Courses
and syllabi
Current class schedules and course information are listed in the Schedule
of Classes. You can find additional useful information in the
official BU Course Guide,
and in BU's Online Bulletin.
Unless otherwise noted, all undergraduate courses carry four credits
and are offered every year.
Courses by level
>100 Level
>200 Level
>300 Level
>400 Level
LA&C 105: Introduction
to Latin American Studies
Explore the history, culture and current issues of Latin American
and the Caribbean.
LA&C 106: Latinos in the United States
Explores the history, cultures and current condition of Chicanos,
Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, Cubans and other in the United States. >View Syllabus
LA&C 115: (also SOC 115). Social Change: Race and Class
Explores the complex interplay between race and class. Focuses on
issues of race (including the way it has been defined), ethnicity,
class structures and class stratification, and communities.
LA&C 180 A-Z: Special Topics in LACAS
May be repeated for credit if different topic is offered.
LA&C 182 A-Z: Special Topics in Latin American History
Intensive study of particular themes and problems in Latin American
history, determined in advance. May be repeated for credit if different
topic is offered.
LA&C 226 (also ANTH226, WOMN 226): Women in Latin America
Examines women’s changing roles in various social formations,
using case studies from pre-Columbian, colonial, post-revolutionary
and contemporary Latin America to examine how the variables of class,
gender, race and ethnicity affect women’s status.
LA&C 240 (also SOC 240): Women of Color in the U.S.
Examination of the diverse struggles (political, economic, social,
legal, etc.) of Asian, Native American, African American and Latina/Chicana
women in the U.S. and the ways in which public institutions and agencies
(federal, state, local) deal with women of color.
LA&C 252 (also SOC 252): Social Change in Puerto Rico
LA&C 255 (also ANTH 255): Indigenous Peoples of Tropical Lowland
South America
Indigenous peoples and cultures in lowland areas of the South American
neo-tropics. Emphasizes important features shared by indigenous inhabitants
throughout the area, as well as distinctive regional differences.
Topics explored include indigenous language, demography, religion,
subsistence, kinship, warfare, trade, and the many internal and external
threats that have historically affected indigenous reality and self-determination
today.
LA&C 271: Library Research on
Latin America and the Caribbean
Resources and information skills primarily associated with electronic
forms of information for research and study of Latin America, the
Caribbean and Latinos. The Internet is introduced through demonstrations
and hands-on exercises. Assignments focus on historical and contemporary
issues. >View syllabus
LA&C 280 (A-Z): Special Topics in LACAS
May be repeated for credit if different topic is offered.
LA&C 280T: The Modern Caribbean
A broad, interdisciplinary and socio-historical introduction to the
Caribbean, beginning with the Haitian Revolution at the end of the
18th century and ending with the trends and changes emerging during
the 1990s. Several themes are covered, including empire and the making
of the Caribbean; slavery and emancipation; labor formation and race;
nationalist movements, colonialism, and neocolonialism; revolution
and resistance; gender oppression and women’s experiences; and
cultural expressions.
LA&C 281 (A-Z): Special Topics in LACAS 2cr.
May be repeated for credit if different topic is offered.
LA&C 282 (A-Z); also HIST 282 (A-Z): Special Topics in Latin American
History
Intensive study of particular themes and problems in Latin American
history, determined in advance. May be repeated for credit if different
topic is offered.
LA&C 313 (also SOC
313): Slavery, Race, Culture
Sociological analysis of slavery as process of social and cultural
change and of redefinition of social groups within the world economy.
Draws on materials from United States, the Caribbean and Brazil. Different
experiences of slavery, impact on populations of African origin, response
of these populations to slavery. Methodological and theoretical problems
entailed in analyzing slavery.
LA&C 321 (also SOC 321): Race and Cultural Relations in the World
Community
Historic identity as important factor in social development in multiethnic
and multiracial world community. Selected communities from Africa,
Asia and Europe.
LA&C 328 (also SOC 328): Comparative Social Development
Origins and development strategies of regimes in various zones or
regions of the world. Social composition of regimes; changes in social
base that accompany shifts in development policies. Consideration
of costs/benefits that accrue to different classes.
LA&C 330 (also SOC 330): Latin American Women and their Communities
Examination of the political, social and economic role of women in
their communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. Emphasis placed
on post-World War II developments.
LA&C 340 (also SOC 340, WOMN 340): Women and Criminal Justice
Studies the causes for which women are arrested and incarcerated in
local jails, state and federal institutions, immigration facilities,
concentration camps and juvenile detention centers. Also examines
the types of offenses for which women are arrested, the punishment
they receive and the treatment they face once institutionalized. Attention
is given to how women respond to the conditions of incarceration.
LA&C 342 (also HDEV 340): Multiculturalism
Exploration of possible meanings of pluralism in the U.S. histories
of racial formation (including construction of whiteness) material
erasure and subordination, and cultural domination that have shaped
contemporary social fabric. Distinction between structural and ornamental
pluralism; relation between monoculturalism and culturalism domination.
Creation, recognition, promotion of multicultural public spaces; complex
unity; complex communication; possibility of a heterogeneous critical
citizenship.
LA&C 344 (also SPAN 344): Introduction to Hispanic Literature:
Literary Analysis
Analysis of representative works of Peninsular and Latin American
literature (poems, plays, essays, narratives), emphasis on study of
basic literary concepts and terminology. Recommended for students
planning to take SPAN 360 and or 370. Prerequisites: SPAN 215 or equivalent.
LA&C 352 (also HDEV 352): Gender, Power and Difference
Examination of how construct of difference raises important questions
about problems faced by most women of color in general versus historically
existent feminism, both as a political movement and as an academic
current. Multiple ways of theorizing women’s rights and struggles;
ideological differences among feminists and women’s rights advocates.
Focus on issues of race, gender, sexuality and culture within context
of reproduction, the family, reproductive rights, feminization of
poverty, social services, academic disciplines, language, discourse. >View Syllabus
LA&C 363 (also ANTH 363): Anthropology of Developing Nations
Social, political and economic change in the Third World. Articulation
of rural production systems with world market. Analysis of rural and
urban development, famine, population, poverty, inequality and powerlessness.
Economic and environmental impacts of United Nations, World Bank and
other development organizations.
LA&C 370 (also SPAN 370): Survey of Latin American Literature
Selected readings reflecting historical developments of Latin American
literature from colonial to contemporary period. Prerequisites: SPAN
244, 250 or 251, or equivalent.
LA&C 371 (also SOC 371): Theories of Social Change
LA&C 372 (also SPAN 370): Survey of Latin American Literature
Selected readings reflecting historical developments of Latin American
literature from colonial to contemporary period. Prerequisites: SPAN
244, 250 or 251, or equivalent.
LA&C 380 A-Z: Special Topics in LACAS
May be repeated for credit if different topic is offered.
LA&C 380H (also HDEV 364, SOC 380M): Women, Race and Representation
Exploration of two overlapping questions: How women are individually
and collectively situated and how they shift within existing social
frameworks, and the ways in which these changing positions are represented
within contemporary U.S. visual media. Cultural conflicts, patterns
of groups and personal development, small and large-scale political
agency, social and textual contradictions, ideological symbols. Examination
of ways in which representations of women have been understood in
terms of race and in terms of how this racialization has intersected
social class and sexuality within dominant U.S. cultural theories
by women and men of all races.
LA&C 380K (SOC-362, AFST-382F) Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban US Migration
This course will study the interconnections between “ethno” - ”race,” “[social] class,” and “national” identities in terms of the large-scale processes that have affected Puerto Ricans, Dominicans, and Cubans and produced changing and conflicting definitions of Puerto Rican-ness, Dominican-ness, and Cuban-ness—and changes and conflicts in how these various identities have been lived—since the late-19th century to the present. However, the course will mainly focus on the period from the 1940s-1950s to the present (for Puerto Ricans) and the 1960s-1970s to the present (for Cubans and Dominicans), as various waves of these populations have migrated to the U.S. in increasingly larger numbers. >View Syllabus
LA&C 382 (A-Z) also HIST 382 (A-Z): Special Topics in Latin American
History
Intensive study of particular themes and problems in Latin American
history, determined in advance. May be repeated for credit if different
topic is offered.
LA&C 474: Latin American
Short Story
Principal development from Independence to present. Prerequisites:
SPAN 244 and 370 or equivalent.
LA&C 477 (also SPAN 477): Literature of the Caribbean
Literary and historical developments of Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic
and Cuba in contemporary period. Prerequisites: SPAN 370 or equivalent.
LA&C 481 (also SPAN 481): Special Topics in Spanish Literature
Study of writer or movement not otherwise available at upper-division
level. Subjects to be determined. Prerequisites: SPAN 360 or equivalent.
May be repeated if different topic is offered.
LA&C 482 (A-Z) also HIST 482 (A-Z): Senior Seminar in Latin American
History
Primarily for history majors and minors, dealing with particular themes
or problems in Latin American history. Research paper required. May
be repeated for credit if different topic is offered. Prerequisites:
junior or senior standing and a 100-level history course, or consent
of the instructor.
LA&C 483 (also SPAN 483): Special Topics in Latin American Literature
Significant period, literary movement or group of authors. Specific
subject to be determined. Prerequisites: SPAN 244 and 370, or equivalent.
May be repeated for credit.
LA&C 491: College Practicum
Independent study by assisting in a particular LACAS course. Course
instructor directs students in preparation of course materials, as
well as lecturing and/or leading discussions. May be repeated for
total of no more than eight credits. Credit may not be used in conjunction
with course in which student is currently enrolled. Does not satisfy
major or Harpur College Distribution requirements.
LA&C
496: Independent Field Research var. cr.
Off-campus independent field research. A faculty member must approve
in advance the proposed project. The student writes a proposal in
communication with on-site organization and a LACAS faculty member.
The work is written up as a senior thesis during the term after return
from the field, as a separate four-credit course (LA&C 498)
LA&C 498: Senior Thesis
The senior thesis, under the guidance of a member of the LACAS faculty,
is the conclusion of the field research. The student writes up and
provides the analytical framework for interpretation of the data gathered
in the field. Papers written for the course may be submitted for consideration
for honors on advice of the instructor.
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