Latin American Studies

This course provides a study of pre-Hispanic Mayan literature and culture as it interacts and changes with the beginning of colonization. Topics include: from izapa to post-classic; cosmogeny, structure of the univers, pantheon, and calendars; social structure-- nobility, commoners, and slaves; political organization-- lordships and states; economic organization-- tribute and trade. Authors and texts covered include: Fray Diego de Landa; Mercedes de la Garza; Chilam balam de Chumayel; Rabinal Achi; Popol Vuh. 

This course provides a study of pre-Hispanic Nahuatl literature and culture as it interacts and changes with the beginning of colonization. Topics include: characterization of Nahuatl literary genres, alphabetization of oral traditions, Spanish conquistador influence and basic comprehension of the Nahuatl language of Central Mexico. Texts covered include: Miguel León-Portilla, EL DESTINO DE LA PALABRA; Patrick K. Johansson, LA PALABRA, LA IMAGEN Y EL MANUSCRITO; Rafael Tena, MITOS E HISTORIAL DE LOS ANTIGUOS NAHUAS; Elizabeth Hill Boone, CICLOS DE TIEMPO Y SIGNIFICADO EN LOS LIBROS MEXICANOS DEL DESTINO.

The course identifies the impact of U.S. interventionism on the political, economic, and social transformations in Latin America and the Caribbean. It discusses the political crisis, process of re-colonization, and the eco-social collapse affecting the region. The course analyzes political forces, corporations, national and regional actors, power blocks, integration mechanisms, and de facto powers and their role in the systemic and environmental crisis that exists in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

This course provides a panoramic view of the relationship between the media and modern Brazilian popular music, from the 1950s to the present day. Topics include Bossa Nova, Tropicália, Jovem Guarda, song festivals, national rock, and other important MPB movements.

This course examines paradigms in Brazilian foreign policy, as well as the role of economic development on Brazilian foreign policy. Topics include the Republican regime and foreign policy; Americanism and Pan-Americanism; the Cold War and foreign policy; impact of the economy on foreign policy; independent foreign policy and globalism; foreign policy of the military regime and Americanism; geopolitics and national security doctrine; revival of globalism and consolidation; democracy and foreign policy; post-Cold War and Brazilian international insertion; actors in Brazilian foreign policy.

This course surveys political thought in Meso- and South America, translated into English. It introduces a broad range of (mostly left) political currents in Castilian- and Portuguese-dominant societies, across historical periods. It covers a variety of thinkers and texts, including Vasconcelos, Mariátegui, Guevara, Anzaldúa, Nascimento and Quijano, among others. 

This course will explore development and underdevelopment in Latin America with a focus on contemporary resource extraction i.e. extractivism. We will analyze these problems from an anthropological perspective by focusing on local and indigenous groups experiences, and exploring the concepts, theories and alternatives coming from Latin American political and intellectual scene itself. We will begin by examining how during the second half of the XX century, "Development" became the buzzword that encompassed state intervention, urbanization projects, foreign aid and investments, and intellectual contributions such as Dependence Theory. We will focus on the changes associated with Globalization and Neoliberalism after the 1990s and the implications for Latin American local/indigenous groups. We will then examine the boom of natural resource extraction projects, and discuss case studies, debates and environmental controversies in local/indigenous territories. We will then place attention on social movements and activist networks that emerge in these contexts, and finish the course by discussing key concepts such as "post development" "post extractivism" or "Buen Vivir", proposed by Latin American thought as alternatives to "development".