EDUC 105 - Conceptualizing Latin and Latinx America

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

(Same as LALS 105) Topic for 2022/23b: 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 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