Catalan Program
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New professor and Director of Catalan studies: Edgar Illas Prof. Illas, a native of Olot in Catalonia, earned his undergraduate degree at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 1999 (with a “Premi extraordinari” or first in class), and his Ph.D. from Duke University in 2007. He is the author of an award-winning novel, El gel de bany sobre l’esponja (Barcelona: Columna, 2003) and of the book of essays Postmodern Barcelona, currently under review at Duke UP. Upon joining the faculty of the department in August of 2008, Prof. Illas will assume the direction of the Catalan program. |
Catalan is a language that has survived and thrived despite the fact that no substantial sovereign nation-state sustains it. Catalan is spoken widely in areas under different state rules and official languages, mostly Spanish. One exception is the tiny country of Andorra in the Pyrenees, where Catalan is the official language. Catalan courses at IU give you the chance to study something unique as well as interesting both for linguistic and literary reasons.
The Catalan-language area, its main city being Barcelona, with approximately seven million speakers, spans four nations: Spain, France, Andorra, and Italy. Catalan is truly international. In Spain the Catalan-speaking regions are Catalonia, Valencia, the islands of Mallorca, Menorca and Eivissa, and an area of Aragon bordering Catalonia; in France, the Département des Pyrenées Orientales; in the Italian island of Sardinia, the city of L’Alguer (Alghero).
Some of the most influential artists of the 20th century have been Catalans: the architect Antoni Gaudí, and the painters Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí among them. A vibrant literature in the autochthonous language is contemporary with those figures. The study of Catalan will get you close to their original sensibilities and culture.
Linguistically Catalan is fascinating, with really intriguing phonology, and challenging but not frustrating morphology and vocabulary. In syntax it is quite close to Spanish. Being a non-national language, however, Catalan presents its own set of characteristics. For a Spanish major the study of Catalan will add to the complexity of the picture of Spain. As a field of study, Catalan offers great literature and a tremendous opportunity to get to know a culture that is easier to grasp in its entirety than larger cultural constructs.
You need to have fulfilled your College language requirement in either Spanish, French or Italian to begin to study Catalan at IU.
Overseas opportunities
IU has a program in Barcelona through IES. Barcelona, furthermore, is well within reach for students in IU’s Madrid program.
For more information: Contact Professor Edgar Illas.
Links to informative Websites:
- The North-American Catalan Society (NACS)
- Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalonia’s autonomous government
- Institut d’Estudis Catalans, a learned society.
- Culture page of the previous
- The Generalitat’s language page
- Institut Ramon Llull, opportunities for research and grants
- Catalan grammar course, with exercises
- The association of Catalan writers
- Information on Catalan courses
Courses in Catalan:
C400 Catalan Language and Culture I (3 cr.). An introduction to the language as spoken today.
C410 Catalan Language and Culture II (3 cr.). The continuation of C 400.
C450/C550 Catalan literature (3 cr.). Survey of Catalan literature from the Middle Ages to the present. Significant works in all genres will be studied within their historical and cultural context. Issues of nation-formation, hegemony, biculturalism, and marginalization will be paid special attention.
C494 Individual Readings in Catalan Studies (Credits vary).
C613 Catalan linguistics (3 cr.). A description of contemporary Catalan, including a survey of grammar; an overview of the history of the language and its evolution; and topics in sociolinguistics, including the study of attitudes towards the language as a whole.
C618 Topics in Catalan Literature (3 cr.). Topics include medieval narrative, Valencian literature, the Renaixença, Modernisme and Noucentisme, the avant-garde, poetry and resistance, utopias and dystopias, specific writers (Rodoreda, Capmany, Roig, Riera, Barbal), theater and the Barcelona stage. Topics to be explored in a multicultural context and in view of current critical issues and theory.
C803 Individual Reading in Catalan Literature or Language (credits vary).
