FALL 2008
CORE COURSES
HIST 360 - Colonial Latin American History
Susan Socolow
TTH 1:00am - 2:15pm
MAX: 30
Fulfills LACS Major/Minor Requirement
DESCRIPTION: This course provides an introduction to the history of colonial Latin America from before the conquest in the late fifteenth century to just before the movements for independence in the early nineteenth century. The focus will be primarily on the Native American and European backgrounds of the colonies, the conquest and its effects, the development of different aspects of the empire (e.g. economic, social, political), and the rise of the independence movements.
LAS 101 - Introduction to Latin American Studies
Ricardo Gutiérrez-Mouat
TTH 11:30am - 12:45pm
MAX: 85
Fulfills LACS Major/Minor Requirement
DESCRIPTION: Did the Aztecs really believe that conquering Spaniards were gods on horseback? Was Che Guevara portrayed accurately in the film “The Motorcycle Diaries”? And why would anyone compose a Broadway musical about Evita Perón? We will tackle all of these questions—and more—in LAS 101. The course is an introduction to Latin America as a region, and to the Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS) Program at Emory. Readings and lectures cover a variety of disciplines and perspectives, including history, anthropology, political science, economics, literature, and cultural studies. The course offers an overview of Latin America’s past, present and future—but focuses primarily on the contemporary period, highlighting important developments in countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico and Cuba.
TEXTS :
Román de la Campa, Cuba on My Mind
Ernesto Che Guevara, The Motorcycle Diaries
Ariel Dorfman, Death and the Maiden
Marguerite Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror
Mario Vargas Llosa, The Feast of the Goat
Peter Winn, Americas
Other readings TBA
GRADES: Quizzes and short assignments 15%; Midterm Exam 40%; Final Exam 45%
SPAN 300WR - Reading in Spanish: Texts and Contexts
Various Faculty
MWF Multiple Sessions
MAX: 10 per session
Fulfills LACS Major/Minor Requirement
DESCRIPTION: A course in Hispanic cultural literacy and critical skills that also develops students' reading ability, vocabulary, and ability to express ideas in writing. The course is designed to give students a broad understanding of Hispanic culture that will prepare them for upper level course work. The primary reading text is Carlos Fuentes' El espejo enterrado. As students read this text, they will learn about the history, geography, values, art, and literature of the Hispanic world, and they will also learn how to critique particular perspectives of these various facets of culture. Supplementary texts are also used.
TEXTS :
Carlos Fuentes. El espejo enterrado. 1992
PREREQUISITES: SPANISH 212 or 215, OFFICIAL SPANISH PLACEMENT from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, or permission of the Director of the Language Program.
LAS COURSES
LAS 190 - Discovering International Atlanta
(Same as ASIA 190, JRNL 190)
Sheila Tefft
W 10:00am - 12:30pm
MAX : LAS 5; ASIA 5; JRNL 5
DESCRIPTION: New immigrants are shaping international Atlanta. This seminar explores the city's international character through news coverage, field trips, meetings with journalists, politicians and other newsmakers and volunteer work in diverse neighborhoods. Students examine how the news media shape Atlanta's identity as home to growing immigrant communities and define public opinion and policy on major immigration issues. Students taking this course as LAS 190 would focus on Latin American and/or Caribbean migrant communities.
LAS 190 - Master Key to the Caribbean
(Same as IDS 190)
Robert Goddard
TTH 2:30pm - 3:45pm
MAX: LAS 10; IDS 10
DESCRIPTION: Celebrated by many for exemplifying cultural richness, linguistic diversity, and racial pluralism, and blamed by others for consolidating ethnic hierarchies, the Creole concept has been called the master key of Caribbean history and identity. This class will explore this topic by attempting introduce the major writings of Creole theorists from the French, Spanish and English Caribbean, together with appropriate theoretical approaches in addition to a consideration of the role played by Creole ideologies in the elaboration of forms of popular culture.
LAS 190 - Visions of the Brazilian Rain Forest
(Same as PORT 190)
Ana Santos Olmsted
MWF 12:50pm - 1:40pm
MAX: LAS 5; PORT 13
DESCRIPTION: This course will examine how various peoples and institutions have reacted to and portrayed the Amazon region. Although interdisciplinary in nature, this is not a science course and will not focus on the natural ecology, biodiversity, and climate conditions of the Amazon ecosystem. Rather, it will concentrate on the contrasting visions of the Rain Forest as a tropical paradise and an area of intense controversy for both its inhabitants and outsiders. We will study a variety of folk tales, fictional writings, non-fiction narratives and articles published in the press, as well as scholarly texts from fields as diverse as Anthropology and Literature. Documentaries and feature movies that provide a concept and a set of cultural values related to the Amazonian region will be viewed and discussed throughout the semester.
TEXTS:
Selected readings on Reserves Direct and Blackboard.
PARTICULARS: Evaluations are based on attendance and class participation, reaction papers, oral presentations, and one final project reflecting class readings and discussions.
LAS 270 - Plantation to Postcolonial: A Comparative Survey of Plantation America
(Same as HIST 285, IDS 385)
Robert Goddard
TTH 10:00am - 11:15am
MAX: LAS 10; HIST 5; IDS 5
DESCRIPTION: “Plantation America”, stretching from the American South, through the Caribbean to northern Brazil, comprises a geographical area that, as its name suggests, was dominated by the economic system of plantation monoculture. This course will attempt two inter-related tasks: it will firstly survey the unity and variety of the plantation as a form of socio-economic organization; secondly it will explicate the unity and variety of the political and cultural forms that have evolved alongside the plantation. The course will be interdisciplinary in nature, using texts from history, literature and anthropology.
LAS 385 - Latin American Politics
(Same as POLS 331)
Juan del Aguila
MWF 9:35am - 10:25am
MAX: LAS 10; POLS 35
DESCRIPTION: This course offers a broad interpretation of Latin American politicsand government from developmental and cultural perspectives. Significant issues shaping contemporary politics will also be discussed, namely democratization, neoliberal economic models, human rights and the tension between militarism and democratic legitimacy.
TEXTS:
Charles Blake. Politics in Latin America (2005)
Thomas Skidmore and Peter Smith. Modern Latin America, 6th edition (2005)
PARTICULARS:
Examinations - midterm and final
Papers - one 15-17 page research paper
Grading - midterm 30%, final 40%, paper 30%
Prerequisites - Some background in comparative politics or Latin American Studies is useful.
LAS 385 -
Shamanism and Art of the Americas
(Same as ARTHIST 393)
Rebecca Stone
TTH1:00pm - 2:1pm
MAX: LAS 5; ARTHIST 6
DESCRIPTION: The world's oldest continuing religious complex, shamanism, plays a prominent role in traditional Latin America from ancient times to the present and effects the artistic production of a wide array of cultures. This seminar will explore the perceptual characteristics of shamanic visions as they are directly depicted and influence imagery of humans, animals, and plants of Mesoamerica, Central and South America. Effigies of shamans in trance, including those with anomalous bodily conditions, will be featured. Works of art from the Carlos Museum collections are focus objects for discussion and research.
TEXTS:
Graham Harvey. Shamanism: A Reader
Rebecca Stone. Manuscript draft of Flowers in the Dark: VIsions and the Artistic Enterprise in Ancient Central and South America
Articles on reserve
MCCM permanent collection
PARTICULARS: Undergraduates will write two papers, one five page and one ten page, and give a fifteen minute talk.
LAS 385SWR - Ghosts of the Plantation
(Same as FREN 361SWR; CPLT 389SWR)
Valérie Loichot
TTH 10:00am - 11:15am
MAX: LAS 4; FREN 10; CPLT 4
DESCRIPTION: Martinican writer Édouard Glissant identifies the slave Plantation as "one of the bellies of the world." This course explores how the Plantation machine produced repeating cultural and literary patterns in the Caribbean. The class will explore the question of race and examine how the present is still haunted by the “ghosts of slavery.” We will focus specifically on literary texts and cultural and legal documents from Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Haiti. The course will also include a comparative component that will highlight historical links between the French Caribbean and the US South, and most specifically, with the history of Georgia, Atlanta, and Emory University.
TEXTS:
Readings by Marie-Célie Agnant, Mark Auslander, Maryse Condé, Frantz Fanon, Édouard Glissant, among others.
PARTICULARS: Active class participation, 1 oral presentation, 2 short papers
(5-6 pages), 1 research paper (10-12 pages), 2 field trips to local sites of memory. The course is taught in English but all the original French texts will also be available. The course if part of the Emory “Transforming Community Project,” http://transform.emory.edu/
LAS 490 - Democracy In Latin America
(Same as POLS 490S)
Juan del Aguila
W 1:00pm - 4:00pm
MAX: LAS 4; POLS 8
DESCRIPTION:: Analysis and critical evaluation of democracy in Latin America, focusing on institutional development, political culture, elections and political leadership. Course examines the extent to which recent transformations may endure, or become vulnerable to authoritarian reversals.
TEXTS:
Peter Smith. Democracy in Latin America (2005)
Howard Wiarda. Dilemmas of Democracy in Latin America (2005)
PARTICULARS:
Examinations: take-home final exam
Papers: one 20-25 page research paper
Grading: final exam 40%, research paper 40%; class presentations 20%
Other: Students expected to make several presentations to the class based on literature to be read. Individual presentations will be followed by analysis and discussion among class members and the instructor. Course will be run like a graduate seminar, and thus require substantial reading on a weekly basis. Extensive participation is expected because this is not a standard upper division lecture course, but rather one where an extensive review of the literature will provide much of the substance.
PREREQUISITES: Some prior work in Comparative Politics or Latin American and Caribbean Studies would be helpful.
LAS 495A– Honors Thesis I
LACS Faculty
No set meeting time
Fulfills Emory College Honors Program requirement
DESCRIPTION: First semester of Honors Program thesis writing for those students participating in the College Honors Program
PREREQUISITES: Enrollment limited to program majors who qualify to participate in the Honors Program.
LAS 495BWR – Honors Thesis II
LACS Faculty
No set meeting time
Fulfills Emory College Honors Program requirement
DESCRIPTION: Second semester of Honors Program thesis writing for those students participating in the College Honors Program.
PREREQUISISTES: Must have completed LAS 495A.
LAS 497R – Independent Research in Latin American and Caribbean Studies
LACS Faculty
No set meeting time |
