Fall 2020 Classes -- Latin American/Latinx Studies
Atacama Observatory, Chile
From Maya to Atacama astronomy, Fall 2020, Latin American and Latinx Studies (LALS) courses will connect students with past to present, built environments, economic policies, and narcocultures, medical Spanish, the role of science in the region and more.
We are pleased to offer new topics, including the fall Colloquium, team-taught by the LALS faculty, Latin America and Science in Fact and Fiction (LA 377), Economics of Latin America (EC 261), and The New Cuba (AN 252), the on-campus course preparing students for a January 2021 travel seminar.
Below you will find a list of all classes offered by LALS and cross-listed from Anthropology, Economics, History, International Affairs, Sociology, and World Languages and Literatures (Spanish/French). Find more about our Colloquium, Gateway Courses, Language Across the Curriculum, and General LALS Credit courses (100, 200 and 300 level) below.
Full information for each course, including pre-requisites, in the Skidmore College Master Schedule.
Click on the links for more information about all LALS courses and the minor, or a printable list of all Fall 2020 courses.
We look forward to seeing you in September.
FALL 2020 LALS Courses
Mayan Observatory, Chichen Itza, Mexico
LA 377. Latin America and Science in Fact and Fiction
LALS faculty 1 credit, Wed, 5:10-7:00 PM
Science and scientists thrive in Latin America, whether the work is being done thousands of years ago by Maya astronomers or by today’s astrophysicists aiming telescopes at the sky from Chile’s Atacama desert. This course invites students to consider the important material, intellectual and creative contributions of Latin America to scientific knowledge in mathematics, the natural sciences, medicine, archaeology and beyond, as those contributions are disseminated in fact and fiction.
WLS 212. Spanish American Literature and Culture
B. Loyola, 4 credits,
Wed/Fri. 10:10 - 11:30 AM ; Mon 11:15 - 12:10 PM
An overview of Spanish-American literature and other cultural expressions from pre-independence to the present. The course introduces main literary genres, movements, and authors as well as the study of cultural practices in the region through music, visual art, journalism, and other forms of media. The course’s main objectives are to increase students’ ability to read critically, appreciate and analyze literary Spanish, and understand the cultural diversity of Spanish-America. Prerequisites: WLS 208 or permission of instructor. Note(s): (Fulfills humanities requirement or foreign language requirement.)
HI 111P. Introduction to Latin American History
J. Dym, 4 credits,
Wed/Fri, 10:10 - 11:30 AM
An introduction to the economic, political, social, and intellectual history of Latin America. Students will explore the geography and peoples that forged Latin American society from initial encounters among Europeans, Africans, and Native Americans to contemporary global migrations. We study the political, economic, and social challenges of early nation-state formation in a multicultural context, consider key twentieth century themes of industrialization, revolution, U.S.-Latin American relations, and intellectual trends, and conclude by asking how these many pasts affect the present and future. (Fulfills Cultural Diversity requirement, fulfills social sciences requirement.)
WLS 220. LAC: Spanish
B. Loyola, 1 credit
Monday 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
A course designed for students who want to use their foreign languages skills in any course taught in English at the college. Does not fulfill the foreign language distribution requirement or count toward the Spanish minor. Only one Languages Across the Curriculum course (WLS 220 or WLS 340) will count towards the Spanish major and cannot be repeated for credit towards the major. Must be taken S/U.
- Travel Seminar
AN 252A. The New Cuba (NEW)
M. Ennis-McMillan 1 credit
Tues, 11:10 AM - 12:30 PM
This course explores Cuban social and cultural dynamics associated with the “Special
Period in a Time of Peace” that began with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in
1991. The course includes background on social changes related to Spanish conquest
and colonization, African slavery, independence, and the ongoing 1959 Revolution.
Using anthropological perspectives, students analyze case studies of cultural identities
related to class, race, gender, sexuality, and religion in the new post-Soviet Cuba.
Students are examine methods that anthropologists use to collect ethnographic data
from observations, conversations, museum observations, and photography.
The course is a required co-requisite for students enrolled in the travel seminar
TX-200: Inside the New Cuba. Taken together, AN-252A and TX-200 are designated Cultural
Diversity and count toward the geographic requirement in the anthropology major.
HF 100. Honors: Lat Am History: Cities (NEW)
J. Dym, 1 credit
Th, 5:05 PM - 6:00 PM
Open to students enrolled in HI 111P or by permission of instructor. In this course, students of Latin American history will break away from constraints of a traditional chronological approach to history courses by focusing on themes that cut across place and time. In Fall 2020, the topic will be cities and urban life. Students will receive an introduction to methods and approaches in urban studies. They will then select a more focused topic and, in small groups, identify continuities and changes in one aspect of city living (such as sports, built environment, capital cities, food supply, or government). By the end of the semester, each group will present its research to students enrolled in the parent class.
AN 205. Mesoamerican Archaeology
H. Hurst 3 credits
Tuesday/Thursday, 9:40 - 11:00 AM
A survey of the culture history of Mesoamerica, including primarily the states of Mexico and Guatemala. Inquiry focuses on the origin of New World agriculture as well as the development of highland Mexican and Aztec and lowland Mayan civilizations. The course considers the interpretation of the archaeological remains at major Mesoamerican site complexes. (Designated a non-Western culture course; fulfills social sciences requirement.)
EC 261. Economics of Latin America (NEW)
R. Schneider 3 credits
Tu/Th, 3:40 PM - 5:00 PM
Develop theoretical and empirical tools to will evaluate Latin American economies. Economic growth is a field of economics that studies why some nations are more financially and institutionally successful than others. Public finance is a field of economics that studies public policies, politics and government expenditure creating a connection within these topics to provide policymakers with analysis that can help them improve their economies. In this course, we’ll merge these two fields of economics and apply them to explain the underdevelopment of Latin American countries and what are the effective public policies helping them to catch-up with developed nations. This course will cover economic growth attempting to understand why this is an important field to be studied, how can one explain economic growth theoretically and the applications of these theories. Second, we’ll analyze public policies in Latin America, their relationship with institutions and voting behavior and finally, their effectiveness. Moreover, we’ll learn how to use data to analyze economic growth and public policies. (Prerequisites: Econ 103 or 104, equivalent AP exams, or permission of instructor.)
IA 255D. Excavating Cultures
R. Cantave, 4 credits
Wed/Fri, 10:10 AM - 12:00 PM.
This course introduces students to some of the fundamental concepts of cultural studies through a deep dive into ethnographic writing on different regions of the world. Selected countries are discussed with respect to how culture influences their political and economic characteristics. Several concepts and themes are explored, among them religion and spirituality, conflicts and violence, poverty and inequality, gender and sexuality, and global interconnectedness. This course will emphasize contemporary events, particularly as they relate to the fundamental themes of the course.
SO 203W. Femininities and Masculinities
R. Hernandez, Ruth 4 credits,
Wed/Fri, 8:40-10:00AM; Mon, 9:05-10:00 AM
An analysis of gender in contemporary social life. By examining the intersections between race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and age, this course explores how differing types of femininities and masculinities are constructed, reinforced, and maintained in U.S. culture and society. Dating and relationships, body image and appearance, and institutional inequities are among the topics examined. (Fulfills social sciences requirement.)
300-level courses
AN 328R Built Environments: Archaeology of Architecture
H. Hurst, 4 credits Tu/Th 12:40 PM - 2:00 PM
An examination of the ways in which cultural values and belief systems are encoded in architecture and the problems that exist in interpreting these patterns. Students will use various sources of evidence (e.g., site plans, maps, artifacts, texts) to explore architecture and what it can tell us about different aspects of human society. Students will examine topics that include both practical and symbolic perspectives on the selection of building materials, the relation of activities and social roles to spatial constructions, the interplay between environment and architecture, the destruction and/or abandonment of spaces, and constructions for the supernatural and the afterlife.
WLS 351D. Spanish for Health Professionals
C. Grant, 3 credits, Tu/Th, 12:40-2:00 PM
Spanish for the Health Professions This course is geared toward individuals studying health-related areas or who are interested in becoming educated about health issues in Spanish-speaking communities here in the United States and around the world. The course objectives include: 1) introducing the student to a wide array of vocabulary particular to the medical field; 2) helping the student develop a cultural understanding of medicine and illness in the Spanish-speaking world to prepare for potential work with Spanish-speaking patients in future careers in medicine, nursing, social work, translation and interpretation, or mental health settings; 3) helping the student develop the necessary tools and communication skills to have successful interactions with Spanish-speaking patients and their families in the clinical encounter; and 4) heightening the student’s awareness of current cultural, demographic, and public policy issues affecting health care delivery to the Latino population in the United States and within Spanish-speaking countries.
WLS 353. Narcoculturas
M. Lander, 3 credits, Mon/Wed, 2:30-3:50 PM
Hoy en día en los Estados Unidos la imagen de Latinoamérica está inextricablemente asociada con el tráfico de drogas. Los medios de comunicación diariamente reportan sobre masacres perpetradas por los narcotraficantes. Las imágenes estereotipadas de los "narcos" abundan en la televisión, el cine, películas y literatura. La realidad del narcotráfico latinoamericano es indiscutiblemente violenta pero es más compleja de lo que por lo general nos dejan ver los medios de comunicación. En consecuencia, un gran cuerpo de novelas, películas y música se ha producido para dejarnos ver como la comunidad le da sentido a esa brutal realidad. En este curso los estudiantes analizaran novelas, poemas, corridos y películas para entender cómo la "narcocultura" ha modelado algunas sociedades del continente.
WLS 376. Imaginación/Conocimiento:
Science, Technology, and Fiction
O. Pérez-Hernández, 4 credits
Tu/Th, 9:40-11:00 AM
From simulated realities to vindictive scientists and robots, scientific and technological notions have been a constant, if sometimes overlooked, theme in cultural productions from Spanish America and Spain. The main goal of this course is to examine, through the lens of fiction, how various societies from the Spanish-speaking world have thought about the role of science and technology in their lives. We will also study social and cultural issues that transcend borders and are closely related to science and technology. Topics include: gender and science; power and the appropriation of scientific discourse to serve political agendas; roles of experts and nonexperts and the construction of scientific authority; ways of knowing and the differential value we assign to them; geographies of scientific production, asymmetries, and circulation/coproduction of knowledge; perceptions of objectivity and subjectivity; ethical questions in science and technology, and the deliberate propagation of ignorance and uncertainty. We will see that the convergence of science, technology, and fiction not only provides a window to investigate the great challenges of our time, but can also inspire us to imagine ways to face them. All-college requirements that this course meets, if any: NA Pre-requisites, if any: Senior status.
