Latin American Studies

This course explores key social science concepts like integration and cooperation of particular relevance for analyzing specific development problems in Latin America and Iberia such as poverty, inequality, unemployment, rural stagnation, and regional relations among different Latin American countries, integration politics, panamericanism, and globalization.

This course offers a study of Mayan civilization from a multidisciplinary perspective, exploring the geographic and linguistic distribution, and the overlaps between archaeology; social anthropology; and religious theory.

This course has been designed to help English-speaking students apply the knowledge acquired in the Pre-Professional Healthcare Issues course through community service focused on primary care. Students will make an Analysis of Health Status (ASIS) followed by a project with the purpose of improving those health problems identified in the community. The course is based on the practical application of priority healthcare programs, addressed to rural and urban areas, and it will be performed under the Primary Health Care strategy, emphasizing
health promotion. These programs include prenatal care, health care to children and adolescents, extended vaccination program, chronic diseases, prevention of uterine-cervical and breast cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, birth control, prevention and treatment of tuberculosis and endemic diseases (Malaria, Dengue, Chikungunya, Cholera, among others). The course offers training on the appropriate educational techniques that allow students to get involved in community health care promotion and prevention. Moreover, the course will engage students in the application of the most useful health care tools, such as family records, diagrams, and identification badges for pregnant women, chronic patients´ records, and children´s identification card, among others. In order to comply with the course requirements, students will be visiting First Level Health Care Centers in their communities during the first five (5) weeks. Visits during this period will be held three (3) days a week for three (3) hours (45 field hours). The last three (3) weeks will comprise a rural stay (45 field hours), an urban stay (15 field hours), and final research and presentations (30 research hours).

This course is divided into two parts. Part one examines Spanish narrative prose of the 19th and 20th centuries, taking as thematic reference the city of Barcelona and its writers. Part two explores Latin American culture through representative artistic works (music, writing, painting, and film) and their socio-cultural and artistic framework.

This course offers a study of the pre-Hispanic cultures that populated Mexico including means of production, scientific development, and daily life. It analyzes the concept of Mesoamerica, Aridoamerica, and Oasisamerica. Other topics include: languages and linguistic map; systems of production and subsistence; Mesoamerican numbering and calendar; Mesoamerican worldview.

This course provides a study of Quechua language and culture and examines the importance and influence of the Quechua culture in Chile. The course is divided into twelve units, each examining grammatical and cultural elements through translated texts (riddles, stories, poetry, songs), documentaries, historical surveys, and Internet research.