Latin American Studies (LAMS)

LAMS 150. Latin America: An Introduction. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
The course examines the variety of modes of living that thrive in what we call Latin America. Understanding such diversity makes it possible to consider how much is life in the United States connected to the past and present of Latin American peoples.

LAMS 160. Ni de aquí, ni de allá: Latinx Peoples in US. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
This course is an interdisciplinary study of the Latinx population in the United States. We will approach the subject through literature, film, music, academic articles and direct contact with Latinx peoples.

LAMS 202. Rainforests and Eco-Politics in Latin America. 1 Credit.

Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
We study how business interests, scientists, and indigenous peoples think and engage with rainforests in radically different ways. Attentive to these differences, the course explores how rainforests are being destroyed by some groups and protected by others. Crosslisted as ANTH 202 and ENST 209.

LAMS 203. Identity, Politics, Nation. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
We examine how the notion of race plays a role in political debates that revolve around the issue of "national identity" in the US. We focus on how Black and Brown intellectuals and activists who challenge the notion that, at its core, the US is a white nation.

LAMS 204. Racism(s) Across the Americas. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
We explore how the idea of the Americas as a “new world” of discovery and wonder was (and is) entangled with racialized systems of domination. Looking into anti-racist ideas and actions today, the course critically explores the shared histories and common futures of diverse peoples across the Americas. Crosslisted as CBST 204.

LAMS 205. Violence, Conflict and Peace in Latin America. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Explores the historical and contemporary causes of political, structural, and systematic forms of violence in Latin America. Crosslisted as ANTH 205 and IREL 205.

LAMS 206. Black film in Latin America. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
In this course, we will investigate the historical and intellectual grounds of films by and about Black people in Latin America. Crosslisted as CBST 206.

LAMS 208. Global Indigenous Politics and Law. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Explores Indigenous people’s historical and contemporary struggles for recognition and respect with an emphasis on Indigenous groups in Latin America and global governance. Crosslisted as ANTH 208 and IREL 208.

LAMS 218. Latina Feminisms in US. 1 Credit.

Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3
This course examines the various experiences, perspectives and expressions of Latinas in the United States, which vary according to gender, sexuality, race, citizenship, region and language. Crosslisted as GEOG 208 and WMST 218.

LAMS 224. Becoming Latino/a(s). 1 Credit.

Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3
Explores history, racial/ethnic identities and communities, and the social, political, economic and cultural dimensions of the Latin American (im)migration experience in the United States.

LAMS 230. Arts of Extraction: Hemispheric Representations of Ecological Injustice. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Explore the social and environmental histories of capitalism in Latin America and the US through literary, filmic and photographic representations of resource extraction. Environmental collapse is imminent, but many can't see it. Can the arts help us see our world differently so that we might forestall its worst effects? Crosslisted as HUMN 230.

LAMS 245. Remaking America: Latin American Immigration. 1 Credit.

Offered Spring Semester Only; Lecture hours:3
The processes and impacts of Latin American immigration on the U.S. and countries of origin. Special emphasis on how the immigration experience varies by ethnicity, location, and gender. Crosslisted as SOCI 245.

LAMS 250. Latin America: Challenges for the 21st Century. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Perspectives on the challenges facing Latin American peoples and nations in the 21st century. Crosslisted as ANTH 248.

LAMS 260. Blackness & Diaspora in the Global South: Afrolatinidades in Diaspora. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Afro-Latinx identity challenges the notion that Blackness and Whiteness are THE two political categories of race. In this course we will interrogate Afro-Latinidad via an interdisciplinary survey of history and narrative modes of film, literature, music and popular culture. Crosslisted as CBST 260.

LAMS 264. Latin American, Latinx and Caribbean Philosophy. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
This course will focus on major figures and issues within philosophy in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Latinx U.S., with an emphasis on the connection between identity-formation and politics. Crosslisted as PHIL 264.

LAMS 270. Race-ing Latinidad in US: Dialogues of Blackness & Latinidad. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
An interdisciplinary study of the competing definitions of the relationship between Blackness and Latinidad in US culture. We will approach the subject through literature, film and music, through academic articles from various disciplines and through direct contact with the local Latinx population. Crosslisted as CBST 270.

LAMS 273. Latin American Economic Development. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
The course deals with historic and contemporary economic problems, starting from colonial times and reaching the present integration into world economy. Crosslisted as ECON 273 and IREL 278.

LAMS 286. Latinx Literature in the U.S.. 1 Credit.

Offered Occasionally; Lecture hours:3
Taught in English. This course focuses on issues of cultural identity within the literary and some film production of Latinx peoples living in the U.S. Crosslisted as SPAN 285.

LAMS 288. Global Cuisines, Local Contexts: Commensality and Conflict. 1 Credit.

Offered Alternating Spring Semester; Lecture hours:3
We will consider how food both brings people together, and creates divisions between them, through an in-depth examination of the cases of French and Andean (South American) cuisines. Cuisine will be considered through aesthetic, cultural, and economic lenses as a mirror into larger social worlds. Crosslisted as ANTH 288 and UNIV 288 and FREN 288.

LAMS 295. Modern Latin America. 1 Credit.

Lecture hours:3
This course traces and analyzes major developments in Latin American politics, society and culture from 1800 to the present. Crosslisted as HIST 282.

LAMS 296. Topics in Latin American Studies. 1 Credit.

Offered Both Fall and Spring; Lecture hours:3
Topics in Latin American history: pre-Columbian to the present.

LAMS 311. Globalization, Technology and Cultural Change. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
Examination of the impact of the processes of global restructuring and the technological revolution on people, culture and society. This class will focus on Latin America and the Caribbean. Crosslisted as SOCI 311.

LAMS 319. Interdisciplinary Independent Study on Latin America. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3; Repeatable
Individual research with a member of the Latin American Studies faculty. Prerequisite: permission of the instructor.

LAMS 374. Latinx Psychology. 1 Credit.

Offered Either Fall or Spring; Lecture hours:3
A seminar that examines the psychological research literature related to Latinxs in the U.S. It considers the influences of Latinx cultural values, practices, contexts and experiences on physical and mental health outcomes. Open to juniors seniors only or by permission of the instructor. Crosslisted as PSYC 374 and PSYC 674.