ENROLL

Jennifer L Schaefer

Beloved or dangerous. Ordered or chaotic. Modern or backward. What motivated these conflicting descriptions of Latin American cities? Why were cities like Buenos Aires, Havana, Mexico City, and Rio de Janeiro so important as places of political and economic power? How were these cities sites of cultural exchange for immigrant, Afro-Latin American, and Indigenous communities? In this course, we will answer these questions by exploring the histories of Latin America cities from the colonial period to the present. We will consider how urban spaces shaped people’s identities and daily lives and how these cities became places of national and global influence.

Held for incoming first year students

Jennifer L Schaefer

Modern Latin American history is marked by both violent divisions and creative cooperation, nationalist proclamations and imperialist incursions, and democratic pursuits and dictatorial repression. This course offers a survey of this complex regional history from independence movements at the beginning of the nineteenth century through globalization in the twenty-first century. It addresses methodological issues that include the significance of multiple historical perspectives and the interpretation of sources. It considers the relationship between individuals and larger social contexts with an emphasis on race, ethnicity, class, citizenship status, and gender. It places Latin American culture and politics in regional and global contexts. 

Juan Diego Prieto

Lori Pearson

Is God on the side of the poor? This course explores how liberation theologians have called for justice, social change, and resistance by drawing on fundamental sources in Christian tradition and by using economic and political theories to address poverty, racism, oppression, gender injustice, and more. We explore the principles of liberationist thought, including black theology, Latin American liberation theology, and feminist theology through writings of various contemporary thinkers. We also examine the social settings out of which these thinkers have emerged, their critiques of “traditional” theologies, and the new vision of community they have developed in various contexts.

Constanza Ocampo-Raeder

Is the environmental movement making progress? Do responsible products actually help local populations? Is international AID alleviating poverty and fostering development? Today there are thousands of programs with sustainable development goals yet their effectiveness is often contested at the local level. This course explores the impacts of sustainable development, conservation, and AID programs to look beyond the good intentions of those that implement them. In doing so we hope to uncover common pitfalls behind good intentions and the need for sound social analysis that recognizes, examines, and evaluates the role of cultural complexity found in populations targeted by these programs.

Prerequisite: The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above