Fall 2024 course offerings (this list subject to change)
Introduction to Latinx Studies – LSP 2100 (also AMST 2106). This course is an introduction to Latina/o Studies, an interdisciplinary field of knowledge production that focuses on historical, sociopolitical, cultural, and economic experiences of Latinx peoples in the United States—both as a nation and as a geopolitical location in a larger world. We will survey and analyze the arts, histories, cultures, politics, and sociological landscapes of Puerto Ricans, Dominican Americans, Cuban Americans, Mexican Americans, Central Americans, as well as other Latinx peoples who have made communities within the United States for centuries, and who are part of Latinx diasporas. Intersections of U.S. Latinx identities are also explored in this course by asking questions related to the fields housed within Latina/o Studies: How is Latina/o/x identity defined and performed? What does the use of an ‘x’ in Latinx mean or do? How do histories of race, class, gender, and sexuality in the U.S. impact one’s Latina/o/x identity? Many of these questions will be answered by using scholarship produced by the Latina/o Studies Program faculty at Cornell, familiarizing students with the breadth of research and expertise of program. Instructor: Debra Castillo. MW 1:25 – 2:40. 3 credits. (This course fulfills required course for the LSP undergraduate minor).
Diasporas from the Spanish Caribbean – LSP 2253 (also HIST 2253). This seminar examines the Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Dominican diasporas in the United States. We will examine US relations with these three countries; the root causes of this Caribbean migration; their history in particular urban areas of the United States; and the political, social, and cultural issues that have attracted attention. Instructor: Maria Cristina Garcia. TR 2:55 – 4:10. 4 credits, including the required independent research. (This course fulfills Humanities distribution for LSP undergraduate minor).
Introduction to U.S. Latinx Literature – LSP 2400 (also ENGL 2400, AMST 2401). Latina/os have always been part of U.S. history, yet the media often represents Latinx as only recent immigrants or as stereotypes that reduce rich cultures into a single, unified category or group of people. This practice hides the many unique and varied voices, stories, experiences, and ideas produced by Latinx expressive practices in forms ranging from novels and poetry to podcasts, tiktoks, films, theater, comics, memoirs, visual arts, and dance. This course will sample all of these forms while considering how artists meditate on their experiences of home, friendship, languages, love, migration, education, racialization, within the contexts of histories of colonization, discrimination, war, invasion, revolution, and ongoing activist organizing for resistance, sustainability, and thriving futures. In addition to common material, students will also have the chance to explore specific expressive practices that interest them. Instructor: Mary Pat Brady. TR 11:40 – 12:55. 3 credits. (This course fulfills Humanities distribution for the LSP undergraduate minor).
Latinx Theatre Production – LSP 3010/6020. In the course of the semester, we will first develop a toolbox of performance techniques based on methods developed in the Spanish-speaking and Latinx contexts. These techniques will be used in preparing short, original, collectively-created or scripted plays for production and public presentation in the October 2024 regional microtheater festival in upstate New York and/or the annual downtown Ithaca holiday pastorela in December. All students are expected to write a brief final paper at the end of the semester reflecting upon their experience with their production (graduate students will write a conference paper suitable for presentation in a professional event). Grades will be based on quality of individual participation as well as on the quality of the whole production. Instructor: Debra Castillo. MW 7:30 pm – 8:45 pm. 1 – 3 credits variable. (This course fulfills Humanities distribution for the LSP undergraduate minor and graduate minor).
Diasporas, Disasters, and Dissent: Re-Thinking Puerto Rican Studies in the 20th and 21st Centuries - LSP 3678 (also ENGL 3678). "Foreign in a domestic sense” is the perplexing way that the Supreme Court of the United States chose to define Puerto Rico’s status in the so-called “Insular Cases” of the early 20th century. Written over 100 years ago, this contradictory ruling looms large over Puerto Rico’s precarious legal standing, despite the fact that there are now more Puerto Ricans living on the US mainland than in the island itself. Seeking to counter the obfuscation of Puerto Rico in the US imaginary, in this course students will analyze how key historical, political, and social moments connected to diasporas, disasters, and dissent have galvanized Puerto Rican cultural production in the 20th and 21st centuries. Instructor: Rebeca Hey-Colón. TR 1:25 - 2:40. 3 credits. (This course fulfills humanities distribution for the LSP undergraduate minor).
Latinos and the US, 1492-1880 – LSP 3770 (also HIST 3770). In this course, we will answer two major questions: What is Latino history? And how should we write Latino History? We will explore these questions without attempting to cover all of Latino history before 1800. We will focus on a variety of experiences to better understand how differences in race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, sexual orientation, and class have shaped Latino communities over time. We will read academic journal articles and books (secondary sources) and documents from the past, such as diaries, letters, court records, and maps (primary sources). Throughout the semester we will be working in groups toward creating a final project: a Latino history website. Instructor: Camille Suarez. TR 10:10 – 11:25. 4 four credits, including the required independent research. (This course fulfills Humanities distribution for the LSP undergraduate minor).
Migration: Histories, Controversies, and Perspectives - LSP 3810 (also ILRLR/AMST/PAM/SOC 3810). This introductory course introduces students to issues and debates related to international migration and will provide an interdisciplinary foundation to understanding the factors that shape migration flows and migrant experiences. We will start by reviewing theories of the state and historical examples of immigrant racialization and exclusion in the United States and beyond. We will critically examine the notions of borders, citizenship/non-citizenship, and the creation of diasporas. Students will also hear a range of perspectives by exposing them to Cornell guest faculty who do research and teach on migration across different disciplines and methodologies and in different world areas. Examples include demographic researchers concerned with immigrant inequality and family formation, geographic perspectives on the changing landscapes of immigrant metropolises, legal scholarship on the rights of immigrant workers, and the study of immigrant culture from a feminist studies lens. Instructor: Shannon Gleeson. MW 10:10 - 11:25. 3 credits. (This course fulfills Social Science distribution for the LSP undergraduate minor).
Contemporary Issues in Latina/o/Latin America – LSP 4000/6000 (also LATA 4000/6000). Interested in Latina/o Studies and Latin American Studies? This course will explore topics in Anthropology, Art, Economics, History, Literature, Government, Sociology, and more, of US Latina/o and Latin American contexts. Course features guest speakers from Cornell and other institutions. Course requirements: Attend a total of 12 programming events of your choice throughout the semester sponsored by the Latina/o Studies and Latin American Studies (you should plan for at least one a week), and write a brief follow-up critical or analytic report on some aspect of what you learned. These reports are due within one week of the event. Instructor: Debra Castillo. M 1:00 – 2:15. 1 credit. (This course DOES NOT fulfill requirements for the LSP minor).
Refugees – LSP 4851/6851 (also HIST/AMST 4851). Since World War II, over four million people have migrated to the United States as refugees. In this seminar, we will examine some of these refugee migrations and the ways they challenged our understanding of the United States as a “haven for the oppressed”. We will examine how refugee/asylum policy was crafted: the role of non-governmental actors in influencing policy, and the ways it reflected foreign policy interests and security concerns. The second half will pay particular attention to our changing definitions of who “merits” asylum in the United States since the end of the Cold War. Instructor: Maria Cristina Garcia. Wednesday W 2:00 – 4:30. 4 credits, including the required independent research. (This course fulfills Humanities distribution for the LSP undergraduate minor).