Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

(Offered as AMST 140 and LJST 140) While discussions of white supremacy are more common now than even a few years ago, the image of the United States as a nation of immigrants remains popular. How can we connect these two notions, that on the one hand the country was founded on and practices a settler colonialism and racial capitalism that privileges whites, with that on the other hand many immigrants of color are working towards their American Dream? Through sociological and historical texts, the course will interrogate what is behind immigration to the United States, including the nation’s imperial and neocolonial interventions abroad that have created the foundation for much displacement. The course also delves into how immigrants navigate racial hierarchies – sometimes successfully and sometimes not – across a variety of spaces, including education, the workplace, cultural discourse, and more. Attention will be given to various groups, including Asian Americans, Latinxs, and others. Students will have research and writing assessments.

Limited to 20 students. Fall semester. Professors del Moral and Dhingra.

(Offered as HIST 264 [LA/TC/TE/TR/^P] and LLAS 264)  Over the course of three centuries, massive migrations from Europe and Africa and the dramatic decline of indigenous populations in South and Central America radically transformed the cultural, political, economic, and material landscape of what we today know as Latin America. This course will investigate the dynamism of Latin American societies beginning in the ancient or pre-conquest period and ending with the collapse of European rule in most Spanish, Portuguese, and French speaking territories in the New World. We will explore this history through the eyes of various historical actors, including politicians, explorers, noble men and women, indigenous intellectuals, and African slaves. In addition to interrogating the myriad of peaceable and creative cross-cultural exchanges and interactions that characterized the relationship between these groups, we will also explore how conflict, exploitation, and natural disaster shaped the Colonial Latin American experience. Through a mixture of lecture, small and large group activities, and analysis of primary and secondary sources we will also consider how historians understand the past as well as the foundational debates which shape our current interpretations of colonial Latin American history. Two class meetings per week.

Fall semester. Professor Lohse.

(Offered as HIST 268 [LA/TE/TR/^P], BLST 268 [CLA] and LLAS 268) Students will gain in-depth knowledge of the experiences of Africans and their descendants, slave and free, from the time the first captives were brought to Hispaniola in 1503 until the time of abolition in Cuba in 1886 in this course. Regions to be covered include the Spanish-speaking Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America, and the Andean and Southern Cone regions. Topics will include the ways in which specific regions of Western Africa contributed captives to specific regions of Spanish America, the nature of Spanish colonial institutions and their impact on the lives of Africans and their descendants, resistance and rebellion, routes to freedom, and slave and free Black families. This readings-based course features both secondary and primary sources. Select primary documents will acquaint students with the sources historians use to reconstruct these aspects of the histories of largely non-literate African-descended peoples.

Fall semester. Professor Lohse.

(Offered as AMST 140 and LJST 140) While discussions of white supremacy are more common now than even a few years ago, the image of the United States as a nation of immigrants remains popular. How can we connect these two notions, that on the one hand the country was founded on and practices a settler colonialism and racial capitalism that privileges whites, with that on the other hand many immigrants of color are working towards their American Dream? Through sociological and historical texts, the course will interrogate what is behind immigration to the United States, including the nation’s imperial and neocolonial interventions abroad that have created the foundation for much displacement. The course also delves into how immigrants navigate racial hierarchies – sometimes successfully and sometimes not – across a variety of spaces, including education, the workplace, cultural discourse, and more. Attention will be given to various groups, including Asian Americans, Latinxs, and others. Students will have research and writing assessments.

Limited to 20 students. Fall semester. Professors del Moral and Dhingra.

(Offered as HIST 264 [LA/TC/TE/TR/^P] and LLAS 264)  Over the course of three centuries, massive migrations from Europe and Africa and the dramatic decline of indigenous populations in South and Central America radically transformed the cultural, political, economic, and material landscape of what we today know as Latin America. This course will investigate the dynamism of Latin American societies beginning in the ancient or pre-conquest period and ending with the collapse of European rule in most Spanish, Portuguese, and French speaking territories in the New World. We will explore this history through the eyes of various historical actors, including politicians, explorers, noble men and women, indigenous intellectuals, and African slaves. In addition to interrogating the myriad of peaceable and creative cross-cultural exchanges and interactions that characterized the relationship between these groups, we will also explore how conflict, exploitation, and natural disaster shaped the Colonial Latin American experience. Through a mixture of lecture, small and large group activities, and analysis of primary and secondary sources we will also consider how historians understand the past as well as the foundational debates which shape our current interpretations of colonial Latin American history. Two class meetings per week.

Fall semester. Professor Lohse.

Language is an integral part of identity performance and perception. Paying special attention to the topic of race, this course examines the power of language and language ideologies as exclusionary and inclusionary social tools, permitting or denying group membership. Via the analysis of literary and historical texts, linguistic and anthropological research, and digital media, students learn about the role of language variation in various Hispanic socio-political contexts. Through in-class discussions, small projects, and writing assignments, we contemplate the role of language in amplifying or contesting social inequality among Latinos in the U.S., Blacks and gays in the Caribbean, Latin American migrants in Spain, indigenous communities in México, etc. In doing so, students learn about linguistic variation in Spanish, hone their critical thinking skills, and learn to apply sociolinguistic and anthropological methodology to socio-cultural analysis. As the course is conducted in Spanish, an additional aim of the course is to sharpen second language speaking, listening, reading, and writing skills.

* No prior knowledge of anthropology or (socio)linguistics is expected.

Prerequisite: SPAN 301 or permission of instructor. Limited to 18 Students. Fall Semester: Lecturer Dixon.

Taught simultaneously at Amherst and Bowdoin, the course is designed as a cultural history of Hispanic civilization through its dictionaries. What authority do they exert? Who collects them? In what way do dictionaries change? The focus will be on the role words have played in history and their political, social, and commercial value. Starting with lexicons of indigenous, slave, and immigrant languages, students will engage in an in-depth exploration of figures like Antonio de Nebrija, Sebastián de Covarrubias, Andres Bello, and Maria Moliner. There will be a discussion of the asymmetrical relationship between Spain and Latin America and the importance of gender, media, sports, and cuisine. The Tesoro de la Lengua Espanola o Castellana, the Diccionario de Autoridades, the Diccionario de la Lengua Española, the Moliner, Larousse, and Clave will all be analyzed. Active research in compiling neologisms and other emerging words will be a feature of the course work. The endeavor will culminate in the publication of a scholarly book by Professors Boyle and Stavans on dictionaries in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America. Requirements: advanced and/or near-native language skills. Taught by Professors Margaret Boyle (Bowdoin) and Ilan Stavans (Amherst). Conducted in Spanish.

Requisite: SPAN 301 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 25 students. Fall semester: Professor Stavans.

(Offered as SPAN 451 and LLAS 451) This course highlights literary connections between the United States and the Spanish-speaking world via translation. Through a study of texts from the late nineteenth century to the present, we will look at the role of translation in literary histories and current literary activities. We will examine how writers have translated in order to practice and enhance their creative writing. We will use translation as a way to access and analyze literary texts. We will also think about translation as professional and collaborative activities. We will study the work of José Martí (Cuba), Julia de Burgos (Puerto Rico), Silvina Ocampo (Argentina), Felipe Alfau (Catalonia-Spain), Salvador Dalí (Catalonia-Spain), Achy Obejas (Cuba), and Urayoán Noel (Puerto Rico), among others. In addition, we will explore ways of contributing with translational activities to our own literary landscape in the Amherst area by possibly collaborating with local institutions such as the Emily Dickinson Museum, the Eric Carle Museum, and the Amazing World of Dr. Seuss Museum. Conducted in Spanish.

Prerequisite: SPAN 301 or permission of the instructor.  Limited to 18 students. Fall Semester: Visiting Associate Professor Galasso.