Courses
Undergraduate students participating in the "Mexico in Latin American Civilizations" study abroad program in Oaxaca visit Hierve el Agua.
Guide to 2009-10 Latin American Content Courses
Courses numbered 10000-19000 are general education and introductory courses. Courses numbered 20000-29900 are intermediate, advanced, or upper-level courses and are open only to undergraduates. Courses numbered 30000 and above are graduate or professional school courses and are available to undergraduate students only with the consent of the instructor. Undergraduates registered for 30000-level courses will be held to the graduate-level requirements. To register for courses that are cross listed as both undergraduate and graduate (20000/30000), undergraduates must use the undergraduate number (20000).
Students enrolled in the master's or bachelor's program in Latin American Studies must consult with the CLAS program adviser to ensure that courses denoted by an asterisk will be designed to fulfill degree requirements. **
PLEASE NOTE: this is a tentative schedule, as of August 12, 2009. Course offerings and times may be modified (and offerings may be cancelled) as additional information becomes available.
Fall 2009 Winter 2010 Spring 2010
Fall 2009
LACS 16100-16200-16300/34600-34700-34800. Introduction to Latin American Civilization I, II, III. (=ANTH 23101-23102-23103, CRPC 16100-16102-16103, HIST 16101-16102-16103/36101-36102-36103, SOSC 26100-26200-26300). This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies, and need not be taken in order. This course introduces the history and cultures of Latin America (e.g., Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean Islands). Autumn Quarter examines the origins of civilizations in Latin America with a focus on the political, social, and cultural features of the major pre-Columbian civilizations of the Maya, Inca, and Aztec. The quarter concludes with an analysis of the Spanish and Portuguese conquest, and the construction of colonial societies in Latin America. Winter Quarter addresses the evolution of colonial societies, the wars of independence, and the emergence of Latin American nation-states in the changing international context of the nineteenth century. Spring Quarter focuses on the twentieth century, with special emphasis on the challenges of economic, political, and social development in the region. This course is offered every year. Autumn.
LACS 25000/35000 An Empire Revisited: a non-apologetical reconsideration of the Spanish empire, 1492-1898. Every generation of historians asks different questions (and perhaps answers) to the same topics. After ten years of intense and not always satisfying discussion on empires, our historical perspective about these political artifacts has been modified in many ways. Following this idea, the purpose of the course is to reconsider once again some of the main features and specific developments of the Spanish imperial tradition in Modern history. The goal of that evaluation is not, of course, to write in a different manner the entire history of the empire (the simple idea would be nonsense) but to face several problems of real entity, such as the question of "ethnic" cleavages and social and political stability and the working of its main institutions and legal culture. The result of these particular findings shall shed new light upon the nature and place of the Spanish imperial experience in World history. Josep Fradera. Autumn.
LACS 20100/40305. The Inka and Aztec States. (=ANTH 20100/40100) For course description, see Anthropology. A. Kolata.
LACS 20200. Socio-Cultural Dynamics of Pre-Columbian Civilization. (=ANTH 20200) For course description, see Anthropology. A. Kolata.
LACS 26500/36500. History of Mexico, 1876 to the Present. (=HIST 26500/36500) From the Porfiriato and the Revolution to the present, this course is a survey of Mexican society and politics, with emphasis on the connections between economic developments, social justice, and political organization. Topics include fin de siècle modernization and the agrarian problem; the Revolution of 1910; the making of the modern Mexican state; relations with the United States; industrialism and land reform; urbanization and migration; ethnicity, culture, and nationalism; economic crises, neoliberalism, and social inequality; political reforms and electoral democracy; the zapatista rebellion in Chiapas; and the end of PRI rule. M. Tenorio, E. Kouri. Autumn.
LACS 79701. Sem: U.S.-Mexican Borderlands, 1530-1848. (=HIST 79701) This two-quarter seminar introduces graduate students to the history and historiography of those states that now form the international border between Mexico and the United States. Known historically as Northern New Spain, as Mexico's Far North and eventually as the American Southwest, this area has been the site of successive cycles of conquest and colonization among indigenous peoples and European and American colonists for more than three hundred years. In the autumn the seminar does three things. (1) Intensively examines the area's historiography to identify the issues and questions historians interested in this area have asked and yet need to be answered. (2) To expose students to the range of narrative techniques individuals have employed to tell this history. (3) And, to identify a potential research topic each student will pursue in the second quarter of the course. During the winter quarter, or the second half of the course, the seminar will begin with each student presenting their research paper topic, the historiography, the methods to be employed, and the primary sources that will be used to produce a forty-page research paper. Student may work with Spanish, English, French, Russian, or indigenous language primary sources. The course requires no advanced knowledge of the area's history. R. Gutierrez. Autumn and Winter.
LACS 20409. Democracy in Central America. (=HIST 16205, CRPC 20409) Achieving "democracy" has been a core goal of social and political movements for centuries, yet the meaning of the word seems to be constantly changing. In this course we will look at the histories of the nations of Central America (focusing on Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Costa Rica) to see how people have experienced democracy in their daily lives, struggled for it, and sometimes, lost it. We will explore the sometimes surprising relationships of Communism, imperialism, and revolution (three "forces" that have weighed heavily on the history of Central America in the twentieth century) to democracy. We will draw on various sources, including novels, testimonial literature, film, and traditional scholarship from historians and political scientists. Patrick Iber. Autumn. TTh 10:30-11:20.
LACS 27900/47900 Modern Spoken Yucatec Maya I, II, and III. (=CHD 27900/47900) This course is a basic introduction to the modern Yucatec Maya language, an indigenous American language spoken by about 750,000 people in southeastern Mexico. Autumn, Winter, Spring. TTh 9-10:30.
LACS 28000/38000. U.S. Latinos: Origins and Histories. (=CRPC 28000, GNDR 28202, HIST 28000/38000) For course description, see Comparative Race Studies. R. Gutiérrez. Autumn.
LACS 29304/39304. Looking for History: Chronicles of Contemporary Latin America. (=ENGL 22907/42807, RLL 29304/39304, HIST 26205/36205). This course will focus substantively on twentieth-century Latin American history, but will also give attention to the particular style of literary journalism or "chronicles" characteristic of the instructor's own writings. In other words, this course will explore how chroniclers of contemporary Latin American history produce this particular genre. Texts will give an overview of the contemporary history of Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, with a full course session devoted to chronicles of Che Guevara. This course would be appropriate for students of Latin American history and students of literature. Teaching and texts will be in English. Alma Guillermoprieto. Autumn.
LACS 29105. For a Spoonful of Sugar: the Economic, Political, & Social Repercussions of the Sugar Industry. (=INST 29105 HIST 17103). This course introduces students to the political economy of sugar from its evolution as a medicinal treatment for the elite, to our daily morning coffee. Students will follow sugar's spread around the world and dissect its relationship to slavery, colonialism and the emerging global market. By the start of the revolutionary era, sugar was a major world commodity, serving as the underpinning of empires, countries and the slave trade. Throughout the nineteenth century new forces emerged attempting to regulate, protect, or challenge its continued dominance as a sweetener and as a major force in the world economy. Students will follow sugar through these changes and into the present day world of cartels, state regulation, global trade agreements, and zero calorie sweeteners. A central goal of this course is to expose students to the study of a global industry and methods on which academics draw to interpret the industry's effects on the economic, social, and political systems in which it operates. This course requires that students think critically about sources and their interpretations. Students who engage thoroughly with course themes will come away with a framework to think about the role of commodities in world history and its future. Students will also be challenged to gain effective communication and writing skills through discussion and essay assignments. Amanda Hughes. TTh 1:30-2:50.
Development Economics: Latin American Topics. This course includes topics at both the macro and micro level. We will study theoretical and historical background and use analytical tools to better understand the major macroeconomic problems and the evolution of economic policies in Latin America. We will focus particularly on the impact that these problems and policies have on poverty and inequality. Throughout the course, we will pay close attention to issues related to labor markets, demographics, education, and health. Alicia Menendez.
LACS 29700. Reading and Research in Latin American Studies. PQ: Consent of faculty supervisor and program adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Typically taken for a quality grade. Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer.
LACS 29801. B.A. Colloquium. Required of students who are majoring in Latin American Studies. Students must participate in all three quarters but register only in Autumn Quarter. This colloquium, which is led by the preceptor and B.A. adviser, assists students in formulating approaches to the B.A. essay and developing their research and writing skills, while providing a forum for group discussion and critiques. Graduating students present their B.A. essays in a public session of the colloquium during the Spring Quarter. Autumn, Winter, Spring.
LACS 29900. Preparation of the B.A. Essay. PQ: Consent of faculty supervisor and program adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Typically taken for a quality grade.
Winter 2010
LACS Universal History of Central America. At first sight, the history of Central America looks like a concentration of Latin American and Caribbean history: a flourishing pre-Hispanic civilization, an arrogant yet impotent colonial regime, a frustrated dream of regional unity, an export-driven nineteenth-century economy, an oligarchic society, a series of foreign interventions, a failed attempt to establish a revolutionary utopia, and the increasing "Americanization" of local cultures through immigration and neoliberalism, in effect, are all themes and events that dominate most historical accounts of both regions. Concentration, though, is more than the congregation of larger processes within a limited space; at least in the case of Central America, it means intensification and, in a sense, distillation. This course will then try to think the history of Central America not as a reflection of pan Latin American trends but in its own terms, as an intense, convoluted social and cultural process involving two coasts, five nation-states and a handful of languages with few if any parallel in the Western Hemisphere-a world in itself. Luis Fernando Granados. Winter.
LACS 26502/36502. Freedom and Slavery in Brazil. (=HIST 26502/36502, LLSO 20501) For course description, see History. D. Borges. Winter.
LACS 27900/47900 Modern Spoken Yucatec Maya I, II, and III.(=CHD 27900/47900) This course is a basic introduction to the modern Yucatec Maya language, an indigenous American language spoken by about 750,000 people in southeastern Mexico. Autumn, Winter, Spring. TTh 9-10:30.
LACS 29900. Preparation of the B.A. Essay. PQ: Consent of faculty supervisor and program adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Typically taken for a quality grade.
LACS 26106/36106. Tropical Commodities in Latin America. (=HIST 26106/36106) This colloquium explores selected aspects of the social, economic, and cultural history of tropical export commodities from Latin America-- e.g., coffee, bananas, sugar, tobacco, henequen, rubber, vanilla, and cocaine. Topics include land, labor, capital, markets, transport, geopolitics, power, taste, and consumption. E. Kouri. Winter.
LACS 25303/35303. Human Rights: Alien and Citizen. (=HMRT 24701/34701, LAWS 62401) For course description, see Human Rights.
S. Gzesh. Winter, Spring.
Spring 2010
LACS 26304/36304. Literature and Society in Brazil. (=HIST 26304/36304) For course description, see History. Texts in English.
D. Borges. Spring.
LACS 20710. Comparative Politics of 20th Century Latin America. J. Ibarra del Cueto, E. Simmons.
LACS 59602 The Cultural Consequences of Colonization. (=CDIN 59602, HIST 59602, LING 59602, CRES 59602) This course will examine cultural change in the context of various paradigmatic cases of colonization across the centuries, ranging from Mediterranean Antiquity to the sixteenth century colonization in the Americas and late nineteenth-century imperialisms. We will examine religious, linguistic, and artistic changes, among others. Dain Borges and Salikoko Mufwene. Spring. Tu 13:30-16:20.
LACS 29600. The "Southern" Age of Revolution: The Independence of Latin America. Between 1804 and 1844, mostly as a result of a series of prolonged, destructive wars, both civil and international, most countries of Latin America became independent from France, Portugal or Spain. The vast majority of them, moreover, established republican and largely democratic polities-at least in paper. Monumental as it is, this cycle of political and social upheaval has nevertheless received little attention from scholars of the so-called Age of Revolutions, even though it comprised the sole victorious slave rebellion in the history of the Americas (Haiti), the collapse of the at-the-time world's leading producer of silver (Mexico), and the only case of an European empire shifting its epicenter to the New World (the Portuguese to Brazil). This course will focus on the global dimension of Latin America's struggle for independence, yet will emphasize the local dimensions of a series of conflicts tainted by class and ethnic issues as well. Luis Fernando Granados.
LACS 24501/34501. Human Rights in Mexico. (=HIST 29408/39408, HMRT 24501/34501, LAWS 62411) PQ: Reading knowledge of Spanish and at least one prior course on Latin American history or culture. For course description, see Human Rights. S. Gzesh. Spring.
LACS 26502/36502 Literature and Film in Brazilian Culture. (=PORT 26502/36502) In this class, we will discuss the intricate and complex relationship between Literature and Film in Brazilian Culture. Should film adaptations be faithful to the novels by which they were inspired? Should such films be regarded as interpretations of the original text or should they be evaluated as an autonomous cultural production? Which role they play in the process of canonization of a literary work? Those are questions that we will try to answer throughout the quarter. Alfredo Cesar Melo. Spring.
LACS 22101/4201 Latin American Essay. (=PORT 42101) The essay of "national identity investigation" is a very Latin American genre. Throughout the 19th and 20th century Latin American intellectuals were engaged in the nation-building project, trying to understand what would be the meaning of their national culture, with the help of sociological, anthropological and philosophical lenses. In this class we will approach this long tradition through specific thematic clusters. On each thematic cluster, we will find writers from Spanish America and Brazil. I invite students to bridge some gaps between these two essayistic traditions of the Latin American culture, analyzing their differences and similarities. Alfredo Cesar Melo. Spring.
LACS 27900/47900 Modern Spoken Yucatec Maya I, II, and III. (=CHD 27900/47900) This course is a basic introduction to the modern Yucatec Maya language, an indigenous American language spoken by about 750,000 people in southeastern Mexico. Autumn, Winter, Spring. TTh 9-10:30.
LACS 29900. Preparation of the B.A. Essay. PQ: Consent of faculty supervisor and program adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Typically taken for a quality grade.
LACS 28210/48210. Colonial Ecologies. (=ANTH 28210/48210, ENST 28210) For course description, see Anthropology. M. Lycett. Spring.
LACS 29000. Latin American Religions, New and Old. (=HCHR 38900, HIST 29000, LACS 29000/39000, RLST 21401) For course description, see History. D. Borges. Spring.
LACS 24501/34501. Human Rights in Mexico. (=HIST 29408/39408, HMRT 24501/34501, LAWS 62411) PQ: Reading knowledge of Spanish and at least one prior course on Latin American history or culture. For course description, see Human Rights. S. Gzesh. Spring.
LACS 25303/35303. Human Rights: Alien and Citizen. (=HMRT 24701/34701, LAWS 62401) For course description, see Human Rights.
S. Gzesh. Winter, Spring.
