Category: Courses

DARS Exception Course.  Associated with the CLS FIG

DARS Exception Course 

Credits for self- directed student learners conducting independent reading and research under the mentorship and guidance of a faculty member

Examines identity formation and associated processes for individuals and in society. Traces the history of ‘Spanish-Speaking,’ ‘Hispanic, Chicano, Latino, and Latinx and locate each in socio-political processes. Students will explore the future of identity, socially and individually and they will determine how they know to identify the way(s) that they do, at this point in …

Explores the intersection of ethnicity, race, and justice including: 1) racial and ethnic relations in society 2) racial and ethnic differences in crime and violence, 3) racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system, and 4) race and ethnicity under the law. A major focus of this course will be to move beyond the …

Topic: Mexican Migration to the US.  Explores topic from historical, cultural, political, literary & gender studies perspectives. Analyzes films, documentaries, testimonies, essays, novels, stories, & music in connection with theories of migration, transnationalism, & transculturation. Discusses legal/illegal status, social mobility, cultural integration, belonging, language, & the production of new gendered identities. Taught in Spanish.

Introduction to the changing images of race and ethnicity in U.S. entertainment media and popular culture. Surveys history, key concepts and contemporary debates regarding mediated representation of ethnic minorities. Critical and cultural studies approaches are emphasized.

Topic: Gentrification in Latinx Communities Explores gentrification, especially in Latinx communities.  Investigates gentrification’s origin & theories that seek to explain it through four case studies—the Mission-San Francisco, Boyle Heights-Los Angeles, East Harlem-New York, & Pilsen-Chicago—to form critical conclusions.  

Uses the Latinx concept of “borderlands” and the Black feminist concept of “intersectionality” to analyze queer theory and practice. Using theory, case studies, and diverse forms of media and expressive culture, the course critically examines the construction of gender and sex.Topic TBA 

A critical examination of US-Latin American relations from the colonial era to the present, tracing the emergence and evolution of the United States as a hemispheric and global power and its political and economic impact on Latin America. Primary attention will focus on US relations with Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, but other Latin …