Latin American and Caribbean Studies Courses

Course Description

This courses introduces students to the diverse cultures and societies of Latin America and the Caribbean via a multi-disciplinary approach. Through historical, ethnographic, and literary study, we will explore relations of power, ideology, and resistance from the colonial conquest to the present, including economic dependency, development, political institutions, the military, social movements, religious expressions and ethnic and class relations.

Distribution Area

Social Science-or-Global Learning

Prerequisites

ANTH 151 or ANTH 153 or sophomore standing.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This courses introduces students to the diverse cultures and societies of Latin America and the Caribbean via a multi-disciplinary approach. Through historical, ethnographic, and literary study, we will explore relations of power, ideology, and resistance from the colonial conquest to the present, including economic dependency, development, political institutions, the military, social movements, religious expressions and ethnic and class relations. This course will encourage the logical development of argument, clear and precise diction, and a coherent prose style; the development of expository writing skills as they apply to anthropology; and the responsible, appropriate, and effective use of sources and special or technical language.

Distribution Area

Social Science-or-Global Learning

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course is designed to explore the history, functions, and communities, which encompass religions of the African Diaspora such as Santer'a, Vodou, and Candombl'. Lectures, discussions, films, and a range of ethnographic literature will introduce students to these religious systems. Among the topics and themes to be addressed in relation to religion are issues of identity, ethnicity, gender, performance, and class. Case studies in Brazil, Cuba, and among Latinos in the U.S. will illuminate the multivocality of the religious beliefs and practices found in the African Diaspora.

Distribution Area

Social Science-or-Global Learning

Prerequisites

sophomore standing.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course examines the social and cultural constructions of reproduction, and how power in everyday life shapes reproductive behavior and its cross cultural meanings. Utilizing a hemispheric and ethnographic approach to reproduction, this course engages with examples from throughout the Americas, including but not limited to Brazil, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and the United States. The course is organized to address a reproductive spectrum including fertility, childbirth and parenting, as well as the roles and expectations for women and men in each of these stages of reproduction. Additional topics addressed are state intervention on fertility, technologies of reproduction, the cultural production of natural childbirth, the politics of fetal personhood, and the diverse reproductive health situations influenced by the intersectional nature of gender, race, ethnicity, nationality and class.

Distribution Area

Social Science-or-Global Learning

Prerequisites

sophomore standing.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course explores the captivating history of performance art in the Americas. Since the early twentieth century, artists have turned to performance as an experimental mode of artistic production. They have used bodily movement, music and sound, costumes, and props to reimagine the forms, institutions, and audiences for art. What does it mean to "perform" art rather than to make an art object? We will take a hemispheric approach to this question, investigating how artists working in diverse contexts in Latin America and North America have used performance as an expressive and political form. For instance, we will analyze performance works made under dictatorial regimes in Argentina and Chile, amid the transnational feminist movement of the 1970s, and during the HIV/AIDS crisis in the United States. Among other topics, we will consider debates around performance documentation, the ethics of audience participation, and the critical use of the body by artists of color and queer and feminist artists. There are no prerequisites for this course.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities

Credits

1 course

Course Description

(may be cross-listed with LACS 290) Course on social, political, and cultural topics of the Spanish-speaking world. May be co-taught, on a special topic, and/or taught in English. No prerequisites. May also count as a cognate class toward the Hispanic Studies Major and toward the minors in Latin American and Caribbean Studies and/or World Literature. If offered, Hispanic Studies majors may engage optional Spanish language content for additional .5 credit toward the major. This may involve collaborating with other institutions via virtual conversation or online discussion, reading Spanish texts, and completing Spanish language writing exercises. May be repeated for credit with a different topic. May count towards language proficiency requirement of Hispanic Studies Major. Prerequisite HISP 232 or equivalent.

Prerequisites

HISP 232 or equivalent.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

A social history of Mexico from pre-Hispanic times to the present. Emphasizing processes of resistance, rebellion and accommodation, this course examines the social and cultural dynamics of the major Mesoamerican societies (Aztecs and Maya), the colonial period and the process of nation formation. Attention will be given to gender and ethnic issues.

Distribution Area

Social Science-or-Global Learning

Credits

1 course

Course Description

Empires, both indigenous and European, played key roles in shaping the early history of Latin America, a period defined by powerful and innovative native empires, European conquest and expansion, the formation of racial and patriarchal hierarchies, the slave trade, massive historical change, and surprising cultural continuities. From the Aztecs and the Incas to the Spanish and the Portuguese, early empires--as we will learn--made lasting marks on the societies, cultures, and peoples of this important region. These empires, however, would not have made such enduring impacts without the people that constituted them, those who by force, coercion, or voluntary action both constructed and became entangled in empire's web. Thus, this class pays close attention to the everyday people who experienced close encounters with colonial, imperial, and expansionary states during this early period, namely native peoples, the poor, Afro-Latin Americans, mixed-race individuals known as castas, and women. By focusing on marginalized groups' experiences under various empires and their essential roles in negotiating, resisting, constructing, and transforming their respective societies, this class demonstrates the profound ways people from below shaped the course of history and, by extension, our present reality.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities-or-Global Learning

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This class surveys the ongoing struggle for rights, equality, and democracy by everyday people--women, native people, Afro-Latin Americans, the poor, and the queer community--in twentieth and twenty-first century Latin America. Characterized by the rise of unions, working class involvement in politics, attempts at land reforms, and the advancement of women's suffrage, the first half of the twentieth-century saw an expansion in people's rights and political participation, thereby making Latin American nations more democratic and inclusive than ever before. However, as students will learn, the struggle for equal rights and stable democracies for all citizens did not proceed in a linear, unobstructed fashion in the region. Rather, progress was fitful at best and, at worst, often times took significant steps back. Threats, both domestic and international, posed significant challenges to the democratization of Latin America; US and CIA interventions during the Cold War, for example, led to dictators across the region who impoverished their own countries; terrorized their populations; ended democratic rule; and limited the rights of women, the queer community, and people of color. Thus, this class challenges the myth of progress, highlighting that democracy, civil rights, and greater equality are not guarantees in our modern world. That being said, this course demonstrates that everyday people persistently negotiated and pushed back against structures of oppression, leading to indigenous rebellions, social revolutions, and feminist and gay liberation movements. Indeed, Latin Americans from below shaped and continue to shape Latin America. The class will end by considering the current state of democracy and women's, queer, and indigenous rights, as well as other major issues facing the regions' nations in the twenty-first century.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities-or-Global Learning

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This introductory course to Latin American and Caribbean cultures serves as the gateway to an interdisciplinary exploration of the regions of Latin America and the Caribbean.

Distribution Area

Global Learning

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course is an exploration of selected aspects of one of the societies and/or cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean, or a comparative treatment of aspects of these cultures. Specific case studies will include ethnographic research and/or readings of primary sources relating to Latin America and the Caribbean. Topics may include religion, migration, identity, gender, literature and art, and society. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course is an exploration of selected aspects of one of the societies and/or cultures in Latin America and the Caribbean, or a comparative treatment of aspects of these cultures. Specific case studies will include ethnographic research and/or readings of primary sources relating to Latin America and the Caribbean. Topics may include religion, migration, identity, gender, literature and art, and society. May be repeated for credit with different topics.

Credits

1 course

Course Description

This course is a close study and analysis of the religious core and communicative rationality in Bob Marley's life and music. It develops the intersections between Caribbean religion and culture based on Marley's affiliation to Rastafari.

Distribution Area

Arts and Humanities-or-Power Privilege and Diversity

Credits

1 course

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