Anthropology Courses

Anth 314 / Amer. Cult. 313. Cuba and Its Diaspora. (4)
This course examines Cuban history, literature, and culture since the Revolution both on the island and in the United States diaspora. In political and cultural essays, personal narratives, fiction, poetry, drama, visual art and film, we will seek a comprehensive and diverse view of how Cubans and Cuban-Americans understand their situation as people of the same nation divided for thirty-five years by an iron wall of political differences. Topics to be considered include Afrocuban culture, changing gender conceptions, everyday life under communism, and the construction of exile identity. We will read works by Alejo Carpentier, Fidel Castro, Roberto Fernández Retamar, Louis Pérez, Oscar Hijuelos, Reinaldo Arenas, Lourdes Casal, Nancy Morejón, Coco Fusco, Margaret Randall, and Cristina García, among others. Students will be expected to participate actively in class discussions and to do independent research for a final essay. (Note: this course was formerly listed as Anth 356.001) Lecture W 2-5, film M 6-9, B134 LSA (Behar)

Anth 414/CAAS 444. Introduction to Caribbean Societies and Cultures, I. (3).
This course provides an introduction to the peoples and cultures of the Caribbean. Topics covered include: the historical origins of the social structure and social organization of contemporary Caribbean states; family and kinship; religion, race, class, ethnicity, and national identity; Caribbean immigration; politics and policies of socioeconomic change. The course is open to both anthropology concentrators and non-concentrators. Films and videos on the Caribbean will be shown when available. Requirements: four 3-5 page typewritten papers, which ask students to synthesize reading and lecture materials; participation in class discussions; regular class attendance. TTh 10-11:30, B134 LSA (Owusu)

Anth 488. Prehistory of Mexico. (3).
This course covers the Prehispanic culture sequence for Mesoamerica outside the Maya region. It begins with the first evidence for humans in late Pleistocene Mexico, and proceeds to a discussion of Archaic hunting-and-gathering period of 8000-2000 B.C. The origins of agriculture during this preceramic period are documented, as well as the rise of sedentary agricultural villages by 1500 B.C. The course then considers the evolution of ranked societies during the Formative Period (1500 B.C.-A.D. 100) and of urban stratified societies during the Classic Period (A.D. 100-800). The evolution of Mexico's ethnohistorically documented Postclassic societies - the Toltec, Aztec, Mixtec, Zapotec, Huastec, and Tarascans - is then traced up to the Spanish Conquest of A.D. 1519. There will be two lectures a week, accompanied by reading of a course pack of relevant journal articles and book chapters. TTh 1-2:30, 2009 Museums Building. (Flannery)

History 476/Anthro. 416. Latin America: The Colonial Period. (4).
This course will examine the colonial period in Latin American history from the initial Spanish and Portuguese contact and conquest to the nineteenth-century wars of independence. It will focus on the process of interaction between Indians and Europeans, tracing the evolution of a range of colonial societies in the New World. Thus we will examine the indigenous background to conquest as well as the nature of the settler community. We will also look at the shifting uses of land and labor, and at the importance of class, race, gender, and ethnicity. The method of instruction is lecture and discussion. Each student will write a short critical review and a final paper of approximately 10 to 12 pages. There will be a midterm and a final. MW 10-11:30, 3410 Mason; discussion sections: T 2-3, 2412 Mason; M 1-2, 3416 Mason; or W 2:30-4, 1408 Mason. (Frye)

History 478. Topics in Latin American History, Section 001 - Law, History, and Processes of Social Change: Perspectives on Race and Citizenship from Latin America and the United States. (3).
This seminar explores the relationship of law, politics, and society in periods of political and social transformation, focusing on the histories of the end of slavery in the United States and in Latin America and the Caribbean. In the United States, male former slaves became full political participants for the period of Reconstruction, but retrenchment soon followed. Shortly after slavery was abolished Cuba, by contrast, a large scale cross-racial nationalist movement emerged, whose legacy was a strong claim to citizenship by Afro-Cuban veterans. What accounts for these divergent histories of the move from slavery to democratic politics? The readings will include primary and secondary sources on the historical episodes involved, as well as general theoretical writings on the questions presented. Admission will be by permission of the instructors only. W 1-3 PM. (R. Scott, R. Pildes)

History 578/LACS 400/CAAS 478. Ethnicity and Culture in Latin America. Section 001 - Gender, Status, and Law in Latin American History. (3).
This seminar, open to graduate students and upper-level undergraduates, will examine the ways historians have explained the relationships between gender and race or ethnicity and how they have worked to regulate family structures, establish social difference, and legitimize relations of power in diverse regions and periods of Latin American history. The course will focus on the ways that legal documents or juridical literature help us understand the ways gender, honor and social status (based on class, ethnicity, or race) were redefined after Independence, yet remained pertinent legal and social concepts in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Thus, we will look first at the ways honor and status were defined and policed by colonial legal systems, and then examine how these concepts were changed in the modern, liberal legal codes that replaced colonial legislation. The last few weeks of class will be devoted to reading new, mostly unpublished scholarship and attending a conference on this topic that will be held at the University of Michigan. The conference will bring together a group of scholars from the U.S. and Latin America whose work focuses on the topic "Honor, Status, and Law in Modern Latin America." M 10 - 1, room TBA. (Caulfield)

English 384/CAAS 384/Amer. Cult. 406. Topics in Caribbean Literature. Section 001 - Colonial Encounters. (3).
From that fateful night in 1492 when Columbus lost his way in the New World, the islands of the Caribbean have provided a stage in which different cultures have met and reshaped their identities and destinies. This course is an examination of the images, texts, and ideologies which have emerged out of these colonial encounters. From a selection of readings ranging from Columbus's diaries and fictions on the 1790s revolution in Haiti, to novels on nationalism and postcolonialism, we will examine how ideas about the Caribbean were central to European notions of self and modernity. Using different media - films, videos, and paintings - we shall see how the shaping of slave society in the Caribbean was as much about African slaves as it was about European and American ideals. The course will conclude with an examination of narratives of Caribbean migration to Europe and the United States. Course requirements: short writing assignments and a final examination. This course satisfies the New Traditions requirement for English concentrators. TTh 1:00-2:30, G429 Mason. (Gikandi)

RC, Core 324. Readings in Spanish. Section 001 - Tres Novelas Latinoamericanas. (4).
En esta clase se leerán tres novelas contemporáneas de América Latina. Del escritor peruano, Mario Vargas Llosa, ¿Quién mató a Palomino Morero? (1986); de Gabriel García Márquez, escritor colombiano, se leerá Crónica de una Muerte Anunciada (1981), el tercer libro será decidido con posterioridad. (Posibles títulos: Querido Diego, te abraza Quiela, de Elena Poniatowska o De amor y de sombra, de Isabel Allende). Estas novelas tienen algo en común, la memoria cumple un papel importante en la reconstrucción de hechos ya sucedidos que no pueden ser cambiados. Sin embargo, la memoria no es siempre fiel a los hechos, y el recordar es, en cierta forma, querer saber y entender, pero también luchar con el pasado y re-ordenarlo, desde la perspectiva del narrador y de múltiples informates. A través de la lectura y comprensión de los textor, trataremos de descifrar el código que rige las acciones de los personajes y el poder que maneja sus acciones. Mientras Vargas Llosa y García Márquez trabajan con la noticia, el anuncio, (la anunciación) como punto de partida, Isabel Allende y Poniatowska, centran su narración en el rescate y la preservación de un hecho sucedido, pero re-creado para salvarlo del olvido. MW 10--11:30, 12 Tyler. (Moya-Raggio)

RC, Humanities 317. The Writings of Latinas. (4)
This course brings to the forefront the abundant literary production of Latinas in the United States. The core of the work will comprise reading and discussion of works (essays, poems, narrative fiction) of Chicana writers, as well as women writers from Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America. Films and visual art by Latinas will supplement the literature in the course. The works selected are richly textured, filled with cultural content, and imbued with nostalgic evocation of what has been lost. Representing a broad range of Latina experience, they confront such issues as colonial domination and political and/or economic exile. All of the texts relate to the history of the Americas, and address the position of women within their own cultural/ethnic/racial group as well as within a dominant culture. Students will be expected to keep a journal of their reactions to the works read or viewed and to write three substantial papers which reflect their ability in critical reading of the texts. They will also prepare and deliver seminar presentations on selected poetry in the course. Tentative readings: Alvarez, Julia, In the Time of the Butterflies; Anzaldúa, Gloria, Borderlands/La Frontera; Castedo, Elena, Paradise; Cisneros, Sandra, The House on Mango Street; Coffer, Judith Ortiz, Silent; Garcia, Cristina, Dreaming in Cuban; Partnoy, Alicia, The Little School. TTh 11-12:30, 24-26 Tyler. (Moya-Raggio)

Portuguese 350, Independent Study; Portuguese 450, Independent Study; and Portuguese 489, Directed Readings in Portuguese.
These courses are for the student to pursue study on a topic not available in currently taught courses. A description of the student's project and the required exercises to be completed, as well as a list of pertinent bibliography must be submitted to the student's Romance Languages Concentration Adviser no later than the second week of the term, for the approval of the Romance Languages Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. (Proposal forms are available in the Department of Romance Languages Office.) The Committee is to receive a copy of any lengthy paper submitted in the course.

Spanish 328. Studies in Latin(o) American Popular Culture. (3).
This course serves as an introduction to the study of popular culture in Latin America and among U.S. Latinos. Terms such as folklore, popular culture, mass culture, and high and low art will be discussed, giving particular attention to the permeability among them. Case studies in popular music, indigenous crafts and arts, visual arts, radio, TV, the fotonovela, popular religions, and others will be selected in order to analyze the ways in which culture becomes a central site where different social sectors negotiate power and hegemony. TTh 1-2:30, 2002 MLB. (Aparicio)

Spanish 332. Short Narrative in Latin America/Spain. Section 001 - Historical Revelations: Foundational Fictions of Latin America.
In this course, we will engage in a sustained study of a select number of nineteenth- and twentieth- century texts that will allow us to interrogate the complexities of national discourses and their representations. After the pivotal French and Haitian Revolutions, nineteenth-century authors engaged in literary production that either projected a desired national narrative or revealed national unrest that rendered such a unified narrative impossible. Contemporary novels have inherited this dichotomy but further reveal the problematics of national ideologies through the acknowledgement of indigenous cultures, wide spread poverty, general sexism, dictatorships, and repressive state mechanisms. Readings include: La Palma del Cacique, El Enriquillo, Cecilia Valdés, El Facundo, Hasta No Verte Jesus Mio, Los Rios Profundos, La Casa de los Espiritus, and Foundational Fictions. Fewer but longer readings will allow us more time to study each text, its respective national history, and ensuing critical commentary in a more careful manner. Classes and readings (except Foundational Fictions) will be conducted in Spanish. Grades will be based on one presentation, one short midterm paper, and one elaborate final paper. (Suarez)

Spanish 341. Introduction to Latin American Cultures. (3).
This course offers a reflection on contemporary Latin America by examining historical, political, social, artistic, and literary aspects of the Americas from pre-Columbian times up to the celebrations of the Quinto Centenario (1492-1992). Students will write a journal in Spanish (2-3 pages per week) following discussions in class on a variety of topics - Defining the Americas, Latinos in the U.S., Artistic and Political Revolutions in Latin America, Revising the Conquest and Colonization of the Americas, The Value(s) of Testimonial Accounts in Latin America - which will be illustrated through films, documentaries, TV shows, music, art, as well as historical and literary texts. Grading: Participation (20%), Journal (30%), Midterm Essay (25%), and Final Essay (25%). Required Readings: Burns, Bradford. Latin America: A Concise Interpretive History (6th ed.) [selection]; Fuentes, Carlos. El espejo enterrado; Cisneros, Sandra. La casa en Mango Street. Additional Readings (RESERVES): Colón, Cristóbal. "Carta a Luis de Santangel"; Day, Holliday & Sturges, Hollister. Art of the Fantastic: Latin America 1920-1987; Esquivel, Laura. Como Agua para Chocolate; Fernández Moreno, César. América Latina en su literatura; Menchú, Rigoberta. Me llamo Rigoberta Menchú (selection); Zea, Leopoldo. América Latina en sus ideas (selection); Werner, Louis. "Verdad y ficción de una travesía milagrosa de Cabeza de Vaca"; Wylie, Alison. "Rethinking the Quincentennial." FILMS : Cabeza de Vaca, El Norte, La muerte de un burócrata, Camila. DOCUMENTARIES / TV: El espejo enterrado, Frida Kahlo, Columbus didn't discover us, Cristina, Broken Silence, Fire in the Mind, Frescoes of Diego Rivera, The Gringo in Mañanaland, ¿Qué pasa U.S.A? MUSIC: Los Panchos, Silvio Rodríguez, Celia Cruz/T. Puente, El Vez, Salsa (Video). MWF 1-2, B110 MLB. (Herrero-Olaizola)

Spanish 355. New World Spanish. (3).
This course will provide a general introduction to the history and structure of the varieties of Spanish spoken in the New World. Topics to be treated will include the Peninsular origins of New World Spanish, the influence on Spanish of the languages of the native peoples of the New World, the features which characterize the several varieties of New World Spanish (including U.S. Spanish), the grammatical and lexical features which distinguish European and New World Spanish. Readings (mainly in Spanish) will be provided in a course pack. The course will be taught in Spanish. There will be a midterm and final exams, as well as written assignments. TTh 4-530, B115B MLB. (Dworkin)

Spanish 373. Topics in Hispanic Literatures and Cultures. Section 001 - Writing and Revolution in Latin America. (3).
What is a revolution? What is writing? What relations have there been, or could there be, between these two kinds of activity in Latin America? These are the basic questions we'll try to address in this course. To do so we will conduct historical and critical investigations into the relationship - examining political, literary, journalistic, and secondary historical and literary critical texts - at certain key moments in the 19th and 20th century (the wars of independence, Cuban independence, the Mexican revolution, the so-called Peronist National Revolution, the Cuban revolution, the Sandinista revolution, and the Zapatista movement). In the process, we will be working towards a critical typology of Latin American revolutions and of the kinds of roles that different kinds of writing can (or cannot) play in them. All discussion and writing, and vast majority of readings in Spanish. Periodic reflections, midterm paper, and final paper. TTh 11:30-1, 2114 MLB. (Colás)

Spanish 381. Survey of Latin American Literature, I. (3).
This course will give a panoramic view of Latin American Literatures (including Brazil) focusing on the contributions of major authors and the way they address themes such as racial and gender identities. (Arroyo). MWF 12-1, 1518 CC Little.

Spanish 440. Literatures and Cultures of the Borderlands: The Politics of Language. Section 001 - Race and Ethnicity in Caribbean and Latino Literatures.
This course will examine the role played by reterritorialization policies and migration patterns from Latin America and the Caribbean in forming today's US political and historical landscape. We will study the nineteenth century national, imagined ideology of the US as a White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant nation and its implications for a US that, in the last hundred years, has become a necessarily ethnic nation rather than the melting pot it was once described as in 1909. Through the assigned readings, we will explore themes such as national difference and national stereotyping; exile, migration, immigration, assimilation, and contestation; class, ethnicity, and race. We will engage in a critical study of storytelling and writing in order to better understand the dialogues across national boundaries that are structuring new discourses of race and ethnicity in a contemporary pan-global climate. Readings include Ethnic Labels, Latino Lives by Suzanne Oboler, Free Enterprise by Michelle Cliff, Breath Eyes Memories by Edwidge Danticat, Las Hermanas Aguero de Cristina García, Arroyo la Llorona de Sandra Cisneros, Negocios de Junot Dos. Essays will be assigned on a weekly basis. Classes will be conducted in Spanish. Readings (even if found in translation) will be mostly in Spanish except for the critical essays and the texts from the anglophone and francophone Caribbean. Grades will be based on one class presentation, one short midterm paper, and one longer final paper or project. (Suarez)

Spanish 485. Case Studies in Peninsular Spanish and Latin American Literature. (3).
Section 001 - Indigenista Narrative of the Andes.
This course will study several indigenista novels, and will compare them with key essays of the period.We will study topics related to the "control of the imaginary," and how this aspect of the indigenista narrative is tied with the basic premise of the course: indigenista novels were written with political aims and anthropological interests. Beginning with the Peruvian novel Aves sin nido, written in 1889 by Clorinda Matto de Turner,the course will focus on the development of indigenismo up to Los rios profundos and El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo, novels written by the Peruvian Jose Maria Arguedas, in the 1950s and 60s.The indigenista narrative will also be related to those essays that explore the intricate formation of the Andean national states, such as Alcides Arguedas's Pueblo enfermo, Manuel Gonzalez Prada's Horas de lucha, and Jose Carlos Mariategui's Siete ensayos de interpretacion de la realidad peruana. Students will give oral presentations on one of the authors or topics of the course, and will write a paper on a topic determined in consultation with the instructor. Texts: Clorinda Matto de Turner, Aves sin nido (La Habana: Casa de las Americas, 1974); Alcides Arguedas, Pueblo enfermo (La Paz: Editorial Popular, 1986); Alcides Arguedas, Raza de bronce (Madrid: Coleccion Archivos, 1988); Jose Carlos Mariategui, Siete ensayos de interpretacion de la realidad peruana (Lima:Amauta, 1969); Jorge Icaza, Huasipungo (Buenos Aires: Losada S.A, 1953); Manuel Gonzalez Prada, Horas de lucha (Callao: Tipografia Lux, 1934); Ciro Alegria, El mundo es ancho y ajeno (Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho, 1978); Jose Maria Arguedas, El zorro de arriba y el zorro de abajo (Buenos Aires:Losada, 1971). MWF 10-11, 3512 Frieze. (Sanjines)

Spanish 485, Section 002 - Literature of the Boom.
This course will examine the forms of the new Latin America narrative that captured the imagination of an international reading audience in the 1960s,1970s, and beyond. We will read primary texts by majors authors of the "Boom" such as Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, Gabriel García Márquez, Manuel Puig, and Mario Vargas Llosa, as well as relevant critical essays that will help contextualize the editorial and critical success of these writers. This course begins with Borges's seminal works as precursors to the "new" narrative of the "Boom" writers who transform the previous models of narrative into playful and self-conscious discursive expressions which was considered "revolutionary" writing. We will pay particular attention to oppositional models such as novela primitiva and novela de creación which relate contemporary Latin America literature. Tentative Primary Readings: Borges, Jorge Luis. Ficciones; Cortázar, Julio. Rayuela; García Márquez, Gabriel. Cien años de soledad; Fuentes, Carlos. La muerte de Artemio Cruz; Puig, Manuel. El beso de la mujer araña; Vargas Llosa, Mario. La ciudad y los perros. Tentative Secondary Readings: Donoso, José. Historia personal del boom; Fuentes, Carlos. La nueva novela hispanoamericana; Rama, Angel. La novela en América Latina: 1920-1980; Rodríguez Monegal, Emir. El boom de la novela latinoamericana and "A Revolutionary Writing"; Vargas Llosa, Mario. "Novela primitiva y novela de creación". Grading: Participation (20%), Bi-weekly Reports (30%), Midterm Essay (30%), Final Essay (30%). MWF 12-1, 130 Dennison. (Herrero-Olaizola)

Spanish 485, Section 003 - Mulatto Identities: Writing and Representation.
"Mulatez" has been an important discursive category for understanding social, cultural and political discourses in Latin America and the Caribbean. This course focuses on the analysis of "mulatto (a)" characters in Brazilian and Hispanic Caribbean literatures. In these works "mulatez" seen as cultural hybridity, creates new discursive links between racial, gender, sexual identi- ties and writing. The course will be taught in Spanish and will have a comparative perspective from other texts such as:ethnography, cinema and music. (Arroyo)

RC, Social Sciences 460. Social Science Senior Seminar. Senior standing. (4). Section 001 - Universal Law: European Theory and Regional Applications.
This course will examine closely theories about law developed in Europe from the late 18th to the 20th centuries and the application of these theories in different national settings. In the first part of the course, we will read texts by Rousseau, Montesquieu, Hegel, and other theorists and consider their implications for social change. The second part of the course focuses on the cases of Russian and Brazil, examining the efforts made by jurists to transform their societies through the law and the practice of legality by ordinary people. This section will highlight actual criminal trials, and students will have the opportunity to reenact these trials in class. The final part of the course is devoted to analysis of students' research on an issue in legal theory or practice in the nation of their choice. This section will culminate with a mini-conference on law and legal history featuring students' research and commentary. (Caulfield/Burbank)

Film-Video 441. National Cinemas. Section 003 - Latin/o Film Across the Americas: Currents and Crosscurrents. (3). Req: Film 360, laboratory fee ($50) required.
This course examines the concept of "national cinema" through an analysis of the relationship between Latin American and United States Latino cinema in both its Hollywood and independent modes. The class will re-examine the notion of film as a register of borders - cultural, economic, geographic, ethnic, and aesthetic - as well as look at distinctive features of cinemas of the Americas that strive for a national identity. TTh 11:30-1, 1020 Frieze; film, W 6-8 PM, 140 Lorch.

Academic Year in Santiago, Chile. Jointly sponsored with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the program enrolls students in the Universidad Catolica in Santiago. Students may elect courses from the full range of offerings at the Universidad. Because the seasons are reversed in Chile, the academic year begins in March and continues through December. Students may attend either term or for a full year. Competence in Spanish is essential; five terms of college-level Spanish or the equivalent are required. Application deadline: January 22, 1999.

Academic Year in Quito, Ecuador. Students from the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin at Madison enroll in classes at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica in Quito, choosing from among the full range of course offerings at that university. The academic year runs from October to June. Application deadline: January 22, 1999.

Comparative Andean Study. By choosing to spend the first semester in Quito, Ecuador, (October-January) and second semester in Santiago, Chile, (February-July) students may study in two Latin American countries and thus gain a comparative perspective on the national identities and cultures that have emerged since colonial times. Application deadline: January 22, 1999

CIC Summer Programs in Mexico and the Dominican Republic. These programs are sponsored by the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, a consortium of the Big Ten universities and the University of Chicago. The Mexico program offers intermediate and advanced level Spanish language, Latin American literature, and Spanish-American history and culture at the University of Guanajuato; instruction is in Spanish. The new Dominican Republic programs focus on health and nutrition in Latin America, and on Hispanic Caribbean societies and cultures. Apply to the Office of International Programs. Application deadlines ­ Mexico: March 5, 1999; Dominican Republic: April 5, 1999.

Study Abroad Sponsored by Other Educational Institutions. Students may also participate in study abroad programs administered by other colleges and universities. Transfer credit for study abroad is granted only if the program is sponsored by and appears on a transcript furnished by a fully accredited institution of higher learning. Courses for which transfer credit is given must be in the liberal arts and sciences and must not duplicate courses for which credit has already been received; students must have earned a "C" or better in these courses. Students contemplating study abroad sponsored by groups other than colleges and universities should consult in advance the Office of Undergraduate Admissions if transfer credit is desired. Students planning to study abroad in any program not sponsored by the University of Michigan must complete a Statement of Intent to Study Abroad, obtainable from the Office of International Programs, G513 Michigan Union.

Other courses of interest

The following courses do not satisfy requirements for the LACS major, either because they are below the 300 level or because they do not deal primarily with Latin American and the Caribbean, but they may be of interest to many LACS students.

Am. Cult. 410.001. Hispanics in the United States - Women in Prison: Gender and Crime Among Blacks and Latinas. (José-Kampfner)

Linguistics 342. Perspectives on Bilingualism. (Satterfield)

RC, Social Science 250. Ecology, Development, and Conservation in Latin America. (Picone)

Spanish 232. Second-Year Spanish, Continued. Several sections, including:

006 - Literatura fantástica. (Boys)

007 - Spanish through Dramatic Performance. (Highfill)

009 - Historietas para leer la Historia/ Comic Books to Read History. (Chavez)

010 - A Film Tour through the Spanish-speaking World. (García-Alvite)

013 - The Blending of Spanish and Native Cultures in Peru and Mexico. (Frisancho)

021 - Images of U.S. Latinos in Film. (Cashman)

026 - Hispanic Culture through Community Service. (Figueras)

Spanish 305. Spanish for Business and the Professions.