The Harvard Summer Program in Buenos Aires, Argentina organized by Johanna Liander, since 2005, offers college students the possibility to travel with her and stay in homes with local families, where they have the best chance to experience life in Argentina and to speak Spanish. Students live in the Palermo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, near the Instituto de Desarrollo Económico y Social, where their classes are held. Lectures by distinguished Argentine scholars and artists as well as numerous excursions in and around Buenos Aires are included.

Buenos Aires, Argentina’s cosmopolitan capital and one of the largest metropolises in the Americas, has for generations enticed and entranced observers. Founded in 1536 as the City of the Most Holy Trinity and Port of Saint Mary of the Fair Winds, or Buenos Aires for short, it was a sleepy Spanish colonial capital until Argentine independence in the early nineteenth century. By 1880 it was Argentina’s capital, the center of rapid economic expansion, the destination for waves of immigrants, and the heart of a vibrant culture. One writer has called the Buenos Aires that emerged “the most beautiful, sophisticated, and civilized city in Latin America,” while countless others have described it as “the Paris of South America” or “New York in Spanish. Home to such diverse figures as Jorge Luis Borges, Carlos Gardel, Eva Perón, and Maradona, Buenos Aires provides students with a fascinating setting for complete immersion in the Spanish language and Latin American culture. Professor Liander also teaches the course Study Abroad in Buenos Aires: Latin American Culture and Spanish Language, a second-year-level course in Spanish language and Latin American culture, with a focus on Argentina. The goal of the course is to move students toward fluency in Spanish quickly using Spanish grammar review and language instruction.

Participating Harvard Faculty:  Johanna Damgaard Liander, Senior Preceptor, Romance Languages and Literatures