Skip to main content

Fall 2025 course list

Students walk past Thomson Hall in the rain

June 3, 2025

 Join Latin American and Caribbean Studies faculty members this fall for a diverse range of coursework.


Latin America History Courses

HSTLAC 185/JSIS A 185: Race, Gender, And Class In Latin America And The Caribbean

Instructor: Ileana M. Rodriguez-Silva

TTh | 12:30-2:20 p.m. | SMI 304

5 credits (DIV, SSc) | SLN: 16521; 

Course Description

Explores the power struggles generated by imperial expansion, colonialism, and processes of nation-formation (1400 to the present) in the forging of Latin America and the Caribbean. Examines how gender, race, sex, and class became crucial means to sustain, navigate, and challenge domination as well as to imagine alternative futures.

Contemporary Latin American Courses

JSIS A 354: Narcoculture: Propaganda And Publicity In The War On Drugs

Instructor: Vanessa Freije

MW | 12:30-2:20 p.m. | ART 003

5 credits (SSc) | SLN: 17019

Course Description

Representation of so-called narcos in inter-American media and culture since the 1970s. Students critically analyze U.S. films, Colombian soap operas, Mexican ballads, and state propaganda dedicated to portraying traffickers’ exploits. Centering on the ethical question of how to portray drug-related violence, introduces students to debates about censorship, propaganda, the public sphere, and spectacle.

Latin American Electives

AES 442: Undocumented Immigrant Communities 

Instructor: Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky

MW | 1:30-3:20 p.m. | BAG 331A

5 credits (DIV, SSc) | SLN: 10172

Course Description

Sociological examination of the concepts of undocumented, citizen, and the structuring of (il)legality as they are situated in axes of power, specifically in racialized and gendered contexts. Topics include identity formation and experiences across communities, i.e., UndocuLatino, UndocuBlack, UndocuAsian and Pacific Islander, and UndocuQueer. Institutional outcomes in migration, law, labor, education, carceral spaces, and health.

CHSTU 224: Life And Labor In The US-Mexico Borderlands

Instructor: TBA

TTh | 12:30-2:20 p.m. | PAR 160

5 credits (DIV, SSc) | SLN: 12824

Course Description

Focuses on inhabitants of the U.S.-Mexico borderlands since the nineteenth century. Emphasizes the fungible U.S.-Mexico border, industrialization of the Southwest and northern Mexico, cultures of migration, and the creation of “Greater Mexico.” Influence of labor and migration in gender constructions.

CHSTU 330: Chicano/Chicana Autobiography

Instructor: Lauro H. Flores

TTh | 10:30-12:20 p.m. | CMU226

5 credits ( SSc) | SLN: 12825

Course Description

Explores the issue of Chicano, or Mexican American, identity. Examines statements of selfhood by Chicanos, studied in order to understand the relationship between individual and society in creating identity.

CHSTU 342: Working Latinas And Latinos: Changing Sites of Identity In Daily Life

Instructor: Carolyn Pinedo-Turnovsky

MW | 9:30-11:20 a.m. | CHL 015

5 credits (DIV, SSc) | SLN: 12826

Course Description

Sociological examination of Latina/o working lives. Focuses on inequalities and power relations that shape diverse socio-economic working experiences and social change across distinct Latino communities. Covers race and gender consciousness, informal/formal work, labor recruitment, changing contexts of home and family, youth and children’s work, entrepreneurship, organizing, and immigration and labor legislation.

CHSTU 465/SPAN 462: Contemporary Chicano Literature

Instructor: Lauro H. Flores

TTh | 12:30-2:20 p.m. | CMU 226

5 credits (A&H) | SLN: 12827, 21718

Course Description

Examines one or more problems, themes, and/or figures in the developing body of Chicano literature. Taught in English.

SPAN 317: Spanish And Latin American Literature In English Translation

Instructor: Samuel J. Jaffee

MW | 1:30-3:20 p.m. | SAV 164

5 credits (A&H) | SLN: 21706

Course Description

Spanish and Latin American literature in English translation, with consideration of their background and influence.

SPAN 331: Themes In Mexican-American Studies

Instructor: Lauro H. Flores

TTh | 10:30-12:20 p.m. | CMU 226

5 credits (SSc or A&H) | SLN: 21709

Course Description

Examination of significant historical and cultural themes of the Mexican-American experience.

SPAN 492: Individual Authors And Special Topics In Latin America Literature

Instructor: Jose Francisco Robles

MW | 12:30-2:20 p.m. | SAV 137

5 credits (A&H) | SLN: 21721

Course Description

Focuses on an individual Latin American author or a special problem in Latin American literature.


Language courses

PORT 202: Intermediate Portuguese

Instructor: Eduardo Viana Da Silva

MTWThF | 12:30 -1:20 p.m. | SAV 158

5 credits (A&H) | SLN: 20775

Course Description

Modern texts, compositions, conversation, and a systematic review of grammar. Second in a sequence of three.

SPAN 201: Intermediate Spanish

Instructor: TBD

MTWThF | 10:30-11:20 a.m. | SAV 157

MTWThF | 12:30-1:20 p.m. | SAV 157

5 credits (A&H) | SLN: 21678, 216789

Course Description

Intensive practice in speaking, reading, and writing. Review of Spanish grammar. Oral practice based on literary and cultural readings. First in a sequence of three.

SPAN 202: Intermediate Spanish

Instructor: Sabrina Spannagel Bradley

MTWThF | 9:30-10:20 a.m. | SAV 136

MTWThF | 11:30-12:20 a.m. | SAV 137

5 credits (A&H) | SLN: 21692, 21693

Course Description

Intensive practice in speaking, reading, and writing. Review of Spanish grammar. Oral practice based on literary and cultural readings. Second in a sequence of three.

SPAN 203: Intermediate Spanish

Instructor: TBD

MTWThF | 10:30-11:20 a.m. | SAV 164

5 credits (A&H) | SLN: 21694

Course Description

Intensive practice in speaking, reading, and writing. Review of Spanish grammar. Oral practice based on literary and cultural readings. Third in a sequence of three.