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Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies


The Program in Latin American, Latinx and Caribbean Studies promotes a multidisciplinary understanding of culture, history, and contemporary issues in the region. Students take courses that examine the region from a wide array of disciplinary perspectives, while simultaneously deepening their knowledge of Latin America and the Caribbean within a disciplinary concentration. A student who completes this program receives a degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies with a concentration in a single discipline. Students are encouraged to pursue part of their education studying abroad in Latin America or the Caribbean. A maximum of sixteen credit hours of foreign study can be applied towards the major, with the approval of the program's Director of Undergraduate Studies. In addition to its course offerings, the Program in Latin American, Latinx and Caribbean Studies regularly sponsors lectures, seminars, exhibitions, and films. It also hosts visiting scholars and encourages student internships.

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Concentrations

Faculty

Director
Robert Goddard
Director of Undergraduate Studies
Robert Goddard
Core

Courses

LACS 100-Level Courses

An interdisciplinary introduction to Latin America and the Caribbean and to the LACS Program at Emory. The course provides historical background and familiarizes students with contemporary political, social, economic, and cultural issues.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Introduces first-year students to Latin America and/or the Caribbean, and to different disciplinary approaches. Topics and regions covered vary.


Credit Hours
3
GER
FS
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

LACS 200-Level Courses

This course introduces students to the history of Latinx people in the United States from the mid 19th century to present day. The course covers major themes that have shaped Latinx lived experiences and community formations, including colonialism, (im)migration, labor, politics, and race/ethnicity.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HAE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 226
  • AMST 226

"Plantation America", stretching from the American South, through the Caribbean to northern Brazil, comprises a geographical area that, as its name suggests, was dominated by the economic system of plantation monoculture. This course will attempt two inter-related tasks: it will firstly survey the unity and variety of the plantation as a form of socio-economic organization; secondly it will explicate the unity and variety of the political and cultural forms that have evolved alongside the plantation. The course will be interdisciplinary in nature, using texts from history, literature and anthropology.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 263

"Plantation America", stretching from the American South, through the Caribbean to northern Brazil, comprises a geographical area that, as its name suggests, was dominated by the economic system of plantation monoculture. This course will attempt two inter-related tasks: it will firstly survey the unity and variety of the plantation as a form of socio-economic organization; secondly it will explicate the unity and variety of the political and cultural forms that have evolved alongside the plantation. The course will be interdisciplinary in nature, using texts from history, literature and anthropology.


Credit Hours
4
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 263W

This course will bring together existing research to examine tourism as at one time an economic enterprise and also as a deeply significant cultural experience that has played an under-recognized part in shaping the cultural mores and lifestyles of both the island destinations and the home countries.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

This course will bring together existing research to examine tourism as at one time an economic enterprise and also as a deeply significant cultural experience that has played an under-recognized part in shaping the cultural mores and lifestyles of both the island destinations and the home countries.


Credit Hours
4
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Topics: Latin Americn Issues. Topics vary.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Topics: Latin Americn Issues. Topics vary.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

LACS 300-Level Courses

This course considers how migrants, the construction of borders, and the formation of transnational communities have shaped the making of the United States. Central themes include class, gender, (il)legality, labor, politics and race/ethnicity.


Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 336
  • AMST 336

Development of the major islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, from colonial times to the present. Emphasizes evolution of plantation societies, slavery and race relations, international rivalries, economic dependence, political independence, and social revolutions.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 362

Development of the major islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Puerto Rico, from colonial times to the present. Emphasizes evolution of plantation societies, slavery and race relations, international rivalries, economic dependence, political independence, and social revolutions.


Credit Hours
4
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 362W

Sugar and rum were for centuries the quintessential Caribbean products, commodities which created fortunes for planters and merchants, while changing the lifestyles of the European working classes. This class will examine not only the development of sugar and rum production and its effect on the Caribbean's socio-economic organization in the form of the plantation, but also how these commodities have come to define social status in the metropolis through changing patterns of consumption. Students will use materials from a variety of genres and disciplines, from social history to advertising, and from anthropology to popular music and film.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 363

Sugar and rum were for centuries the quintessential Caribbean products, commodities which created fortunes for planters and merchants, while changing the lifestyles of the European working classes. This class will examine not only the development of sugar and rum production and its effect on the Caribbean's socio-economic organization in the form of the plantation, but also how these commodities have come to define social status in the metropolis through changing patterns of consumption. Students will use materials from a variety of genres and disciplines, from social history to advertising, and from anthropology to popular music and film.


Credit Hours
4
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 363W

The course explores human trafficking from the era of the trans- Atlantic slave trade to present-day instances of trafficking in productive and reproductive labor. Through primary and secondary sources, the students learn about the racial and gender ideologies undergirding this phenomenon.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSCE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 378
  • AFS 378
  • ANT 378

The course explores human trafficking from the era of the trans- Atlantic slave trade to present-day instances of trafficking in productive and reproductive labor. Through primary and secondary sources, the students learn about the racial and gender ideologies undergirding this phenomenon.


Credit Hours
4
GER
HSWE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 378W
  • AFS 378W
  • ANT 378W

Special Topics in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Topics vary.


Credit Hours
1 - 4
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Special Topics in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Topics vary.


Credit Hours
1 - 5
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

LACS 400-Level Courses

This course examines how narratives about the body, health, medicine, and well-being are constructed, naturalized, and circulated in Latin America.


Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • SPAN 409
  • HLTH 469
  • LING 409

This course explores how cinema has commented on and participated in constructing Mexican national identity. Students will acquire a competence in Mexican film history, the ability to speak and write about film analysis in Spanish, and familiarity with critical approaches to Mexican cinema.


Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • SPAN 421

This course explores how cinema has commented on and participated in constructing Mexican national identity. Students will acquire a competence in Mexican film history, the ability to speak and write about film analysis in Spanish, and familiarity with critical approaches to Mexican cinema.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • SPAN 421W

This course explores a range of topics and texts related to the theory, practice and experience of medical matters in the Hispanic world of colonial-imperial medicine. Topics may include epidemics; gender and medicine; indigenous medical knowledge; diet and food; and doctors and curander@s.


Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • SPAN 425
  • HLTH 468

This course explores a range of topics and texts related to the theory, practice and experience of medical matters in the Hispanic world of colonial-imperial medicine. Topics may include epidemics; gender and medicine; indigenous medical knowledge; diet and food; and doctors and curander@s.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • SPAN 425W
  • HLTH 468W

This course, taught in Spanish, explores Latin American and Latinx cultural production that uses the family to represent and interrogate questions of cultural identity and transculturation, colonial encounters, abolitionism, nation-building, political repression and historical agency.


Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • SPAN 426

This course, taught in Spanish, explores Latin American and Latinx cultural production that uses the family to represent and interrogate questions of cultural identity and transculturation, colonial encounters, abolitionism, nation-building, political repression and historical agency.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • SPAN 426W

This course studies the interplay between gender and genre in Latin American crime fiction and film. We will focus work by women artists and on representations of women and LGBT characters.


Credit Hours
3
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • SPAN 427

This course studies the interplay between gender and genre in Latin American crime fiction and film. We will focus work by women artists and on representations of women and LGBT characters.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • SPAN 427W

Jr/Sr Colloquium. Using in-depth case studies to guide us, we will unravel puzzles about race, ethnicity, and national identity in Latin America. They revolve around the central question: how have particular configurations of racial and ethnic hierarchy emerged in these countries?


Credit Hours
4
GER
CWE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 460W

We will produce a 20-page research paper through scaffolded writing assignments, as well as oral and visual presentations. The course theme addresses how Spanish and Portuguese colonization forced Iberian, Indigenous, and African worlds together in the region that is known today as Latin America.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CWE
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 461W
  • REL 461W

Jr/Sr Colloquium. This course addresses the impact of geo-political and global economic forces on Cuba, with particular attention to Spanish colonial policies, slavery and emancipation, the US presence, the Cold War, and post-socialist markets.


Credit Hours
4
GER
CW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
  • HIST 463W

Topics vary. Each colloquium treats a different theme in depth, often combining reading and seminar discussion with research and writing. If listed as WR, fulfills the post-freshman writing requirement.


Credit Hours
3
GER
HSC
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Topics vary. Each colloquium treats a different theme in depth, often combining reading and seminar discussion with research and writing. If listed as WR, fulfills the post-freshman writing requirement.


Credit Hours
4
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

For LAS honors students only. Credit for undertaking supervised research and writing of the honors thesis, over the course of two semesters.


Credit Hours
4
GER
XA
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

For LAS honors students only. Credit for undertaking supervised research and writing of the honors thesis, over the course of two semesters.


Credit Hours
1 - 8
GER
HSCW
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None

Variable credit. Prerequisite: prior approval of instructor or LAS director of undergraduate studies. Supervised study of the region for students pursuing directed reading under the guidance of a faculty member. Credit may also be granted for courses taken abroad and/or for internships, with prior approval of the LACS Director of Undergraduate Studies. Students who wish to receive credit for academic projects conducted outside of a degree-granting institution, including internships and independent research undertaken abroad, must arrange for an Emory faculty member to serve as project director. In addition, students will produce a scholarly paper to be reviewed and approved by the project director and LACS director of undergraduate studies.


Credit Hours
1 - 8
GER
None
Requisites
None
Cross-Listed
None