Emily Hassan reports:

The Spanish department at Leeds has The Spanish department at Leeds has existed for over hundred years. This milestone was celebrated in 2018 by the university hosting the annual conference of the Association of Hispanists of Great Britain and Ireland and Professor Duncan Wheeler delivering his inaugural lecture as the Chair of Spanish Studies. I arrived in Leeds from London in 2023 and am currently President of the Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American society (SLAPsoc). It has been an incredibly stimulating project and has also made me reflect on how my fellow-students and I engage with our subject and the university differently to our predecessors.

Back in the 1970s, SLAPsoc events were heavily geared around drama with plays staged not only in Spanish but also Portuguese (e.g. Melo Neto’s Morte e Vida). Collaborations between different language societies took the form of an annual Christmas concert. Described as the “highlight of the year” by Alex Longhurst, the concerts featured Christmas carols in French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish, with some Portuguese songs included at the end. The Spanish society’s contribution included the members performing traditional Clavelitos and Villancicos while dressed in the traditional Galician tuna outfit.

Paying homage to tradition and fostering community are central to what my committee and I are setting out to achieve through, for example, an upcoming Spring dinner comprised of typical Spanish and Latin American dishes. Peninsular Spanish literature no longer dominates undergraduate programmes in Leeds (or, indeed other universities) like it once did. With this in mind, we have attempted to represent the cultures of Latin America as well as Spain. To celebrate the Mexican festival Día de Los Muertos, for example, we organised a film screening of Coco (Lee Unkrich and Adrian Molina, 2017), which provided a light-hearted introduction to the iconic festival. SLAPsoc has also given greater attention to helping people learn languages. Throughout the year, we have organised language exchanges with other modern foreign language societies at the University of Leeds. The success of these has helped connect people from all over the world, practice the languages they may be learning and provide a space to unwind in the midst of hectic university life. These exchanges have mainly attracted speakers of French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese, resulting in an inter-cultural exchange. For example, I have learnt ‘foi um prazer’ (it was nice to meet you) in Portuguese and another word for ‘talk’ in French (‘jaspiner’, which means ‘to gossip’).

SLAPsoc may no longer sing carols, but rhythm is a dancer. We attended a salsa homage to the legendary Fania records hosted by the Orchestra Mambo International.  With musicians from Cuba, Venezuela and Colombia, they played at the Brudenell Social club, a traditional Leeds working-mens club turned gig venue. The setlist included original tracks such as ‘Baila mi Cha Cha’ as well as classics by Willie Colón and Tito Puente. This was a wonderful introduction to Salsa music as well as an opportunity to collaborate with the Salsa society at Leeds. To help ensure that the Portuguese-speaking world is represented in SLAPsoc, we hosted a Samba workshop in late February taught by a dance teacher from Brazil. It was a great success, attracting students from both Spanish and Portuguese with a shared commitment to learning a new skill and having fun!

As president, I create a monthly publication of current affairs in the Spanish-speaking world, and I am keen to learn more of other people’s experiences navigating between different cultures and languages. Take this as an open invitation to come and speak in Leeds and/or to attend one of our events. ¡Les mandamos un abrazo a todas y todos de Yorkshire!