Latin American Studies Courses
A one-semester intensive review of the basic structures of Spanish. Class conducted in Spanish, with activities designed to practice and consolidate all language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Cultural readings to expand vocabulary, stimulate discussion, and broaden students' understanding of the Hispanic world. Offered every semester.
Topics include: music and its evolution, music and society, music and culture. Focus is on Latin American music, including music of the colonial period, and North American music from the Pilgrims to the twentieth century. Included are genres such as tango, samba, Chilean protest songs, Cuban and Mexican music, Andean music; the blues, jazz, swing; music of the Native Americans.
This course examines women's experiences in developing countries in the light of local and global inequalities and connections. Major theoretical approaches are used to understand how gender relationships shape and are shaped by development policies within national and global contexts. These approaches are illustrated by case studies in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Offered intermittently.
Economic theory and historical accounts are combined in an attempt to understand the various forces that have shaped economic development in Latin America. The first half of the course looks at historic and macroeconomic issues. We will discuss development policies ranging from the import-substituting industrialization policies of the 1950s-1970s, to the market-oriented reforms of the 1980s through the present. The second half of the course will look at microeconomic issues such as poverty, inequality, agriculture, education, and corruption. Prerequisites: ECON 101 or ECON 111 AND ECON 102 or ECON 112, or permission of the instructor.
This course covers a representative sample of the literature written in Latin America from the inception of Colonial power to Independence (from the 15th to the 19th century). Course is conducted in Spanish. Cross Listed With: LAS - 303.
The course provides an overview of the plays, theatrical productions, and theatrical traditions of cultures in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and underrepresented cultures in the United States, including African-American, Asian-American, and Hispanic. Each semester one or two of these areas are selected for in-depth study.
Art of the Americas is an upper division art history course focusing on the art made by the numerous and different peoples of North and South America, from antiquity to the present.
Helping Sarlo Scholars make the most of experiences in Uganda and Nicaragua, students write a 12-15 page social science research paper in a multi-step writing process all while critically evaluating their experiences in host countries.
This course provides socio-historical and theoretical frameworks for understanding those U.S. populations known a Chicanos/as and Latinos/as. The course is intended for students who would like to rigorously pursue an independent research project that further expands their knowledge of these populations.
A survey of the soap opera and melodrama genre focusing on its Latino version: telenovelas. The course looks at the production, distribution, and content of soaps, and their audiences around the world. It explores questions of class, gender, race and ethnicity, and the use of soaps for education and social change.
This
course is an introduction to films made by Latin American filmmakers
about Latin America. It explores how the national cinemas of the
Americas narrate their history and portray their societies’ experiences, conflicts, and challenges. Students analyze
films in historical and cinematic terms, exploring the various
relations between cinema and the state, questions of ideology, national
identity, class, race and ethnicity, gender, concerns about historical
representations and political memory, and the use of film as a tool for
social change.
This course engages with the transcendent biblical concept of justice as an irreversible commitment of God in history as articulated in the prophets, the Gospel of Jesus and emergent in liberation theologies in Latin America, Africa, Asia, in North America responses, in feminist responses, and in ecological knowledge, processes and paradigms. Offered yearly.
An introduction to the major economic, cultural, and institutional factors that shape contemporary Latin American politics, including the role of the United States, the changing international economy and its impact on public policy and political behavior. Offered every other year.
This course surveys the lives of saints, both Catholic and "popular," to examine how spirituality and political charisma cross-fertilize in social-justice movements. Includes studies of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Diana of Wales, Archbishop Romero, Rev. Jim Jones.
This course introduces students to the study of human rights issues through film screening, readings, and writing assignments, and by collaborating in the organization of the Human Rights Film Festival at USF. The course is designed around a selcection of both U.S. and foreign documentary and narrative films addressing civil, political, economic, cultural, social, women's and LGBT rights. This course is restricted to those with Junior or Senior standing.
This course provides socio-historical approaches to contemporary Brazilian culture and society from a race, class, and gender/sexuality perspective. Case-studies of popular/political cultures, social movements, inequalities and identities illustrate major developments in Brazilian culture and society within the context of democratization and globalization. Offered intermittently.
This team-taught course involves professors from the Departments of History and Modern Languages and focuses on how the facts and fictions, the history and the literary, the text and film have shaped our ideas, images, and understanding of Latin America. Here we will unpack disciplines, narratives, and media as we ponder and reinterpret Latin America.
This course is an introduction to philosophy in Latin America, Vasconcelos, Mariategui, Zea, Dussel, etc.) and significant philosophical movements
Every spring semester this interdisciplinary seminar offers a selected group of students of high academic standing (the CELASA scholars,) the opportunity to study, discuss, experience, and better understand a contemporary Latin American topic. The CELASA Seminar involves either travel to a Latin American country, guest lectures by distinguished Latin American figures in the field of study, or both. Registration by application process only.
The blending of indigenous, European, and African cultures during the colonial period to form and create Latin America. This survey explores the tensions and richness embedded in this diverse and dynamic history and tracks how colonial attitudes and ideologies shape the region today. Offered every other year.
A comprehensive analysis of the social, political, economic and cultural history of colonial Mexico. Questions of power, identity, gender, race, ethnicity, and popular culture among Mexico's indigenous and colonial societies are central to the class. Course themes focus on pre-colonial societies, patterns of colonization in Northern, Central, and southern Mexico, development of a Spanish-Mexican society and culture, and the process leading to independence from Spain. Offered every other year.
A comprehensive analysis of the social, political, economic and cultural processes that shaped the growth and development of modern Mexico. Questions of power, identity, gender, race, ethnicity, and popular culture are central to the class. Course themes will focus on: nation building; the search for order, stability, industrialization, progress, modern development, popular upheaval, social reform, and national identity. Offered every other year.
Interdisciplinary survey of the geography, culture, and history of Brazil and Amazonia since 1500. Course themes include indigenous cultures, the impact of European expansion on the native people and the land, African and indigenous slavery, colonialism and its legacies, development, extractive economies, and nationalism. Offered every other year.
A social and cultural survey from pre-Columbian roots to the present, focusing on how Latin Americans have shaped their lives within colonial, authoritarian, and paternalistic societies. Offered every semester.
This course examines the multiple experiences of Latin@ communities in the United States, focusing on media representations within historical, cultural, political, and economic contexts. Students study film, television, the news, advertising, and the music industry. Topics analyzed include stereotypical representations of this group and the development of Latin@ media.
A reading and research seminar focused on specific geographical areas - the Southern Cone, Brazil, the Andean Region, Central America and the Caribbean, Mexico, the Borderlands - or on particular comparative themes relevant to Latin America - Revolution, Religion, Labor and Politics, Women, Race and Class. Offered once per year.
A reading and research seminar focused on specific geographical areas - the Southern Cone, Brazil, the Andean Region, Central America and the Caribbean, Mexico, the Borderlands - or on particular comparative themes relevant to Latin America - Revolution, Religion, Labor and Politics, Women, Race and Class. Offered once per year.
