Class Schedules

This course offers a general survey of the complex and heterogeneous region we somewhat reductively term Latin America. It follows a roughly chronological approach, beginning with the eve of encounter and continuing through the contemporary era. Discussions will consider themes such as the institution and legacy of colonialism, the search for new national identities, and the onset of modern racial and political strife. The course will emphasize the import of global economic, political, and cultural trends on the formation of the region.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course provides students a basic understanding of the most important biophysical and social characteristics of the dominant landscapes of the Neotropics. The Neotropical realm refers to the biogeographic region that includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and South America's temperate zone. These areas provide a range of services-both locally and globally-including water sources, climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation. They are also home to various human populations and support the livelihood of local and global human populations. Among others, these include tropical rain forests, Andean páramos, tropical dry forests, wetlands, deserts and temperate forests of southern South America. For each of these landscapes, we will learn the key biophysical processes that govern their functioning. We also study the peoples that live in them including indigenous communities, afro-descendants, and mestizos. Finally, using examples of these areas, we also analyze human-environment interactions including land-use change, biodiversity, resource and cultural conservation, and climate change impacts and responses.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

Comparative study of political institutions and conflicts in Argentina, Brazil, Guatemala, Venezuela, and Mexico, with attention to Pink Tide leaders like Hugo Chávez, Lula da Silva, and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, right-wing populists like Jair Bolsonaro and Javier Milei, and new leaders like Claudia Sheinbaum and Bernardo Arévalo. As U.S. imperialism strikes Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, and Central America, can party politics and social movements yield leadership to defend Latin American sovereignty? Through a mix of empirical and theoretical work, we analyze authoritarianism and democratization, unions vs. neoliberalism, state terror and peace processes, liberation theology, anti-racist and feminist organizing, and Indigenous mass mobilization. Themes are explored through diverse teaching methods including discussion, debate, simulations, lecture, film, memoir, and poetry. This class employs an innovative portfolio system of qualitative assessment. Students take the course “S/SD/N with Written Evaluation.” This provides a powerful opportunity for students to stretch their limits in a learning community with high expectations, but without a high-pressure atmosphere. This ungraded course has been approved for inclusion on major/minor/concentration plans in Political Science, Latin American Studies, and Human Rights and Humanitarianism.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course examines and critically analyzes various approaches to the study of how different individuals and communities in particular historical and cultural scenarios in contemporary Latin America create meanings about their past experience with political violence. The course addresses questions related to the tension between remembering and forgetting, the presence of conflicting memories and truths and how these are negotiated or not through distinct forms of representation. The cultural analysis of different means of representation: human rights and truth commission reports, testimonials, film, art and memorials will be the basis for class discussions on different notions of truth and different forms of truth-telling. A close examination of these forms of representation will reveal the extent to which they can conflict with each other while at the same time feed on each other, creating "effects of truth" and leaving room for secrecy as a mode of truth-telling. Finally, the course will also compel students to think about what consequences the politics of memory have for the future.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Who profits and who is punished at mega-prisons like CECOT (El Salvador), Pinheiros (São Paulo), and Angola (Louisiana)? What explains divergent outcomes of prison strikes in Alabama and Venezuela? And how have incarcerated women in Colombia successfully demanded alternative sentencing to allow caregivers to remain with their children, while their allies in Minnesota struggle to achieve the same goal? Over 4 million people are now incarcerated in the Americas, and in the largest detention systems over two-thirds of prisoners are Black, Indigenous, immigrants, or other minoritized groups. This course examines the politics of mass incarceration in Latin America and the United States, with attention to community organizations and prison reform and abolition movements. Drawing on imprisoned voices and the work of U.S. and Latin American scholars, we will study carceral imperialism, prisons as a cornerstone of structural racism, and resistance rooted in racial and gender identity. Class normally meets for 90 minutes (M-W 10:50 am-12:20 pm), but the 10:50 am-1:00 pm time slot allows us to take field trips to sites such as All Square & the Legal Revolution, Transformation and Re-entry through Education and Community, and the Global Prison Nursery Network Symposium. Guest speakers may include Mujeres Libres (Bogotá), MOVIR (San Salvador), Juvenile Justice Advocates (Minneapolis/Mexico City), and the Asian Prisoner Support Committee (California).

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course presents the student with essential tools for the critical analysis of a broad range of topics and forms of cultural production (literature, cinema, art, e-texts, etc.) in the Hispanic world. It also teaches the student advanced language skills in written composition and public oral presentation. This course satisfies the Area 2 requirement for the Spanish major. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 305 or SPAN 306.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course provides an interdisciplinary discussion of the Latinx experience in the United States with a focus on Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban- Americans. Using fiction, poetry, films and critical essays, we will examine issues of race and ethnicity, language, identity, gender and sexuality, politics, and immigration. This course satisfies the Area 2 requirement for the Spanish major. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 305 or SPAN 306

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Primarily designed to improve oral communication and to strengthen students' written proficiency and their awareness of grammar intricacies in Portuguese. In relation to writing, it serves as a bridge to upper-level courses. Conversations and compositions are based on the civilization and cultures of Brazil, which despite its continental size and being among the largest world economies remains a mystery to many. This course explores the socio-historical, political and cultural trajectory Brazil has undertaken while, at the same time, reflecting on how ideas such as nation, identity, race, ethnicity, and class have transformed the face of the country. A wide array of texts and materials -literature, music, painting, sculpture, architecture, dance, and cinema- is used to gain a broad and critical understanding of the Brazilian universe. It involves extensive reading appropriate to the level. Prerequisite(s): PORT 221, or PORT 231, or consent of the instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course offers a comprehensive exploration of contemporary filmmaking in Abya Yala, a term that reclaims the Indigenous identities and knowledges of the territories known as the Americas. Through an examination of 21st century feature films and documentaries, we will discuss how both Indigenous and non-Indigenous directors use cinema to portray the history of colonial violence, its lasting legacies, and the ongoing struggle for indigenous sovereignty in Abya Yala/Latin America. Recognizing the ethical complexities inherent in filmmaking, in this course we will critically analyze the representation of Indigenous identities, collaborations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous creators, and the rise of Indigenous-led film production. Along with film screenings and in-class discussions, students will elaborate a video essay to deepen their understanding of the politics of representation in Abya Yala/Latin American cinema, and explore the region’s ongoing struggle for Indigenous rights and self-determination. This course satisfies the Area 2 requirement for the Spanish major. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 307 or consent of the instructor.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

An integrative, research-oriented capstone which gathers senior majors of diverse regional and disciplinary focuses during the final semester. A faculty convener will integrate a schedule of issue-area seminars, faculty methods and topics presentations, talks by visiting speakers, and student reports on research projects. The course culminates in a lengthy final paper.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:

Course Materials

This course provides students a basic understanding of the most important biophysical and social characteristics of the dominant landscapes of the Neotropics. The Neotropical realm refers to the biogeographic region that includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and South America's temperate zone. These areas provide a range of services-both locally and globally-including water sources, climate mitigation and biodiversity conservation. They are also home to various human populations and support the livelihood of local and global human populations. Among others, these include tropical rain forests, Andean páramos, tropical dry forests, wetlands, deserts and temperate forests of southern South America. For each of these landscapes, we will learn the key biophysical processes that govern their functioning. We also study the peoples that live in them including indigenous communities, afro-descendants, and mestizos. Finally, using examples of these areas, we also analyze human-environment interactions including land-use change, biodiversity, resource and cultural conservation, and climate change impacts and responses.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course focuses on reproductive health as a human right following the reproductive justice framework. It will focus on women and how they navigate the system to expand their rights. The course will pay particular attention to women who are marginalized due to their race, class, gender identity, indigeneity, and religion. In doing so, this course studies reproductive health and human rights in relation to the broader structural context in the Americas (e.g. national laws and international conventions). As the topic of women's reproductive rights is vast, we will be focusing on abortion, domestic violence, and motherhood. Students in the class will study these issues from the perspective of women's organizations that have mobilized to expand reproductive rights. This course will be comparative in nature as it will focus on reproductive rights in the U.S. and Latin America from the 1980s onwards. These two regions are intimately connected politically and economically, and in regards to reproductive rights. For example, the gag rule introduced by the Reagan administration in 1984 jeopardized the reproductive health services provided in Latin American countries that received funding from the U.S. government. Yet another way that these two regions have been coupled is through feminist networks that have been working to expand reproductive rights in the Americas.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course explores historical and contemporary perspectives on racial and ethnic groups in American society, including African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, European Americans, and Americans of Middle Eastern descent. The goal is to develop an understanding of socio-historical forces that have shaped the lives of racial and ethnic groups in America.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course explores the linked themes of sustainability, decolonization, environmental justice, and cultural production and discourse. Students will focus on decolonizing methodologies, particularly in the context of indigenous communities. Indigenous and rural communities in Latin America have long been at the forefront of territorial struggles against extractivist projects. As a window into these movements, this place-based course offers students a unique opportunity to explore both theory and practice related to community land management in Ecuador. In partnership with the Pachaysana Foundation, students will work directly with Indigenous leaders and knowledge holders in the Amazon and the Andes to unlearn harmful systems and reimagine approaches to land management and community wellbeing. Throughout the semester, students will learn from an interdisciplinary team of faculty and staff across the college through guest lectures, as well as community partners in Ecuador who will participate via Zoom in preparation for the short-term study away. Following the end of the academic semester, students will travel to Ecuador for an experiential workshop led by Indigenous leaders, educators, and families in both the Amazon and the Andes. Includes Study Away component; permission of instructor required.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials

This course presents the student with essential tools for the critical analysis of a broad range of topics and forms of cultural production (literature, cinema, art, e-texts, etc.) in the Hispanic world. It also teaches the student advanced language skills in written composition and public oral presentation. This course satisfies the Area 2 requirement for the Spanish major. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 305 or SPAN 306.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

This course provides an interdisciplinary discussion of the Latinx experience in the United States with a focus on Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban- Americans. Using fiction, poetry, films and critical essays, we will examine issues of race and ethnicity, language, identity, gender and sexuality, politics, and immigration. This course satisfies the Area 2 requirement for the Spanish major. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 305 or SPAN 306

General Education Requirements:
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

Europeans were by no means the first peoples to explore new territories and human populations. Renaissance scientific methodology, however, led European travelers to meticulously document each New World encounter in writing and develop new tools with which to navigate and represent space, devices that subsequently became weapons of colonial domination. But as Nature and indigenous populations refused to be subjected to European epistemology, failure and disaster were frequent events: shipwrecks left Old World survivors stranded among unknown lands and peoples in the Americas; Amerindians rejected the imposition of a foreign culture and religion, murdering colonists and missionaries; Africans rebelled against slavery and escaped to mountains and jungles to form autonomous communities. An examination of maps, exploration logs, missionary histories, travel literature, historiography and colonial documents will provide the foundation for this course on the ambivalent reality of the Old World's encounter with the Americas, in which Europeans were often the losers. This course satisfies the Area 1 requirement for the Spanish major. Prerequisite(s): SPAN 305 or SPAN 306 (though SPAN 307 recommended) and another 300-level Spanish course, or consent of the instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

In Sao Paulo and Mexico City, how are multi-racial coalitions challenging police violence and housing segregation?  Has Bogota's election of an openly gay mayor made the city safer for LGBTQ+ Colombians?  And in El Alto, how did a 34-year old Aymara woman build a coalition of street unions and Bolivian youth to beat the party establishment and capture City Hall?  Democratic elections have penetrated metropolitan Latin America, offering excluded communities new avenues for making demands.  In this research seminar, we will explore how the changing rules of political competition affect urban struggles around representation, gender inequality, housing discrimination, and the informal sector.  The course examines mayoral elections and urban movements in cities such as Caracas, Lima, Medellin, Montevideo, Porto Alegre, and Santiago de Chile.  Student responsibilities include seminar leadership roles, a research project, and presentation of your findings in a public colloquium. Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing or permission of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Social science

Course Materials