Spanish Language Abroad Plus LSA+ in Cuzco, Peru

About the Program

The Language Study Abroad Plus (LSA+) Program in Cuzco, Peru, will begin Fall 2015. Students will enroll in three 9-week courses including, SPAN 20 "Writing and Reading: A Cultural Approach", SPAN 21 "Traditional and Contemporary Andean Cosmogonies and Cultural Production: A Historical Approach", and SPAN 32 "Introduction to Hispanic Studies: 20th and 21st Centuries". Planned excursions will be to Lake Titicaca, the Sacred Valley of the Incas, and Machu Picchu. The program will end with a one-week workshop with theater collective Yuyachkani in Lima. Students will homestay in family houses while in Cuzco.

For more information, please contact specific directors for each program.

Directors for 2021/2022:
LSA+ Cuzco Fall '21: Raul Bueno

Prerequisites

To be admitted, a student must have successfully completed SPAN 9 “Culture and Conversation: Advanced Spanish Language” or SPAN 15 with a minimum grade of B, or been exempted from SPAN 9 or SPAN 15.

Location

The LSA+ will be hosted in Cuzco by Centro Tinku, whose name means “encounter” in Quechua.  It is an internationally known institution for study abroad, with academic associations with such US institutions as Harvard, Ohio State University, Tufts University, and the University of Washington.  It is directed by prominent Belgian anthropologist Jean-Jacques Decoster and housed in a large colonial building with classrooms, a central patio, and a small restaurant - located in a traditional part of Cuzco behind the city’s main cathedral.  Tinku will provide two of the program faculty and the instructional space.  It will also organize planned excursions to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, Machu Picchu, and Lake Titicaca. The program will end in Lima with a week-long workshop with renowned theater collective Yuyachkani, whose performances are inspired by Andean culture and human rights.

In order to familiarize students with the program, we will conduct two orientation meetings in spring, the term prior to the beginning of the program, in which Tinku and Yuyachkani material will be distributed and discussed (“Pre-departure PERU").

Cuzco, once capital of the Inca Empire, is today a thriving metropolis of around 500,000 inhabitants and characterized by its distinctive mestizo culture and majestic architecture.  Spanish colonial monuments erected on the base of partially dismantled Inca buildings dominate the city.  It has spawned the Cuzco School of painting during colonial times, the Cuzco School of Photography at the turn of the century, and more recently the influential Cuzco School of Cinema.  Overlooking the city is the colossal religious center of Sacsayhuaman, and within a few hours train ride to the rainforest the citadel of Machu Picchu—declared in 2007 as one of the seven wonders of the world and, as such, drawing increasing global attention. Lima, on the other hand, is a major metropolis. This city was known as the City of Kings during the colonial era and still boasts magnificent colonial architecture, and, has all of the attractions of any modern Latin American urban center.

Peru offers not only the attraction of a millenary indigenous and thriving mestizo cultures, but also the security of a well-established democracy and significant social and economic improvement.

See more Study Abroad programs in Spanish here!