Mar 28, 2024  
Catalogue 2021-2022 
    
Catalogue 2021-2022 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program


Director: Eréndira Rueda;

Steering Committee: Carlos Alamo (Sociology), Michael C. Aronna (Hispanic Studies), Light Carruyob (Sociology), Colleen Ballerino Cohenb (Anthropology), Jaime Del Razo (Education), Brian J. Godfrey (Geography), Katherine Hiteb (Political Science), Tracey Holland (Education), Timothy Koechlin (International Studies), Elena Elias Krell (Women’s Studies), Joseph Nevinsab (Earth Science and Geography), Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosaa (Philosophy), Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebertab (Hispanic Studies), Sarah Pearlman (Economics), Hiram Perez (English), Eréndira Rueda (Sociology), David Taváreza (Anthropology), Nicolás Vivalda (Hispanic Studies), Eva Woods Peiró (Hispanic Studies);

Participating Faculty: Carlos Alamo (Sociology), Michael C. Aronna (Hispanic Studies), Light Carruyob (Sociology), Colleen Ballerino Cohenb (Anthropology), Jaime Del Razo (Education), Brian J. Godfrey (Geography), Katherine Hiteb (Political Science), Tracey Holland (Education), Timothy Koechlin (International Studies), Elena Elias Krell (Women’s Studies), Joseph Nevinsab (Earth Science and Geography), Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosaa (Philosophy), Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebertab (Hispanic Studies), Sarah Pearlman (Economics), Hiram Perez (English), Eréndira Rueda (Sociology), David Taváreza (Anthropology), Nicolás Vivalda (Hispanic Studies), Eva Woods Peiró (Hispanic Studies).

a   On leave 2021/22, first semester

b   On leave 2021/22, second semester

ab On leave 2021/22

The Latin American and Latino/a Studies Program provides a multidisciplinary approach to the study of Latin America and the Latino/a populations of the Americas. The program allows students to explore the multiplicity of cultures and societies of Latin and Latino/a America in ways that acknowledge the permeability, or absence, of borders. The program emphasizes knowledge of global politics, economies, cultures, and nations as theorized, imagined, and practiced through Latin/Latino/a America.

Programs

Major

Correlate Sequence in Latin American and Latino/a Studies

Approved Courses

Courses

Latin American and Latino/a Studies: I. Introductory

  • LALS 105 - Conceptualizing Latin and Latinx America

    Semester Offered: Spring
    1 unit(s)


    (Same as EDUC 105 ) Topic for 2021/22b:  Popular Education and Social Struggle in Latin America. Popular education is a pedagogical technique which builds on the values of solidarity, inclusion, and respect for human rights. This critical theory arms learners with the vital skills and knowledge necessary to construct new forms of anti-capitalist politics and social movements. In this course, students learn about popular education’s philosophical and theoretical assumptions as well as its pedagogical practices. We first look historically at the roots of popular education and liberation theology through the lens of social protest and revolution in Brazil, Central America and Mexico. Next, we turn to the contemporary by studying the developing intersection of popular education and protest in the Southern Cone. In doing so, we explore the ways in which social movements are impacted by colonialism and occupation, armed conflict, extractivism, migration, and racism, as well as how this same academic approach led to the emergence of popular education among civil society groups in Latin America. Students will have an opportunity to study the lives and work of human rights activists and the threats they experience as they educate others.  As a final project, students develop a critical Latin American studies curriculum for middle and high school students that examines the social, economic, gender, environmental, linguistic, and racial justice issues faced by groups within diverse communities in Latin America and the United States.

      Tracey Holland.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Course Format: CLS

  • LALS 106 - Dynamic Women


    1 unit(s)
    How do issues of inequality, social justice, representation, popular culture, migration, environmental justice and globalization look when women’s voices and gender analysis are at the center? This multidisciplinary course examines writing by and about women in Latin America, the Caribbean, and Latino/a USA. We read and write about a range of genres — from testimonio, film and fiction to social science. The goal is to develop an appreciation and understanding of the varied lives and struggles of Latinas and Caribbean women, the transnational politics of gender, key moments in the history of the hemisphere, and contemporary issues across the Americas.  Light Carruyo.

    Open only to first-year students; satisfies college requirement for a First-Year Writing Seminar.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 164 - Environmental History of Latin America

    Semester Offered: Fall
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as ENST 164  and HIST 164 ) This course explores the history of  Latin America by centering the environment.  Beginning with examples in the ancient Americas and continuing through the colonial and national periods, this course explores how human ideas about the environment, along with tangible regimes for exploiting “natural” resources, have shaped the history of Latin America.  Class materials draw from a range of academic, literary, and primary sources, and class discussions cover topics such as: the flora and fauna of the ancient Americas; organisms and landscapes of the “Spanish Conquest”; ranching, farming, and export agriculture; mining, drilling, and extractivist industries; hurricanes, volcanoes, and “natural” disasters; urbanization, pollution, and climate change; and debates over environmental protections and human rights.  Accordingly, this course addresses the questions: what discourses, representations, and ideas have shaped the meaning of the environment in Latin America?  How has the environment shaped broader meanings of Latin America itself?  And what is at stake today for the people of Latin America today as governments, corporations, and NGOs take different approaches to environmental issues? Daniel Mendiola.

    Two 2-hour periods.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 180 - Border(s): Visually Representing Human Rights and Personhood

    Semester Offered: Fall
    0.5 unit(s)
    In this six-week intensive, we study a set of documentary films about statelessness, migration, and labor in the Dominican Republic made between 2007 and 2020.  The films are site to examine how and when human rights representations and critical theories of race and racialization overlap, are in dialogue and/or in tension, and sometimes miss each other completely. With an eye toward how knowledge is produced and circulated, we study tensions, convergences, and possibilities otherwise—along national borders and knowledge borders—specifically as they pertain to visual representations of Hispaniola (the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic).  Light Carruyo.

    Prerequisite(s): Permission of the instructor.

    Second six-week course.

    One 3-hour period.

    Course Format: INT

Latin American and Latino/a Studies: II. Intermediate

  • LALS 214 - Transnational Perspectives on Women and Work


    1 unit(s)
    (Same as SOCI 214  and WMST 214 ) This class is a theoretical and empirical exploration of women’s paid and unpaid labor. We examine how women’s experiences as workers — across space, place, and time — interact with larger economic structures, historical moments, and narratives about womanhood. We pay particular attention to the ways in which race, class, gender, sexuality and citizenship intersect and shape not only women’s relationships to work and family, but to other women workers (at times very differently geopolitically situated). We are attentive to the construction of women workers, the work itself, and the meanings women give to production, reproduction, and the global economy.  Light Carruyo.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 227 - Colonial Latin America

    Semester Offered: Fall
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as HISP 227 ) Studies in Latin American literary and cultural production from the European invasion to the crisis of the colonial system.

    Topic for 2020/21a: Natural and Moral History of the Spanish Empire. This course explores the interrelated development of scientific observation, geographic mapping, writerly expression, artistic rendering, moral legitimization, and in the exploration and colonization of Spain’s transatlantic and transpacific empire. Readings and class discussion examine the epistemological and political challenges early modern Spanish and Latin American scientists, historians, and writers encountered in describing, classifying, understanding and assigning value to what was for them “new” scientific phenomena and civilizations. Course texts address such figures as Gonzálo Fernández de Oviedo, José de Acosta, El Inca Garcilaso, José Celestino Mutis, Alexander Von Humboldt, and Alejandro Malaspina, among others. Michael Aronna.

    Prerequisite(s): One course above HISP 206 .

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 229 - Postcolonial Latin America

    Semester Offered: Fall
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as HISP 229 ) Studies in Latin American literary and cultural production from the emergence of the nation states to the present. Thematically structured, the course delves into the social, political, and institutional processes undergone by Latin America as a result of its uneven incorporation into world capitalist development.

    Prerequisite(s): HISP 216  or HISP 219 .

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 230 - Latina and Latino Literature


    1 unit(s)
    (Same as ENGL 230 ) Students and instructor collaborate to identify and dialogue with the growing but still disputed archive of “Latinx Literature.” The category “Latinx” presents us then with our first challenge:  exactly what demographic does “Latinx” isolate (or create)? How does it differ from the categories “Hispanic,” “Chicanx,” “Raza,” “Mestizx,” or “Boricua,” to name only a few alternatives, and how should these differences inform our critical reading practices? When and where does Latinx literature originate? Together, we work to identify what formal and thematic continuities might characterize a Latinx literary heritage. Some of those commonalities include border crossing or displacement, the tension between political and cultural citizenship, code-switching, indigeneity, contested and/or shifting racial formations, queer sexualities, gender politics, discourses of hybridity, generational conflict, and an ambivalent sense of loss (differently articulated as trauma, nostalgia, forgetting, mourning, nationalism, or assimilation).  Hiram Perez. 

    Not offered in 2021/22.

  • LALS 242 - Brazil in Crisis: Continuity and Change in Portuguese America

    Semester Offered: Spring
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as AFRS 242 , GEOG 242 , INTL 242 ) Brazil, a giant of Latin America and the Global South, has long been known as the “land of the future.” Yet frustrating political-economic crises have repeatedly followed periods of rapid growth and social progress. Taking current crises as a point of departure, this course examines Brazil’s contemporary evolution in light of the country’s historical geography, the distinctive cultural and environmental features of Portuguese America, and the political-economic linkages with the world system. Specific topics for study include: the legacies of colonial Brazil; race relations, Afro-Brazilian culture, and ethnic identities; issues of gender, youth, violence, and poverty; processes of urban-industrial growth; regionalism and national integration; environmental devastation and sustainability; controversies surrounding the occupation of Amazonia; and long-run prospects for democracy and equitable development in Brazil. Brian Godfrey.

    Two 75-minute periods.

  • LALS 243 - Mesoamerican Worlds


    1 unit(s)
    (Same as ANTH 243 ) A survey of the ethnography, history, and politics of indigenous societies with deep historical roots in regions now located in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras. This course explores the emergence of Mesoamerican states with a vivid cosmology tied to warfare and human sacrifice, the reconfiguration of these societies under the twin burdens of Christianity and colonial rule, and the strategies that some of these communities adopted in order to preserve local notions of identity and to cope with (or resist) incorporation into nation-states. After a consideration of urbanization, socio-religious hierarchies, and writing and calendrical systems in pre-contact Mesoamerica, we will focus on the adaptations within Mesoamerican communities resulting from their interaction with an evolving colonial order. The course also investigates the relations between native communities and the Mexican and Guatemalan nation-states, and examines current issues—such as indigenous identities in the national and global spheres, the rapport among environmental policies, globalization, and local agricultural practices, and indigenous autonomy in the wake of the EZLN rebellion. Work on Vassar’s Mesoamerican collection, and a final research paper and presentation is required; the use of primary sources (in Spanish or in translation) is encouraged.  David Tavarez.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

  • LALS 246 - The U.S.-Mexico Border: Capital, State, and Nation


    1 unit(s)
    (Same as GEOG 246 ) Born in large part of violence, conquest and dispossession, the United States-Mexico border region has evolved over almost two centuries into a site of intense economic growth and trade, demographic expansion, ethno-cultural interaction, and political geographic conflict. The course focuses on these processes over space and time as they relate to capitalist production, state-making, and nation-building on both sides of the international divide. In doing so, the course considers the U.S.-Mexico borderlands as a region, one characterized by dynamic transboundary ties and myriad forms of socio-spatial difference. Joseph Nevins.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

  • LALS 250 - Language, Culture, and Society


    1 unit(s)


    This course draws on a wide range of theoretical perspectives in exploring a particular problem, emphasizing the contribution of linguistics and linguistic anthropology to issues that bear on research in a number of disciplines. At issue in each selected course topic are the complex ways in which cultures, societies, and individuals are interrelated in the act of using language within and across particular speech communities.

    May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

    Course Format: CLS

  • LALS 252 - Building Inclusive Communities in Latino-a-x Poughkeepsie


    0.5 unit(s)


    (Same as HISP 252 ) This course is intended for students who wish to learn from and support that process, notably connecting with local Latino-a-x high school students with the goal of helping empower them to be leaders in the process.

    The course offers students a chance to engage with and learn more about the local Latino-a-x community, meet local community leaders, and learn about the most pressing issues impacting the community at the local, state, and national levels. This course also allows students to experience best practices when it comes to developing and sustaining an inclusive community – developing intimacy, exploring social identity and power, using effective communication and conflict resolution skills, and attending to the well-being of the individual members of the community – specifically in the context of Latino-a-x community.

    Spanish-speaking and Latino-a-x students are encouraged to enroll, but all students are most welcome! Both English and Spanish are used, but always in a way that is inclusive and accessible to non-Spanish speakers. Eva Woods.

    First six-week course.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

    Course Format: CLS

  • LALS 253 - Children of Immigration


    1 unit(s)
    (Same as SOCI 253 ) Immigration to the U.S. since the 1970s has been characterized by a marked and unprecedented increase in the diversity of new immigrants. Unlike the great migrations from Europe in the late 1800s and early 1900s, most of the immigrants who have arrived in the U.S. in the last four decades have come from Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean. New immigration patterns have had a significant impact on the racial and ethnic composition and stratification of the American population, as well as the meaning of American identity itself. Immigrants and their families are also being transformed in the process, as they come into contact with various institutional contexts that can facilitate, block, and challenge the process of incorporation into the U.S. This course examines the impact of these new immigration patterns by focusing on the 16.4 million children in the U.S. who have at least one immigrant parent. Since 1990, children of immigrants - those born in the U.S. as well as those who are immigrants themselves - have doubled and have come to represent 23% of the population of minors in the U.S. In this course we study how children of immigrants are reshaping America, and how America is reshaping them, by examining key topics such as the impact of immigration on family structures, gender roles, language maintenance, academic achievement, and identity, as well as the impact that immigration reforms have had on access to higher education, employment, and political participation. This course provides an overview of the experiences of a population that is now a significant proportion of the U.S. population, yet one that is filled with contradictions, tensions and fissures and defies simple generalizations.  Erendira Rueda.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

  • LALS 255 - Global Political Economy

    Semester Offered: Spring
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as INTL 255 ) This course explores competing visions of economic globalization, and uses these distinct frameworks to analyze the meaning, causes, extent, and consequences of globalization, with a particular focus on the relationships among global, national and local economic phenomena. What do we mean by globalization? What are the effects of globalization on growth, inequality, and the environment? How might international economic policy and the particular form(s) of globalization that it promotes help to explain the pace and form of urbanization? Who benefits from globalization, and who might be hurt? Why do economists and others disagree about the answers to these and related questions? This course explores some of the ways that interdisciplinary analysis might enrich our understanding of economic globalization.  Timothy Koechlin.

    Two 75-minute periods.

  • LALS 256 - Bilingualism and/in K-12 Public Education

    Semester Offered: Fall
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as EDUC 256  and  URBS 256 ) Learning in schools where the language of instruction is new presents a challenge familiar to young immigrants and refugees across the globe. This affects their educational achievement, as well as their sense of inclusion and belonging in their new communities. This course examines the issue of education for English Language Learners through a field based experience. The hands-on component of the course is paired with readings that draw from bilingual education, critical theories of pedagogy, education policy, migration,, and education for social change. A group research and writing project is intended to highlight the academic needs of local ELLs, to examine the current instructional models for bilingual students. The course is open to all Vassar students interested in (a) community-based learning as a tool for social change; (b) learning about the experiences of bilingual students in Poughkeepsie schools; and (c) gaining practical experience researching bilingual education policy. Tracey Holland.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 258 - Latin American Politics


    1 unit(s)
    (Same as POLI 258 ) Drawing from political processes across several Latin American countries, this course focuses on conceptual debates regarding political representation and participation, political institutions, political culture, and political economy in the region. A major theme is inequality. The course examines historical-structural patterns, relationships among social, economic, and political conditions at the national, sub-national and regional levels, and important social and political actors and institutions. The course also examines the evolution of US roles in Latin America. Katherine Hite.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 262 - Latin American Philosophy

    Semester Offered: Spring
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as PHIL 262 ) In 1942, Leopoldo Zea wrote that, “What belongs to us, what is properly Latin American, is not to be found in pre-Columbian culture […] our way of thinking, our worldview, is similar to the European. […] Still, we do not feel it to be our own”. The purpose of this course is to examine the root of this claim and its status, as well as the anxiety it provokes. We begin by studying available pre-colonial sources from the Americas, including a peek into Aztec and Mayan philosophy, with a goal both toward adequate interpretation and toward seeking echoes of this early thinking in later Latin American writing. We then move into colonial-era philosophy, where the issues of emancipation and the rights of indigenous groups and women were playing out on a global scale. This unit includes readings on Bartolomé de las Casas, Sor Juana, Toussaint Louverture, and Simón Bolívar. We then do a unit on the identity movement in the 19th and 20th century, where various minds were grappling with the existentialist problem and (im)possibility of forging a national, racial, or ethnic identity. Readings might include José Martí, Samuel Ramos, Leopoldo Zea, Franz Fanon, Ofelia Schutte, and Gloria Anzaldúa. We end with a discussion of whether there is a distinctive Latinx philosophy, and what philosophy in Latin America looks like today. Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa.

    Prerequisite(s): At least one course in Philosophy, or permission of the instructor.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 263 - Conquest and Borderlands in Colonial Latin America

    Semester Offered: Fall
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as HIST 263 ) This course explores the history of colonial Latin America by centering conquests and borderlands.  Beginning with examples in the ancient Americas and continuing through the end of the 18th century, this course explores the ideas, practices, and experiences that shaped the long-term processes of conquering territory, as well as the parallel processes of creating “borderlands” in the places that conquering powers failed to reach.  Class materials draw from a range of academic, literary, and primary sources, and class discussions cover topics such as: the Aztec Empire and its war with the Spanish; the Canary Islands and early precedents of Spanish conquests; the Philippines and Latin America’s Asian borderlands; the indigenous Comanche Empire and North American borderlands; the afro-indigenous Mosquito Confederation and Caribbean borderlands; and the indigenous Mapuche Nation and South American borderlands.  Accordingly, this class addresses the questions: what is a conquest?  What are borderlands?  How have conquests shaped the history of Latin America?  How do borderlands call into question traditional narratives of conquest?  And what is at stake in questioning conquest narratives today? Daniel Mendiola.

    Two 2-hour periods.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 268 - Religion, Repression, and Resistance in Latin America


    1 unit(s)
    (Same as ANTH 268  and HIST 268 ) What was it like to live in a society where crimes of thought and religious transgressions were prosecuted and punished? How did various populations confront and resist inquisitorial activities? What is the legacy of the Inquisition in the Americas? This course addresses these and other questions through a focus on the Latin American Inquisition and Extirpation (ecclesiastic attempts to reform or destroy Precolumbian indigenous religions). The course tracks the emergence of Inquisition tribunals in Mexico City, Lima, and Cartagena after 1571, and the Catholic Church’s prosecution of indigenous idolatry and sorcery. It focuses both on trends in prosecution, torture, and punishment, and on the dynamic responses of those who were either targets or collaborators: indigenous peoples, Jews, Africans, female healers, people of mixed descent, and Protestants. Towards the end of the course, based on students’ interests, we also review other select case studies of religious control and resistance in Latin America. Students proficient in Spanish or Portuguese are encouraged to work with primary sources. David Tavárez.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 270 - Undocumented, Unapologetic, Unafraid


    1 unit(s)
    (Same as EDUC 270 ) This introductory immigration course is about undocumented people in the U.S. and will be situated within a historical, academic, legal, political, social, cultural, and economic context. The course will take a historical look at immigration law and legal enforcement, with a particular focus on the (mis)construction and criminalization of undocumented immigrants. By examining how the concept of undocumented/unauthorized immigration has been created, we will seek to understand the ways that this immigration status works to unjustly exclude and exploit undocumented people. Course content will consider the array of social institutions that are complicit in this work (e.g. schools, governments, agencies, industries, media, public opinion) and how undocumented people resist these forms of oppression and dominance that are exerted by these institutions and entities. An emphasis will be given to undocumented immigration from Latin America especially Mexico given the large percentage (~79% & 51%, respectively) of undocumented immigration that comes from that region however, it’s important to note that being undocumented is not relegated to just one race/ethnicity/nation of people. Also, a special focus of this course will examine how undocumented students navigate K-12 schooling experiences and pathways to college. Key topics will include but not limited to current legislation like DACA & DREAM Act; current campaigns like Comprehensive Immigration Reform and Undocumented, Unapologetic, and Unafraid campaigns; immigration industrial complex; the theoretical intersectionality of racism and nativism with other forms of oppression; and the global, capitalist, economic forces that create both the need to migrate and the need for immigrant labor. Jaime Del Razo.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 271 - Hello, Dear Enemy: Mounting an Exhibition of Picture Books on Experiences of War and Displacement

    Semester Offered: Fall
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as EDUC 271 , INTL 271 MEDS 271  and WMST 271 ) At a time when the world is witnessing the largest displacement of people since WWII, due in significant measure to armed conflict, this course examines select case studies (both past and present) of armed conflict and their consequences for children. Journalists, photographers and writers of young adult literature have done much to raise awareness about children and armed conflict, and to treat them in such a way that audiences develop understanding, empathy, and solidarity with children affected by armed conflict. A principal aim of the course is to study the topics of war and displacement, journalism and photography, and young adult literature, and then to mount an exhibition in the Collaboratory of photographs and books that will travel to area schools and libraries, where Vassar students serve as docents. Our work is enriched by study of human rights statutes and policy pertaining to children affected by armed conflict, as well as by interaction with visiting artists and educators. Tracey Holland.

    Two 75-minute periods.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 274 - Writing Workshop

    Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as HISP 274 ) It admits of three modes, according to each student’s preference. The course includes periodic meetings where the texts are collectively discussed (Previous Requisite: one course at the 220 level or special permission by me.). A) Chronicle: the course hinges around an ongoing event (political, historical, etc.) chosen by each student. Such event will be researched as it develops during the semester, in depth and thoroughly. The end result will be an annotated dossier of primary and secondary sources and the writing of a chronicle based upon some of the models studied (García Márquez, Rodolfo Walsh, Germán Castro Caycedo, Alma Guillermo Prieto, etc.) B) Fiction: the course is geared toward completion of a piece of writing previously agreed upon between each student and me (collection of poems or short stories, novelistic fragment, journal, short film and so on). Writing models and problematics will be discussed and serve as a springboard for each student’s project. C) Testimonial Writing: the course will allow for crafting a piece of testimonial writing (of one’s own or someone else’s experience). Writing strategies will be derived from an understanding of the genre’s logic and its problematization. In all modalities, the final text can take the form of an audiovisual product (the student’s technical knowledge for carrying on such a project is presupposed).  Mario Cesareo.

    Prerequisite(s): HISP 216  or HISP 219  or permission of the instructor.

    Course Format: INT
  • LALS 278 - Women’s History of Latin America

    Semester Offered: Spring
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as HIST 278  and WMST 278 )  This course explores the history of Latin America by centering women. Beginning with examples in the ancient Americas and continuing through the colonial and national periods, this course explores how the ideas, representations, experiences, and actions of women have shaped Latin American history. Class materials draw from a range of academic, literary, and primary sources, and class discussions cover topics such as: women in Aztec and other ancient societies; “La Malinche” and women of the Conquest; witchcraft and women in colonial religion; Sor Juana, Gabriela Mistral, and women of Latin American literature; women and 20th-c. activism; and indigenous women in Latin America today.  Accordingly, this course addresses the questions: what cultural, economic, and political conditions have shaped how women in Latin America experienced the world? How have women had agency in shaping the meaning of Latin America?  And what is at stake for Latin American women today in debates over issues such as economic development, migration, and human rights?  Daniel Mendiola.

    Two 2-hour periods.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 290 - Community-Engaged Learning

    Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
    0.5 to 1 unit(s)
    Individual or group field projects or internships. May be elected during the college year or during the summer. Open to all students.  The Department.

    By special permission.

    Course Format: INT
  • LALS 297 - Reading Course

    Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
    0.5 unit(s)


     

    Individual or group reading and writing project, based on substantial reading lists supervised by the instructor in consultation with students. May be elected during the college year or during the summer. Offered pass/fail option as well. Open to all students.  The Department.

    By special permission.

    Course Format: INT

  • LALS 298 - Independent Research

    Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
    0.5 to 1 unit(s)
    Individual or group research project. May be elected during the college year. Open to all students.  The Department.

    By special permission.

    Course Format: INT

Latin American and Latino/a Studies: III. Advanced

  • LALS 300 - Senior Thesis

    Semester Offered: Fall
    0.5 unit(s)
    A 1-unit thesis written over two semesters. The Department.

    Yearlong course 300-LALS 301 .

    Course Format: INT
  • LALS 301 - Senior Thesis

    Semester Offered: Spring
    0.5 unit(s)
    A 1-unit thesis written over two semesters. The Department.

    Yearlong course LALS 300 -301.

    Course Format: INT
  • LALS 302 - Senior Thesis

    Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
    1 unit(s)
    A 1-unit thesis written in the fall or spring semester.  Students may elect this option only in exceptional circumstances and by special permission of the program director. The Department.

    Course Format: INT
  • LALS 303 - Senior Project

    Semester Offered: Fall
    0.5 unit(s)
    US Latino/a studies programs have their origins in the joining of university students with grassroots organizers to create multidisciplinary curricula and initiatives recognizing the contributions of Latino communities. A senior project reflects that spirit. In conjunction with two faculty members, one of whom must come from the LALS steering committee, students formulate a project topic based on continuing community-based work they have done during their Vassar years. The project might be rooted in the local Latino/a community, or from sustained work in Latin America. Students submit a proposal and bibliography, develop a work plan, and follow the same schedule as thesis writers. The senior project must go beyond a fieldwork experience, and requires a well-defined written analytical component. The Department.

    Yearlong course 303-LALS 304 .

    Course Format: INT
  • LALS 304 - Senior Project

    Semester Offered: Spring
    0.5 unit(s)
    US Latino/a studies programs have their origins in the joining of university students with grassroots organizers to create multidisciplinary curricula and initiatives recognizing the contributions of Latino communities. A senior project reflects that spirit. In conjunction with two faculty members, one of whom must come from the LALS steering committee, students formulate a project topic based on continuing community-based work they have done during their Vassar years. The project might be rooted in the local Latino/a community, or from sustained work in Latin America. Students submit a proposal and bibliography, develop a work plan, and follow the same schedule as thesis writers. The senior project must go beyond a fieldwork experience, and requires a well-defined written analytical component. The Department.

    Yearlong course LALS 303 -304.

    Course Format: INT
  • LALS 305 - Senior Project

    Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
    1 unit(s)


    US Latino/a studies programs have their origins in the joining of university students with grassroots organizers to create multidisciplinary curricula and initiatives recognizing the contributions of Latino communities. A senior project reflects that spirit. In conjunction with two faculty members, one of whom must come from the LALS steering committee, students formulate a project topic based on continuing community-based work they have done during their Vassar years. The project might be rooted in the local Latino/a community, or from sustained work in Latin America. Students submit a proposal and bibliography, develop a work plan, and follow the same schedule as thesis writers. The senior project must go beyond a fieldwork experience, and requires a well-defined written analytical component.

    This will serve as a 1-unit/1-semester option for a Latin American Studies Project.  Special permission. The Department.

    Prerequisite(s): Special permission

    This will serve as a 1-unit/1-semester option for a Latin American Studies Project. Special permission.

    Course Format: INT

  • LALS 320 - Seminar in the History of Philosophy

    Semester Offered: Spring
    1 unit(s)
    Topic for 2021/22b: The Baroque Philosophy of Sor Juana & Friends: Enlightenment and the Early Modern Period in Latin America. (Same as PHIL 320 ) Some historians have remarked that Latin America skipped the Enlightenment. The works of polymath, polyglot, and “Tenth Muse” Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695) and her contemporaries during the Spanish Colonial period tell a different story. We examine a broad selection of Sor Juana’s writing in prose, poetry, and dramatic dialogue, including her masterpiece, First Dream, in light of their influences in contemporary and historical European and pre-Columbian Mesoamerican thought. Was Sor Juana a traditionalist Aristotelian or a hip empiricist – or was she neither? Is she indebted to pre-Columbian thought, or is all her writing neo-European? We also discuss her defense of women’s rights to education, her thoughts about the rights of Indigenous peoples and her Creole identity, her rumored relationships with women and views on love, the issue of her ‘conversion’ near the end of her life and her thoughts about God and the Church, her theories on artistic depiction and artistic creation, and also the views she may have had on the major scientific issues of her day from optics to the stars. Students with Spanish language expertise are provided with Spanish language resources. Students are encouraged to do independent research into primary and secondary sources and produce original writing in conversation with these sources.  Sofia Ortiz-Hinojosa.

    Prerequisite(s): At least one course in Philosophy, preferably PHIL 102 PHIL 262 , or PHIL 320. Certain 200- or 300-level literature courses in HISP or LALS may also be acceptable.

    One 3-hour period.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 321 - Feminism, Knowledge, Practice

    Semester Offered: Fall
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as SOCI 321  and WMST 321 ) How do feminist politics inform how research, pedagogy, and social action are approached? Can feminist anti-racist praxis and insights into issues of race, power and knowledge, intersecting inequalities, and human agency change the way we understand and represent the social world? We discuss several qualitative approaches used by feminists to document the social world (e.g. ethnography, discourse analysis, oral history). Additionally, we explore and engage with contemplative practices such as mediation, engaged listening, and creative-visualization. Our goal is to develop an understanding of the relationship between power, knowledge and action and to collectively envision healing forms of critical social inquiry. Light Carruyo.

  • LALS 352 - Indigenous Literatures of the Americas

    Semester Offered: Spring
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as  AMST 352  and ANTH 352 ) This course addresses a selection of creation narratives, historical accounts, poems, and other genres produced by indigenous authors from Pre-Columbian times to the present, using historical, linguistic and ethnographic approaches. We examine the use of non-alphabetic and alphabetic writing systems, study poetic and rhetorical devices, and examine indigenous historical consciousness and sociopolitical and gender dynamics through the vantage point of these works. Other topics include language revitalization, translation issues, and the rapport between linguistic structure and literary form. The languages and specific works to be examined are selected in consultation with course participants. They may include English or Spanish translations of works in Nahuatl, Zapotec, Yucatec and K’iche’ Maya, Quechua, Tupi, Aymara, and other indigenous languages of Latin America. David Tavárez.

    One 2-hour period.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 363 - Bordering the Americas

    Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as HIST 363 ) This course examines the creation and proliferation of national bordering regimes throughout the Americas. Beginning in the late colonial period and continuing to the present, the course evaluates how the meanings and practices of borders have changed over time, as well as how the borders have impacted the lives and livelihoods of real people.  Class materials draw from a range of academic, literary, and primary sources, and class discussions will cover topics such as: the role of borders and migration in creating nation states; the role of Asian exclusion in changing the meaning of borders throughout the Americas; the evolution of migration enforcement tactics the targeting of asylum seekers; migrant caravans and the history of forced migration in Central America; grass roots efforts at protecting migrants; and alternative approaches to borders based on free migration and universal rights. Accordingly, this course addresses the questions: why has constraining migration come to be one of the most salient meanings of borders today? How has this affected people? How have people in different places and times contested borders? And what is at stake in how we construct borders today?   Daniel Mendiola.

    Two 2-hour periods.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 367 - Indigenous Cultures and Languages of Latin America


    1 unit(s)
    (Same as ANTH 367 ) This intensive offering focuses on closely mentored, collaborative work on Mesoamerican, Andean, or Amazonian languages and cultures. Students develop and execute a concise research project based on their own interests, qualifications, and previous coursework. Possibilities include intensive study, work with material culture in Vassar’s museum and rare book collections or elsewhere, and digital humanities projects, including those under development by the instructor. One previous course in Latin American and Latino/a Studies, Anthropology, History or the social sciences is recommended, but not required. David Tavárez.

    NRO for Juniors and Seniors only.

    One 2-hour period.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

    Course Format: INT
  • LALS 374 - Writing Workshop

    Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as HISP 374 ) It admits of three modes, according to each student’s preference. The course includes periodic meetings where the texts are collectively discussed (Previous Requisite: one course at the 220 level or special permission by me.). A) Chronicle: the course hinges around an ongoing event (political, historical, etc.) chosen by each student. Such event is researched as it develops during the semester, in depth and thoroughly. The end result is an annotated dossier of primary and secondary sources and the writing of a chronicle based upon some of the models studied (García Márquez, Rodolfo Walsh, Germán Castro Caycedo, Alma Guillermo Prieto, etc.) B) Fiction: the course is geared toward completion of a piece of writing previously agreed upon between each student and me (collection of poems or short stories, novelistic fragment, journal, short film and so on). Writing models and problematics will be discussed and serve as a springboard for each student’s project. C) Testimonial Writing: the course allows for crafting a piece of testimonial writing (of one’s own or someone else’s experience). Writing strategies are derived from an understanding of the genre’s logic and its problematization. In all modalities, the final text can take the form of an audiovisual product (the student’s technical knowledge for carrying on such a project is presupposed).  Mario Cesareo.

    Prerequisite(s): HISP 216  or HISP 219  or permission of the instructor.

    Course Format: INT
  • LALS 381 - Race and Popular Culture


    1 unit(s)
    (Same as AFRS 381  and SOCI 381 ) This seminar explores the way in which the categories of race, ethnicity, and nation are mutually constitutive with an emphasis on understanding how different social institutions and practices produce meanings about race and racial identities. Through an examination of knowledge production as well as symbolic and expressive practices, we focus on the ways in which contemporary scholars connect cultural texts to social and historical institutions. Appreciating the relationship between cultural texts and institutional frameworks, we unravel the complex ways in which the cultural practices of different social groups reinforce or challenge social relationships and structures. Finally, this seminar considers how contemporary manifestations of globalization impact and transform the linkages between race and culture as institutional and intellectual constructs. Carlos Alamo.

    One 2-hour period.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 382 - Social Movements at the Borderlands

    Semester Offered: Spring
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as INTL 382  and SOCI 382 ) This course explores border politics through the lens of social movements. We begin with an overview of the major paradigms in the study of collective behavior and social movements. This theoretical foundation helps us understand how border communities and migrants mobilize claims for social change across regional contexts. A focus on borderlands allows us to analyze the ways in which spaces shape claims, social mobilization, and identities. We also answer important practical questions about the pursuit of social justice and human rights, and through these practical questions, we address theoretical questions about citizenship and belonging in an era of globalization and increasing inequality. Alejandro Marquez.

    One 2-hour period.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 385 - Women, Culture and Development


    1 unit(s)
    (Same as INTL 385 , SOCI 385 , and WMST 385 ) This course examines the ongoing debates within development studies about how integration into the global economy is experienced by women around the world. Drawing on gender studies, cultural studies, and global political economy, we explore the multiple ways in which women struggle to secure well-being, challenge injustice, and live meaningful lives. Light Carruyo.

    Not offered in 2021/22.

  • LALS 386 - Ghetto Schooling

    Semester Offered: Fall
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as EDUC 386  and SOCI 386 ) In twenty-first century America, the majority of students attend segregated schools. Most white students attend schools where 75% of their peers are white, while 80% of Latino students and 74% of black students attend majority non-white schools. In this course we will examine the events that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka and the 60-year struggle to make good on the promises of that ruling. The course will be divided into three parts. In part one, we will study the Brown decision as an integral element in the fight against Jim Crow laws and trace the legal history of desegregation efforts. In part two, we will focus on desegregation policies and programs that enabled the slow move toward desegregation between 1954 and the 1980s. At this point in time, integration efforts reached their peak and 44% of black students in the south attended majority-white schools. Part three of the course will focus on the dismantling of desegregation efforts that were facilitated by U.S. Supreme Court decisions beginning in the 1990s. Throughout the course we will consider the consequences of the racial isolation and concentrated poverty that characterizes segregated schooling and consider the implications of this for today’s K-12 student population, which is demographically very different than it was in the 1960s, in part due to new migration streams from Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean. Over the last 40 years, public schools have experienced a 28% decline in white enrollments, with increases in the number of black and Asian students, and a noteworthy 495% increase in Latino enrollments. Eréndira Rueda.

    One 2-hour period.

    Course Format: CLS
  • LALS 387 - Latin American Seminar

    Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as HISP 387 ) A seminar offering in-depth study of topics related to the literary and cultural history of Latin America. This course may be repeated for credit when the topic changes.

    Prerequisite(s): HISP 216  and one course above 216.

    One 2-hour period.

  • LALS 388 - Latin American Economic Development

    Semester Offered: Fall
    1 unit(s)
    (Same as ECON 388 ) This course examines why many Latin American countries started with levels of development similar to those of the U.S. and Canada but were not able to keep up. The course begins with discussions of various ways of thinking about and measuring economic development and examines the record of Latin American countries on various measures, including volatile growth rates, high income and wealth inequality, and high crime rates. We then turn to an analysis of the colonial and post-Independence period to examine the roots of the weak institutional development than could explain a low growth trajectory. Next, we examine the post WWII period, exploring the import substitution of 1970s, the debt crises of the 1980s, and the structural adjustment of the 1990s. Finally, we look at events in the past decade, comparing and contrasting the experience of different countries with respect to growth, poverty and inequality. Sarah Pearlman.

    Prerequisite(s): ECON 209 .

  • LALS 399 - Senior Independent Research

    Semester Offered: Fall or Spring
    0.5 to 1 unit(s)
    Individual research project. The Department.

    By special permission.

    Individual conferences with the instructor.

    Course Format: INT