Home Events Courses Faculty Contact

Inter-Americanist Courses

ENGLISH

ENGL 371: Survey of Chicano/a Literature

José Aranda

This mixed-genre course focuses on the Chicano movement, the Chicano renaissance, and their alternative literary and mythic traditions.

ENGL 378: Literature of the Americas

This is a mixed-genre course that examines literatures from North and South America, including the Caribbean. The focus of the course may vary from a survey of a specific geographical region or a group of writers, to a theme that incorporates more than one geographical region or national literature.

Transitions and Translations: Mexican and Mexican American Literature

José Aranda

This course will juxtapose literature written by Mexican-Americans from 1848-1950 with literature written by Mexican national during the same period of enormous changes. A vital feature of this course lies in the linkage of Mexican and Mexican-American notions of “familia” with race, gender, class, and violence.

Introduction to Caribbean Literature

Joseph Clarke

This course is meant to be a survey of West Indian Literature.  I use the descriptor “West Indian” because, like the communities and cultures who accept this term as a description of who they are, the literature we will be preoccupied with comes from the English speaking Caribbean.  We will be concerned mainly with short stories, poetry, and novels.  We begin chronologically in the 1920's and 30's and move through to the “boom,” as it is sometimes called, of the 1950's and spend some time on the dramatic rise and then domestication of Rastafarianism and then end with a look at the writers who have chosen to remain in the Caribbean rather than take flight.  The reading for the course is not heavy, no more than 200 pages a week.

ENGL 380: Anglophonic Literatures

Joseph Clarke

Literatures in English that emerge in the wake of European colonialism, except the United States. Writers might include those from Africa, Australia, Canada, India, or the Caribbean.

ENGL 471/472: Topics in Chicano/a Literature

José Aranda

Topics vary: sometimes the course is “Chicano Poetry,” sometimes “Chicano Autobiography,” etc.

ENGL 572: Chicano Studies: Narrative Theory and Chicano Ethnography

José Aranda

ENGL 588: Slavery and the Sentimental Novel
Caroline Levander

English 596: Studies in Major American Authors: Post-Nationalist American Literary Studies

Caroline Levander

This course considers the present and future practice of American literary analysis in a post-national and global studies context. Accused of being both ‘too small’ because it equates the United States with America and ‘too large’ because it overlooks the local subcultures within the U.S., American literary and cultural analysis is in a state of conceptual transformation. We will consider this question of the parameters and futures of American literary practice from a number of different literary and critical vantage points.

CSCS 501: The Center for the Study of Cultures Mellon Research Seminar: Toward a Hemispheric Americas

Caroline Levander

Many prominent scholars are responding to the challenge of shifting trends in American Studies by adopting a comparative, hemispheric approach that is gradually reorganizing the fields of literature, history, and religious studies. In short, current, innovative work in the study of American literature, history, and religion challenges new scholars to both broaden and deepen their analysis of the cultures of the Americas. Emphasizing a comparative method that remains attentive to local distinctions while bringing a hemispheric approach to bear on the nation-state, this year-long seminar will work toward sharpening the writing of the next generation of Americanist scholars. The course will be writing intensive. Students will revise at least one piece of their own writing with a view to publishing it in a top-notch journal in their field. In addition to this requirement, students will submit abstracts of their work to two major annual conferences in their field. To facilitate the writing goals of the course and to give students greater visibility in their fields, scholars redefining the field will take part in the seminar and comment in-depth on students’ work. Students in the course therefore are required to be in direct dialogue with prominent scholars across the country.

HISPANIC STUDIES

SPAN 345: Mapping Latin American Culture

Beatriz González-Stephan

Explores key issues in Latin American culture. Includes an examination of the continent's indigenous civilizations, the impact of the Conquest, and the rise of national states. Important aspects of the contemporary situation in Latin America are also studied, including phenomena such as globalization, the rise of mega-cites, migration, and authoritarianism.

SPAN 385: Foundations of Spanish American Literature

Maarten van Delden

How did Spanish American Literature acquire an identity of its own? This course attempts to answer this question by analyzing a number of foundational works of Spanish American literature in conjunction with later works that revise and rewrite key themes in the continent’s literary tradition.

SPAN 386: Culture and Power in Latin America

Beatriz González-Stephan

This course uses a variety of materials and sources to examine the epistemologies of coloniality in Latin America, with a focus on their European and Western origins. Explore various aspects of the discourses of coloniality and subalternity in a range of cultural productions (cinema, poetry, narrative, salsa, Latin rock music).

SPAN 388: The Latin American Short Story

Beatriz González-Stephan

Latin American writers have achieved great distinction in the genre of the short story. This course studies texts by some of the continent's best-known short-story writers, such as Cortezar, Borges, Monterroso, Rulfo, Fuentes, Garcia Marquez, Elena Garro, Ana Lydia Vega, Clarice Lispector, Benedetti, Uslar Pietri, Massiani, Lemebel, Asis, and Carpentier.

SPAN 390: Hispanic Cinema

Beatriz González-Stephan

This course examines the ways in which films in both Spain and Latin America have represented the cultural contexts of their countries. Focus is on the theme of power, and the consequences on social and individual lives.

SPAN 393: Caribbean Fiction

Maarten van Delden

In spite of the region’s political fragmentation and linguistic diversity, the Caribbean in many ways constitutes a unified literary region. This course examines the differences and commonalities in the responses to the distinctive features of Caribbean history and geography in works by English-, Spanish-, French-, and Dutch-speaking authors. Taught in English.

SPAN 395: Dialogue of the Americas

Beatriz González-Stephan

The history of Latin America since the nineteenth century has been profoundly shaped by its relationship to the “North” (the United States of America), as a model either to be imitated or rejected. This course examines both positions (emulation or detraction) as reflected in literature, painting, film, and political texts.

SPAN 401/501: Literary Theory/Hispanic Texts

Overview of major schools in contemporary literary theory (e.g., Formalist, Structuralist, Post-structuralist, Marxist, Feminist, Neo-historicist), including Hispanic contributions to and adaptations of such theory where relevant, using texts from Spain and Latin America as study examples.

Como Leer Mestizo Cultures

Beatriz González-Stephan

Muchas culturas son resultado de procesos de violencia histórica: conquistas y colonizaciones, nuevas formas de consumo globalizado, desplazamientos, migraciones, constituyen modos de recomposición de identidades sobre categories híbridas. ¿Qué es estar en la zona del in-between? El curso ofrecerá herramientas teóricas y pragmáticas (ficciónes, cine, fotografia) de análisis de sujetos que van y vienen, de culturas café con leche, de gente que está aquí y allá, con identidades transculturadas, mestizadas por el ir y venir de culturas en contacto.

SPAN 440/540: Bilingualism

Maximo Salaberry

This course analyzes bilingualism from a variety of perspectives including cognitive, linguistic, and sociocultural viewpoints. Topics to be covered include conceptual representations of the lexicon, sentence parsing, levels of activation of bilingual modes, lexical, phonological, syntactic and pragmatic interference, code-switching, cultural identity, bilingual education, language and thought, etc.

SPAN 450/550: Civilization and Barbarism

Beatriz González-Stephan

Since the Conquest, Latin America has been viewed by the European imagination as an "empty" continent, lacking in culture and history. This image of a "savage" continent has been interiorized by Latin America's own intellectuals. This course examines and deconstructs various manifestations of these ideological representations of Latin America.

SPAN 452/542: (Un)Disciplined Bodies

Beatriz González-Stephan

This course studies nineteenth- and twentieth-century texts that contributed to nation-building in Latin America by developing images of the modern citizen, in his/her manners, physical appearance, behavior, health, and ethnic identity. These texts also offer representations of those citizens regarded as undesirable.

SPAN 454/545: Macho Culture in Latin America

Beatriz González-Stephan

This course examines the workings of patriarchal ideology in a variety of cultural forms (literature, film, painting, photography). Studies the ways in which this ideology, which manifests itself in works by both men and women, defines male and female roles in Latin American culture.

SPAN 456/556: Latin American Women’s Culture

Studies the cultural production (literary, artistic, cinematic) of intellectual women in Latin America. Examines the struggles for interpretive power in works by women from the colonial period to the present.

SPAN 462/562: The Modern Spanish American Novel

Maarten van Delden

Works by Asturias, Carpenter, Rulfo, Onetti, Vargas, Llosa, Cortazar, Fuentes, and others. Examines how Spanish American novelists from the 1940s onward appropriated the techniques of European modernist literature and infused them with new cultural content.

SPAN 470/570: Latin American Cultural Theory

Beatriz González-Stephan

This course analyzes the main theoretical positions within contemporary cultural criticism. We will also study the reflection of these theories in fiction and film.

HISTORY

HIST 188/388: The Atlantic World: Origins to the Age of Revolution

Alex Byrd

Survey of social, political, economic, and intellectual ligatures that bound the particular histories of Africa, Europe, and the Americas to one another, until by the late-18^th century the Atlantic basin constituted a world unto itself.

HIST 214/314: Caribbean Nation Building

Edward Cox

This course will focus on the slow, steady process through which nation states emerged in the Caribbean from the 18th century to the present, as well as the difficulties they face amidst increasing globalization.

HIST 215/315: Blacks in the Americas

Alex Byrd, Edward Cox

Comparative survey of black people in the Americas for 1619 to the present examines the Atlantic slave trade, the movement toward slave emancipation in various countries, and 19th century black self-help efforts. The course also concentrates on economic conditions for blacks at the turn of the 20th century.

HIST 227: Colonial Latin America

Moramay Lopez-Alonso

Lecture course examining the creation of modern Latin America. Concentrating on the struggles over land and labor, the creation of nation-states, and the conflicts within those states over issues of citizenship and social justice. The course will also address the contentious role the United States has played in the region.

HIST 228: Modern Latin America from Independence to the Present

Joel Wolfe

Discussions of Latin America usually fall back on facile generalizations that emphasize recent changes to explain “current events.” This lecture course will examine in detail the creation of modern Latin America. We will concentrate on the struggles over land and labor, the creation on nation-states and the conflicts within those states over issues of citizenship and social justice. The course will also address the contentious role the United States has played in the region.

HIST 335: Caribbean History to 1838

Edward Cox

Study of Caribbean history from the arrival of the Europeans to the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies in 1838, with emphasis on the social and economic history of the region. Includes the question of why slavery and the plantation system both emerged and fell.

HIST 426: Comparative Slavery and Race Relations in the Americas

Edward Cox

Comparative analysis of slavery and race relations in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Latin America, chiefly to the late 19th century. Includes the relative harshness or mildness of the institution of slavery in various systems, opportunities for advancement for former slaves, and the resultant nature of race relations.HIST 426: Comparative Slavery and Race Relations in the Americas

Edward Cox

Comparative analysis of slavery and race relations in the U.S., the Caribbean, and Latin America, chiefly to the late 19th century. Includes the relative harshness or mildness of the institution of slavery in various systems, opportunities for advancement for former slaves, and the resultant nature of race relations.

HIST 429/579: Technologies of Nationalism

Joel Wolfe

The rise of the modern nation-state and the development of nationalism throughout the globe took place in an era of scientific and technological innovation. In this seminar, we will analyze, through a series of case studies from around the world, the close relationship between nationalism and technology. Topics will include the advent of the railroad, urban reform and renewal, auto-mobility, air travel and warfare, the space race, and the information technology revolution.

HIST 452: Comparative History: The U.S. and South Africa

Alex Lichtenstein

This seminar compares and contrasts the history of two modern societies based on the foundation of racial division and exploitation. We will examine the historical evolution of white racism in both nations, compare the systems of segregation and apartheid, and look at the comparative history of the civil rights and anti-apartheid movements.

HIST 468: Women and the Welfare State: Sexual Politics and American Poverty

Allison Sneider

This seminar in the history of women and welfare focuses on women's contributions to the growth of the welfare state and investigates how welfare has been shaped by understandings of gender, race, and class. Compares American programs to similar programs developed in other countries.

HIST 469/569: Inter-American Relations

Joel Wolfe

This seminar explores the long and contentious relationships between the United States and the Latin American nations. Focus will be placed on events from the late-19^th and 20^th centuries. Analysis of these events will be presented through the lenses of political, economic, social, and cultural history.

HIST 477: Latin American Development

Joel Wolfe

Seminar explores three nations (Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico) confrontation with issues of industrialization and democracy through programs they referred to as "developmentalism." Beginning with historical roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries through the introduction of Neoliberalism and the "Washington Consensus" of the late 20th century.

HIST 550: Caribbean History

Edward Cox

Examination of the major local and international forces and ideas that have shaped the course of the history of the Caribbean.

RELIGIOUS STUDIES

RELI 491/545: The Study of Black Religion

Anthony Pinn

Through an intense reading and analysis of select text, this seminar will give attention to "tools" for the study of Black religion made available through, for example, History of Religions, Philosophy of Religion (Pragmatism and the "Prophetic"), Phenomenology, Constructive Theology, Process Studies, and Social/Cultural History, Sociology of Religion.

RELI 158/548: Liberation Theologies

Anthony Pinn

This course seeks to acquaint students with examples of liberation theology, as they relate to the following issues: racism, sexism, classism, and environmental destruction. Attention is given to the context, construction, form, and aims of Latin American liberation theology, Black theology, Feminist theology, and Theology in the Intersections.

RELI 240/550: Black Religious Thought

Anthony Pinn

This course will examine 20th century Black religious thought and its influence on Black life and praxis. The course is structured thematically. The themes are: Black Nationalism, Christianity Inspired Praxis, Black Existentialism and Humanism. We will explore central themes such as evil, suffering, scriptural imagery, and liberation.

This page is maintained by Liz Fenton and was last updated 10/22/05.