This course provides an introduction to categories and concepts that are necessary for understanding Latinx communities in the contemporary United States. An interdisciplinary mapping of the diversity of groups with ties to Latin America will provide the background for a close exploration of the ways that gender, race and ethnicity are constructed in a range of settings. With a focus on contemporary issues and contexts, the course will encourage students think critically about their own identities. Fulfills Culture and Social Differences: Identities for the Integrations Curriculum and counts towards the Latino/Latin American Studies minor.

Readings and discussions in specific areas of Latino/Latin American Studies. Topics tied to on-campus lectures, performances, or exhibits presented by invited speakers or artists. Approval of the Latino/Latin American Studies Program Director and/or the faculty moderator of the reading circle required. This course can be repeated for credit with the permission of the Program Director. S-U grading only.

This course takes students for two weeks to coastal Salvador, Bahia – Brazil’s third largest city and its first colonial capital and one week to Rio de Janeiro – a city is also known for its sprawling favelas (shanty towns). Salvador played a key role in Brazil’s historical, multi-racial and multi-cultural formation and is also one of the most important points of reference within the African Diaspora. Through coursework, workshops, tours, site visits to local NGO’s, and excursions, the course will explore the historical and contemporary constructions of race, class, and gender inequality in Brazil. The course will also explore the ways that Afro-Brazilians have used culture and social movements to push back and rework inequality and structures of domination. Students will stay with host families and take basic Portuguese. Prerequisites: None

Study in Cuba provides a unique opportunity to learn about a nation’s past and present. It remains a mystery to many and hostile relations between the governments of the United States and Cuba have sharply limited contact between the two countries for almost forty years. Current U.S. law still restricts the travel of U.S. citizens to the island nation. However, this course, which will obtain legal permission to be in Cuba, is a unique opportunity to study Cuban history and the political and economic system of one of the world’s few remaining socialist countries. Students do reading on the historic background of the area under study and then focus on contemporary political, social, and economic issues through meetings with resource people: professors, political and religious leaders, and grass roots organizers. The course will be conducted in English but knowledge of Spanish will enhance appreciation of out stay in Cuba and study of Cuban history, politics, and society. Offered for A-F Grading only.

An in-depth examination of selected topics in Latino/Latin American Studies at the upper-division level. Course may be repeated when topics vary and with consent of the LLAS Program Director.

Supervised reading or research in Latino/Latin American Studies at the upper-division level. Permission of LLAS Program Director required.