Latin American Studies

This interdisciplinary seminar explores the temporal and territorial entanglements in Brazil and Argentina since their consolidation as nation-states in the first third of the 19th century until contemporary times. Some of the materials worked with, in addition to theoretical texts, are films, short stories, political and aesthetic manifestos, and architectural and urban projects. The course analyzes and discusses political, social, aesthetical, and literary expressions that, in a variety of ways, address and/or develop what is one of the critical issues in the discursive construction around these countries: the apparent need to narratively connect the present moment to a colonial and pre-colonial past and a future to come, not rarely using fiction as a methodology. The comparative focus on these two countries, in addition to being widely used in the Humanities in specific studies on each country, is justified by the way in which the issues to be explored in the course occur in their similarities and differences, shedding light on the constructions of time and space in what are the two most extensive countries in South America, not only individually but in relation to each other. Furthermore, the methodological and theoretical foundation developed throughout the semester helps consider temporal and spatial issues in other contexts within Latin America and, generally, the Global South. An intermediate knowledge of Latin America's political and social contexts is recommended but not mandatory.

This course engages critically with the relationship between visual culture, written narratives and modern life in selected works produced in Latin America from the late 19th century to the 1930s. In order to create a dynamic space for critical debate, the primary bibliography features short pieces – short stories, chronicles, essays, poems – and various types of images such as illustrations from periodicals, paintings, photography, and cinema. The wide range of texts and images to be discussed includes representative works from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.

Indigenous peoples are present in the economic participation and cultural wealth of their nations.  A variety of languages can still be heard and seen, and uprisings, such as those of the Zapatistas in Chiapas, can be observed.  This second semester course analyzes the cultural knowledge and original philosophies of each of the most important groups in Mexico: Nahuatl, Zapotec, Mixtec, Purépecha, and Quechua and Aymara of Peru and Bolivia, including a few other Mexican and Latin American philosophers.  

This course aims to read, understand and interpret poetry and prose from the so-called "colonial" period in regions where a way of life and expression was imposed on native societies and communities by viceroyalties. In addition, the very notions of "conquest" and "colonization" are discussed from the perspective of Latin American studies, focusing on the political, social and cultural processes of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries and their impact on the communities and peoples that experienced colonial violence and subordination. 

This course examines ideas, concepts, traditions, and authors that shaped critical thinking in Latin America during the twentieth century, in close relation to the socio-political and economic processes of the region.

This course provides a critical approach to the contemporary debate between three sub- disciplines dedicated to the study of the intellectual production of Latin America: the history of ideas, intellectual history, and decolonial studies. This course identifies, analyzes, and discusses the origins, theoretical-methodological foundations, discrepancies, and challenges of these three currents with a view to glimpsing possible routes for their own research projects.

This course studies the evolution of the population composition in Latin America and the Caribbean in recent decades, reflecting on the links between said demographic dynamics and some of the main economic, political, cultural and social transformations known in the region. This course takes a theoretical and methodological approach, considering the dependence between the size, structure and distribution of a population in interaction with socio-spatial transformations. It discusses demographic transition, aging, young people, the countryside-city relationship, urbanization, employment, territorial mobility, etc.

This course provides theoretical and methodological tools to approach, analyze, and question research from a gender perspective. It examines basic concepts of gender studies.

This course discusses violence, memory and exile in Latin America through the lens of literature and literary theory. It especially focuses on exile from Argentina and exiled writers living in Mexico. It aims to understand the relationship between literature, society and history. The class uses theoretical tools to analyze different literature from Latin America and aims to think about violence memory and exile in Latin America. The course includes texts and novels from Latin American writers, accompanied by Latin American movies as well as theoretical texts that serve to provide context for the class. Beyond the texts, the class aims to use cultural knowledge and understandings to clarify and elaborate the ideas and concepts of memory, exile and violence.