Courses

This course introduces students to Latin American Studies via disciplinary approaches from the Social Sciences, including Sociology, Anthropology, Political Sciences, and Economics. It explores the formation and development of Latin American and Caribbean societies by looking at a number of topics, including the conquest of Amerindian civilizations, colonialism, neocolonialism, nationalism, revolution, modernization, social movements, democracy, and neoliberal globalization.

This course introduces students to the range of issues and analytical approaches that form the foundation of Latinx studies. By tracing the history of the “Latina/o or Latinx¿? concept in relation to key elements of sociocultural life, such as time, space, identity, community, power, language, nation, and rights, students develop understandings of the particular ways in which Latina/o and Latinx studies takes shape as an intellectual and political enterprise.

This course introduces students to Latin American Studies via disciplinary approaches from Cultural Studies, including Music, Visual Arts, Literature, History, Philosophy, and Religious Studies. It explores the construction of Latin America and the Caribbean by looking at aesthetics and cultural artifacts from pre-Columbian times to our days in order to understand the ongoing formation of cultural communities, sensibilities, and imaginaries.

Intensive examination of Latin America, using the framework of economic analysis and political economy to consider economic history, growth, and development. Economic theory provides the primary paradigm within which this region is studied, but consideration is also given to historical events that conditioned the economic outcomes. Reviews the pertinent theory and focuses on application of that theory to specific historical events. Prerequisites: Economics 103 or 104.

Historical survey of philosophy in the Americas, highlighting authors from various eras. Students will be exposed to ideas in all branches of philosophy, discussing metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics through the study of philosophical ideas from various sources, including indigenous, enslaved, and female authors. This course of study questions geographical and disciplinary boundaries, including the very idea of Latin America, itself. PHIL 215 and LAS 215 are cross-listed.

Study of Latin American literature and related arts from varying perspectives. Taught in English.

This course will explore the identity and the condition of women in Latin America and the United States. Latina and Latin American-women writers have illustrated women’s lives and experiences through their works and criticism. Their works have created women’s’ identities primarily from a borderline perspective, and sometimes from what Gloria Anzaldúa or Mary Louise Pratt refer to as a third space. For writers, the concept of space, gender, race, and class--as well as intersections and borderlands--play an important role when depicting Latin American women’s’ representation and Latina women in the United States and their experiences. We will use a comparative analysis utilizing texts from Latina and Latin American women writers to look feminist discourse across physical, geographic or abstract borders. The concept of space as an analytical tool will facilitate our textual analysis, and will serve to establish a common ground to discuss similarities and difference regarding women’s identity and their condition in Latin America and the United States. WGS 221 and LAS 222 are cross-listed.

Study of the evolution of the Caribbean people from colonial to post-colonial times through careful reading of literature. Course includes novels from the English, Spanish, and French Caribbean. A small and accessible body of post-colonial theory supplements the works of fiction. Focus is on the different political, economic, and cultural realities imposed on the various islands and their populations by the respective colonizing powers. AFS 236 and LAS 223 are cross-listed.

Overview of the development of Latin American Cinema from its early decades to the 21st century. The course examines how films are part of, represent, and respond to Latin American historical, political and cultural contexts, as well as the ways in which filmmakers have used cinema as a tool in social struggles. The course traces the evolution of film style, and how formal aspects contribute to the construction of the films' meanings in the Latin American context.

An exploration of the diversity of women's familial, political, economic and social realities and experiences in West Africa and the African Diaspora in South America and the Caribbean. Particular attention is given to the processes by which indigenous West African gender and cultural patterns and their inherent power relations have shifted since pre-colonial times and across the Atlantic into the New World. Finally, the course examines the concept of Diaspora and theories relative to processes of cultural change, resistance, and retentions, as well as the role gender plays in these processes. No prerequisites. ANTH 231, WGS 231 and LAS 231 are cross-listed.

Introduction to the organization and development of Native American civilizations in Mexico and Central America. Evidence from archaeological and ethnographic research, Native texts and art, and Spanish Colonial writings is used to study religious beliefs, sociopolitical organization, economic relationships, and intellectual achievements of such groups as the Olmec, Maya, and Aztecs. Period prior to the sixteenth-century Spanish conquest is emphasized, but modern indigenous cultures are also studied. Anth 232 and LAS 232 are cross-listed.

Introduction to the organization and development of Native American civilizations in South America. Evidence from archaeological and ethnographic research, Native texts and art, and Spanish Colonial writings is used to study religious beliefs, sociopolitical organization, economic relationships, and intellectual achievements of such groups as the Inka, Moche, and Chavin. Period prior to the sixteenth-century Spanish conquest is emphasized, but modern indigenous cultures are also studied. Prerequisites: Anthropology 103 or 106; or Latin American Studies 140 or 147. Anth 236 and LAS 236 are cross-listed.

This course explores the rigorous study of the relationships between sound and culture in different contexts. It assumes a cultural perspective toward music making to understand the social dimensions of music creation, practice, and dissemination. The course uses methods such as sound embodiment and critical analysis as well as theoretical frameworks from various disciplines such as linguistics, anthropology, acoustics, psychology, and sociology. Previous topics in this class include "Music from the Caribbean" and "Latinx Musics." MUS 251, AFS 251, and LAS 251 are often cross-listed in various combinations depending on the topics offered.

Exploration of an announced topic in Latin American History. Offered as staffing permits. HIST 260 and LAS 260 are cross-listed.

Exploration of Spanish and Portuguese America from its roots in Iberia and indigenous America through three centuries of change. During the period, Native Americans, Europeans, and Africans transformed their economies and cultures and created new societies. Hist 261 and LAS 261 are cross-listed. Offered every other year.

A study of the development of Latin American states and societies. It first examines the various strategies employed by Latin American elites to develop capitalist societies that serve their interests. Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina are used to illustrate the implementation of these strategies. The second part of the course focuses on social movements to analyze the popular reaction to elites’ strategies of social development. It looks at social movements generally in the region, but it pays particular attention to Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. SOC 262, LAS 262, and PP 262 are cross-listed.

Survey of Latin American history from independence through the formation of national identity and the quest for modernity to dictatorship, democracy, and neoliberalism. Hist 262 and LAS 263 are cross-listed. Offered every other year.

Major themes in Brazilian history from early Portuguese-indigenous relations, expanding frontiers, colonial society, and the development of African slavery, through nineteenth-century formation of national identity, to twentieth-century industrialization, political struggle, and cultural change. Hist 264 and LAS 264 are cross-listed. Offered as staffing permits.

The study of selected masterpieces of Latino literature from the United States. Special emphasis is given to writers representing the largest segments of the U.S. Latino population: Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Dominicans. Other Latino communities are represented in shorter reading selections. This is primarily a literature course engaging students in literary analysis of each text’s themes, structure and style. ENG 265 and LAS 265 are cross-listed. Fulfills humanities and conceptualizing diversity requirements..

This course introduces students to the major canons of Latinx literature that emerged in the twentieth century, together with their cultural and historical contexts from the nineteenth century to the present. Students will analyze novels, short stories, poems, and films to investigate how Latinx cultural production explores issues of race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and colonialism. As we will see, literary expressions of Latinidad and Chicanidad explore not only these issues but also group-specific standpoints and modes of consciousness inextricable from the experiences that constitute them, that is, from historical formations of racialization and mestizaje; multilingualism and code-switching; immigration and diaspora; revolution and exile; citizenship and undocumented status; labor and economic exploitation. Along the way, students will examine the differences and similarities that have shaped the experiences and aesthetic choices of different Latinx communities in the United States, while thinking more broadly about their transnational contexts in the US-Mexico borderlands, the Caribbean, and Latin America. FULFILLS HUMANITIES, CONCEPTUALIZING DIVERSITY REQUIREMENTS. ENG 266 and LAS 266 are cross-listed. This course may be used to fulfil the first year writing requirement. For students pursuing this option, the fourth-hour requirement will be met by weekly meetings during the Common Hour (Thursdays, 11:30 to 12:30).

A study of historical, social and political development of the Dominican Republic. The course looks at the tensions between dictatorship, democracy, social development, and international migration to explain contemporary Dominican society. These factors are seen in the context of international capitalist development and the nation’s re-insertion into globalization. Soc 267 and LAS 267 are cross-listed.

Critical exploration of the representation of gender and sexuality in Latino/a cinema in the United States. The course invites students to ponder questions like: How has the cinematic representation and self-representation of Latinos/as evolved since the 1920s? How do gender and sexuality interact with race, class, and the politics of language to construct specific images of Latinos/as in film? How do gender, sexuality, and politics interact to construct different representations of Latino history on film?

Study of the development of Mexico’s economic and social development in the Twentieth Century. The course focuses on two tasks: it provides an outline of economic and social development since independence and evaluates the process of industrialization in the twentieth century. The basic conceptual framework is that a socio-historical approach may help us understand the successive periods of growth and stagnation in Mexican society. What does the sociological analysis teach us about the current obstacles to social and economic development? SOC 276, LAS 276, and PP 276 are cross-listed.

A study of Latin American societies as seen through the lenses of Anthropology, Political Science, Literature, History, Economics or Sociology.

Investigation of Latin American movies that urge revolutionary change. Special attention to films of the Cuban Revolution and to underground cinema, neorealist films, and indigenous film movements in other Latin American countries. Attention to the social and political context in which the films were made. Analysis of the contrasting presuppositions and assertions in revolutionary filmmakers’ theoretical writings, of the impact of their theories on their films, and of the evolution of revolutionary movies.

Study of the Hispanic experience in the territory that is now the United States, from the early Spanish explorations to the present. This course examines the historical roots of the various groups that belong to this large and diverse segment of the U.S. population, looking at the issues that distinguish each group, as well as those that join all the groups under the Hispanic umbrella. Readings, films, guest speakers, and contact with the local Hispanic community provide sources of information for reflection on the ways in which the various groups have faced the challenges of integration into American society.

The course focuses on social theories developed to explain the recent social, economic, and political transformation of Latin America. It draws on theories of neoliberalism, development, hegemony, social transformation, and state theories to illuminate the place of Latin America in global context. It pays particular attention to the rise and rule of progressive governments in the 21st century and the resurgence of neoliberal right-wing governments in the region. Soc 331 and LAS 331 are cross-listed.

Explores geographical regions from the Great Lakes to the South American pampas beyond the effective control of Spanish, Portuguese, British, or French empires or early nation states. Often transitional environmental zones, ecological and human variables shaped these spaces of ethnic, cultural, and economic exchange, where competing spheres of indigenous and European influence overlapped. The histories of these places have often been memorialized and mythologized in the development of national identities. Offered as staffing permits.

Exploration of an announced topic in Latin American History. Offered as staffing permits. HIST 360 and LAS 360 are cross-listed.

Study of the background, precursor movements, participants, events, and outcome of the violent social revolution; that swept the Mexican countryside between 1910 and 1917. Hist 361 and LAS 361 are cross-listed. Offered every other year.

The United States and Latin America since 1898. This course examines the evolution of U.S. policy toward Latin America, identifying the historical developments that have shaped that policy. It also investigates the effects these policies have had in the region and the ways in which Latin Americans have reacted to them. While the course centers on traditional diplomatic history in its orientation, it also examines interactions among non-state actors and the broader cultural and social dimensions of international relations. Offered as staffing permits.

Students in this course will examine U.S., Caribbean, and Latin American literature in a comparative and interdisciplinary context. Beginning in the late-nineteenth century and moving through more contemporary voices, we will read novels, poems, and critical works that address the historical and cultural relationship between the American North and South, i.e., between global geographies that have been divided into core and peripheral zones. The concept of the 'Western hemisphere' gained cohesion through the displacement and erasure of indigenous populations across the global South. We will therefore assess how the recovery of knowledge, history, and freedom remains central to literary works that mobilize a hemispheric imagination. Students will explore how imperialism, racialism, polyculturalism, and multilingualism not only shaped cultural production in the Americas but also provided a shared experience of loss and fragmentation that becomes the object of modernist representation across national divides. Moreover, students will examine the literary devices and narrative structures that constitute cross-regional anxieties concerning historical origins, geography, chronology, and memory across the continent. In addition to primary texts, we will engage criticism across the fields of Atlantic, borderlands, and diaspora studies to identify and understand key concepts that span the fraught yet emerging field of transnational American literature.

Intensive study of Brazilian history with an emphasis on the creation of social difference, the formation of concepts of race and ethnicity, and the construction of colonial, imperial, and national identities. Exploring historiographical trends and recent scholarship, the course emphasizes topics such as early contact, colonial society, Indian and African slavery, immigration, religion and culture, and indigenism. Hist 364 and LAS 364 are cross-listed. Offered as staffing permits.

This course explores how American authors combined literary realism with mythical, marvelous, and magical representations of the world, rendering natural phenomena supernatural. Considering Thomas Carlyle’s concept of “natural supernaturalism” and its impact on Romanticist and Transcendentalist thought, this course explores how a similar concept developed among a set of twentieth-century texts across the Americas. Originating amid historic struggles for liberation, these texts can be understood as literary expressions of postcolonial thought that transform surrealistic practices of Western avant gardism to assert the aesthetic autonomy of non-Western communities. We will begin by examining the foundations of this literary turn as a set of African diasporic and Caribbean narrative strategies. Thereafter, we will trace the expansion and propagation of the mythic, the marvelous, and the magical across Latin American and Native American cultural contexts, ending the semester with a view towards more recent developments in contemporary popular film. Students will bring these texts—together with secondary sources—into comparative dialogue, noting cross-cultural connections between different texts and films. As we encounter these works, we will explore questions such as: What literary strategies and narrative techniques are used to naturalize the supernatural? How do these strategies change when moving across different global geographies and cultures? What folkloric traditions and scientific developments influenced what some critics call the “ontological foundations” of these literary forms, and what elements of faith, irreverence, and metafiction constitute their more “epistemological foundations”? Fulfills Humanities, and either Global Understanding or Conceptualizing Diversity. ENG 365 and LAS 365 cross-listed.

Individualized tutorial counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F.

Individualized tutorial counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U.

Individualized tutorial not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F.

Individualized tutorial not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U.

Individualized research counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F.

Individualized research counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U.

Individualized research not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F.

Individualized research not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor graded S/U.

Internship counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F.

Internship counting toward the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U.

Internship not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded A-F.

Internship not counting in the minimum requirements in a major or minor, graded S/U.

Summer Internship graded A-F, counting in the minimum requirements for a major or minor only with written permission filed in the Registrar's Office.

Summer Internship graded S/U, counting in the minimum requirements for a major or minor only with written permission filed in the Registrar's Office.