
Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies
The Five College Certificate in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies enhances rather than replaces the more traditional major, minor or certificate available at the individual schools and can complement the student's major field of study.
Under the guidance of an appointed faculty adviser for the program at each campus, students design a sequential, coordinated and comprehensive course of study drawing on the faculty specialists and course offerings at the five campuses. The program is overseen by the Five College Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies Council, whose members include faculty representatives from each campus.
Any degree-seeking student is eligible to earn the certificate. Interested students must consult initially with an advisor for the program at their own home campus, to confirm their eligibility and plan out an appropriate course of study. The home-campus advisor for the program also determines whether a student has met the requirements, and recommends the award of a formal certificate, which is recorded on the student's transcript. Completed applications for the certificate must be signed by the home campus adviser, who will bring the application to the FCLACLS Certificate Program committee.
On This Page
Faculty
Lloyd Barba*- Latinx and Latin American Studies, Religion
Rhonda Cobham-Sander - Black Studies, English, Latinx and Latin American Studies
Sony Coráñez Bolton - Latinx and Latin American Studies, Spanish
Javier Corrales - Political Science (Chair) and Latinx and Latin American Studies
Solsiree del Moral - Black Studies (Chair), American Studies, Latinx and Latin American Studies
Rick A. Lopez - Latinx and Latin American Studies (Chair), History, Environmental Studies; Dean of New Students
Leah Schmalzbauer - American Studies, Anthropology and Sociology, Latinx and Latin American Studies
Paul Schroeder Rodríguez - Latinx and Latin American Studies, Spanish, Film and Media Studies
*Certificate Advisor & Steering Committee Member
Roosbelinda Cardenas - Latin American Studies and Anthropology
Margaret Cerullo* - Sociology
Norman Holland - Hispano Literature (Emeritus)
Susana Loza - Critical Race, Gender, and Media Studies
Flavio Risech-Ozeguera - Law (Emeritus)
Monique Roelofs - Philosophy (Emerita)
Wilson Valentín Escobar - Sociology and American Studies
*Certificate Advisor & Steering Committee Member
Justin Crumbaugh - Spanish, Latino/a, Latin American Studies
Lowell Gudmundson - Latin American Studies and History (Emeritus)
Christian Gundermann - Gender Studies
David Hernández - Latino/a Studies
Lynn Morgan - Anthropology (Emeritus)
Dorothy Mosby - Spanish; Interim Dean of Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Eva Paus - Economics
Adriana Pitetta* - Spanish
*Certificate Advisor & Steering Committee Member
Fernando Armstrong-Fumero - Anthropology
Ginetta E.B. Candelario - Sociology, Latin American and Latino/a Studies
Velma Garcia - Government
Maria Estela Harretche - Spanish
Marguerite Itamar Harrison - Spanish and Portuguese
Michelle Joffroy - Spanish
Elizabeth Klarich - Anthropology
Dana Leibsohn - Art, Latin American and Latino/a Studies
Malcolm McNee - Spanish and Portuguese
Javier Puente* - Latin American and Latino/a Studies
Maria Helena Rueda - Spanish
Lester Tomé - Dance
*Certificate Advisor & Steering Committee Member
Sonia Alvarez - Political Science
Luiz Amaral - Spanish and Portuguese Linguistics
Benjamin Bailey - Communication
Whitney Battle-Baptiste - Anthropology
Angelica Bernal - Political Science
James K. Boyce - Economics (Emeritus)
Laura Briggs - Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Mari Castaneda - Communication
Leda Cooks - Communication
N.C. Christopher Couch - Comparative Literature
Emiliana Cruz - Anthropology
Alexandrina Deschamps - Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
Carlene Edie - Political Science
Gerald Epstein - Economics
Harley Erdman - Theater
Martin Espada - English
Stephanie Fetta* - Spanish and Portuguese Studies
Martha Fuentes-Bautista - Communication
Patricia Galvis Assmus - Art, Architecture, and Art History (Emerita)
Agustin Lao-Montes - Sociology & Afro-American Studies
Jennifer Lundquist - Sociology
Claudio Moreira - Communication
Michael J. Morgan - Communication (Emeritus)
Leonce Ndikumana - Economics
Jose Ornelas - Spanish and Portuguese Literature (Emeritus)
Daphne Patai - Spanish and Portuguese Literature (Emerita)
J. Mohan Rao - Economics (Emeritus)
Margara Russotto - Latin American Literature and Culture
Felipe Salles - Music and Dance
Heidi Scott - History
Millie Thayer - Sociology
Jacqueline Urla - Anthropology
Laura Valdiviezo - College of Education
*Certificate Advisor & Steering Committee Member
Certificate Requirements
To earn a FCLACLS Certificate, students must complete successfully a minimum of eight one-semester courses selected from five different areas; fulfill a specified language requirement; and achieve at least a grade of “B” in the minimum number of courses taken toward the certificate. Courses may be taken at any of the campuses but must be approved in advance by the student's home-campus advisor for the program. Completed applications for the certificate must be signed by the home campus advisor, who will bring the application to the Five College LACLS Council meeting in April.
Courses
Eight full courses or educational activities (each 3–4 credits or equivalent) must be completed within the following areas:
- A broadly based introductory course on the social and political history of Latin America or U.S. Latinos
- One course in the social sciences that focuses substantially on Latin America or U.S. Latinos (including courses in anthropology, economics, geography, political science, etc.)
- One course in the humanities that focuses substantially on Latin America or U.S. Latinos (including courses in art, art history, dance, folklore, literature, music, philosophy, religion or theater, etc. )
- Four other courses that should be more advanced and more specific in focus
- One upper-level seminar in Latin America and/or U.S. Latinos
- Those students who begin their studies during or after fall 2013 will be required to have, within all of their courses, at least one course in Latino Studies and at least one course in Latin American or Caribbean Studies
- At least one course must be taken at one of the institutions in the Five College consortium other than the student's home campus.
Language Requirement
Proficiency through second-year college level in an official (other than English) or indigenous language of Latin America.
Minimum Standard
To receive the certificate, the student must receive a grade of “B” or better in every course that qualifies for the minimum certificate requirement.
Study Abroad
The Council will accept relevant study abroad courses, as long as they are accepted for credit or equivalent by a student’s home institution. If no grade is reported on the transcript, the Council will waive the “B” grade requirement for courses taken abroad.
Courses
Many courses in addition to those listed below may be eligible for fulfilling the requirements of the Five College Latin American, Caribbean & Latino Studies Certificate. Students are encouraged to consult an LACLS Program campus advisor to identify courses that are appropriate for their interests.
Spring 2022 Latin American, Caribbean, & Latino Studies Courses
Paul A. Schroeder Rodriguez
TTH 03:00 PM-04:20 PM
CHAP103
(Offered as LLAS 200 and AMST 206) In this course students will become familiar with the major debates that have animated Latinx and Latin American Studies, addressing a wide range of issues from the Conquest to the present. Each week students will focus on specific questions such as: Does Latin America have a common culture? Is Latin America part of the Western world? Is Latinx a race or an ethnicity? Is U.S. Latinx identity rooted in Latin America or the United States? Are Latin American nations post-colonial? Was the modern concept of race invented in the Caribbean at the time of the Conquest? The opposing viewpoints around such questions will provide the main focus of the reading assignments, which will average two or three articles per week. In the first four weeks, students will learn a methodology for analyzing, contextualizing, and making arguments that they will apply in developing their own positions in the specific controversies that will make up the rest of the course.
Limited to 15 students. Fall semester. Professor Schroeder Rodriguez.
Gabriel A. Arboleda
TTH 01:00 PM-02:20 PM
OCTA200
(Offered as ARCH 204, ARHA 204, and LLAS 204) This course studies the theory, policy, and practice of low-income housing in marginalized communities worldwide. We study central concepts in housing theory, key issues regarding low-income housing, different approaches to address these issues, and political debates around housing the poor. We use a comparative focus, going back and forth between the cases of the United States and the so-called developing world. By doing this, we engage in a “theory from without” exercise: We attempt to understand the housing problem in the United States from the perspective of the developing world, and vice versa. We study our subject through illustrated lectures, seminar discussions, documentary films, visual analysis exercises, and a field trip.
Limited to 20 students. Spring Semester. Professor Arboleda.
Gabriel A. Arboleda
TTH 01:00 PM-02:20 PM
OCTA200
(Offered as ARCH 204, ARHA 204, and LLAS 204) This course studies the theory, policy, and practice of low-income housing in marginalized communities worldwide. We study central concepts in housing theory, key issues regarding low-income housing, different approaches to address these issues, and political debates around housing the poor. We use a comparative focus, going back and forth between the cases of the United States and the so-called developing world. By doing this, we engage in a “theory from without” exercise: We attempt to understand the housing problem in the United States from the perspective of the developing world, and vice versa. We study our subject through illustrated lectures, seminar discussions, documentary films, visual analysis exercises, and a field trip.
Limited to 20 students. Spring Semester. Professor Arboleda.
Watufani M. Poe
TTH 11:30 AM-12:50 PM
SCCEA019
(Offered as BLST 226[D], LLAS 226 and SWAG 226) This course focuses on Black Queer and Trans life and struggle as well as the cultural and intellectual contributions Black Queer and Trans have made to in numerous fields throughout the Americas (North and South). While for many years narratives of the lives of Black LGBTQ people have been silenced and erased due to stigma and intersectional oppression on the basis of race, gender, and sexuality, scholars and artists in the past four decades have worked to recover the stories of Black Queer and Trans communities throughout the diaspora. The Black Queer/Trans Americas will dive into works that highlight these cultural contributions, while also understanding the compounded systemic violence that Black LGBTQ communities have faced and continue to face. By the end of this course students will have a strong understanding of how systems of power work to restrict the freedoms of Black Queer and Trans communities, and how Black LGBTQ people have lived, organized, and created in spite of and in response to these oppressions. This interdisciplinary undergraduate upper level course will utilize academic texts accompanied by poetry, fiction, film, television, and visual art to understand Black Queer and Trans subjectivities. In addition to course materials, the class will also make use of presentations from local artists, activists, and community members in the local area to add to the course experience. Every week will focus on a different theme or field of study related to Black LGBTQ+ life.
Limited to 20 students. Spring semester. Professor Poe.
Russell Lohse
W 02:30 PM-05:30 PM
COOP101
(Offered as BLST 363 [CLA], HIST 463 [AF/TC/TE/TS/TR/P] and LLAS 463) In this course students will consult, analyze, and employ a variety of sources, including the accounts of missionaries, journals of slave traders, the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, and the few available slave narratives written by Africans. Students will be presented with the tools to write original research on topics including the involvement of Western African societies in the slave trade, the logistics of the Middle Passage, characteristics of the captives transported from Africa to the Americas, and the Africans' own experiences of the Middle Passage and adaptation to the slave régimes of the Americas. Students will write a series of short assignments leading up to a major research paper of 20-25 pages.
Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Lohse.
Paul A. Schroeder Rodriguez
TTH 11:30 AM-12:50 PM
CHAP103
(Offered as COLQ 461 and SPAN 461) In this particular research tutorial we will ask how specific film practices help normalize racist vs. anti-racist structures of feeling. We will begin with a few key historical and theoretical texts on the long-term construction of racist and anti-racist structures of feeling in Latin America and in U.S. Latinx cultures, to then explore how these are reproduced or contested in a handful of films where racism and anti-racism are at the center of the filmic text, narratively and/or audiovisually. The selection of films will be made collaboratively, as will the subsequent research and the chosen end-product, for example an academic essay, a scholarly review essay, a digital resource for teachers, and/or media activism. The course will be conducted in Spanish.
This course is a research tutorial, listed in the catalog as colloquia for juniors and seniors, and is part of a tutorial series that engages Amherst students in substantive research with faculty in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. By exploring how different scholars approach a topic, students learn to frame a research question, develop research strategies, and identify and use sources. Students enrolled in these courses are guaranteed funding for at least six weeks of work during the summer following the academic year in which they take the course.
Open to sophomores and juniors. Limited to 6 students. Spring Semester. Professor Schroeder Rodriguez.
Ilan Stavans
TTH 11:30 AM-12:50 PM
SMUD206
This panoramic, interdisciplinary course will explore the concept of love as it changes epoch to epoch and culture to culture. Poetry, novels, paintings, sculptures, movies, TV, and music will be featured. Starting with the Song of Songs, it will include discussions of Plato, Aristotle, Catullus, and other Greek classics, move on to Dante and Petrarch, contemplate Chinese, Arabic, African, and Mesoamerican literatures, devote a central unit to Shakespeare, continue with the Metaphysical poets, and move on to American literature. Special attention will be paid to the difference between love, eroticism, and pornography. Multilingual students will be encouraged to delve into various linguistic traditions, in tongues like French, Russian, German, Yiddish, and Spanish. Conducted in English.
Limited to 20 students. Spring semester. Professor Stavans.
Rick A. Lopez
TTH 01:00 PM-02:20 PM
WEBS102
(Offered as HIST 263 [LA/TE/TR/TS] and LLAS 263) Latin Americans began their struggle for democracy during the independence wars at the start of the nineteenth century. Their struggle continues today. This course considers the historical meanings of democracy in various Latin American countries, with particular attention to the relationship between liberalism and democracy in the nineteenth century; the broadening of democracy at the start of the twentieth century; the rise and fall of military dictatorships in the 1960s–1980s and their impact upon civil society; and the current clashes between neo-liberal economic programs and the neo-populist resurgence of the left. Readings and discussions will focus on the ways broad economic and political shifts impacted individuals' lives; how each economic class experienced these shifts differently; the way race and gender have shaped peoples' experience with democratization and repression; and the personal processes of radicalization by which individuals became inspired to take risks in their struggle for inclusion and against repression. Because the approach is thematic and chronological, some countries and regions will receive more attention than others. Meetings and readings will draw on secondary studies, historical documents, testimonials, music, images, and film. Two meetings per week.
Spring Semester. Professor López.
Russell Lohse
W 02:30 PM-05:30 PM
COOP101
(Offered as BLST 363 [CLA], HIST 463 [AF/TC/TE/TS/TR/P] and LLAS 463) In this course students will consult, analyze, and employ a variety of sources, including the accounts of missionaries, journals of slave traders, the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, and the few available slave narratives written by Africans. Students will be presented with the tools to write original research on topics including the involvement of Western African societies in the slave trade, the logistics of the Middle Passage, characteristics of the captives transported from Africa to the Americas, and the Africans' own experiences of the Middle Passage and adaptation to the slave régimes of the Americas. Students will write a series of short assignments leading up to a major research paper of 20-25 pages.
Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Lohse.
Lloyd D. Barba
MW 04:00 PM-05:20 PM
CHAP201
(Offered as RELI 130and LLAS 130) On the dawn of the quincentenary of the Protestant Reformation, the April 2013 cover story of Time Magazine heralded the “Latino Reformation.” After 500 years of religious contact, conflict, and conversions throughout the Americas, “Latino USA” is undergoing unprecedented religious transformations. Latinxs, now comprising the largest ethnic minority group in the United States, are largely responsible for the new expressions of Abrahamic religious traditions in the country. This course is a historical survey of the growing and diverse U.S. Latinx religious experiences. The chronology of the course will begin with pre-contact Indian religions and cultures, then follow with an examination of Iberian Catholic and Indian contact cultures, Catholic and Protestant migrations into the U.S., and the negotiation and representation of Latinx religious identities today.
Spring semester. Assistant Professor Barba.
Paul A. Schroeder Rodriguez
TTH 03:00 PM-04:20 PM
CHAP103
(Offered as LLAS 200 and AMST 206) In this course students will become familiar with the major debates that have animated Latinx and Latin American Studies, addressing a wide range of issues from the Conquest to the present. Each week students will focus on specific questions such as: Does Latin America have a common culture? Is Latin America part of the Western world? Is Latinx a race or an ethnicity? Is U.S. Latinx identity rooted in Latin America or the United States? Are Latin American nations post-colonial? Was the modern concept of race invented in the Caribbean at the time of the Conquest? The opposing viewpoints around such questions will provide the main focus of the reading assignments, which will average two or three articles per week. In the first four weeks, students will learn a methodology for analyzing, contextualizing, and making arguments that they will apply in developing their own positions in the specific controversies that will make up the rest of the course.
Limited to 15 students. Fall semester. Professor Schroeder Rodriguez.
Gabriel A. Arboleda
TTH 01:00 PM-02:20 PM
OCTA200
(Offered as ARCH 204, ARHA 204, and LLAS 204) This course studies the theory, policy, and practice of low-income housing in marginalized communities worldwide. We study central concepts in housing theory, key issues regarding low-income housing, different approaches to address these issues, and political debates around housing the poor. We use a comparative focus, going back and forth between the cases of the United States and the so-called developing world. By doing this, we engage in a “theory from without” exercise: We attempt to understand the housing problem in the United States from the perspective of the developing world, and vice versa. We study our subject through illustrated lectures, seminar discussions, documentary films, visual analysis exercises, and a field trip.
Limited to 20 students. Spring Semester. Professor Arboleda.
Carmen C. Granda
MW 01:30 PM-02:50 PM
GREA109
(Offered as SPAN 205 and LLAS 205) Heritage learners of Spanish are students who have grown up speaking, listening, reading and/or writing Spanish with family or in their community. Because of their unique backgrounds, Spanish heritage language learners (SHLLs) are bilingual and bicultural. They function between a Hispanic and an American identity. This fluid and multiple identity can bring challenges, as SHLLs try to fit into both groups. With this in mind, through meaningful activities that focus on students’ experiences and emotions, this Spanish language course will center on bilingualism, specifically through writing, as a necessary means for identity formation. Because in narrating our stories with others, we enact our identities, this course will connect students with the bilingual community in Amherst or Holyoke. Through this course, students will incorporate their personal experience as SHLLs into their coursework. Activities will foster critical thinking, and students will learn to analyze, read, discuss, write, and reflect on issues of language, culture, and identity. Using a student-centered approach, the course will include collaborative brainstorming, free-writing, developing topics of personal importance, and peer and group editing in order to develop students’ writing proficiency and to build community.
This course prepares Spanish heritage language students for advanced-level courses offered by the Spanish Department. Limited to 18 students per section. This course may be counted toward the Spanish Major. The class will be conducted entirely in Spanish, though some assignments can be submitted in English. Prerequisite: SPAN 201, SPAN 202 or placement exam.
Consent Required (students must identify as Spanish heritage language students). Spring Semester. Senior Lecturer Granda.
Watufani M. Poe
TTH 11:30 AM-12:50 PM
SCCEA019
(Offered as BLST 226[D], LLAS 226 and SWAG 226) This course focuses on Black Queer and Trans life and struggle as well as the cultural and intellectual contributions Black Queer and Trans have made to in numerous fields throughout the Americas (North and South). While for many years narratives of the lives of Black LGBTQ people have been silenced and erased due to stigma and intersectional oppression on the basis of race, gender, and sexuality, scholars and artists in the past four decades have worked to recover the stories of Black Queer and Trans communities throughout the diaspora. The Black Queer/Trans Americas will dive into works that highlight these cultural contributions, while also understanding the compounded systemic violence that Black LGBTQ communities have faced and continue to face. By the end of this course students will have a strong understanding of how systems of power work to restrict the freedoms of Black Queer and Trans communities, and how Black LGBTQ people have lived, organized, and created in spite of and in response to these oppressions. This interdisciplinary undergraduate upper level course will utilize academic texts accompanied by poetry, fiction, film, television, and visual art to understand Black Queer and Trans subjectivities. In addition to course materials, the class will also make use of presentations from local artists, activists, and community members in the local area to add to the course experience. Every week will focus on a different theme or field of study related to Black LGBTQ+ life.
Limited to 20 students. Spring semester. Professor Poe.
Rick A. Lopez
TTH 01:00 PM-02:20 PM
WEBS102
(Offered as HIST 263 [LA/TE/TR/TS] and LLAS 263) Latin Americans began their struggle for democracy during the independence wars at the start of the nineteenth century. Their struggle continues today. This course considers the historical meanings of democracy in various Latin American countries, with particular attention to the relationship between liberalism and democracy in the nineteenth century; the broadening of democracy at the start of the twentieth century; the rise and fall of military dictatorships in the 1960s–1980s and their impact upon civil society; and the current clashes between neo-liberal economic programs and the neo-populist resurgence of the left. Readings and discussions will focus on the ways broad economic and political shifts impacted individuals' lives; how each economic class experienced these shifts differently; the way race and gender have shaped peoples' experience with democratization and repression; and the personal processes of radicalization by which individuals became inspired to take risks in their struggle for inclusion and against repression. Because the approach is thematic and chronological, some countries and regions will receive more attention than others. Meetings and readings will draw on secondary studies, historical documents, testimonials, music, images, and film. Two meetings per week.
Spring Semester. Professor López.
Sara J. Brenneis
TTH 11:30 AM-12:50 PM
CONV308
(Offered as SPAN 301 and LLAS 301) This course provides an introduction to the diverse literatures and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world over the course of six centuries, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Students will learn the tools, language, and critical vocabulary for advanced work reading the canon of Hispanic literatures from Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean Basin, identifying aesthetic trends, historical periods and diverse genres such as poetry, narrative, theater and film. The syllabus will include a wide variety of authors of different national, political, and artistic persuasions and an array of linguistic styles. This course prepares students for advanced work in Spanish and for study abroad.
Requisite SPAN 202 or Spanish Placement Exam. Proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Spanish are required. Limited to 20 students per section. Fall semester: Visiting Professor Porter. Spring semester: Professor Brenneis.
Jeannette Sanchez-Naranjo
TTH 01:00 PM-02:20 PM
BARR105
(Offered as SPAN 357 and LLAS 357) Spanish is the second-most widely spoken language in the world. With more than 400 million native speakers, it has official status in 21 countries. In the United States more than 40 million people use Spanish in their daily lives. What exactly is the Spanish language? What do you actually know when you speak Spanish? These questions are at the heart of this course. By following a bottom-up design—from smallest to largest segments of language—we will understand the basic characteristics of human language and will examine the architecture of the Spanish language: how its sounds are produced and how they combine; how its words are constructed from their component parts; how its sentences are formed; how its meanings are understood; and how its use reflects aspects of our socio-cultural behavior. As an approach to the formal study of the Spanish language, we will explore actual and diverse language data such as texts, speech samples, and songs to grasp complex linguistic phenomena. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisite: Spanish 202 or permission of instructor. Limited to 18 students. Fall and spring semesters. Professor Sánchez-Naranjo.
Russell Lohse
W 02:30 PM-05:30 PM
COOP101
(Offered as BLST 363 [CLA], HIST 463 [AF/TC/TE/TS/TR/P] and LLAS 463) In this course students will consult, analyze, and employ a variety of sources, including the accounts of missionaries, journals of slave traders, the Transatlantic Slave Trade Database, and the few available slave narratives written by Africans. Students will be presented with the tools to write original research on topics including the involvement of Western African societies in the slave trade, the logistics of the Middle Passage, characteristics of the captives transported from Africa to the Americas, and the Africans' own experiences of the Middle Passage and adaptation to the slave régimes of the Americas. Students will write a series of short assignments leading up to a major research paper of 20-25 pages.
Limited to 18 students. Spring semester. Professor Lohse.
Lloyd D. Barba
MW 04:00 PM-05:20 PM
CHAP201
(Offered as RELI 130and LLAS 130) On the dawn of the quincentenary of the Protestant Reformation, the April 2013 cover story of Time Magazine heralded the “Latino Reformation.” After 500 years of religious contact, conflict, and conversions throughout the Americas, “Latino USA” is undergoing unprecedented religious transformations. Latinxs, now comprising the largest ethnic minority group in the United States, are largely responsible for the new expressions of Abrahamic religious traditions in the country. This course is a historical survey of the growing and diverse U.S. Latinx religious experiences. The chronology of the course will begin with pre-contact Indian religions and cultures, then follow with an examination of Iberian Catholic and Indian contact cultures, Catholic and Protestant migrations into the U.S., and the negotiation and representation of Latinx religious identities today.
Spring semester. Assistant Professor Barba.
Carmen C. Granda
MW 01:30 PM-02:50 PM
GREA109
(Offered as SPAN 205 and LLAS 205) Heritage learners of Spanish are students who have grown up speaking, listening, reading and/or writing Spanish with family or in their community. Because of their unique backgrounds, Spanish heritage language learners (SHLLs) are bilingual and bicultural. They function between a Hispanic and an American identity. This fluid and multiple identity can bring challenges, as SHLLs try to fit into both groups. With this in mind, through meaningful activities that focus on students’ experiences and emotions, this Spanish language course will center on bilingualism, specifically through writing, as a necessary means for identity formation. Because in narrating our stories with others, we enact our identities, this course will connect students with the bilingual community in Amherst or Holyoke. Through this course, students will incorporate their personal experience as SHLLs into their coursework. Activities will foster critical thinking, and students will learn to analyze, read, discuss, write, and reflect on issues of language, culture, and identity. Using a student-centered approach, the course will include collaborative brainstorming, free-writing, developing topics of personal importance, and peer and group editing in order to develop students’ writing proficiency and to build community.
This course prepares Spanish heritage language students for advanced-level courses offered by the Spanish Department. Limited to 18 students per section. This course may be counted toward the Spanish Major. The class will be conducted entirely in Spanish, though some assignments can be submitted in English. Prerequisite: SPAN 201, SPAN 202 or placement exam.
Consent Required (students must identify as Spanish heritage language students). Spring Semester. Senior Lecturer Granda.
Sara J. Brenneis
TTH 11:30 AM-12:50 PM
CONV308
(Offered as SPAN 301 and LLAS 301) This course provides an introduction to the diverse literatures and cultures of the Spanish-speaking world over the course of six centuries, from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Students will learn the tools, language, and critical vocabulary for advanced work reading the canon of Hispanic literatures from Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean Basin, identifying aesthetic trends, historical periods and diverse genres such as poetry, narrative, theater and film. The syllabus will include a wide variety of authors of different national, political, and artistic persuasions and an array of linguistic styles. This course prepares students for advanced work in Spanish and for study abroad.
Requisite SPAN 202 or Spanish Placement Exam. Proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Spanish are required. Limited to 20 students per section. Fall semester: Visiting Professor Porter. Spring semester: Professor Brenneis.
Jeannette Sanchez-Naranjo
TTH 01:00 PM-02:20 PM
BARR105
(Offered as SPAN 357 and LLAS 357) Spanish is the second-most widely spoken language in the world. With more than 400 million native speakers, it has official status in 21 countries. In the United States more than 40 million people use Spanish in their daily lives. What exactly is the Spanish language? What do you actually know when you speak Spanish? These questions are at the heart of this course. By following a bottom-up design—from smallest to largest segments of language—we will understand the basic characteristics of human language and will examine the architecture of the Spanish language: how its sounds are produced and how they combine; how its words are constructed from their component parts; how its sentences are formed; how its meanings are understood; and how its use reflects aspects of our socio-cultural behavior. As an approach to the formal study of the Spanish language, we will explore actual and diverse language data such as texts, speech samples, and songs to grasp complex linguistic phenomena. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisite: Spanish 202 or permission of instructor. Limited to 18 students. Fall and spring semesters. Professor Sánchez-Naranjo.
Ilan Stavans
TTH 10:00 AM-11:20 AM
BARR105
A thorough, in-depth exploration of the life and works of Mexican nun Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1648-1695), the most important Latin American writer and thinker of the colonial period and one of the region’s most influential figures overall. The focus will be on the three choices seventeenth-century colonial women faced: marriage, the convent, and the court. We will study churches, convents, and monasteries from religious, political, social, and dietary perspectives. There will be close readings of Sor Juana’s poetry, theater, philosophical disquisitions, autobiographical writing, and theological debates regarding Athanasius Kircher, Erasmus of Rotterdam, and René Descartes. Sor Juana’s afterlife as a feminist and contemporary pop icon will also be studied, as will similar Iberian and Latin American religious writers such as Santa Teresa de Jesús, Fray San Juan de la Cruz, Fray Luis de León, Juan Ruíz de Alarcón and Carlos de Singüenza y Góngora. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisite: SPAN 301 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 25 students. Spring Semester: Professor Stavans.
Megan Saltzman
MW 04:00 PM-05:20 PM
BARR105
(Offered as SPAN-448 and LLAS-448) With a historical and transnational approach, this course will explore bi/multicultural identities and communities in the Spanish-speaking world, primarily of the contemporary period: Mestizos, Korean-Argentineans, Afro-Peruvians, Latin American and Caribbean Chinatowns, Quechua-Castillian speakers, Spanglish-speakers from the United States to Gibraltar, Moroccans and West Africans in Spanish cities, “gallegos” in Buenos Aires, Filipino-Peruvian migrants in Tokyo and so on. Through a wide-variety of empirical, literary, and cultural texts (literature, film, music, graphic novel, photography, etc.), we will put diverse cases of ethnic and linguistic hybridity in dialogue with one another to study how communities and identities are represented, remembered, and demarcated; we will examine how they reclaim autonomy and space, and negotiate their personal and collective subjectivities amongst other communities and identities. Doing so will lead us to examine pressing socio-cultural phenomena that are increasingly global, rapidly-transforming, and interconnected: post/de/colonialism, bi/multiculturalism, transculturation, diaspora, immigration, exile, religion, borders, nationalism, nostalgia, capitalism, and structural in/exclusion. To help us study these issues and think of solutions, we will bring in theorists who have written on local and global hybridity (e.g., Bhabha, Spivek, Anzaldúa, Hall, Appiah). Inevitably, we will also discuss how these issues implicate us and our identities here in Amherst, MA in 2022. Students will have the opportunity to apply their knowledge as well as communicate personally with individuals who identify as bi/multicultural through a one-on-one interview project and invited speakers. Conducted in Spanish.
Prerequisite: Spanish 301 or permission of instructor. Spring Semester: Visiting Associate Professor Megan Saltzman.
Paul A. Schroeder Rodriguez
TTH 11:30 AM-12:50 PM
CHAP103
(Offered as COLQ 461 and SPAN 461) In this particular research tutorial we will ask how specific film practices help normalize racist vs. anti-racist structures of feeling. We will begin with a few key historical and theoretical texts on the long-term construction of racist and anti-racist structures of feeling in Latin America and in U.S. Latinx cultures, to then explore how these are reproduced or contested in a handful of films where racism and anti-racism are at the center of the filmic text, narratively and/or audiovisually. The selection of films will be made collaboratively, as will the subsequent research and the chosen end-product, for example an academic essay, a scholarly review essay, a digital resource for teachers, and/or media activism. The course will be conducted in Spanish.
This course is a research tutorial, listed in the catalog as colloquia for juniors and seniors, and is part of a tutorial series that engages Amherst students in substantive research with faculty in the humanities and humanistic social sciences. By exploring how different scholars approach a topic, students learn to frame a research question, develop research strategies, and identify and use sources. Students enrolled in these courses are guaranteed funding for at least six weeks of work during the summer following the academic year in which they take the course.
Open to sophomores and juniors. Limited to 6 students. Spring Semester. Professor Schroeder Rodriguez.
Justin Crumbaugh
TTH 03:15PM-04:30PM
Ciruti 206
Vanessa Rosa
TTH 10:00AM-11:15AM
Ciruti 217
Vanessa Rosa
T 01:30PM-04:20PM
Ciruti 127
Justin Crumbaugh
TTH 11:30AM-12:45PM
Skinner Hall 210
David Hernández
M 01:30PM-04:20PM
Ciruti 123
Bianka Ballina
TTH 11:30AM-12:45PM;W 07:15PM-10:05PM
Art 219;Art 221
Justin Crumbaugh
TTH 11:30AM-12:45PM
Skinner Hall 210
Adriana Pitetta
T 01:30PM-04:20PM
Clapp Laboratory 126
Vanessa Rosa
T 01:30PM-04:20PM
Ciruti 127
Justin Crumbaugh
TTH 11:30AM-12:45PM
Skinner Hall 210
Adriana Pitetta
T 01:30PM-04:20PM
Clapp Laboratory 126
Justin Crumbaugh
TTH 03:15PM-04:30PM
Ciruti 206
Raul Gutierrez
MW 11:30AM-12:45PM
Shattuck Hall 319
Vanessa Rosa
TTH 10:00AM-11:15AM
Ciruti 217
Vanessa Rosa
T 01:30PM-04:20PM
Ciruti 127
David Hernández
M 01:30PM-04:20PM
Ciruti 123
Cora Fernandez Anderson
TTH 01:45PM-03:00PM
Ciruti 009
Adriana Pitetta
T 01:30PM-04:20PM
Clapp Laboratory 126
Adriana Pitetta
TTH 10:00AM-11:15AM
Ciruti 202
Nieves Romero-Díaz
TTH 10:00AM-11:15AM
Ciruti 206
Antonio Illescas
MW 03:15PM-04:30PM
Ciruti 217
Justin Crumbaugh
TTH 11:30AM-12:45PM
Skinner Hall 210
Adriana Pitetta
T 01:30PM-04:20PM
Clapp Laboratory 126
Dana Leibsohn
TU 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Hillyer 103
Lester Tomé
M 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Theatre 207A
Dana Leibsohn
TU TH 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM
Burton 219
Michelle Joffroy
TU 1:20 PM - 4:00 PM
Hatfield 202
Marguerite I. Harrison
M W F 9:25 AM - 10:15 AM
Hatfield 104
Malcolm Kenneth McNee
M W F 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
Hatfield 206
Malcolm Kenneth McNee
M W 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM
Hatfield 206
themes of resistance, including resistance to dictatorship, patriarchy, slavery, racism, and colonialism, but also more ambivalent postures of resistance toward authority assumed within particular forms of
expertise and knowledge production and deployment. Discussing fiction by Machado de Assis and
Clarice Lispector (Brazil), Mia Couto and Paulina Chiziane (Mozambique), Grada Kilomba
(Portugal/Germany), and Nobel laureate José Saramago (Portugal), we will consider historical contexts,
how their work resonates with our contemporary world, literature and fictionality as sites of resistance,
and the sometimes fraught dynamics they reveal between authorship and authority.
Simone M. Gugliotta
M W F 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
Hatfield 201
Marguerite I. Harrison
M W 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
Hatfield 104
Silvia Berger
TU TH 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
Seelye 308
Silvia Berger
TU TH 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM
Seelye 311
Silvia Berger
TU TH 4:10 PM - 5:25 PM
Seelye 311
Michelle Joffroy
TU TH 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
Burton 209
Malcolm Kenneth McNee
M W 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM
Hatfield 206
themes of resistance, including resistance to dictatorship, patriarchy, slavery, racism, and colonialism, but also more ambivalent postures of resistance toward authority assumed within particular forms of
expertise and knowledge production and deployment. Discussing fiction by Machado de Assis and
Clarice Lispector (Brazil), Mia Couto and Paulina Chiziane (Mozambique), Grada Kilomba
(Portugal/Germany), and Nobel laureate José Saramago (Portugal), we will consider historical contexts,
how their work resonates with our contemporary world, literature and fictionality as sites of resistance,
and the sometimes fraught dynamics they reveal between authorship and authority.
Kimberlee Perez
TU TH 10:00AM 11:15AM
Integ. Learning Center N255
Kevin Young
TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
Herter Hall room 225
Kevin Young
TU TH 11:30AM 12:45PM
Herter Hall room 225
Sonia Alvarez
TU TH 4:00PM 5:15PM
Machmer Hall room W-27
Sonia Alvarez
W 4:00PM 6:30PM
Machmer Hall room E-10
Millicent Thayer
TU TH 1:00PM 2:15PM
Machmer Hall room E-33
Margara Russotto
TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
Herter Hall room 224
Stephanie Fetta,Maria Narvaez Burbano
M W F 10:10AM 11:00AM
Herter Hall room 211
Emma Rivera-Rabago
TU TH 10:00AM 11:15AM
Herter Hall room 118
Emma Rivera-Rabago
TU TH 11:30AM 12:45PM
Herter Hall room 118
Emma Rivera-Rabago
M W F 11:15AM 12:05PM
Herter Hall room 117
Stephanie Fetta,Aitor Bouso Gavin
TU TH 1:00PM 2:15PM
Herter Hall room 118
Patricia Gubitosi
TU TH 2:30PM 3:45PM
Herter Hall room 212
Margara Russotto
TU 4:00PM 6:30PM
Herter Hall room 400
Fall 2022 Latin American, Caribbean, & Latino Studies Courses
Javier Puente
M W 10:50 AM - 12:05 PM
Javier Puente
M W 9:25 AM - 10:40 AM
Lyman 111
Resources
Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies (LACLS) has a long and distinguished history in the Five Colleges (the University of Massachusetts–Amherst, and Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith colleges). For over three decades, the main goal of FCLACLS has been to promote the multi- and inter-disciplinary study of Latin America.
With respect to the individual programs, the University of Massachusetts–Amherst Center for Latin American, Caribbean and Latino Studies offers an undergraduate certificate, a graduate certificate and a minor. The Mount Holyoke College and Smith College Latin American Studies Programs offer a major and minor. At Hampshire College, students may develop an area of specialization in Latin American Studies in conjunction with or in addition to their area of concentration. At Amherst College, students may design a major in Latin American Studies.
FCLACLS Certificate
The FCLACLS Council administers the Five College Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies Certificate. The requirements include the successful (a grade of B or higher) completion of eight one-semester courses selected from five different areas. The five areas are a broadly based introductory course on the social and political history of Latin America, a social science course, a humanities course, four advanced elective courses and an interdisciplinary senior seminar. Language training is crucial. Certificates are awarded only after having demonstrated proficiency through at least the advanced intermediate level in Spanish, Portuguese or an indigenous language of the Americas. Students are encouraged to take advantage of cross-enrollment opportunities at the other colleges.
UMass Undergraduate Certificate
The undergraduate certificate and minor at UMass allow students to develop a concentration in LACLS as a complement to their disciplinary major. The certificate program offers two options, one emphasizing competence (at the advanced intermediate level) in both Spanish and Portuguese, the other, one language and a greater number (six rather than four) of area studies courses. The area studies courses must be from at least three different disciplines. Both tracks require an advanced interdisciplinary seminar. The minor requires six area studies courses. Students may major in LAS through the Bachelor’s Degree with Individual Concentration program.
Latin American Studies Minor and Certificate at UMass
Mount Holyoke College Major and Minor Programs
The LAS major at MHC requires a minimum of 10 courses of which at least half must be at the advanced level; the minor requires a minimum of five. Among the required courses is an introductory course in either Latin American cultures or economies, one advanced literature course and a course focusing on less studied Latin American social groups. The program requires a command of Spanish or Portuguese at the advanced intermediate level and recommends at least an elementary knowledge of the other language. At Smith, the LAS major is anchored by a core set of four required courses in literature and history that provide the foundation for in-depth interdisciplinary study. Students must complete an additional six courses at the intermediate or advanced level, with two of these in the social sciences and at least one in the arts. A proficiency in Spanish at the advanced intermediate level is required and reading knowledge of Portuguese is recommended. The LAS Minor requires six courses. At Amherst College students develop their own major in LAS by writing a senior honor’s thesis in consultation with three advisors. At Hampshire, which does not have majors and minors, students develop a concentration in Latin America by writing their required senior honor’s thesis on a relevant topic and through an appropriate selection of inter-disciplinary courses.
Latin American Studies at Mount Holyoke
The Graduate Program at UMass
The graduate certificate at UMass is intended to structure graduate study with a LAS focus, foster interdisciplinary scholarship and promote foreign language competence. To be eligible, students must be enrolled in a regular disciplinary or professional master’s or Ph.D. program. Candidates must complete a minimum of four graduate area study courses in three disciplines, demonstrate language proficiency at the advanced intermediate level, complete a thesis or dissertation on a Latin American theme and present their research results in the CLACLS Research Workshop.
Graduate Certificate in Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies at UMass
Five College Libraries
The total size of the Five College Latin American collection is in excess of 225,000 volumes, placing it among the 20 largest LAS collections nationwide, a true gem for undergraduates. The Pauline P. Collins Collection at UMass numbers 200,000+ volumes, over half of these in Spanish and Portuguese. The four colleges have not enumerated their Latin American acquisitions, but an analysis of their Latin American holdings (by LC call numbers) in Latin American history and literature yields a total of 25,812 volumes.
The Lorna M. Peterson Prize
The Lorna M. Peterson Prize supports scholarly and creative work by undergraduate students taking part in Five College programs. The $500 prize is awarded annually based on nominations from Five College programs.
Contact Us
Council Chair:
Javier Puente, Assistant Professor of Latin American and Latino/a Studies, Smith College
Five College Staff Liaison:
Rebecca Thomas, Academic Programs Coordinator