Faculty coordinators:
Professor Peter Winn, History
Associate Professor Claudia Kaiser-Lenoir, Romance
languages
Latin America is increasingly important in the world and for the United States in particular. The study of our hemispheric neighbors, the area of origin of our country's second largest minority group, is important in itself, and also relevant for the understanding of larger international issues. Latin American studies is an interdisciplinary minor which encourages students to integrate the varying disciplinary perspectives of the arts, literature, social sciences, and history, along with study of the languages of the area, into a coherent view of Latin America.
Interdisciplinary Minor
There are three requirements for completing an interdisciplinary minor in Latin American studies.
l) Students should study one of the region's languages for three years (e.g., Spanish
22) or the equivalent. Normally, this language will be Spanish or Portuguese, but others
(e.g., Quechua) may be substituted with the approval of the coordinator.
2) Students must complete at least five credits in Latin American studies, which should
include at least one course from each of the three disciplinary areas: arts and
literature, social science, and history. Students may
count as many as two courses transferred from other institutions or used to satisfy
another concentration requirement toward the minor.
3) Students must complete a project that integrates at least two of the
three disciplinary areas of the minor (arts and literature, social science, and history). This
project may be a written work, a performance, or some other creative work for which the
student will receive one course credit. Normally, the project will emerge out of one of
the courses that the student takes for the minor and will be advised by the instructor of
that course. The student must also form a committee of at least two faculty members to
evaluate the project, normally the project's faculty adviser and a faculty member from the
other disciplinary area involved in the project. The format is flexible, but the content
must conform to these guidelines. Normally, a student will complete the project in the
final semester at Tufts. (See Interdisciplinary Minor Program for details.)
Approved Courses
The following courses have been approved for the Latin American studies
interdisciplinary minor. Each
semester an updated list of current Latin American studies courses is available
from the coordinator. Seminars and other courses on
the region may be offered from time to time and credited toward the minor. Students may also
petition the coordinator to credit courses not included in this list toward the minor.
Courses listed with an asterisk do not focus exclusively on Latin America. Students wishing to credit them toward the minor must be sure to focus their written work for the course on Latin America and to obtain written corroboration of that fact from the instructor. Only one such course can be credited toward the minor.
Arts and Literature
Art History 7 Introduction to Latin American Art
Art History 81/181 Twentieth-Century Mexican Art
Art History 83/183 Women in Latin American Art
French 46 Masterpieces of Caribbean Literature (in English)
Music 23 Spain, Portugal, and Latin America
Spanish 34 Survey of Latin American Literature from Preconquest through
Independence
Spanish 35 Survey of Latin American Literature from Modernism to the
Present
Spanish 50 Latin American Civilization (in English)
Spanish 91 Special Topics: Latin American literature or civilization (in English)
Spanish 101 Latin American Theatre
Spanish 102 Latin American Short Story
Spanish 103 Contemporary Latin American Novel
Spanish 104 Poetry in Spanish America
Spanish 105 The Dictator in the Latin American Novel
Spanish 106 Literature and Revolution: Mexico and Cuba
Spanish 107 Testimonial Literature of Latin America
Spanish 108 Latin American Women Writers
Spanish 150 Latin American Civilization
Spanish 156 Afro-Hispanic Literature
Spanish 191 Special Topics: Latin American literature or civilization
Social Sciences
Anthropology 115 Native Peoples of South America
*Anthropology 132 Myth, Ritual, and Symbol
*Anthropology 162 Anthropological Approaches to Art and Aesthetics
Anthropology 184 Festivals and Politics in Latin America
*Economics 136 Topics in Economic Development
Politics
*Political Science 21 Introduction to Comparative Politics
Political Science 127 Latin American Politics
Political Science 133 The Political Economy of Latin America
Political Science 134 Seminar: Democratization in Latin American
*Political Science 170 Seminar: International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
*Political Science 177 America and Democracy Abroad since 1898
History
History 75 Americas
History 77 Colonial Latin America
History 78 Modern Latin America
History 160 Revolution in Latin America: Mexico and Cuba
History 161 Revolution and Counterrevolution in Central and South America
History 186 Research Seminar in Latin American History
For more detailed information, please visit the website
http://ase.tufts.edu/latinocenter/LatAmStudies.html.
To view Course Descriptions, please go to: http://webcenter.studentservices.tufts.edu/courses/main.asp.