The Faculty of Arts & Science is pleased to announce the creation of the Department of Italian, Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies (ISPLAS).
As of July 1, the Department of Italian Studies and the Department of Spanish & Portuguese have been unified into a single, interdisciplinary unit. The new department will offer expanded academic programs that explore the linguistic, cultural and historical connections that unite Italy, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and their diasporas.
With enhanced course offerings and research opportunities, ISPLAS will support a diverse and collaborative environment for both undergraduate and graduate students.
Change can bring about new energy and enable us to think differently about what we’ve traditionally done. We now have a larger department that can be more effective from an administrative point of view, and deliver programs more efficiently for our students. There’s so much potential going forward.
“Change can bring about new energy and enable us to think differently about what we’ve traditionally done,” says Luca Somigli, professor of Italian Studies and interim chair of ISPLAS. “We now have a larger department that can be more effective from an administrative point of view, and deliver programs more efficiently for our students. There’s so much potential going forward.”
The merger reflects the shared cultural links between the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan languages. All are romance languages that descend from Latin, with significant shared vocabulary and grammatical structures. “By bringing these together, we’ll be able to further examine the Mediterranean as a place of cultural exchange,” says Somigli.
He also points out that today, the majority of the world’s Spanish and Portuguese speakers are from Latin America — a region which, like Italy, Portugal and Spain, has a large diasporic population in Canada, and also has a significant immigration population originating from Italy.
I’m very excited about the opportunities that ISPLAS will offer to students and faculty alike. This change will allow for expanded courses offerings , as well as creating a rich environment where new research projects and academic relationships can thrive. I look forward to witnessing the evolution of this important new department.
The languages taught within the new department are spoken not only in Europe and the Americas, but in Africa, the Caribbean and other regions around the world.
The new department will reflect this modern reality, allowing faculty members increased research and teaching opportunities in literature, history, sociology, and many more areas. “This will bring us closer to the kind of interdisciplinary, global perspective that cultural studies are moving towards more and more,” says Somigli.
It will also build on connections that have been cultivated over the years by faculty members and students working within the separate departments; as Somigli says, it will “strengthen relationships that already exist.”
At its core, ISPLAS exemplifies the Faculty of Arts & Science’s commitment to excellence in the teaching of global languages. Somigli says that “to truly understand a culture — including its political, economic and social aspects — it’s important to immerse oneself in its languages.”
“I’m very excited about the opportunities that ISPLAS will offer to students and faculty alike,” says Stephen Wright, interim dean of the faculty. “This change will allow for expanded courses offerings , as well as creating a rich environment where new research projects and academic relationships can thrive. I look forward to witnessing the evolution of this important new department.”