Contacts | Major Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies | Advising | Summary of Requirements: Latin American and Caribbean Studies Major (11 courses) | Grading | Honors | Minor Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies | | Advising | Summary of Requirements: Latin American and Caribbean Studies Minor (5 courses) | Latin American and Caribbean Studies Courses

Department Website: http://clas.uchicago.edu

Major Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS) is an interdisciplinary program for students who want to engage critical issues in the social sciences and humanities through deep immersion in the histories, cultures, economies, politics, and natural environments of Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition to gaining deep knowledge of a region closely tied to Chicago and the United States, LACS students develop strong linguistic, research, and analytical skills; most also spend significant time studying or conducting fieldwork in a Latin American country.

The major requirements include: coursework; language proficiency in Spanish or Portuguese; experiential learning that aims to broaden students’ appreciation of Latin American and Caribbean perspectives and deepen their cultural fluency; and a fourth-year BA colloquium and capstone project that allow students to develop their capacity for independent, creative, rigorous inquiry. Students can choose every year from dozens of course listings across the disciplines and can expect individualized mentorship and advising from our dedicated faculty and staff.

The Center for Latin American Studies supplements our academic offerings with dozens of public events each year, which help to build a strong Latin American Studies community. We also aim to expose students to Chicago’s role as a significantly Latin American city and to prepare them for careers in government, journalism, law, business, teaching, the nonprofit sector, or academia.

Program Requirements

LACS majors are required to take 11 courses in addition to the Latin American Civilization prerequisite, distributed as follows:

Prerequisite: Introduction to Latin American Civilization

LACS majors must complete the Introduction to Latin American Civilization sequence as a prerequisite to the major, either on campus (LACS 16100-16200-16300 Introduction to Latin American Civilization I-II-III) or in Oaxaca, Mexico (SOSC 19019-19020-19021 Latin American Civilization in Oaxaca I-II-III). This sequence can be taken to fulfill the general education requirement in civilization studies, in which case none of the three courses will count toward the LACS major. Students who take Latin American Civilization separately from the general education requirement can count one of the three courses in the sequence as a content course toward the LACS major.

LACS Courses

Five courses in at least two divisions (e.g., Social Sciences, Humanities, Biological Sciences) that focus on Latin America and/or the Caribbean. This means that at least one course must be taken outside of the primary division of study.

Electives

Two elective courses that integrate research methodology, chosen in consultation with the program adviser. These courses should provide students with new ways of learning and thinking that could be applied to their study of the region, but are not required to focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. Language acquisition courses in a second regional language (beyond the one language a student chooses to fulfill the language requirement) may be counted toward this category.

Language

The LACS language requirement can be completed in one of two ways:

  • Completion of three courses at the second-year level or above in one of the two major regional languages (Spanish or Portuguese). Students with strong language preparation may petition out of one of these courses, substituting it with a content course or a course in a second Latin American or Caribbean language.

OR

  • Earning the Practical Language Proficiency Certification, which assesses listening, reading, speaking, and writing abilities. This certification documents students’ ability to functionally use a foreign language in personal, academic, and professional settings. Students who fulfill the language requirement through the proficiency certification must substitute with three LACS content courses and/or language courses in a second regional language. Students who complete the language requirement by enrolling in coursework may also take the Practical Language Proficiency Assessment to document their language abilities.

Students who complete the Practical Language Proficiency Certification without enrolling in language courses at the University of Chicago (e.g., students with pre-college immersive language experience, including study abroad) are strongly encouraged to study a second regional language, such as Portuguese, Haitian Kreyol, or an indigenous language that relates to their area of interest.

BA Capstone Project and BA Colloquium

All students who are majoring in Latin American and Caribbean Studies are required to complete a capstone project under the supervision of a faculty member. The capstone project may take the form of a BA thesis, an online exhibition, a documentary film, a podcast, or another intellectual or artistic endeavor; non-traditional projects must be accompanied by a critical piece of writing explaining the student’s intellectual or artistic rationale and the process that led to the student's creation. The project is due Friday of fifth week of the quarter of graduation.

During their third year, all LACS majors (double majors included) are required to participate in a workshop series (three to four sessions) focused on preparation for the capstone project. Students will be provided with information on the workshop series in the Autumn Quarter of their third year. The program adviser will work individually with students who are studying abroad at any point during their third year.

Fourth-year students are required to participate in the BA Colloquium for three quarters of their final year. Students enroll in the BA Colloquium in the Autumn (LACS 29801 BA Colloquium I, 100 units) and Winter Quarters (LACS 29802 BA Colloquium II, 0 units); the course meets 10 times across both quarters. The colloquium assists students in formulating approaches to the BA capstone project and developing their research, communication, and project management skills, while providing a forum for group discussion and critiques. Grades for the colloquium are issued after submission of the capstone.

Students have the option of taking LACS 29900 Preparation of the BA Essay in Winter or Spring Quarter to afford additional time for research or writing; this course is taught by arrangement between a student and the student's project adviser. Students who register for LACS 29900 may count it toward their five LACS content courses. The grade a student receives for this course depends on the successful completion of the BA capstone project.

This program may accept a BA project used to satisfy the same requirement in another major if certain conditions are met and with the consent of both program chairs/directors. Students should consult with the program chairs/directors by the earliest BA proposal deadline. A consent form, to be signed by both chairs/directors, is available from the College adviser. It must be completed and returned to the College adviser by the end of Autumn Quarter of the student’s year of graduation.

Experiential Learning

As part of or in addition to their coursework, students are required to participate in a study abroad program, internship, or other experiential learning project with significant links to their program of study. The LACS program adviser must approve each student’s plan to complete this requirement to ensure that it is relevant to the study of Latin America and the Caribbean. The LACS program adviser and CLAS staff will work individually with majors to ensure that each student has access to opportunities that are appropriate to the student's background, skills, and plan of study.

Options for meeting the requirement include, but are not limited to:

Students must complete this requirement by the quarter prior to the intended quarter of graduation.

Advising

Students who plan to declare a major in Latin American and Caribbean Studies should be in contact with the program adviser as early as possible to discuss their interest in the program and how to meet program requirements. Students should select their courses for the LACS major in close consultation with the program adviser. The Center for Latin American Studies publishes an online list of LACS courses every quarter.

Students should meet with the program adviser no later than the Winter Quarter of their third year to discuss their major progress and to discuss the BA Colloquium and the BA capstone project. Students who plan to study abroad during the Winter and/or Spring Quarter of their third year should meet with the program adviser before leaving campus.

Summary of Requirements: Latin American and Caribbean Studies Major (11 courses)

PREREQUISITES
One of the following: *300
Introduction to Latin American Civilization I-II-III
Latin American Civilization in Oaxaca I-II-III
Total Units300
MAJOR
LACS Courses: Five courses, in at least two divisions (e.g., Social Sciences, Humanities, Biological Sciences), that focus on Latin America and/or the Caribbean500
Electives: Two elective courses that integrate research methodology **200
Language: Three courses in 20000-level or higher Spanish or Portuguese ***300
LACS 29801BA Colloquium I100
LACS 29802BA Colloquium II000
Additional Requirements: BA Capstone Project and Experiential Learning
Total Units1100

Grading

Each of the required courses for the LACS major must be taken for a quality grade.

Honors

Students who have done exceptionally well in their coursework and on their BA capstone project are considered for honors. Candidates must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher overall and 3.25 or higher in the major.


Minor Program in Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS) is an interdisciplinary program for students who want to engage critical issues in the social sciences and humanities through study of the histories, cultures, economies, politics, and natural environments of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The minor requirements include coursework, language proficiency in Spanish or Portuguese, and the submission of a research paper from a LACS course. Students can choose every year from dozens of course listings across the disciplines.

The Center for Latin American Studies supplements the program's academic offerings with dozens of public events each year, which help to build a strong Latin American Studies community. We also aim to expose students to Chicago’s role as a significantly Latin American city and to prepare them for careers in government, journalism, law, business, teaching, the nonprofit sector, or academia.

No courses in the minor can be double counted with the student's major(s) or with other minors, nor can they be counted toward general education requirements. They must be taken for quality grades and more than half of the requirements for the minor must be met by registering for courses bearing University of Chicago course numbers.

Program Requirements

LACS minors are required to take five courses in addition to the Latin American Civilization prerequisite, distributed as follows:

Prerequisite: Introduction to Latin American Civilization

LACS minors must complete the Introduction to Latin American Civilization sequence as a prerequisite to the minor, either on campus (LACS 16100-16200-16300 Introduction to Latin American Civilization I-II-III) or in Oaxaca, Mexico (SOSC 19019-19020-19021 Latin American Civilization in Oaxaca I-II-III). This sequence can be taken in order to fulfill the general education requirement in civilization studies, in which case none of the three courses will count toward the LACS minor. Students who take Latin American Civilization separately from the general education requirement can count one of the three courses in the sequence as a content course toward the LACS minor.

LACS Courses

Three courses that focus on Latin America and/or the Caribbean. The Center for Latin American Studies publishes an online list of LACS courses every quarter.

Language

The LACS language requirement can be completed in one of two ways:

  • Completion of two courses at the second-year level or above in one of the two major regional languages (Spanish or Portuguese). Students with strong language preparation may petition out of one of these courses, substituting it with a content course or a course in a second Latin American or Caribbean language.

OR

  • Earning the Practical Language Proficiency Certification, which assesses listening, reading, speaking, and writing abilities. This certification documents students’ ability to functionally use a foreign language in personal, academic, and professional settings. Students who fulfill the language requirement through the proficiency certification must substitute with two LACS courses and/or language courses in a second regional language. Students who complete the language requirement by enrolling in coursework may also register to take the Practical Language Proficiency Assessment to document their language abilities.
Research Paper

Students must submit a research paper treating a Latin American and/or Caribbean topic written for one of their LACS content courses. The research paper should be of intermediate length (10–15 pages). The student is responsible for making appropriate arrangements with the course instructor. Completion of the research paper must be demonstrated to the LACS program adviser.

Advising

Students who elect the minor program should meet with the LACS program adviser before the end of Spring Quarter of their third year to declare their intention to complete the program. The student must submit the LACS program adviser’s approval for the minor to their College adviser, on the Consent to Complete a Minor Program form, no later than the end of the third year.

Summary of Requirements: Latin American and Caribbean Studies Minor (5 courses)

PREREQUISITES
One of the following: *300
Introduction to Latin American Civilization I-II-III
Latin American Civilization in Oaxaca I-II-III
Total Units300
MINOR
LACS Courses: Three courses that focus on Latin America and/or the Caribbean300
Language: Two courses in 20000-level or higher Spanish or Portuguese **200
Additional Requirement: Submission of a research paper treating a Latin American and/or Caribbean topic for one of the LACS content courses
Total Units500

Latin American and Caribbean Studies Courses

The following courses are for reference only. See Class Search at registrar.uchicago.edu/classes for specific offerings. See the Center for Latin American Studies Courses webpage at clas.uchicago.edu for further information on quarterly offerings.

LACS 11008. Introduction to Latinx Literature. 100 Units.

From the activist literature of the Chicano Civil Rights Movement to contemporary fiction and poetry, this course explores the forms, aesthetics, and political engagements of U.S. Latinx literature in the 20th and 21st centuries. Theoretical readings are drawn from Chicanx Studies, Latinx Studies, American Studies, Latin American Studies, Hemispheric Studies, Indigenous Studies, and Postcolonial Studies, as we explore Latinx literature in the context of current debates about globalization, neoliberalism, and U.S. foreign policy; Latinx literature's response to technological and socio-political changes and its engagement with race, gender, sexuality, class, and labor; and its dialogues with indigenous, Latin American, North American, and European literatures. (Poetry, 1830-1940, Theory)

Instructor(s): Rachel Galvin     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CMLT 11008, ENGL 11008, SPAN 21008, CRES 11008

LACS 12201. Kreyòl for Speakers of Romance Languages I. 100 Units.

This course is intended for speakers of other Romance Languages to quickly develop competence in spoken and written Kreyol (Kreyòl Ayisyen). In this introductory course, students learn ways to apply their skills in another Romance language to master Kreyol by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. Although familiarity with a Romance language is strongly recommended, students with no prior knowledge of a Romance Languages, and heritage learners, are also welcome.

Instructor(s): Gerdine Ulysse     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): KREY 12201

LACS 12301. Kreyòl for Speakers of Romance Languages II. 100 Units.

This course is intended for speakers of other Romance Languages, to quickly develop competence in spoken and written Kreyol (Kreyòl Ayisyen). In this intermediate-level course, students learn ways to apply their skills in another Romance language to master Kreyol by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. This course offers a rapid review of the basic patterns of the language and expands on the material presented in KREY 12201. Although familiarity with a Romance language is strongly recommended, students with no prior knowledge of a Romance language, and heritage learners, are also welcome.

Instructor(s): Gerdine Ulysse      Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): KREY 12201 or consent of instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): KREY 12301

LACS 14500. Portuguese for the Professions: Intensive Business Portuguese. 100 Units.

This is an accelerated language course that covers vocabulary and grammar for students interested in working in a business environment where Portuguese is spoken. The focus of this highly interactive class is to develop basic communication skills and cultural awareness through formal classes, readings, discussions, and writings. PORT 14500 satisfies the Language Competency Requirement.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): PORT 10200, SPAN 20100, or consent of instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 14500

LACS 16100-16200-16300. Introduction to Latin American Civilization I-II-III.

Taking these courses in sequence is not required. This sequence meets the general education requirement in civilization studies. This sequence is offered every year. This course introduces the history and cultures of Latin America (e.g., Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean Islands).

LACS 16100. Introduction to Latin American Civilization I. 100 Units.

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. The courses in this sequence may be taken in any order.

Instructor(s): Emilio Kourí     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 36101, ANTH 23101, LACS 34600, SOSC 26100, CRES 16101, HIST 16101, RDIN 16100

LACS 16200. Introduction to Latin American Civilization II. 100 Units.

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.

Instructor(s): Mauricio Tenorio     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SOSC 26200, PPHA 39770, HIST 36102, LACS 34700, CRES 16102, RDIN 16200, HIST 16102, ANTH 23102

LACS 16300. Introduction to Latin American Civilization III. 100 Units.

Spring Quarter focuses on the twentieth century, with special emphasis on the challenges of economic, political, and social development in the region.

Instructor(s): Brodwyn Fischer     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 34800, ANTH 23103, PPHA 39780, CRES 16103, SOSC 26300, HIST 16103, HIST 36103

LACS 16404. Criminal, Police, and Citizen in Latin America. 100 Units.

Crime and policing are intensely debated today around the world, but perhaps nowhere are these debates felt more sharply than in Latin America, the site of both high rates of crime and violence and widespread distrust of the police and criminal justice institutions. This course delves into the history of these issues in the region. In the process, it sheds light on broader themes of Latin American history from the late colonial period to the present day. As the course shows through topics ranging from crimes against honor, to the policing of street vending, to the drug war, crime and policing in Latin America have been crucial spaces for the construction and contestation of social and legal hierarchies, the voicing of political protest and social critique, and the making and unmaking of citizenship. Through the use of diverse readings, including primary sources such as court records, satirical poems, and blockbuster films, students will trace how ideas of crime, and of the role of the state in attempting to define it and respond to it, changed over time with broader social, economic, and political developments. In doing so, they will examine how crime and policing have intersected with class, race, and gender, and how debates over crime and the practices of policing have shaped the boundaries of citizenship.

Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 16404, HIST 16404, RDIN 16404

LACS 19880. Inhabiting the Borderlands: Latinx Embodiment in Literature, Art, and Popular Culture. 100 Units.

How does a Latinx cultural identity become legible? What are the conditions of its recognition? What kinds of embodied practices and performances serve to point to the particular intersections of race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and gender that can be termed "Latinx"? To approach these questions, this course will explore critical texts by Diana Taylor, Gloria Anzaldúa, Julia Alvarez, Coco Fusco, José Esteban Muñoz, and Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, among others, as well as performances, artwork, and literature by La Lupe, Walter Mercado, Yalitza Aparicio, Cherríe Moraga, Judith Baca, Carmen Maria Machado, and more. (Theory)

Instructor(s): Carmen Merport     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 19880, ENGL 19880, GNSE 19880

LACS 20046. Introduction to Caribbean Studies. 100 Units.

Why have critics, writers, and artists described the Caribbean as "ground zero" of Western modernity? Beginning with the period before European settlement, we will study slavery and emancipation, Asian indentureship, labor and social movements, decolonization, debt and tourism, and today's digital Caribbean. We will survey literary and visual cultures, primary source documents, and thought across the English, French, Spanish, and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. All readings will be available in translation. (Fiction, Theory)

Instructor(s): Kaneesha Parsard     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 22046, CRES 20046, ENGL 20046

LACS 20500. Cultura do Mundo Lusófono. 100 Units.

In this course students will explore the culture of the Lusophone world through the study of a wide variety of contemporary literary and journalistic texts from Brazil, Portugal, Angola and Mozambique, and unscripted recordings. This advanced language course targets the development of writing skills and oral proficiency in Portuguese. Students will review problematic grammatical structures, write a number of essays, and participate in multiple class debates, using authentic readings and listening segments as linguistic models on which to base their own production.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): PORT 20100 or consent of the instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 20500

LACS 20600. Composição e Conversação Avançada. 100 Units.

The objective of this course is to help students acquire advanced grammatical knowledge of the Portuguese language through exposure to cultural and literary content with a focus on Brazil. Students develop skills to continue perfecting their oral and written proficiency and comprehension of authentic literary texts and recordings, while also being exposed to relevant sociocultural and political contemporary topics. Students read, analyze, and discuss authentic texts by established writers from the lusophone world; they watch and discuss videos of interviews with writers and other prominent figures to help them acquire the linguistic skills required in academic discourse. Through exposure to written and spoken authentic materials, students learn the grammatical and lexical tools necessary to understand such materials as well as produce their own written analysis, response, and commentary. In addition, they acquire knowledge on major Brazilian authors and works.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): PORT 20100 or consent of instructor.
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 20600

LACS 21001. Human Rights: Contemporary Issues. 100 Units.

This course examines basic human rights norms and concepts and selected contemporary human rights problems from across the globe, including human rights implications of the COVID pandemic. Beginning with an overview of the present crises and significant actors on the world stage, we will then examine the political setting for the United Nations' approval of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948. The post-World War 2 period was a period of optimism and fertile ground for the establishment of a universal rights regime, given the defeat of fascism in Europe. International jurists wanted to establish a framework of rights that went beyond the nation-state, taking into consideration the partitions of India-Pakistan and Israel-Palestine - and the rising expectations of African-Americans in the U.S. and colonized peoples across Africa and Asia. But from the beginning, there were basic contradictions in a system of rights promulgated by representatives of nation-states that ruled colonial regimes, maintained de facto and de jure systems of racial discrimination, and imprisoned political dissidents and journalists. Cross-cutting themes of the course include the universalism of human rights, problems of impunity and accountability, notions of "exceptionalism," and the emerging issue of the "shamelessness" of authoritarian regimes. Students will research a human rights topic of their choosing, to be presented as either a final research paper or a group presentation.

Instructor(s): Susan Gzesh, Senior Lecturer, (The College)     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Winter
Equivalent Course(s): DEMS 21001, SOSC 21001, HMRT 21001, CRES 21001, LLSO 21001, HIST 29304, CHST 21001

LACS 21100. Las regiones del español. 100 Units.

This sociolinguistic course expands understanding of the historical development of Spanish and awareness of the great sociocultural diversity within the Spanish-speaking world and its impact on the Spanish language. We emphasize the interrelationship between language and culture as well as ethno-historical transformations within the different regions of the Hispanic world. Special consideration is given to identifying lexical variations and regional expressions exemplifying diverse sociocultural aspects of the Spanish language, and to recognizing phonological differences between dialects. We also examine the impact of indigenous cultures on dialectical aspects. The course includes literary and nonliterary texts, audio-visual materials, and visits by native speakers of a variety of Spanish-speaking regions.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Spring Winter
Prerequisite(s): SPAN 20300 or placement
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 21100

LACS 21101. Lang, Sosyete ak Kilti Ayisyèn I. 100 Units.

This advanced-level course will focus on speaking and writing skills through the study of a wide variety of contemporary texts and audiovisual materials. It will provide students with a better understanding of contemporary Haitian society. Students will review problematic grammatical structures, write a number of essays, and participate in multiple class debates.

Instructor(s): Gerdine Ulysse     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): KREY 12300 or consent of instructor
Note(s): Taught in Kreyòl.
Equivalent Course(s): KREY 21100

LACS 21150. El español en los Estados Unidos. 100 Units.

This sociolinguistic course expands understanding of both the historical and the contemporary development of Spanish in parts of the United States, and awareness of the great sociocultural diversity within the Spanish-speaking communities in the United States and its impact on the Spanish language. This course emphasizes the interrelationship between language and culture as well as ethno-historical transformations within the different regions of the United States. Special consideration is given to identifying lexical variations and regional expressions exemplifying diverse sociocultural aspects of the Spanish language, and to recognizing phonological differences between dialects. We also examine the impact of English on dialectical aspects. The course includes sociolinguistic texts, audio-visual materials, and visits by native speakers of a variety of Spanish-speaking regions in the United States.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): SPAN 20300
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 21150

LACS 21200. Lang, Sosyete ak Kilti Ayisyèn II. 100 Units.

This advanced-level course will focus on speaking and writing skills through a wide variety of texts, audiovisual materials, and cultural experiences. We will study a wide range of Haitian cultural manifestations (e.g., visual arts, music, gastronomy). Students will also review advanced grammatical structures, write a number of essays, participate in multiple class debates, and take cultural trips to have a comprehensive learning experience with Haitian language and culture.

Instructor(s): Gerdine Ulysse     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): KREY 21100 or consent of instructor.
Note(s): Taught in Kreyòl.
Equivalent Course(s): KREY 21200

LACS 21600. Francophone Caribbean Culture and Society: Art, Music, and Cinema. 100 Units.

This course provides an interdisciplinary survey of the contemporary Francophone Caribbean. Students will study a wide range of its cultural manifestations (performing arts like music and dance, literature, cinema, architecture and other visual arts, gastronomy). Attention is also paid to such sociolinguistic issues as the coexistence of French and Kreyòl, and the standardization of Kreyòl.

Instructor(s): Gerdine Ulysse     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Taught in English.
Equivalent Course(s): KREY 21600, FREN 21601, CRES 21600, GLST 21600

LACS 21807. Cinemas of the Caribbean. 100 Units.

This course will probe the claims of cohesion within and of incompatibilities between national cinemas of the Caribbean. We will begin with a survey of Cuban filmmaking after 1959 and its outsize influence on Caribbean film practice, and the ensuing weeks will be organized as comparative case studies of upstart film industries, international collaborations, public film initiatives, nonfiction filmmaking, and major film movements from across the region. Although screenings will focus on the Greater Antilles, we will also watch films from the British West Indies, the French Antilles, the continental Caribbean perimeter, as well as the global Caribbean diaspora primarily in the U.S. and Europe. In the final weeks of the course, students will explore the hypothesis that minor cinemas are rarely designed and constructed, as was the exceptional case with Cuba in 1959, but can instead be assembled from its many, diffuse parts. This course will adopt a determined transnational and anti-elitist approach to the study of film and related media, granting admittance to diasporic filmmaking, independent or amateur film practice, the cultural reception of foreign films, derivatives of commercial cinema, lost or orphan cinema, music videos, and other "ancillary" film artifacts. The goal of the course will be to examine the possibility of a Caribbean cinematic tradition and, if nothing else, to recenter the small places which film's most radical innovations may have once emerged.

Instructor(s): Pedro Doreste     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CMST 21807

LACS 21816. A History of Youth in Latin America. 100 Units.

This course will examine the history of youth-as a social category, and as an experience-in Latin America. We will consider histories of childhood, student activism, and youth culture across the region to consider how young people experience everyday life, and how they effect change. Course materials will combine primary sources including film, music, and other visual and performance artworks with scholarship on childhood and youth.

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz-Francisco     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26302, GLST 21816, CHDV 21816

LACS 21900. Latin American Literatures and Cultures: Colonial and 19th-Century. 100 Units.

This course introduces students to the writing produced in Hispanic and Portuguese America during the period marked by the early processes of European colonization in the sixteenth century through the revolutionary movements that, in the nineteenth century, led to the establishment of independent nation-states across the continent. The assigned texts relate to the first encounters between Indigenous, Black, and European populations in the region, to the emergence of distinct ("New World") notions of cultural identity (along with the invention of new racial categories), and to the disputes over the meaning of nationhood that characterized the anti-colonial struggles for independence. Issues covered in this survey include the idea of texts as spaces of cultural and political conflict; the relationships between Christianization, secularization, and practices of racialization; the transatlantic slave trade; the uses of the colonial past in early nationalist projects; and the aesthetic languages through which this production was partly articulated (such as the Barroco de Indias, or "New World baroque," Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Modernismo, among others). In addition to enhancing your knowledge of Latin American cultural history and improving your close reading and critical thinking skills, this course is designed to continue building on your linguistic competence in Spanish.

Instructor(s): Agnes Lugo-Ortiz     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): SPAN 20300 or consent of instructor.
Note(s): Taught in Spanish. This course is the equivalent of SPAN 21903.
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 21905, CRES 21950

LACS 22523. Transpacific Des-orientations: Cultural Relations between Asia & Latin America (16th-21st centuries) 100 Units.

This course offers an overview of the cultural relations between Asia and Latin America from the 16th century to the present day. We will engage with these plural transpacific circulations - individuals, resources, goods, ideas, and sensibilities - through diverse material ranging from maps, poetry, visual arts, films, and essays to music, architecture, textiles, and social media. We will question the local and global implications of these exchanges in a (post)colonial world. A navigation between eras and areas, this course takes transpacific cultural relations as an opportunity to decenter the gaze. What do these early and dynamic circulations tell us about a globalization always centered on the (North) West of the planet? What happens with the old presumed categories of "West" and "East" when the world is lived and conceived from other locations and perspectives? What remains of "Latin" when America is apprehended from the "Pacific Rim"? Drawing on close observations and analysis of representative cultural productions, this course seeks to map the importance and diversity of these transpacific cultural itineraries and to explore alternative ways of thinking about "Latin America" as a central agent of our connected modernities. Besides enhancing your knowledge of Latin American cultural history, this course is designed to help you improve your close reading and critical thinking skills, as well as continue building on your linguistic competence in Spanish.

Instructor(s): Ysé Bourdon
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 22523, SPAN 22523

LACS 22550. Speech Play and Verbal Art. 100 Units.

Course Description TBA

Instructor(s): Tulio Bermúdez     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 32550, LING 22550, LACS 32550

LACS 23424. Building a Nation: Brazilian Culture from Modernism to the Present. 100 Units.

In this course we will go over the last one hundred years in the cultural history of Brazil, a Latin American country which has dealt with multiple labels throughout the years, ranging from post-racial paradise to the country of the future. We will focus on Brazilian literature, from the 1920s to the present day, but we will also consider cinema and other types of art and how they have shaped artists' perception of their nation as a project. How have writers and filmmakers in the last century dealt with the legacy of colonialism and slavery? How have artists depicted and envisioned such a heterogenous continental country? What are the latest trends in Brazilian literature and arts and how do they engage with or depart from tradition? In this course, which will be taught in English, we will close read and discuss texts and films not only by canonical artists such as Clarice Lispector, Guimarães Rosa and Glauber Rocha but also by other artists who have been shaping the new directions of Brazilian art today.

Instructor(s): Eduardo Leão     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): While all required texts and classroom instruction will be in English, the primary texts will also be available in Portuguese and interested students will have opportunities to practice the language in the classroom.
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 23424

LACS 24255. Postcolumbian: The Ancient Americas in Modern and Contemporary Art. 100 Units.

In this seminar we will examine the varied ways in which modern and contemporary artists have engaged with the art of Aztec, Maya, Inca, and other ancient American Indigenous art traditions. We will examine modernist appropriations, later Chicano and Chicana movements, and contemporary re-inventions of Precolumbian art as new forms of Latin American and Latinx expression, commentary, and critique. Artists include Frank Lloyd Wright, Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Henry Moore, Michael Heizer, Robert Smithson, Enrique Chagoya, Yolanda López, Yreina D. Cervántez, Guadalupe Maravilla, Mariana Castillo Deball, Ana de Obregoso, Kukuli Velarde, among others. We will consider the ways artists have used forms of the past in a range of political, social, and aesthetic contexts, and ask what agency iconic forms of the past may have exerted, and continue to exert, on the present. Readings on modern and contemporary episodes in this "Post-Columbian" history will be paired with discussions of ancient art and visual culture, as we entwine understandings of early artworks with later histories.

Instructor(s): C. Brittenham     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 34255, ARTH 24255, ARTH 34255

LACS 24524. Contemporary Women Writers in Latin America. 100 Units.

Latin America has recently seen an explosion of internationally lauded literature by women writers: as one article stated, "The new Latin American Boom is here, and it is being led by women." This course focuses on Latin American women's writing from 1960 to the present, addressing both this recent boom and their literary predecessors. Students will contend with changing trends and historically and culturally specific ideas of representation, womanhood, and feminine sexuality in Latin America, analyze the roles of race, class, and ability in women's writing, and engage with legacies of authoritarianism, political violence, and femicide throughout the region. Texts traverse the region and period, ranging from the 1970s crónicas of Elena Poniatowska (Mexico, 1932-) and the short stories of Isabel Allende (Chile, 1942-) to the concept albums of Rita Indiana (Dominican Republic, 1977-) and the 2017 novel "Temporada de huracanes" by Fernanda Melchor (Mexico, 1982-).

Instructor(s): Laura Colaneri     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Taught in Spanish.
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 23160, SPAN 24524

LACS 24901. Trade, Development and Poverty in Mexico. 100 Units.

With a focus on the past two decades, this interdisciplinary course explores the impact of economic integration, urbanization, and migration on Mexico and, to a lesser extent, on the United States-in particular, working class communities of the Midwestern Rust Belt. The course will examine work and life in the borderland production centers; agriculture, poverty, and indigenous populations in rural Mexico; evolving trade and transnational ties (especially in people, food products and labor, and drugs) between the U.S. and Mexico; and trade, trade adjustment, and immigration policy.

Instructor(s): C. Broughton     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SOCI 20251, PBPL 24901

LACS 25131. Organized Criminal Groups in Latin America. 100 Units.

Many areas in Latin America suffer with organized criminal violence, one of the most significant urban and national security challenges of the 21st century. This violence is promoted by armed non-state groups such as drug trafficking organizations, guerrillas, militias, mafias, warlords, gangs, and vigilantes that have established subnational criminal governance regimes and dictate important parameters of social, economic, and political life. Through the state is frequently distant and negligent in areas controlled by these groups, it is never entirely absent. Many residents in territories dominated by these groups attend schools, visit health clinics, receive cash transfers, continue to vote and work in formal parts of the city. How can organized criminal groups can thrive in functional democracies with institutions to provide public goods, including security and justice? This course will examine this issue with a theoretical and empirical focus on Latin America.

Instructor(s): Joana Monteiro     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 35131, LACS 35131, PLSC 25131

LACS 25132. Covid-19 and other epidemics in Latin American History. 100 Units.

This course is designed as an introduction to the history of epidemics and pandemics in Latin America from the XVI century to the present. Emphasis will be on using epidemics and pandemics as historical lenses to illuminate key dimensions of Latin America's society like discrimination, citizenship, authoritarianism, popular resilience and globalization. We will discuss the relationship between epidemics and pandemics and international commerce, analyze the role played by structural inequities and inadequate responses by governments in the intensification of disease outbreaks, and assess popular reactions to government's action and inaction. An organizing principle of several sessions will be "Necropolitics" (a concept originally coined by Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe) applied to social studies of health. These studies indicate that it is misleading to consider epidemics and pandemics as equal-opportunity threats since widespread disease outbreaks are usually more acute and tragic for vulnerable populations. A distinctive feature of necropolitics and Covid-19 was a misplaced hope for "herd immunity", embraced by Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, namely the natural protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune through previous infection, with the assumption that a large number of people had to die.

Instructor(s): Marcos Cueto     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26305, HIST 36305, LACS 35132

LACS 25133. Technology, Science Policy and Human Agency: Sustainable Resource Management in Latin America. 100 Units.

Technology, Science Policy, and Human Agency: Sustainable Resource Management in Latin America in Times of Uncertainty This course develops analytical and multidisciplinary skills enabling students to understand and analyze a wide array of complex issues associated with the interactions among human behavior and the social and economic role played by science, technology and innovation and their implications for public and business policies. The course is focused on technology and policy issues in Latin America with emphasis on sustainable resource management in times of increasing uncertainty.

Instructor(s): Manuel Heitor     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 35133

LACS 25134. Brazilian Portuguese Syntax: Identifying African Substrate Influence. 100 Units.

Different perspectives exist regarding the origins of Brazilian Portuguese (BP): Is it the outcome of mere drift from European Portuguese? Is it the outcome of "creolization"? The main goal of this course is to present and discuss some syntactic phenomena of BP that distinguish it from European Portuguese and other Romance languages, which could be explained by BP's emergence in an ecology of language contact between European, African and Indigenous languages spoken in colonial Brazil. A set of syntactic features of BP grammar including null subjects, verbal agreement, null objects, word order, pronominal system, voice, verbal alternations, relative clauses, wh-questions, focus constructions and negation, will be examined. These will be compared with features of Bantu and Kwa languages to show that they might to have played a critical role in the restructuring process.

Instructor(s): Esmeralda Vailati Negrão     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): LING 25134, LING 35134, LACS 35134

LACS 25322. A History of Public Spaces in Mexico, 1520-2020. 100 Units.

Streets and plazas have been sites in which much of Mexican history has been fought, forged, and even performed. This course examines the history of public spaces in Mexico since the Spanish Conquest. By gauging the degree to which these sites were truly open to the public, it addresses questions of social exclusion, resistance, and adaptability. The course traces more than the role and evolution of built sites. It also considers the individuals and groups that helped to define these places. This allows us to read street vendors, prostitutes, students, rioters, and the "prole" as central historical actors. Through case studies and primary sources, we will examine palpable examples of how European colonization, various forms of state building, and more recent neoliberal reforms have transformed ordinary Mexicans and their public spaces.

Instructor(s): C. Rocha     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ARCH 26322, ENST 26322, HIST 26322

LACS 25560. Race, Religion, and the Formation of the Latinx Identity. 100 Units.

In this class, we will focus on the conditions of possibility, development, and problems surrounding the formation of the Latinx identity. We will pay special attention to how such an identity is expressed through and informed by religious experience, and to how religious experience is theoretically articulated in Latinx theology and religious thought. To pursue this task, we will devote the first part of the class to the examination of the conditions of possibility of latinidad by focusing on the formation of the Latinx self. What makes Latines, Latines? Is this a forcefully assigned identity or one that can be claimed and embraced with pride? Is there such a thing as a unified Latinx self or shall we favor approaches that stress hybridity or multiplicity? In the second part of the class, we will shift from self-formation to community-formation by examining the experience of mestizaje (racial mixing) and its theoretical articulation in Latinx theology. Is this concept useful to describe the Latinx experience or does it romanticize the violence of European colonialism? Lastly, we will return to the formation of Latinx identity considering the ambiguities of religious ethnic identity through the examples of tensions between Catholic and Evangelical Latinos, and those emerging from the experiences of Latinos converting to non-Christian religions. No prerequisites.

Instructor(s): Raul Zegarra     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): RLST 25560, CRES 25560, GNSE 25560, KNOW 25560

LACS 25640. Language as Resistance. 100 Units.

Course Description TBA

Instructor(s): Tulio Bermudez     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): CRES 25640, LING 35640, LING 25640, LACS 35640

LACS 25805. Popol Vuh, Epic of the Americas. 100 Units.

One of the oldest and grandest stories of world creation in the native Americas, the Mayan Popol Vuh has been called "the Bible of America." It tells a story of cosmological origins and continued historical change, spanning mythic, classic, colonial, and contemporary times. In this class, we'll read this full work closely (in multiple translations, while engaging its original K'iche' Mayan language), attending to the important way in which its structure relates myth and history, or foundations and change. In this light, we'll examine its mirroring in Genesis, Odyssey, Beowulf, Ovid's Metamorphoses, and Diné Bahane' to consider how epics struggle with a simultaneity of origins and historiography. In highlighting this tension between cosmos and politics, we'll examine contemporary adaptations of the Popol Vuh by Miguel Ángel Asturias, Ernesto Cardenal, Diego Rivera, Dennis Tedlock, Humberto Ak'ab'al, Xpetra Ernandex, Patricia Amlin, Gregory Nava, and Werner Herzog. As we cast the Guatemalan Popul Vuh as a contemporary work of hemispheric American literature (with North American, Latin American, Latinx, and Indigenous literary engagement), we will take into account the intellectual contribution of Central America and the diaspora of Central Americans in the U.S. today. As a capstone, we will visit the original manuscript of the Popol Vuh held at the Newberry Library in Chicago, thinking about how this story of world creation implicates us to this day. (Poetry, Fiction)

Instructor(s): Edgar Garcia     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): Note: students who cross-list from RLL will read Spanish-language texts in their original Spanish
Equivalent Course(s): FNDL 25805, ENGL 25805

LACS 26106. Tropical Commodities in Latin America. 100 Units.

This colloquium explores selected aspects of the social, economic, environmental, 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.

Instructor(s): E. Kourí     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 36106, CEGU 26106, HIST 36106, HIST 26106

LACS 26330. Making the Maya World. 100 Units.

What do we know about the ancient Maya? Pyramids, palaces, and temples are found from Mexico to Honduras, texts in hieroglyphic script record the histories of kings and queens who ruled those cities, and painted murals, carved stone stelae, and ceramic vessels provide a glimpse of complex geopolitical dynamics and social hierarchies. Decades of archaeological research have expanded that view beyond the rulers and elites to explore the daily lives of the Maya people, networks of trade and market exchange, and agricultural and ritual practices. Present-day Maya communities attest to the dynamism and vitality of languages and traditions, often entangled in the politics of archaeological heritage and tourism. This course is a wide-ranging exploration of ancient Maya civilization and of the various ways archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists, historians, and indigenous communities have examined and manipulated the Maya past. From tropes of long-hidden mysteries rescued from the jungle to New Age appropriations of pre-Columbian rituals, from the thrill of decipherment to painstaking and technical artifact studies, we will examine how models drawn from astrology, ethnography, classical archaeology and philology, political science, and popular culture have shaped current understandings of the ancient Maya world, and also how the Maya world has, at times, resisted easy appropriation and defied expectations.

Instructor(s): Sarah Newman     Terms Offered: TBD
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 36330, ANTH 36330, ANTH 26330, CEGU 26330

LACS 26380. Indigenous Politics in Latin America. 100 Units.

This course examines the history of Indigenous policies and politics in Latin America from the first encounters with European empires through the 21st Century. Course readings and discussions will consider several key historical moments across the region: European encounters/colonization; the rise of liberalism and capitalist expansion in the 19th century; 20th-century integration policies; and pan-Indigenous and transnational social movements in recent decades. Students will engage with primary and secondary texts that offer interpretations and perspectives both within and across imperial and national boundaries.

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz Francisco     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): LACS 36380, GLST 26380, HIST 26318, RDIN 26380, RDIN 36380, HIPS 26380, CRES 26380, ANTH 23077

LACS 26381. Water in Latin America. 100 Units.

The course will explore how water shapes-and is shaped by-humans in Latin America. Drawing from case studies from the pre-Columbian era to the present, the course will consider struggles over aquatic resources, dam building, and hydraulic development, as well as the social life of water in the region. Some background in Latin American history or politics is helpful but not required.

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz-Francisco     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26306, CEGU 26381

LACS 26382. Development and Environment in Latin America. 100 Units.

Description: This course will consider the relationship between development and the environment in Latin America and the Caribbean. We will consider the social, political, and economic effects of natural resource extraction, the quest to improve places and peoples, and attendant ecological transformations, from the onset of European colonialism in the fifteenth century, to state- and private-led improvement policies in the twentieth. Some questions we will consider are: How have policies affected the sustainability of land use in the last five centuries? In what ways has the modern impetus for development, beginning in the nineteenth century and reaching its current intensity in the mid-twentieth, shifted ideas and practices of sustainability in both environmental and social terms? And, more broadly, to what extent does the notion of development help us explain the historical relationship between humans and the environment?

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz Francisco     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): GEOG 26382, HIPS 26382, CEGU 26382, LACS 36382, HIST 36317, ANTH 23094, HIST 26317, ENST 26382, GLST 26382

LACS 26384. Art and the Archive in Greater Latin America. 100 Units.

How and why do artists engage records of the past in their work? What are the politics of both creating archives and culling from them to visually render or represent the past? Focusing on artists, art-making, and archives in Greater Latin America (including the United States), this course will consider the process of collecting and creating in artistic production from the perspectives of both theory and practice. Students in the course will work directly with archival materials in Chicago and collaborate on contemporary artistic projects that consider issues of relevance to people and places of the Western Hemisphere.

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz-Francisco     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): RDIN 26384, HIST 26319, ARTH 26384, CHST 26384, ARTV 20017

LACS 26386. Greater Latin America. 100 Units.

What is "Latin America," who are "Latin Americans" and what is the relationship among and between places and people of the region we call Latin America, on the one hand, and the greater Latinx diaspora in the US on the other? This course explores the history of Latin America as an idea, and the cultural, social, political and economic connections among peoples on both sides of the southern and eastern borders of the United States. Students will engage multiple disciplinary perspectives in course readings and assignments and will explore Chicago as a crucial node in the geography of Greater Latin America. Some topics we will consider are: the origin of the concept of "Latin" America, Inter-Americanism and Pan-Americanism, transnational social movements and intellectual exchanges, migration, and racial and ethnic politics.

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz Francisco     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26321, RDIN 26386, CRES 26386, ANTH 23003, SPAN 36386, RDIN 36386, SPAN 26386, LACS 36386

LACS 26388. Food Justice and Biodiversity in Latin America. 100 Units.

This course asks how the relationships between food production and consumption, economic justice, and biodiversity have changed over the last century in Latin America and the Caribbean. As a region known both for its ecological diversity and as a producer of tropical foods regularly consumed in the United States, plantation-style agriculture has often undermined its celebrated biodiversity. In centering the role of workers and consumers, this course considers the layered relationships- ecological, social, political, economic and cultural-between the production and consumption of food from Latin America and the Caribbean. In Autumn 2022, the course will also engage questions of food justice and biodiversity in the Chicagoland area and in particular among Latine/x com

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz Francisco     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Preferred: some background in Latin American history, geography and/or contemporary issues
Equivalent Course(s): GLST 26388, ENST 26388, HIST 26323

LACS 26390. Science and Society in Latin America. 100 Units.

How have ideas about and practices of science shaped life and society in Latin America? This course explores the interconnected social and political realities of scientific theory and practice in modern Latin America. Taking a historical approach, it will focus on the scientific management of social and political life, including the construction of categories such as sex and race; the production, consumption, and policing of drugs; and public health. In this discussion-based course, students will develop their own research project that historicizes a contemporary question related to scientific knowledge and/or practice in the region.

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz Francisco     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIPS 26390, HIST 26390

LACS 26409. Revolution, Dictatorship, & Violence in Modern Latin America. 100 Units.

This course will examine the role played by Marxist revolutions, revolutionary movements, and the right-wing dictatorships that have opposed them in shaping Latin American societies and political cultures since the end of World War II. Themes examined will include the relationship among Marxism, revolution, and nation building; the importance of charismatic leaders and icons; the popular authenticity and social content of Latin American revolutions; the role of foreign influences and interventions; the links between revolution and dictatorship; and the lasting legacies of political violence and military rule. Countries examined will include Guatemala, Cuba, Chile, Argentina, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Mexico. Assignments: Weekly reading, a midterm exam or paper, a final paper, participation in discussion, and weekly responses or quizzes.

Instructor(s): B. Fischer     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Some background in Latin American studies or Cold War history useful.
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26409, DEMS 26409, HIST 36409, LACS 36409, ENST 26409, HMRT 26409

LACS 25731. Gender Before Gender: Constructing Bodies in Ancient American Art. 100 Units.

In this course, we will seek to test the possibilities and limits of understanding gender and sex in premodernity through an inquiry into the artistic traditions of the ancient Americas. Works of art constitute a primary means by which we can access ideas about what we call gender and sex. Based on what we can reconstruct from visual, textual, and archaeological sources, these cultures conceptualized and represented gender in ways that might seem unfamiliar, in the process putting into question our own preconceptions. Indeed, pre-modern works of art might not have served to simply record conventions of gender but also helped construct the very idea of a sexed body within a given cultural context. As we discover commonalities and divergences between these Indigenous American traditions, we will learn to think across cultural contexts and disciplinary divides, putting into question some of our own assumptions. We will see that gender is not an immutable construct but something actively brought into being in different ways in different times and places.

Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 20138, GNSE 30138, LACS 35731, ARTH 25731, ARTH 35731

LACS 26509. Law and Citizenship in Latin America. 100 Units.

This course will examine law and citizenship in Latin America from the nineteenth to the twenty-first centuries. We will explore the development of Latin American legal systems in both theory and practice, examine the ways in which the operation of these systems has shaped the nature of citizenship in the region, discuss the relationship between legal and other inequalities, and analyze some of the ways in which legal documents and practices have been studied by scholars in order to gain insight into questions of culture, nationalism, family, violence, gender, and race.

Instructor(s): B. Fischer     Terms Offered: Winter
Prerequisite(s): background in Latin American Studies, Latin American History, and/or legal history useful
Equivalent Course(s): KNOW 36509, LACS 36509, LLSO 26509, HIST 36509, HIST 26509

LACS 26722. Literatura y escuela. 100 Units.

Today, institutions of education have become one of the most intense sites of the so-called "culture wars," both in Latin America and the United States. This situation, of course, is part of a longer history. In this course, we will explore the complex relations between literature and institutions of learning in twentieth-century Latin America in order to understand (or try to understand) the institutional, cultural and political present we now face. On the one hand, we will read essays on the subject by important Latin American pedagogues, who were most times in charge of developing their countries' educational systems. On the other, we will read works of fiction (short stories, novels, memoirs) that formulate concrete images of the 'school experience.' We'll pay attention to the ways in which the school distributed cultural capital (knowledges, skills, tastes) and produced cultural difference (nationality, gender, race, class) amongst subjects. In this sense, the objective of the class is to provide students with historical, linguistic and analytic tools they can use to understand and shape their institutional present.

Instructor(s): Enrique Macari     Terms Offered: Spring
Note(s): Taught in Spanish.
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 26722

LACS 26822. Women and Food in Latin America. 100 Units.

Taking on a transatlantic and trans-historic approach to understanding the role and representation of women in connection to food, this course will explore a diverse array of cultural artifacts ranging from 1583 to contemporary times. We will read authors such as Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Spanish chronicles about the food cultures of the Mexica people, alongside cookbooks, and representations of women and food in Baroque, Colonial Latin American, and Latinx art. We will put premodern and modern sources in dialogue in order to flesh out the long-standing ideas and representations of women's relation to food. Some of the questions we will explore are: How have notions of race shaped the experience of Latin American women in the kitchen? What modes of knowledge transmission has food enabled for women? How have Mexican and Latinx women re-appropriated the figure of a 17th-century poet as a culinary icon? How have poets re-imagined the religious meanings of food? Our focus will be on how notions of motherhood, femininity, and sexuality are expressed and constituted in practices and cultural beliefs about food. We will also explore how women have reimagined the space of the kitchen and challenged conventions such as domesticity, breastfeeding, health, and appetite. Today, gender inequality in the domestic space and the food industry is still very much a reality. For that reason, this class also aims to reflect upon women's contemporary issues in relation to eating and cooking.

Instructor(s): Daniela Gutiérrez Flores
Equivalent Course(s): GNSE 26822, SPAN 26822

LACS 28400. Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology: Approaches to the Past. 100 Units.

This course is intended to provide students with a thorough understanding of bioanthropological, osteological and forensic methods used in the interpretation of past and present behavior by introducing osteological methods and anthropological theory. In particular, lab instruction stresses hands-on experience in analyzing human remains, whereas seminar classes integrate bioanthropological theory and its application to specific archaeological and forensic cases throughout the world. At the end of this course, students will be able to identify, document, and interpret human remains from archaeological and forensic contexts. Lab and seminar-format classes each meet weekly.

Note(s): This course qualifies as a Methodology selection for Anthropology majors.
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 38800, BIOS 23247, ANTH 28400, LACS 38400

LACS 28922. Literary "Selfies": Autobiographical Discourses in Contemporary Latin America. 100 Units.

Have you ever written a diary? Have you ever asked "what for"? Why tell a life, and why not? Can every life story be told? How? All these questions bundle behind a more general one: why is the "self" such a hot topic in contemporary literature? How has literature reacted to this interest in subjectivity? In this course we will look into --and challenge-- a series of terms that tend to be confused: autobiography, autobiographical novel, memoir, diary, autofiction, correspondence. Are these distinctions helpful? What kind of "truth" do they look up to? Are all lives worth their telling? How has that changed with time? We will read contemporary authors that engage with these different genres. We will read about splendid and "minor" lives. We will study maniac authors that simply can't interrupt their production. (The instructor is one of these rare creatures!) We will delve into the main critical discussions of the field and use them to think of the different types of autobiographical works that will be covered in the program. Also, once a week (myself included) we will write a short reading diary entry as a hands-on "autobiographical" practice.

Instructor(s): Pablo Ottonello     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): Taught in Spanish.
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 28922

LACS 29101. Archive [Yellow] Fever. 100 Units.

Archive [Yellow] Fever reads Black Feminist approaches to the archive of slavery in the Caribbean in order to ask questions about the scholar's embodied relationship in the present to historical documents and artifacts produced in the context of Atlantic world slave societies. How is a scholar affected by and implicated in the production such an archive? This class explores this and other questions produced by this scholarship, with a particular focus on historical and contemporary concerns about what enslavement does to the physical body and the affective impacts of institutionalized bondage. The course also provides an introduction in methods of working in historical and contemporary archives. We will explore themes of contagion, sex, birth, and death by reading fictional, archival, methodological and theoretical texts, including the work of, Saidiya Hartman, Marisa Fuentes, Jacques Derrida, Carolyn Steedman, Jennifer L. Morgan, Jenny Sharpe, Robin Coste Lewis, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Mary Prince, Mary Seacole, Bryan Edwards, James Grainger. The class will make two trips to special collections, one to view archival texts from the period and another to find an archival object of the student's choosing (relevant to their own research interests) that will provide the topic of their final paper. This course is offered as part of the Migrations Research Sequence. (1650-1830, 1830-1940) This is a research and criticism seminar intended for third- and fourth-year English majors.

Instructor(s): Sarah Johnson      Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): This course is limited to 15 third- and fourth-year students who have already fulfilled the Department’s Genre Fundamentals (formerly Gateway) requirement and taken at least two further English courses.
Equivalent Course(s): ENGL 29101, CRES 29101, GNSE 29103

LACS 29106. Gendering Slavery. 100 Units.

This reading seminar will introduce students to the key questions, methods, and theories of the burgeoning field of gendered histories of slavery. Global in scope, but with a focus on the early modern Atlantic world, we will explore a range of primary and secondary texts from various slave societies. Assigned monographs will cover a multitude of topics including women and law, sexualities, kinship, and reproduction, and the intersection of race, labor, and market economies. In addition to examining historical narratives, students will discuss the ethical and methodological implications of reading and writing histories of violence, erasure, and domination. Learning to work within and against the limits imposed by hegemonic forms of representation, the fragmentary nature of the archive, and the afterlives of slavery, this course will examine how masculinity and femininity remade and were remade by bondage.

Instructor(s): M. Hicks     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 39105, GNSE 20131, CRES 29105, LACS 39106, HIST 29105

LACS 29117. Theater and Performance in Latin America. 100 Units.

What is performance? How has it been used in Latin America and the Caribbean? This course is an introduction to theatre and performance in Latin America and the Caribbean that will examine the intersection of performance and social life. While we will place particular emphasis on performance art, we will examine some theatrical works. We ask: how have embodied practice, theatre and visual art been used to negotiate ideologies of race, gender and sexuality? What is the role of performance in relation to systems of power? How has it negotiated dictatorship, military rule, and social memory? Ultimately, the aim of this course is to give students an overview of Latin American performance including blackface performance, indigenous performance, as well as performance and activism.

Instructor(s): Danielle Roper     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): Undergraduates must be in their third or fourth year.
Note(s): Taught in English.
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 29117, SPAN 39117, GNSE 29117, TAPS 28479, RDIN 29117, GNSE 39117, LACS 39117, TAPS 38479, RDIN 39117

LACS 29700. Reading and Research in Latin American Studies. 100 Units.

Students and instructors can arrange a Reading and Research course in Latin American Studies when the material being studied goes beyond the scope of a particular course, when students are working on material not covered in an existing course or when students would like to receive academic credit for independent research.

Instructor(s): Staff     Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Summer Winter
Prerequisite(s): Consent of undergraduate thesis/project adviser required
Note(s): College students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Must be taken for a quality grade.

LACS 29801. BA Colloquium I. 100 Units.

This colloquium, which is led by the LACS BA Program Adviser, assists students in formulating approaches to the BA capstone project and developing their research and writing skills, while providing a forum for group discussion and critiques. Graduating students present their BA projects in a public session of the colloquium during the spring quarter.

Instructor(s): Diana Schwartz Francisco     Terms Offered: Autumn
Prerequisite(s): For fourth year (graduating) students majoring in Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Note(s): Required of students who are majoring in Latin American Studies. Students must participate in all three quarters but register in Autumn and in Winter (LACS 29802) only.

LACS 29900. Preparation of the BA Essay. 100 Units.

Independent study course intended to be used by 4th year BA students who are writing the BA thesis.

Terms Offered: Autumn Spring Summer Winter
Prerequisite(s): Consent of undergraduate thesis/project adviser required
Note(s): Typically taken for a quality grade.


Contacts

Undergraduate Secondary Contact

Associate Director
Natalie Arsenault
Kelly 115
773.702.9741
Email

Program Manager
Mario Pino
PIck Hall 225
773.702.8420
Email

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