.

These courses continue the student’s development of the four basic language skills – speaking, listening, reading, and writing – and augment their knowledge of the world’s Hispanic peoples and their cultures. Building on the foundation of previous Spanish study or direct experience with the language, these courses are designed for those who have already achieved elementary and intermediate mastery.

Among the many objectives, after completion of this course, the student will able to:

• Tell detailed accounts of events that occurred in the past.
• Speak in detail about future and possible future events.
• Argue and communicate effectively in a speech.
• Explain his/her point of view about current issues arguing all of the points and counter-points.

These courses continue the student’s development of the four basic language skills – speaking, listening, reading, and writing – and augment their knowledge of the world’s Hispanic peoples and their cultures. Building on the foundation of previous Spanish study or direct experience with the language, these courses are designed for those who have already achieved an intermediate level of Spanish.

Among the many objectives, after completion of this course, the student will able to:

• Tell detailed accounts that occurred in the past
• Understand the main ideas in semi-complex Spanish debates,
• Justify an opinion in informal debates,
• Ask for specific information, complain, ask for an explanation
• Give detailed instructions about how to do something.

These courses continue the student’s development of the four basic language skills – speaking, listening, reading, and writing – and augment their knowledge of the world’s Hispanic peoples and their cultures. Building on the foundation of previous Spanish study or direct experience with the language, these courses are designed for those who have already achieved an intermediate mastery of Spanish.

Among the many objectives, after completion of this course, the student will able to:

• Tell detailed accounts that occurred using a variety of complex sentences and times
• Understand the main ideas in complex Spanish debates
• Justify an opinion in informal debates
• Ask for specific information, complain, ask for an explanation
• Give detailed instructions about how to do something

These courses are geared toward students who have a grasp of the four basic language skills – speaking, listening, reading, and writing – and augment their knowledge of the world’s Hispanic peoples and their cultures. Building on the foundation of previous Spanish study or direct experience with the language, these courses are designed for those who have already achieved an intermediate mastery.

Among the many objectives, after completion of this course, the student will able to:

• Tell detailed accounts of events that occurred in the past
• Speak in detail about future and possible future events
• Argue and communicate effectively in a speech
• Explain his/her point of view about current issues arguing all of the points and counterpoints.