LACS 12200. Portuguese for Spanish Speakers. 100 Units.

This class is intended for speakers of Spanish to develop competence quickly in spoken and written Portuguese. In this intermediate-level course, students learn ways to apply their Spanish language skills to mastering Portuguese by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages.

Instructor(s): A.-M. Lima     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): SPAN 20100 or consent of instructor
Note(s): Must be taken for a quality grade.
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 12200

LACS 14003. Art of Mesoamerica. 100 Units.

This course provides an introduction to the art and architecture of Mesoamerica, a region that encompasses much of modern-day Mexico and northern Central America. We will examine sculpture, painting, architecture, ceramics, and other arts of the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, and other Mesoamerican civilizations over a period of three millennia, from ca. 1500 B.C. to the time of the Spanish invasion in 1519. We will study sacred art, courtly art, architecture and urbanism, writing systems and their relation to images, and the interactions between artistic traditions.

Instructor(s): C. Brittenham     Terms Offered: Autumn
Note(s): Students must attend first class to confirm enrollment. For nonmajors, any ARTH 14000 through 16999 course meets the general education requirement in the dramatic, musical, and visual arts.
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 16003

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 16500-36501. Brazil.

LACS 20100. The Inka and Aztec States. 100 Units.

This course is an intensive examination of the origins, structure, and meaning of two native states of the ancient Americas: the Inka and the Aztec. Lectures are framed around an examination of theories of state genesis, function, and transformation, with special reference to the economic, institutional, and symbolic bases of indigenous state development. This course is broadly comparative in perspective and considers the structural significance of institutional features that are either common to or unique expressions of these two Native American states.

Instructor(s): A. Kolata     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 20100,ANTH 40100,LACS 40305

LACS 20400. Intensive Study of a Culture: Lowland Maya History and Ethnography. 100 Units.

The survey encompasses the dynamics of first contact; long-term cultural accommodations achieved during colonial rule; disruptions introduced by state and market forces during the early postcolonial period; the status of indigenous communities in the twentieth century; and new social, economic, and political challenges being faced by the contemporary peoples of the area. We stress a variety of traditional theoretical concerns of the broader Mesoamerican region stressed (e.g., the validity of reconstructive ethnography; theories of agrarian community structure; religious revitalization movements; the constitution of such identity categories as indigenous, Mayan, and Yucatecan). In this respect, the course can serve as a general introduction to the anthropology of the region. The relevance of these area patterns for general anthropological debates about the nature of culture, history, identity, and social change are considered.

Instructor(s): J. Lucy     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 21230,ANTH 30705,CHDV 20400,CHDV 30401,CRES 20400,LACS 30401

LACS 20603. Image and Text in Mexican Codices. 100 Units.

,In most Mesoamerican languages, a single word describes the activities that we would call “writing” and “painting.”  This seminar will investigate the interrelationships between image and text in Central Mexico both before and immediately after the introduction of alphabetic writing in the 16th century. We will also review art historical and archaeological evidence for the social conditions of textual and artistic production in Mexico, and how these traditions were transformed under Spanish colonial rule. We will consider the materiality of text and image by working with facsimiles of Mesoamerican books in the Special Collections of the Regenstein Library. At the end of the course, students will have acquired a basic literacy in Aztec and Mixtec writing systems, and will have refined their ability to look productively and write elegantly about art. 

Instructor(s): C. Brittenham     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 20603,ARTH 30603,LACS 30603

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.

Terms Offered: Winter, Spring
Prerequisite(s): SPAN 20300 or consent of instructor
Note(s): Must be taken for a quality grade.
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 21100

LACS 21254. Intensive Study of a Culture: Pirates. 100 Units.

Many questions regarding pirates, smugglers, and privateers go to the heart of major anthropological problems (e.g., the nature of informal economies, the relationship between criminality and the state, transnationalism, the evolution of capitalism, intellectual property and globalization, political revolutions, counter-culture, and the cultural role of heroic [or anti-heroic] narratives). Each week we tackle one of these topics, paring a classic anthropological work with specific examples from the historical, archaeological, and/or ethnographic literature. We compare pirate practices in the early modern Caribbean to examples spanning from ancient ship raiders in the Mediterranean to contemporary software "piracy."

Instructor(s): S. Dawdy     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 21254

LACS 21800. Introduction to Latin American Cultural Theory. 100 Units.

Students in this course discuss how Brazilian and Spanish American critics theorize about cultural production in Latin America. We read Angel Rama and Antonio Candido, Antonio Cornejo-Polar and Silviano Santiago, Roberto Gonzales-Echevarría and Luiz Costa Lima, Roberto Fernandes Retamar and Roberto Schwarz.

Instructor(s): A. Melo     Terms Offered: Spring

LACS 21903. Introducción a las literaturas hispánicas: textos hispanoamericanos desde la colonia a la independencia. 100 Units.

This course examines an array of representative texts written in Spanish America from the colonial period to the late nineteenth century, underscoring not only their aesthetic qualities but also the historical conditions that made their production possible. Among authors studied are Christopher Columbus, Hernán Cortés, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, Simón Bolívar, and José Martí.

Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): SPAN 20300 or consent of instructor
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 21903,CRES 21903

LACS 22205. Slavery and Unfree Labor. 100 Units.

This course offers a concise overview of institutions of dependency, servitude, and coerced labor in Europe and Africa, from Roman times to the onset of the Atlantic slave trade, and compares their further development (or decline) in the context of the emergence of New World plantation economies based on racial slavery. We discuss the role of several forms of unfreedom and coerced labor in the making of the "modern world" and reflect on the manner in which ideologies and practices associated with the idea of a free labor market supersede, or merely mask, relations of exploitation and restricted choice.

Instructor(s): S. Palmié     Terms Offered: Not offered 2012-13; will be offered 2013-14
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 22205,ANTH 31700,CRES 22205,LACS 31700

LACS 22713. Literaturas del Caribe Hispánico en el siglo XX. 100 Units.

This course will explore some key examples of the literatures of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo) during the twentieth century, including those of its migrant and exile communities. Questions concerning the literary elaboration of the region’s histories of slavery and colonialism, militarization, and territorial displacements will be at the center of our discussions. Among the authors we may read are Fernando Ortiz, Antonio Pedreira, Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Luis Palés Matos, Nicolás Guillén, René Marqués, Pedro Pietri, Alejo Carpentier, Ana Lydia Vega, Eduardo Lalo, and Pedro Juan Gutiérrez.

Instructor(s): A. Lugo-Ortiz     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 27401,LACS 32713,SPAN 37401

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

Taking the past twenty years as its primary focus, this course examines the impact of economic globalization across Mexico with particular emphasis on the border region and the rural South. We explore the impact of NAFTA and the shift to neoliberal policies in Mexico. In particular, we examine the human dimension of these broad changes as related to social development, immigration, indigenous populations, and poverty. While primarily critical, the primary objective of the course is to engage is an interdisciplinary exploration of the question: Is trade liberalization an effective development strategy for poor Mexicans?

Instructor(s): C. Broughton     Terms Offered: Winter
Note(s): This course is offered in alternate years.
Equivalent Course(s): PBPL 24901,CRES 24901

LACS 25011. Africa, America. 100 Units.

This seminar explores the dynamic exchanges in the expressive cultures of Africa and the Americas. It examines a range of visual and material traditions that emerged and grew from the sustained contact between the two continents from the era of the Atlantic Slave Trade to the present. Class discussion, readings, assignments, and museum visits address topics such as carnival performances, santería and candomblé traditions, Vodou ritual forms, Luso-African architecture on both continents, and contemporary art.

Instructor(s): C. Fromont     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 25011,ARTH 35011,LACS 35011

LACS 25102. The Politics of Blackness in the Americas. 100 Units.

The aim of this course is to examine the politics of blackness and black mobilization in historical context and across a number of countries in the Americas. The course begins with an analysis of the structural and ideological conditions that gave rise to particular kinds of expressions of black politics in countries like the United States, Cuba, Panama, Colombia, and Brazil. In this, we focus on the early part of the 20th century and analyze the very different ways black populations and African culture were incorporated into, or excluded from, nationalist projects. This laid the context for complex processes of identity formation that would both facilitate and constrain black mobilization in these countries. We then move to the second half of the 20th century where we examine the emergence of nation-based black political movements alongside a number of attempts to build a broader Pan-African movement of the Americas. In so doing, we pay special attention to the crosspollination of ideologies, strategies, and aesthetics among black activists in ways that complicate simple North to South flows of influence. Throughout the course we explore contestation between black activists over the meanings and boundaries around blackness itself, as well as the nature of their racial utopias, both within and across national contexts. (C)

Instructor(s): T. Paschel     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 25102,CRES 25102

LACS 25303. Human Rights: Alien and Citizen. 100 Units.

This course addresses how international human rights doctrines, conventions, and mechanisms can be used to understand the situation of the “alien” (or foreigner) who has left his or her country of origin to work, seek safe haven, or simply reside in another country. If human rights are universal, human rights are not lost merely by crossing a border. We use an interdisciplinary approach to study concepts of citizenship and statelessness, as well as the human rights of refugees and migratory workers.

Instructor(s): S. Gzesh     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 24701,LAWS 62401

LACS 25312. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Broche de oro del Barroco hispánico. 100 Units.

La trayectoria lírica de sor Juana conforma, en conjunto, su manifiesto poético. Como no podía ser menos en una poeta de su tipo, la monja mexicana nunca se limitó a sólo reproducir los moldes existentes ni a respetar las convenciones literarias: se apropió de las tradiciones poéticas de su tiempo, dominadas por los hombres, las hizo suyas a base de sutiles variaciones y rupturas; las llevó más lejos que cualquier otro poeta contemporáneo. Después de sor Juana nadie emuló a Calderón, Quevedo o Góngora como ella; después de ella no volvió a haber gran poesía española hasta mucho tiempo después: el broche resplandeciente que cerró los siglos de oro fue, precisamente, la obra de esta poetisa americana; de ahí el título del curso.

Instructor(s): M. L. Tenorio     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 25312,LACS 35312,SPAN 35312

LACS 25613. Historia y memoria en las literaturas de la diáspora cubana. 100 Units.

In this course, we will read a sample of the prominent voices to have emerged from the literature of the Cuban Diaspora since the triumph of the socialist revolution in 1959. We will look at the problematics of migration and exile specifically as a literary and cultural problem. The texts we will read—novels and autobiographical non-fiction—all grapple with how to write, preserve, and reconstruct notions of history and memory. We will thus explore these broad themes in an array of readings from throughout the Cuban Diaspora.
,
,Among the many questions to be raised, we will consider the ways in which literature can represent and reproduce the human, social, cultural, historical and political experiences of exile. Through these multiple visions of the self and homeland, we will examine expressions of how that self remembers, imagines and reconstitutes the homeland as well as its Diasporic community. Among the authors we will read are Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Reinaldo Arenas, Gustavo Pérez Firmat, Cristina García, Achy Obejas and Zoé Valdés.

Instructor(s): J. Leving Jacobson     Terms Offered: Spring
Prerequisite(s): SPAN 20300 or consent of instructor.
Note(s): Readings and class meetings will be in Spanish.
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 23013

LACS 26303. Queer Latino Studies. 100 Units.

 ,

Instructor(s): R. Coronado     Terms Offered: Autumn

LACS 26310. History of Spain. 100 Units.

Spain is the region, the country, the dimension that is at the roots of what is called "modern" in the West. And yet Spain is not often seen either as fully western, or as the truly great "partera" of modern times. To the contrary, it is commonly ignored, not belonging to either the arbitrary clusters: "Europe" and "Latin America." And yet Spain portentously shaped the destiny of Europe and the Americas. The course is designed as a general introduction to the political, cultural, and social history of Spain from the Napoleonic wars—when the French invasion of Spain produced wars of "independence" both in the peninsula and in the Americas—to the 1970s Spanish transition to democracy which very significantly marked the beginning of a new world's democratic wave in the 20th century. What the course fundamentally aims at is to spark your curiosity, to learn more, and to think history—American, "Latin" American, European, African—with its indispensable ingredient revisited, namely, Spain. The course will consist of lectures and class discussions.

Instructor(s): M. Tenorio     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26310

LACS 26508. A Transnational History of Youth in the 20th Century. 100 Units.

In her comparative study of Fascist Italy and the United States in the 1950s, historian Luisa Passerini noted that youth served as a metaphor for change. In these and other settings, yet, young men and women were also historical actors in their own right; they propelled, shaped, and embodied cultural, political, and sexual change. This seminar will explore how and why youth, as a concept, and young people, as cultural and political actors, gained ascendancy throughout the twentieth century. In doing so, we will seek to unravel the connections between youth and modernity, drawing on case studies not only from Western Europe and North America but also from Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Instructor(s): V. Manzano     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 26508,HIST 36508,LACS 36508

LACS 26802. Bunuel and Surrealism. 100 Units.

 Description forthcoming.

Instructor(s): Jim Lastra     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CMST 26802,LACS 36802,CMST 36802

LACS 27105. Introduction to Brazilian Culture: Essay, Fiction, Cinema, and Music. 100 Units.

During the twentieth century, literature, social thought, music and cinema were completely intertwined in Brazil. This class is an introduction to Brazilian culture through these four types of cultural production and their interaction. We will read authors such as Euclides da Cunha, Gilberto Freyre, Mario de Andrade, Clarice Lispector, and listen to samba, bossa nova, and tropicalismo.

Instructor(s): A. Melo     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 27100,CRES 37100,LACS 37105,PORT 37100

LACS 27901-27902-27903. Beginning Modern Spoken Yucatec Maya I-II-III.

This course is a basic introduction to the modern Yucatec Maya language, an indigenous American language spoken by about 750,000 people in southeastern Mexico. Three consecutive quarters of instruction are intended for students aiming to achieve basic and intermediate proficiency. Students receiving FLAS support must take all three quarters. Others may elect to take only the first quarter or first two quarters. Students wishing to enter the course midyear (e.g., those with prior experience with the language) must obtain consent of instructor. Materials exist for a second year of the course; interested students should consult the instructor. Students wishing to continue their training with native speakers in Mexico may apply for FLAS funding in the summer.

LACS 28000. U.S. Latinos: Origins and Histories. 100 Units.

An examination of the diverse social, economic, political, and cultural histories of those who are now commonly identified as Latinos in the United States. Particular emphasis will be placed on the formative historical experiences of Mexican-Americans and mainland Puerto Ricans, although some consideration will also be given to the historians of other Latino groups—i.e., Cubans, Central Americans, and Dominicans. Topics include cultural and geographic origins and ties; imperialism and colonizations; the economics of migration and employment; legal status; work, women, and the family; racism and other forms of discrimination; the politics of national identity; language and popular culture; and the place of Latinos in U.S. society.

Instructor(s): R. Gutierrez     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 28000,CRES 28000,GNSE 28202,HIST 38000,LACS 38000

LACS 28013. Brazil and the Global South. 100 Units.

In this course, we will examine the cultural and literary relationships between Brazil and Lusophone African Countries, and Brazil and Spanish America. As most contemporary comparative studies in literature (Postcolonial Studies, Marxism, World-Systems Theory applied to Literature) have been focused on the dichotomies between colonizer/colonized, western/non-western, center/periphery, North/South, Prospero/Caliban, one question ensues: how should one account for this relationship between two “third-world,” “non-western,” “underdeveloped” countries? Would this South-South relationship be emulative or collaborative? What kind of power dynamic was engendered among those countries? We will try to answer those questions.

Instructor(s): A. Melo     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 28000,LACS 38013,PORT 38000

LACS 28210. Colonial Ecologies. 100 Units.

This seminar explores the historical ecology of European colonial expansion in a comparative framework, concentrating on the production of periphery and the transformation of incorporated societies and environments. In the first half of the quarter, we consider the theoretical frameworks, sources of evidence, and analytical strategies employed by researchers to address the conjunction of environmental and human history in colonial contexts. During the second half of the course, we explore the uses of these varied approaches and lines of evidence in relation to specific cases and trajectories of transformation since the sixteenth century.

Instructor(s): M. Lycett     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 28210,ANTH 38210,ENST 28210

LACS 29000. Latin American Religious, New and Old. 100 Units.

This course will consider select pre-twentieth-century issues, such as the transformations of Christianity in colonial society and the Catholic Church as a state institution. It will emphasize twentieth-century developments: religious rebellions; conversion to evangelical Protestant churches; Afro-diasporan religions; reformist and revolutionary Catholicism; new and New-Age religions.

Instructor(s): D. Borges     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 29000,CRES 29000,HCHR 38900,HIST 39000,LACS 39000,RLST 21400

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

Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer
Prerequisite(s): Consent of faculty supervisor and program adviser
Note(s): Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Typically taken for a quality grade.

LACS 29801. BA Colloquium. 100 Units.

This colloquium, which is led by the preceptor and BA adviser, assists students in formulating approaches to the BA essay and developing their research and writing skills, while providing a forum for group discussion and critiques. Graduating students present their BA essays in a public session of the colloquium during the Spring Quarter.

Note(s): Required of students who are majoring in Latin American Studies. Students must participate in all three quarters but register only in Autumn Quarter.

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

Terms Offered: Autumn, Winter, Spring, Summer
Prerequisite(s): Consent of faculty supervisor and program adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form.
Note(s): Typically taken for a quality grade.

LACS 30401. Intensive Study of a Culture: Lowland Maya History and Ethnography. 100 Units.

The survey encompasses the dynamics of first contact; long-term cultural accommodations achieved during colonial rule; disruptions introduced by state and market forces during the early postcolonial period; the status of indigenous communities in the twentieth century; and new social, economic, and political challenges being faced by the contemporary peoples of the area. We stress a variety of traditional theoretical concerns of the broader Mesoamerican region stressed (e.g., the validity of reconstructive ethnography; theories of agrarian community structure; religious revitalization movements; the constitution of such identity categories as indigenous, Mayan, and Yucatecan). In this respect, the course can serve as a general introduction to the anthropology of the region. The relevance of these area patterns for general anthropological debates about the nature of culture, history, identity, and social change are considered.

Instructor(s): J. Lucy     Terms Offered: Autumn

LACS 30603. Image and Text in Mexican Codices. 100 Units.

,In most Mesoamerican languages, a single word describes the activities that we would call “writing” and “painting.”  This seminar will investigate the interrelationships between image and text in Central Mexico both before and immediately after the introduction of alphabetic writing in the 16th century. We will also review art historical and archaeological evidence for the social conditions of textual and artistic production in Mexico, and how these traditions were transformed under Spanish colonial rule. We will consider the materiality of text and image by working with facsimiles of Mesoamerican books in the Special Collections of the Regenstein Library. At the end of the course, students will have acquired a basic literacy in Aztec and Mixtec writing systems, and will have refined their ability to look productively and write elegantly about art. 

Instructor(s): C. Brittenham     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 20603,ARTH 30603,LACS 20603

LACS 31700. Slavery and Unfree Labor. 100 Units.

This course offers a concise overview of institutions of dependency, servitude, and coerced labor in Europe and Africa, from Roman times to the onset of the Atlantic slave trade, and compares their further development (or decline) in the context of the emergence of New World plantation economies based on racial slavery. We discuss the role of several forms of unfreedom and coerced labor in the making of the "modern world" and reflect on the manner in which ideologies and practices associated with the idea of a free labor market supersede, or merely mask, relations of exploitation and restricted choice.

Instructor(s): S. Palmié     Terms Offered: Not offered 2012-13; will be offered 2013-14
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 22205,ANTH 31700,CRES 22205,LACS 22205

LACS 31900. ¿Cuerpos Desechables? Estéticas de la No-Vida en las Literaturas Hispanoamericanas (de la Conquista al siglo XXI) 100 Units.

In this seminar we will conduct a theoretical exploration of the aesthetic procedures through which human life has been represented as expendable in Spanish-American literature from the Conquest to the twenty-first century, as well as an examination of the historical and philosophical contexts within which such figurations emerged. The course will focus on case studies that correspond to four key moments in the history of the region: conquest and colonization, slavery and the formation of national states in the nineteenth century, the triumph of a capitalist export economy at the turn of the twentieth, and the violent challenges posed by globalization and narcotráfico in the contemporary context. Among the issues and texts we may engage are Fray Bartolomé de las Casas and Francisco de Vitoria’s sixteenth-century dispute on the right of conquest and the Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias, Esteban Echevarría’s El matadero, Lucio Mansilla’s Una excursión a los indios ranqueles, Juan F. Manzano’s Autobiografía de un esclavo, Manuel Zeno Gandía’s La charca, and Fernando Vallejo’s La virgen de los sicarios.

Instructor(s): A. Lugo-Ortiz     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): HMRT 31901,CRES 31900,SPAN 31900

LACS 32713. Literaturas del Caribe Hispánico en el siglo XX. 100 Units.

This course will explore some key examples of the literatures of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean (Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo) during the twentieth century, including those of its migrant and exile communities. Questions concerning the literary elaboration of the region’s histories of slavery and colonialism, militarization, and territorial displacements will be at the center of our discussions. Among the authors we may read are Fernando Ortiz, Antonio Pedreira, Pedro Henríquez Ureña, Luis Palés Matos, Nicolás Guillén, René Marqués, Pedro Pietri, Alejo Carpentier, Ana Lydia Vega, Eduardo Lalo, and Pedro Juan Gutiérrez.

Instructor(s): A. Lugo-Ortiz     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 27401,LACS 22713,SPAN 37401

LACS 34600-34700-34800. 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 35011. Africa, America. 100 Units.

This seminar explores the dynamic exchanges in the expressive cultures of Africa and the Americas. It examines a range of visual and material traditions that emerged and grew from the sustained contact between the two continents from the era of the Atlantic Slave Trade to the present. Class discussion, readings, assignments, and museum visits address topics such as carnival performances, santería and candomblé traditions, Vodou ritual forms, Luso-African architecture on both continents, and contemporary art.

Instructor(s): C. Fromont     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): ARTH 25011,ARTH 35011,LACS 25011

LACS 35312. Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz: Broche de oro del Barroco hispánico. 100 Units.

La trayectoria lírica de sor Juana conforma, en conjunto, su manifiesto poético. Como no podía ser menos en una poeta de su tipo, la monja mexicana nunca se limitó a sólo reproducir los moldes existentes ni a respetar las convenciones literarias: se apropió de las tradiciones poéticas de su tiempo, dominadas por los hombres, las hizo suyas a base de sutiles variaciones y rupturas; las llevó más lejos que cualquier otro poeta contemporáneo. Después de sor Juana nadie emuló a Calderón, Quevedo o Góngora como ella; después de ella no volvió a haber gran poesía española hasta mucho tiempo después: el broche resplandeciente que cerró los siglos de oro fue, precisamente, la obra de esta poetisa americana; de ahí el título del curso.

Instructor(s): M. L. Tenorio     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): SPAN 25312,LACS 25312,SPAN 35312

LACS 36201. Race, Ethnicity and Politics in Comparative Perspective. 100 Units.

The primary objective of this course is to offer a comparative approach to understanding the relationship between race, inequality, and politics. It focuses primarily on examples from Latin America and the United States, and is organized in three sections. In the first, we explore the relationship between capitalist expansion, the modern-nation, state and the socio-historical construction of "race." In the second section, we explore differences in political elites' approaches to question of race in the period of nation-building. Examining the cases of Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, the U.S. and South Africa, we discuss how different ethno-racial groups were incorporated into, or excluded from, the nation both through legal institutions and nationalist ideologies. In the final section, we analyze the emergence of black and indigenous social movements as a critical response to the failure of the nationalist project. Throughout the course we analyze the different ways race, ethnicity, and identity are understood in these distinct contexts, and also explore how race intersects with other axes of power, such as class and gender. (C)

Instructor(s): T. Paschel     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 36201

LACS 36802. Bunuel and Surrealism. 100 Units.

 Description forthcoming.

Instructor(s): Jim Lastra     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): CMST 26802,LACS 26802,CMST 36802

LACS 37105. Introduction to Brazilian Culture: Essay, Fiction, Cinema, and Music. 100 Units.

During the twentieth century, literature, social thought, music and cinema were completely intertwined in Brazil. This class is an introduction to Brazilian culture through these four types of cultural production and their interaction. We will read authors such as Euclides da Cunha, Gilberto Freyre, Mario de Andrade, Clarice Lispector, and listen to samba, bossa nova, and tropicalismo.

Instructor(s): A. Melo     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 27100,CRES 37100,LACS 27105,PORT 37100

LACS 38000. U.S. Latinos: Origins and Histories. 100 Units.

An examination of the diverse social, economic, political, and cultural histories of those who are now commonly identified as Latinos in the United States. Particular emphasis will be placed on the formative historical experiences of Mexican-Americans and mainland Puerto Ricans, although some consideration will also be given to the historians of other Latino groups—i.e., Cubans, Central Americans, and Dominicans. Topics include cultural and geographic origins and ties; imperialism and colonizations; the economics of migration and employment; legal status; work, women, and the family; racism and other forms of discrimination; the politics of national identity; language and popular culture; and the place of Latinos in U.S. society.

Instructor(s): R. Gutierrez     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 28000,CRES 28000,GNSE 28202,HIST 38000,LACS 28000

LACS 38013. Brazil and the Global South. 100 Units.

In this course, we will examine the cultural and literary relationships between Brazil and Lusophone African Countries, and Brazil and Spanish America. As most contemporary comparative studies in literature (Postcolonial Studies, Marxism, World-Systems Theory applied to Literature) have been focused on the dichotomies between colonizer/colonized, western/non-western, center/periphery, North/South, Prospero/Caliban, one question ensues: how should one account for this relationship between two “third-world,” “non-western,” “underdeveloped” countries? Would this South-South relationship be emulative or collaborative? What kind of power dynamic was engendered among those countries? We will try to answer those questions.

Instructor(s): A. Melo     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 28000,LACS 28013,PORT 38000

LACS 39000. Latin American Religious, New and Old. 100 Units.

This course will consider select pre-twentieth-century issues, such as the transformations of Christianity in colonial society and the Catholic Church as a state institution. It will emphasize twentieth-century developments: religious rebellions; conversion to evangelical Protestant churches; Afro-diasporan religions; reformist and revolutionary Catholicism; new and New-Age religions.

Instructor(s): D. Borges     Terms Offered: Autumn
Equivalent Course(s): HIST 29000,CRES 29000,HCHR 38900,HIST 39000,LACS 29000,RLST 21400

LACS 40305. The Inka and Aztec States. 100 Units.

This course is an intensive examination of the origins, structure, and meaning of two native states of the ancient Americas: the Inka and the Aztec. Lectures are framed around an examination of theories of state genesis, function, and transformation, with special reference to the economic, institutional, and symbolic bases of indigenous state development. This course is broadly comparative in perspective and considers the structural significance of institutional features that are either common to or unique expressions of these two Native American states.

Instructor(s): A. Kolata     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): ANTH 20100,ANTH 40100,LACS 20100

LACS 42101. Brazilian & Latin American Essay. 100 Units.

The essay of “national identity investigation” is a very Latin American genre. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century Latin American intellectuals were engaged in the nation-building project, trying to understand what would be the meaning of their national culture, employing sociological, anthropological and philosophical insights. In this class we will approach this long tradition through specific thematic clusters. On each thematic cluster, we will find writers from Spanish America and Brazil. I invite students to bridge some gaps between these two essaystic traditions of the Latin American culture, analyze their differences and similarities.

Instructor(s): A. Melo     Terms Offered: Spring
Equivalent Course(s): PORT 42101

LACS 44612. Political Economy of Corruption and Development. 100 Units.

This course is a graduate-level seminar covering recent theoretical and empirical research, organized around the following questions. First, what are the consequences of corruption for socio-economic development? Does corruption help or hinder it? Second, what are the causes of corruption? Is corruption affected by political and economic institutions, regime type, bureaucracy, resource endowments, or culture? Third, why has corruption varied over time within a country or state? On the empirical side, the course will emphasize issues of measurement and inference: how can one draw reliable conclusions about these questions, and what are the pitfalls along the way? The empirical readings encompass qualitative, quantitative, observational, and experimental approaches. (C)

Instructor(s): A. Simpser     Terms Offered: Winter
Equivalent Course(s): PLSC 44612