Latin American and Latino Studies

The Latin American and Latino studies program integrates a series of courses in the humanities, social sciences and the arts designed to acquaint students with the experiences and cultural expressions of Latin America and of the Latino communities in the United States. This interdisciplinary approach aims to expose students to the methods, materials, and tools of various disciplines while addressing two of the program's and the University's interrelated goals: to foster understanding of New York's local immigrant or diasporic Latino communities and to develop effective, international, global citizenship through learning and service. The major prepares students to enter the fields of law, international relations, business and finance, social and foreign service, humanitarian affairs, teaching, Hispanic media and communications, publishing, business, finance, and graduate or professional study.

Program Activities

Study Abroad

Study abroad is a rewarding experience in and of itself, but it is especially recommended for LALS majors and minors. Study abroad complements LALS courses while helping students fulfill many of the program's and the University's major goals. It helps students achieve the requisite competency in Spanish and gain a better understanding of Latin America and Spain through cultural immersion and service-oriented courses. To this effect the program has established a series of study abroad opportunities for students, ranging from a spring semester or summer abroad in Granada, Spain, and LALSI-approved study abroad programs throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and Spain, to LALS-sponsored summer and spring study tours.

Upon return from study in a non-Fordham program abroad, students will be able to count toward the major up to four (4) courses for two semesters of study or three (3) courses for one semester of study abroad; and up to two (2) courses toward the minor. For Fordham study abroad programs, such as our summer or spring semester abroad in Granada, LALS majors and minors will be able to count all relevant courses taken abroad. If the student has already declared a LALS major or minor, ideally these courses should be approved prior to going abroad by a LALS faculty adviser.

For more information on studying abroad, please visit the International and Study Abroad Programs page or email isap@fordham.edu.

LALS-Sponsored Programs

Summer and spring semester programs in Granada, Spain

Granada, a world heritage site, is one of the most beautiful and historically-rich cities in the world. It was the hometown of the poet Federico García Lorca, a center of flamenco culture, and a place of intersection for European, North African, and Latin American cultures and scholarship. For a summer or a semester, students will have the opportunity to live in this wondrous city, study the works of García Lorca and Spanish and Latin American cultures, and partake in cultural visits and tours of Andalusia (Andalucía), the region where Granada is located. Interested students should contact Dr. Rafael Lamas at lamas@fordham.edu.

Other LALS-Sponsored Programs

LALS often sponsors study-tour courses in Latin America which offer in-depth, on-site study of the history, arts, and culture of a Latin American city or country. Past courses have included:

  • A spring study tour on the colonial artistic traditions of Mexico in Mexico City with Dr. Barbara Mundy (art history); on peace, reconciliation initiatives, and service to communities of displaced families in Bogotá, Colombia, with Dr. Cruz-Malavé (modern languages and literatures) and Dr. Lenis (dean); and on migration in Puebla, Mexico, with Dr. Lindo-Fuentes (history).
  • A summer course on the development of Cuban culture since the 1959 Revolution in Havana, Cuba, with Dr. Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé (modern languages and literatures), hosted by Casa de las Américas, Cuba's premier cultural institute.
  • LALS will be offering spring study tours on the politics of memory in Santiago, Chile, with Dr. Carl Fischer (modern languages and literatures), on contemporary culture in Havana, Cuba, with Dr. Cruz-Malavé (modern languages and literatures), and on public health in Cali, Colombia, with Dr. Lenis (dean) and Mr. Renaldo Alba (associate director, CSTEP).

Institute Resources

In addition to offering a major and minor, the Latin American and Latino studies program sponsors an institute that provides an intellectual home for students and faculty who are interested in Latin America and the Latino immigrant or diasporic communities in the United States: LALSI acts as a clearinghouse for information for faculty and students, invites speakers, organizes conferences and film series, and maintains video and journal collections for the use of its faculty and students. In addition, it sponsors visiting scholars; networks of scholarly exchange between Latin America and the United States, especially on issues pertaining to the relationship between Latin America and its diasporas; and fosters understanding of and service in Latin America through its study abroad programs and study tours of Latin America. Its newsletter, Boletín, which is published twice a year, documents the program's multiple academic events as well as the research, educational, and service activities of its faculty and students. All Boletín issues are available online at www.fordham.edu/lalsi.

Prestigious Fellowship Opportunities

LALS students have won many prestigious fellowships, including Fulbright Awards, which allow students to pursue their own research abroad. Students need to plan early (preferably in their sophomore year) if they wish to compete for a prestigious fellowship. See the director or associate director for more information.

For more information

Visit the Latin American and Latino Studies Institute web page. 

Our Courses

LALS 1400. Understanding Historical Change: Latin America. (3 Credits)

This course provides an introduction to the nature and methods of historical study and the examination of specific topics essential for understanding the history of Latin America from the independence movement to the present.

Attributes: AMCS, AMST, ASHS, GLBL, HC, HIST, INST, IPE, ISLA, LAIN, PJRC, PJST.

LALS 1999. Tutorial. (1 Credit)

Independent Study.

LALS 2005. American Pluralism. (4 Credits)

Contemporary and historical studies in the racial and ethnic diversity of American (U.S.) society with a special emphasis on the issues of race relations, migration and immigration and their relation to either (1) the distribution of economic or political power or (2) their cultural manifestations in literature, the arts and/or religion. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, ASHS, HIAH, HIST, HIUL, LAHA, LASS, PLUR.

LALS 2999. Tutorial. (2 Credits)

Independent Study.

LALS 3005. Latin American Themes. (4 Credits)

This course allows students to explore ways to synthesize key topics in Latin American and Latina/o Studies (LALS) as an interdisciplinary field of study. It will compare the distinct approaches to these topics of the different disciplines represented by the LALS faculty (including History, Literature, Film Studies, Theology, Art History, Sociology, and Anthropology). Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ADVD, ALC, AMST, CCUS, COLI, COMC, COMM, LAHA, LAIN.

LALS 3007. Spanish Linguistics. (4 Credits)

This course focuses on the linguistic study of the Spanish language. The course discusses the formal domains of language structure - including speech sounds and their mental representations, sentence structure and semantic meaning, as well as social realities of language use and language change across different varieties of Spanish in the world. The course is taught in Spanish.

Attribute: ASSC.

LALS 3130. Race and Gender in Latin American Popular Music. (4 Credits)

More than just entertainment for the young, popular music is an important cultural force, especially its role in the creation, negotiation, and articulation of identities. In this course, we will analyze the various effects popular music can have on identity, especially race and gender, as well as how it serves as a link to the past, as part of creating an imagined community, and as a form of resistance to dominant ideologies. Examples of music genres will include bachata, dembow, soca, samba, zouk, tango, and trap. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: LAHA, PJRC, PJST.

LALS 3275. Hybrid Futures: A Panorama of Mexican Short Fiction. (4 Credits)

This course will explore the main themes of Mexican science fiction, from the late nineteenth century to today, using a panoramic approach that encompasses different forms of cultural production and media (literature, film, comics, street art, etc.). Through the science fiction lenses we will examine Mexico’s relation to technology and the processes of modernization, as well as the imagined future of labor, gender, and immigration, among other issues. We will frame Mexican science fiction as part of a larger Latin American tradition, while also discussing the connections to more mainstream (i.e. American and English) visions of the genre. All materials will be available online.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, ALC, AMST.

Prerequisite: SPAN 2500.

LALS 3343. Crime and Minority Rights. (4 Credits)

This course is designed to present an overview of criminal law. Topics will include theories of crime; the purpose of punishment; specific types of crimes, such as homicide, rape, robbery, and burglary; and the reasons why people commit crimes. In addition, the role of race will be discussed within the context of the administration of the criminal justice system. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ADVD, AMST, APPI, ASHS, LAHA, LASS, URST.

LALS 3344. Crime, Literature, and Latinos. (4 Credits)

This course examines the relationship between criminal law and literature. We will study how writers use stories about the law to express ideas of humanity. We will also examine the interplay between law and morality and discuss how authors have viewed the criminal justice system, with particular emphasis on the experience of Latinos. The reading list will include criminal law and criminal procedure law, as well as works by Latino fiction writers such as Bodega Dreams, Carlito's Way, and House of the Spirits, and by non-Latino writers such as Billy Budd and The Trial. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, APPI, ASHS, ASLT, COLI, ENGL, INST, ISLA, LASS.

LALS 3346. Latinos and the Media. (4 Credits)

A seminar and workshop on the impact and influence of the news media on Latin Americans and U.S. Latinos and their image by acclaimed journalist and memoirist, Luisita Lopez Torregrosa, former national editor at The New York Times and author of the critically acclaimed memoires, Before the Rain: A Memoir of Love and Revolution and The Noise of Infinite Longing. This course will discuss and analyze the impact of negative labels and cultural and social typecasting on news written about Latin Americans and U.S. Latinos. It will also examine sources, such as films, memoires, and scholarly books, as alternative ways to transform and reinvent these images of Latin Americans and Latinos in the news. Students will learn to analyze the presentation of Latin American and Latino subjects in the news and compose news reports and essays that present more expansive and knowledgeable views of the lives and cultures of Latin Americans and U.S. Latinos. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, LAHA.

LALS 3352. Policy Issues and Procedures in Criminal Law. (4 Credits)

Through a casebook and problem solving approach, this course will explore criminal procedure laws—including the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments of the Constitution—and how the police implement these laws. Particular emphasis will be placed on the manner in which police practices affect minority communities. The course will also examine and critique the criminal justice system. Please note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attribute: LASS.

LALS 3407. Foreignness & Translation: Multilingual Autobio Writing in Contemp Latin-Am & Latino Lit. (4 Credits)

This course studies manifestations of multilingualism in contemporary Latin-American and Latino literature, more particularly multilingualism that creates a tension between mother tongue and adoptive language when one of the languages is Spanish. It focuses on narratives and memoirs written by authors whose roots are in the Southern Cone (Argentina and Chile: Manuel Puig, Sylvia Molloy, Paloma Vidal, Ariel Dorfman…), the Caribbean (Pérez Firmat, Judith Ortiz Cofer…) and México (Richard Rodríguez, Gloria Anzaldúa, Ilan Stavans…). The paradoxes of multilingualism will be approached formally (categories of multilingualism: alternating between languages, self-translation, code switching…; rhetorical patterns, central tropes), thematically (identity construction and the perception of the self, the affective function of language) and sociologically (the difficulties to publish real bilingual texts as a consequence of unequal relationships of power between North and South). Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, ALC, AMST, INST, ISLA, SPAN.

Prerequisite: SPAN 2500.

LALS 3421. Latin American Fiction. (4 Credits)

A study of Latin American narrative forms. Selected readings from major Latin American writers. Topics such as unity, diversity, magic realism, the search for a national identity, literature and underdevelopment, etc. will be examined in their social and literary context. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, GLBL, LAHA.

LALS 3427. Hispanics/Latinos in the USA. (4 Credits)

Explores the Hispanic mosaic in the U.S. Special emphasis is given to Hispanic education, culture, and assimilation; the political significance of Hispanics; issues of gender, color, and race; and work and the changing economy. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ADVD, AMCS, AMST, ASHS, INST, ISLA, LASS, PLUR, URST.

LALS 3575. Painting the Empire: Understanding the Spanish Empire Through Art and Literature. (4 Credits)

The Golden Age of Spanish art and literature (known as “el Siglo de Oro”) coincided with the configuration of Spain as a global empire after the rise of the Habsburg dynasty to the Spanish throne (from around 1550 to around 1650). This course proposes a study of the main social, political and cultural conflicts that conformed that empire from a multidisciplinary perspective that combines the works of the empire’s most famous painters (El Greco, Diego Velázquez, José de Ribera, among others) with the works of its most representative writers (Lope de Vega, Miguel de Cervantes, María de Zayas, among others); topics such as the symbolic construction and shaping of space, gender, national identity or social and religious relationships will be approached through a combination of visual and textual representations. The course will also take great advantage of the important collections of Spanish Renaissance and Baroque painting held at several New York institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art of the Hispanic Society of America, including visits to those institutions and field work. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ALC, COLI.

Prerequisite: SPAN 2500.

LALS 3600. Latin America: Current Trends. (4 Credits)

The objective of this course is to help students develop the basic tools for political analysis in the context of an overview of the current political environment and economic circumstances of Latin America¿s main players. The course will provide information and guidelines for understanding the present situation within each of the main influential countries in the region and the interrelationship among these countries. The relationship with the United States and other extraregional players with increasingly important roles in the region, as well as the influence of the Organization of American States will also be explored. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ADVD, AMST, INST, ISLA, LASS, PJRC, PJST.

LALS 3601. Latin American Archeology. (4 Credits)

Latin America is one of the great culture areas of the ancient and modern worlds. The peoples of the region developed unique civilizations long before the arrival of Europeans. This course considers the religion, hieroglyphic writing systems, architecture, political economy, myth, and history of Pre-columbian cultures of Mesoamerica, South America and the Caribbean. We examine the latest archaeological research and primary ethnohistoric documents to study the Maya, Zapotec, Aztec, Moche, Inca, and Taino culture. A broad historical and geographical sweep allows us a deeper understanding of how the Latin American past continues to shape the present. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, GLBL, LASS.

LALS 3602. Crossing Borders: Migrations, Gender, Sexuality. (4 Credits)

How does migration impact gender and sexuality? How do ideas about the 'border' affect concepts of gender and sexuality? This course uses anthropological work on the border as an analytical frame to address the construction of the meanings of home, identity, belonging, citizenship, the body and space in transnational contexts. Through engagement with migrant communities in the city it will examine how the changing concepts 'female,' 'male,' and transgender as well as sexual identities are redefined and practiced cross-culturally in the transnational Latino migrant experience. A review of contemporary theories about gender and sexuality and visits to Latino migrant communities and organizations in the city. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

LALS 3670. Hispanic Women. (4 Credits)

In this course, students will examine the changing roles of Hispanic women with regard to Hispanic men, motherhood, the labor force experience, sexual awareness, media myths, political and economic power, and women's liberation. Through the lenses of analytical work and literature, students will also examine the structural position and changing concepts of Hispanic women in the Americas. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, ASHS, LAHA, LASS, PLUR, SOCI, URST, WGSS.

LALS 3840. Latin America Through Film. (4 Credits)

Major topics of Latin American cultural criticism through an examination of Latin American and Latino film production, with a special emphasis on the documentary as an alternative to mainstream cinema and television. Latin American media theories and cultural criticism. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, COLI, FITV, INST, ISLA, LAHA, SPAN.

LALS 3930. Contemporary Cuban Culture Study Tour. (1 Credit)

This one-week, one-credit, spring study-tour course will explore renewed importance of Havana as both a local and global purveyor of culture since the fall of Soviet-style socialism in the 1990’s. It will focus on the city’s vibrant contemporary cultural scene in music, art, dance, literature and film as exhibited in museums, galleries, workshops, concert halls, and community centers and will give students a lived sense of the issues, topics and concerns addressed by contemporary Cuban artists in new innovate forms that respond to local conditions of economic transitions and to a globalized world market.

Prerequisite: SPAN 2001.

LALS 3950. Latino History. (4 Credits)

This course explores the development of the Latina/o population in the U.S. by focusing on the questions of migration, race, ethnicity, labor, family, sexuality, and citizenship. Specific topics include: United States colonial expansion and its effects on the population of Latin America; Mexican-Americans, and the making of the West; colonialism and the Puerto Rican Diaspora; Caribbean revolutions and the Cuban-American community; and globalization and recent Latina/o migrations (Dominicans, Colombians). Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AHC, AMST, APPI, ASHS, COLI, HIAH, HIST, INST, ISIN, ISLA, LAUH, PLUR, URST.

LALS 3951. Popular Education and Social Change in the Americas. (4 Credits)

Popular education emerged in the Americas as a liberation project nourished by revolutionary aspirations. The Brazilian educator Paulo Freire and others envisioned liberatory education by and for the people. This course will examine the historical moments and movements where popular education emerged. Taking up a range of voices and sources, we will consider the principles and practices that animated revolutionary projects and social movements in Cuba, Nicaragua, and El Salvador, among other Latin American and Latinx communities in the U.S. Together, we will learn from these experiences and enrich our own liberatory practices in and outside the classroom. This course is designed for students who have previous knowledge of Latin American or Latinx history. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: AHC, AMST, APPI, ASHS, HIGH, HIST, LAUH.

LALS 3955. Slavery Freedom/Atlantic World. (4 Credits)

The course will cover multiple regions of the Atlantic World – Latin America and the Caribbean, the U.S., Africa, and Europe – to understand slavery and freedom as intersecting global themes across space and time. Starting with indigenous and African slavery in the Spanish and Portuguese empires, we will understand how political and economic institutions, racial ideas, and even Enlightenment concepts about liberty informed a global history of human bondage. The course will look at a variety of materials, from slave narratives to court cases, databases, film, and literature to understand the experience of slavery and the fight for freedom through the perspectives of slaves as well as slave owners, slave traders, and abolitionists. We will also consider the development of African diasporic cultures in the Americas and the legacy of slavery in current debates about memory, reparations, and human trafficking. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AFAM, AHC, AMST, ASHS, HIST, INST, ISAF, ISEU, ISIN, ISLA, LAUH.

LALS 3962. Narratives of Truth and Justice in Latin America. (4 Credits)

There is no singular truth. In this course, students examine the varying truths that exist during and after civil wars, dictatorships, and political instability in 20th-century Latin America. As a class, we will read testimonies and official documents, watch documentaries and films, and analyze other cultural productions to compare official and collective truths and how they influence memory and justice projects. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: AHC, HIGH, HIUL, LASS, LAUH.

Prerequisites: HIST 1400 or LALS 1400.

LALS 3963. Afro-Latin America. (4 Credits)

An interdisciplinary course exploring Afro-Latin America from the perspectives of history, the arts, literature, law, and politics. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ADVD, AFAM, AMST, ASHS, GLBL, HIGH, HIST, HIUL, LAUH, WGSS.

LALS 3967. Modern Central America. (4 Credits)

This course covers Central American history from the dictators of the 1930s until the revolutionary decades and their aftermaths. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: AHC, AMST, APPI, ASHS, GLBL, HIGH, HIST, HIUL, LAUH.

LALS 3968. Mexico. (4 Credits)

This course covers the history of Mexico from pre-Columbian times to the present. It underscores major events (such as the Spanish conquest, independence, and the revolution) and long historical periods such as the colonial era, the turbulent 1800s, nation-building in the 1900s, and U.S.–Mexico relations. It further seeks to explain how the colonial legacy, race, the state, and migrations have shaped Mexican culture and identity. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ADVD, AHC, AMST, ASHS, GLBL, HIGH, HIST, INST, IPE, ISLA, LAUH.

LALS 3972. Revolution in Central America. (4 Credits)

This course covers the history of Central America from the 1930s to the present. It provides the background necessary for students to understand the revolutionary movements in Central America in the 1980s. Among the topics covered will be the situation of political and social exclusion of large sectors of the population, the impact of the rapid expansion of export agriculture, insurgency and counterinsurgency strategies, U.S. strategic interests in the region and the role of liberation theology. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: AHC, GLBL, HIGH, HIST, INST, IPE, ISLA, LASS, LAUH, PJSJ, PJST.

LALS 3977. Latin American History Through Film. (4 Credits)

We will screen Latin American and U.S. films to examine what we learn about events or ideas from Latin American history through film. We also will seek to understand how countries interpret their own particular histories in films. Readings will put the films into historical context. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AHC, AMST, ASHS, GLBL, HIGH, HIST, INST, ISLA, LAUH.

LALS 3999. Tutorial. (3 Credits)

Independent Study.

LALS 4001. Music, Text, and the Imperial Encounter. (4 Credits)

Beginning in the Middle Ages, cultures on different continents began to discover each other in new ways, and music played a vital role in their encounters. Using the disciplinary tools of literary studies and musicology, this course explores those interactions, focusing on writing and music as agents of political and religious power in processes of cultural exchange and conflict. Through units on Latin America, New England, China, and Africa, the course examines how missionaries and colonial leaders mixed literary and musical forms of cultural production to build new social structures; pre-existing indigenous cultures, and their creative post-contact collaboration and resistance in shaping hybrid identities. We study practices from both sides of the encounters. Knowledge of Spanish OR music is helpful but not required. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: AMST, ICC, LAHA.

LALS 4005. Queer Theory and the Americas. (4 Credits)

Drawing from the often divergent traditions of Anglo and Hispanic America, this course will take an interdisciplinary approach to queer methodologies for cultural and literary studies. Students will encounter foundational queer theoretical texts (both historical and contemporary) as well as novels, plays, and films, and will explore, for themselves, what queerness means and does. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, ASHS, COLI, ENGL, ICC.

LALS 4100. Speaking For/As the Other. (4 Credits)

What are the implications of giving voice to those who are "voiceless"? This course explores the role of writing and speaking during the encounter of black, Indian, mestizo and Hispanic cultures in Latin America and Latina/o United States. By examining these cultural encounters, the course examines the political and ethical implications of speaking for and as the other Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: COLI, EP4, INST, IPE, ISLA, LAHA, SPAN, VAL, WGSS.

LALS 4105. Queer Caribbean and Its Diasporas. (4 Credits)

This interdisciplinary course (ICC) examines the representation of queer gender and sexual identities and cultural practices in the Caribbean and its diasporas. It brings together the fields of anthropology, comparative literary studies, and film studies to study the Caribbean as a multicultural, multiracial, multilingual, and transnational space. Through lectures, readings, film screenings, class discussions, and external activities we will compare processes of racialization, gendering, nation building, class stratification and migration in the formation of queer identities and practices in the Caribbean and its diasporas. Themes will include: gender and sexuality in citizenship formation, impact of colonialism on Caribbean queer identities and practices, queerness and its relationship to nation-building and modernization, queerness in revolutionary processes and revolutionary forms of queerness, Afro-Caribbean spiritual practices and queerness, queerness and urban culture, political and cultural and responses to state and interpersonal violence, the sociopolitical context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the region, sexual tourism and globalization, and the impact of migration on queer identities and practices. An upper-level interdisciplinary capstone course (ICC) in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, this course is also cross-listed with: Anthropology and Sociology, African and African American Studies, COLI, LALS and English. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AFAM, AMST, ANTH, ASHS, COLI, ENGL, ENRJ, ICC, LAHA, PJGS, PJST, SOCI, SPAN, WGSS.

LALS 4192. Rediscovering the New World. (4 Credits)

This course uses the lenses of literary studies and physics to consider the technologies that enabled the Spanish conquest of Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. In particular, it highlights 15th- and 16th-century writings of Christopher Columbus, Hernán Cortés, and others on the emergent science of the age of exploration. Concurrently, it examines scientific technologies that have emerged in the last decade and are being used to uncover “lost” pre-Hispanic cultures at sites such as Chichén Itzá, Tulum, and Teotihuacan. Students will hone their critical and analytical skills, and particularly their oral and written expression, in a multidisciplinary context while exploring one of the most dynamic time periods in modern history. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ICC, LAHA.

Mutually Exclusive: PHYS 4192.

LALS 4347. Latinx Borders. (4 Credits)

This course uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine the experiences of Latin Americans and Latinos. It employs literature and history to introduce students to the benefits of using multiple ways of acquiring knowledge. It then relies on other academic areas such as art and sociology to reinforce its interdisciplinarity. As a capstone course, it allows students to incorporate disciplines from their own academic foundation. It covers topics such as politics, social justice, race, gender, and identity. The course is taught in English, with readings and writings in Spanish. Note: Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ACUP, ADVD, AMST, APPI, COLI, GLBL, ICC.

Prerequisite: SPAN 2500.

LALS 4510. Conquest, Conversion, Conscience. (4 Credits)

The Spanish conquest of the New World and the forced conversion of its indigenous peoples were justified as rescuing indigenous peoples from the tyranny of their own sinfulness of cannibalism and bestiality. However, those same policies of conquest and conversion were also subject to intense scrutiny on moral and ethical grounds by Spaniards. In this course, we will closely examine a series of case studies and the philosophical and ethical debates they gave rise to. To understand the echoes of such debates and moral claims in the contemporary world we will look at recent debates over the doctrine of just war and cultural/religious practices of indigenous people today. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ADVD, AMST, APPI, ASHS, EP4, GLBL, HIGH, INST, ISEU, ISIN, ISLA, LAUH, PJRC, PJST, VAL.

LALS 4620. Oscar Romero: Faith and Politics in El Salvador. (4 Credits)

This course will investigate the life and ministry of Oscar Romero of El Salvador. Coming to office in a period of socio-political and religious upheaval, Romero functions as a lens through which students can explore important themes including: the nature and impact of liberation theology, the effects of US Cold War foreign policy, power in the Catholic Church and numerous issues involving the relationship between religion and politics. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: GLBL, LAHA, PJRJ, PJSJ, PJST, REST.

Prerequisites: THEO 1000 or THEO 1001 or THEO 1006 or THEO 1010 or THEO 1007 or THEO 1008 or THEO 1009 or HPLC 1401.

LALS 4855. Fascisms, Aesthetics and the Hispanic World. (4 Credits)

This course will explore various iterations of fascism in Spain, Latin America, and the United States in the 20th and 21st centuries. We will concentrate first on debates among historians about the definitions and origins of fascism, and then move on to its aesthetic embodiments throughout the Spanish-speaking world. We will examine primary texts that both uphold and undermine fascist ideals, as well as theoretical texts that illuminate the mechanisms by which this works. Our discussions will be informed by historical, philosophical, and literary approaches to fascism’s beginnings its transnational and transatlantic repercussions; and the persistence today of fascist rhetoric and aesthetics on three continents, particularly vis-à-vis the growing Hispanic presence in the US. Four-credit courses that meet for 150 minutes per week require three additional hours of class preparation per week on the part of the student in lieu of an additional hour of formal instruction.

Attributes: ICC, IPE, LAHA, LALS.

Prerequisite: SPAN 2500.

LALS 4999. Tutorial. (4 Credits)

Independent Study.

Courses in Other Areas

The following courses offered outside the institute have the LALS attribute and count toward the Latin American and Latino Studies major and minor:

Course Title Credits
AAST 3647Seeing Stories: Reading Race and Graphic Narratives4
AFAM 2005American Pluralism4
AFAM 2647Third World and the City4
AFAM 3037Being and Becoming Black in the Atlantic World4
AFAM 3130Racial and Ethnic Conflict4
AFAM 3150Caribbean Peoples and Culture4
AFAM 3155Children of Immigrants in America4
AFAM 3510In "America's Backyard": U.S.-Caribbean Social, Political, and Economic Relations 1850-19504
AFAM 3633The Bronx: Immigration, Race, and Culture4
AFAM 3663Minorities in the Media4
AFAM 3667Caribbean Literature4
AFAM 3955Slavery Freedom/Atlantic World4
AFAM 4000Affirmative Action and the American Dream4
AFAM 4105Queer Caribbean and Its Diasporas4
AFAM 4650Social Welfare and Society4
ANTH 2619Magic, Science, and Religion4
ANTH 3111New World Archaeology4
ANTH 3180Ethnographic Methods4
ANTH 3333Seeing Race: American Visual Culture in Historical Perspective4
ANTH 3339Irish and Mexican Migration: New York Focus4
ANTH 3340Anthropological Perspectives on Race and Ethnicity4
ANTH 3351Comparative Cultures4
ANTH 3354Race, Identity, and Globalization4
ANTH 3357Globalization and Migration4
ANTH 3470People and Cultures of Latin America4
ANTH 3471Ancient Tales of the Andes: Taki Ongoy, Tin Tin, and Enchaquirado Narratives4
ANTH 3476Latin American Social Movements4
ANTH 3510Museums: Representing / Engaging Culture(s)4
ARHI 1103Introduction to Art History: Americas3
ARHI 2250Ancient American Art4
ARHI 2257Modern Latin American Art4
ARHI 4250Aztec Art4
COLI 3250Represent Sp Civil War4
COLI 3407Foreignness & Translation: Multilingual Autobio Writing in Contemp Latin-Am & Latino Lit4
COLI 3434The Avant-Gardes: Europe and Latin America4
COLI 3522Strange Memories, Strange Desires4
COLI 3575Painting the Empire: Understanding the Spanish Empire Through Art and Literature4
COLI 3668Caribbean Identities4
COLI 3840Latin American Culture Through Film4
COLI 3910US Latino Film Making4
COLI 3912Literature of the Americas4
COLI 4018Cuba: Revolution, Literature and Film4
COMC 3268Media and National Identity4
COMC 3380International Communication4
DTEM 3447Race, Gender, and Digital Media4
ECON 3210Development Economics4
ECON 3235Economy of Latin America4
ECON 3240World Poverty4
ECON 3242Global Economic Issues4
ECON 3248Migration and Development: A Social Justice Perspective4
ECON 3346International Trade4
ECON 3563Labor Economics4
ECON 3580Economics of Diversity4
ECON 3971Urban Economics4
ECON 4005Fair Trade Entrepreneurship4
ECON 5005Fair Trade Entrepreneurship3
ENGL 3036Latin American Short Story4
ENGL 3037US Latinx Literature4
ENGL 3038Latinx Performance Studies: Image, Fashion, and Politics4
ENGL 3350Ethnic Camera: Race and Visual Media4
ENGL 3619Crip, Queer and Critical Race Studies4
ENGL 3647Seeing Stories: Reading Race and Graphic Narratives4
ENGL 3652New Wave Immigrant Literature4
ENGL 3658Migrations/Movements/Masks4
ENGL 3664Queer Latinx Literature4
ENGL 3677Latino/a US Literatures4
ENGL 3841Contemporary Fiction4
ENGL 4021Seminar: Love and Latinx Literature4
ENGL 4108Seminar: Exhibiting Latinidad: Curation/Display/Intervention4
ENGL 4185Caribbean Islands and Oceans4
ENGL 4236Seminar: Latin American Short Story4
FITV 3647TV, Identity, and Representation4
FITV 3688Global Television4
HIST 1400Understanding Historical Change: Latin America3
HIST 3806U.S. Immigration/Ethnicity4
HIST 3808New York City Politics4
HIST 3862History of New York City4
HIST 3950Latino History4
HIST 3951Popular Education and Social Change in the Americas4
HIST 3955Slavery Freedom/Atlantic World4
HIST 3961Rebellion and Revolution in Latin America and the Atlantic World4
HIST 3962Narratives of Truth and Justice in Latin America4
HIST 3963Afro-Latin America4
HIST 3965Colonial Latin America4
HIST 3967Modern Central America4
HIST 3968Mexico4
HIST 3969Latin America and the U.S.4
HIST 3972Revolution in Central America4
HIST 3974Spaniards and Incas4
HIST 3975The Caribbean4
HIST 3977Latin American History Through Film4
HIST 4008Race and Gender in the Old West4
HIST 4510Conquest, Conversion, Conscience4
HIST 4591Seminar: Race, Sex, and Colonialism4
HIST 4725Seminar: Global Histories and Stories4
HIST 4760Seminar: Immigration to the U.S.4
HIST 4772Seminar: Colonial Latin America4
HIST 4905Seminar: History of Food4
HIST 4954Seminar: Law and Empire Iberian Atlantic4
HIST 4998Study Tour: Medieval Spain4
HIST 5913Golden Age Spain and Its American Empire4
HUST 4100Refugee and Asylum Law4
HUST 4200Forced Migration and Humanitarian Action4
INST 3100The Global Environment4
INST 3859Post-1945: A Global History4
JOUR 3724First Person Journalism4
LALS 4855Fascisms, Aesthetics and the Hispanic World4
LING 2400Analyzing Discourse: Text and Talk in Context4
LING 2675Sounds of New York4
LING 3007Spanish Linguistics4
LING 4020Language and Race4
MLAL 1010Spanish Colonialism Through Film3
MLAL 3000Gender and Sexuality Studies4
MLAL 3005Themes in Latina/o and Latin American Studies4
MLAL 3525Cultures of Sexual Dissidence in Latin America4
MLAL 3607Topics in Multilingualism4
MLAL 4100Speaking For/As the Other4
MLAL 4347Latinos: Fact and Fiction4
MUSC 3130Race and Gender in Latin American Popular Music4
MUSC 4001Music, Text, and the Imperial Encounter4
MVST 3501Between Conquest and Convivencia: The Spanish Kingdoms of the Middle Ages4
MVST 4998Study Tour: Medieval Spain4
PHIL 3653Latin American Philosophy4
PHIL 3713Human Rights and Global Justice4
PHIL 4436Rethinking Citizenship4
POSC 2610Introduction to Comparative Politics4
POSC 3310Racial and Ethnic Politics4
POSC 3326Latino Politics4
POSC 3610Political Economy of Development4
POSC 3616Political Economy of Poverty4
POSC 3641Latin American Politics4
POSC 3645Politics of Immigration4
POSC 4020Place, Space, and Immigrant Cities4
POSC 4037Social Movements and Revolutions4
POSC 4400Seminar: Global Justice4
PSYC 3600Multicultural Psychology4
PSYC 3640Cross-Cultural-Psychology4
SOCI 2410Inequality: Class, Race, and Ethnicity4
SOCI 2420Social Problems of Race and Ethnicity4
SOCI 3000Latinx Images in Media4
SOCI 3017Inequality in America4
SOCI 3046International Sociology4
SOCI 3070The City and Its Neighborhoods4
SOCI 3102Contemporary Social Issues and Policies4
SOCI 3110Global Conflict: Wars/Religion4
SOCI 3148Population and Economic Development Issues4
SOCI 3149Economic Sociology4
SOCI 3405Gender, Race, and Class4
SOCI 3406Race/Social Construct4
SOCI 3410Migration/Globalization4
SOCI 3418Contemporary Immigration in Global Perspective4
SOCI 3419Living in the Shadows: Undocumented Migration4
SOCI 3425Racial Segregation: An American Story4
SOCI 3427Hispanics/Latinos in the USA4
SOCI 3456Modern Social Movements4
SOCI 3471Undocumented Migration4
SOCI 3502Work, Inequality, and Society in 21st Century America4
SOCI 3506Diversity in American Families4
SOCI 3601Urban Poverty4
SOCI 3670Hispanic Women4
SOCI 3713Criminology4
SOCI 4020Place, Space, and Immigrant Cities4
SOCI 4408Diversity in American Society4
SOCI 4902Internship Seminar: Community Organizations4
SOCI 4961Urban Issues and Policies4
SOCI 4970Community Service/Social Action4
SOCI 4990Conflict Resolution and Justice Creation4
SPAN 2001Spanish Language and Literature3
SPAN 2305Spanish Conversation and Composition4
SPAN 2450Business Spanish4
SPAN 2500Approaches to Literature4
SPAN 2620Spanish Phonetics4
SPAN 2655Creative Writing in Spanish4
SPAN 2700Hispanic Legends4
SPAN 3001Spain: Literature and Culture Survey4
SPAN 3002Latin America: Literature and Culture Survey4
SPAN 3007Spanish Linguistics4
SPAN 3066Survey of Latin American Film4
SPAN 3072Geographies of Power/Injustice4
SPAN 3075Crime in Hispanic Fiction4
SPAN 3123Questioning Race in Mexican Film and Literature4
SPAN 3166Trends in Latin American Film4
SPAN 3210Transatlantic Picaresque4
SPAN 3230Sinful Business4
SPAN 3250God, Gold, and Glory4
SPAN 3275Hybrid Futures: A Panorama of Mexican Short Fiction4
SPAN 3285Trends in Mexican Cinema4
SPAN 3300Modern Latin American Visual Culture4
SPAN 3301Federico Garcia Lorca and His World4
SPAN 3305Posthuman Mestizaje and the Non-Human Turn in Mexican Culture4
SPAN 3310Latin American Science Fiction4
SPAN 3401Modern Spanish Fiction4
SPAN 3405Women Translators in the Spanish-Speaking World4
SPAN 3407Foreignness & Translation: Multilingual Autobio Writing in Contemp Latin-Am & Latino Lit (1980-2015)4
SPAN 3456Posthuman Body in Mexican Fiction4
SPAN 3515New Spanish Literature: Rewriting the Public Sphere in 21st Century Spain4
SPAN 3525Cultures of Sexual Dissidence in Latin America4
SPAN 3530Excess in Spanish Lit4
SPAN 3540Spain and Islam4
SPAN 3550Expressing the Colonies4
SPAN 3561Representing the Gypsy4
SPAN 3582New York in Latinx Literature and Film4
SPAN 3583New York City Latino Theatre and Performance4
SPAN 3610Children's Gaze in Latin American Literature4
SPAN 3625Spanish-American Short Fiction4
SPAN 3642Spanish-American Literature and Popular Music4
SPAN 3701Spanish-American Women Writers4
SPAN 3710Contemporary Latin American Fiction4
SPAN 3712Literatures of the Latin American Boom and Post-Boom4
SPAN 3715Latin American Cyberliterature4
SPAN 3720The Hispanic Transatlantic4
SPAN 3730Writing Violence: Peru, 1980-20004
SPAN 3770Cultures of Memory and Post-Memory in Contemporary Chile4
SPAN 3800The Spanish Diaspora4
SPAN 3808Bodies, Touch, and Affect in Argentine Film and Literature4
SPAN 3809Argentine Literature and Film4
SPAN 3820Hispanic Caribbean Literature4
SPAN 3850Narrating the City4
SPAN 3851The Neoliberal City in Post-War Central American Cultural Production4
SPAN 3908Francoist Spain4
SPAN 3950The Fantastic in Spanish Literature and Film4
SPAN 3997Back to Nature: New Ruralism in 21st Century Spanish Literature and Film4
SPAN 4001Cervantes and Don Quixote4
SPAN 4005Painting the Empire: Understanding the Spanish Empire Through Art and Literature4
SPAN 4018Cuba: Revolution, Literature and Film4
SPAN 4511Spanish Civil War4
SPAN 4520Spain in Context4
SPAN 4855Fascisms, Aesthetics and the Hispanic World4
THEO 3130Bible as Migration Literature: Then and Now4
THEO 3380US Latinx Spiritualities3
THEO 3383Latin American Liberation Theologies3
THEO 3546The Bible and Social Justice3
THEO 3610Christ in World Cultures3
THEO 3611Scripture and the Struggle for Racial Justice3
THEO 3847Latinx Theology4
THEO 3960Religion and Race in America4
THEO 4620Oscar Romero: Faith and Politics in El Salvador4
UEGE 5102Historical, Philosophical, and Multicultural Foundations of American Education3
VART 3060Visual Justice: Enacting Change Through Image-Based Storytelling4
VART 3333Art Making in Hell's Kitchen4
WGSS 4341Race, Sex, and Science4