Courses
Latin American Sponsored Courses at St. George Campus
**Please consult the Arts and Science Course Calendar, Latin American Studies Program section, to see all the courses which are eligible towards an LAS Major or Minor degree. The courses listed below are in addition to those offered in the A&S course calendar. Not all courses listed are offered by the departments in all years. Please consult the department offering a course to see if it is being offered this year.
NEW JOINT COURSE WITH NEW COLLEGE
JQR360H1
The Canadian Census: Populations, Migrations and Demographics (24L/12T)
Examines the Canadian population census through the experience of diasporic groups in Canada. Approaches the census as a statistical tool, an historical source, and an ideological project of citizenship and nationalism. Uses census data to explore mathematical and statistical qualitataive analysis.
Jointly sponsored by Afircan Studies, Diaspora and Transnational Studies, Caribbean Studies, Equipty Studies, and Latin American Studies.
Prerequisite: NEW150Y1/224Y1/240Y1
Latin American Studies, St. George Campus
LAS200Y1: Latin American History, Civilization and Culture
The multi-disciplinary introductory course to Latin American Studies. We explore the development of societies in the Latin American region from its pre-Columbian past to its heterogeneous present. Cultural, geographical, historical, literary, political and social topics will be examined combining traditional historical narratives and supporting documents with art, cinema, music and other texts from popular culture and mass media. It provides both a broad foundation, and an invitation to delve deeper in further courses and in different disciplinary concentrations.
Exclusion: IAS200Y1
This is a Humanities or Social Science course.
Taught in English
LAS300H1S: Topics in the Social Sciences (A Global Perspective on Democracy and Human Rights in Latin America
The course focuses on the current state of democracy in the region, through a global political economy and historical perspective of some selected country cases.
Prerequisite: IAS200Y1/LAS200Y1
LAS301H1F: Topics in the Humanities (The Postcolonial Imaginary in Latin America)
Prerequisite: IAS200Y1/LAS200Y1
Latin American Studies, and Caribbean Studies at New College, St. George
NEW327H1/LAS302H: The Hispanic Caribbean
Recommended preparation:
LAS200Y1/NEW224Y1
LAS410H1: Independent Studies
Requires the approval of a supervising professor and the LAS Program Director.
Latin American Studies Credit Eligible Courses at St. George
Anthropology, St. George
Valentina Napolitano Quayson
ANT340H1F: Anthropology of Latin America
Provides a framework for understanding current anthropological issues in the different geo-political regions of Latin America. Special attention to the debate about the “resurgence” of area studies.
Prerequisite: ANT204Y1
Edward Swenson
ANT407H1F: Inka and Aztec States
This course provides a comparative study of the emergence, organization, and transformation of the two historically-documented states of the native Americas: the Inka and the Aztec. Students will have the opportunity to analyze ethnohistorical and archaeological data in order to critically evaluate models of the pre-industrial “state” while gauging the anthropological significance of either convergence or particularity in the historical development of centralized political formations.
Prerequisite: ANT200Y1, ARH305H1
Caribbean Studies, St. George
NEW223Y1: Caribbean Literature and Society
A study of Caribbean writers of fiction, poetry and drama, drawn from the major linguistic and racial/cultural groups in the region. Works are analyzed as literary texts and within the contexts of social and political life in which the writing is situated.
A. Trotz
NEW324Y1: Caribbean Thought II
Critical enquiry at an advanced level into the construction of society, race, language, religion, culture and gender; theories of economy, resistance, self-affirmation, continuing colonization and place of the Caribbean within the global context; internal and external theoretical perspectives on “the Caribbean personality.”
Prerequisite: NEW224Y1
Geography, St. George
Sharon Cowling
GGR101H1F: Ancient Civilizations and their Environments
This course focuses on the rise and fall of ancient civilizations (i.e. Mesopotamia, China, India, Inca, Aztec) within the context of (1) environmental barriers encountered during the development of city-states, (2) the technology advancement made to overcome physical and climate barriers, and (3) the ways in which natural resources were exploited by ancient cultures.
This is a Science course.
Matthew Farish
GGR240H1F: Historical Geography of the Americas
GGR249H1
An introduction to the historical geography of North America from the pre-Columbian period to the present. Topics include European imperialism, staple economies, colonial settlement, railroads and the West, industrialization and urbanization, sovereignty and security, environmental and agricultural change, and regional identities.
Terrence Lee
GGR249H – CONTEMPORARY LATIN AMERICA
This course explores the geographical bases of contemporary patterns of social and
economic development in Latin America. Despite its importance as the oldest centre of Western Culture outside Europe and the fact that Latin America shares the Western Hemisphere with us, Canadians know very little about it, consequently, biases and stereotypes often influence perception of the region.There is a tendency to over generalize about the poverty, backwardness, and authoritarianism, and to romanticze Latin American culture. The countries of the region have many achievements to their credit, including internationally competitive agriculture, mining and manufacturing industry, innovative architecture and urban design and successful social programs.The countries of Latin America share a significant common cultural heritage and historical experience, but today they are, today, highly diverse in their populations economic structure and levels of economic development.
GGR 249 is designed for students with a general interest in Latin America, but also provides, within the context of the Latin American experience, an opportunity for students to consider wider questions of economic, urban and population geography.
History, St. George
P. Blanchard
HIS291Y1Y: Latin America: The Colonial Period
This course introduces the early period of Latin American history, following it from the heights of the last Amerindian civilizations (the Maya, Aztecs and Incas), through the years of Iberian consolidation and expansion, to the emergence of colonial societies, ending with the independence struggles of the early nineteenth century. While examining the central institutions that secured Spanish and Portuguese domination of the region, we shall also explore the ways in which these institutions were transformed in their new settings. Other emphases include the political administration and economic underpinnings of the respective colonial systems, religious and cultural interaction within multi-ethnic societies and the formation of “American “ identities that proved vital in expressions of discontent and rebellion.
M. Newton
HIS 294Y1-Y Caribbean History and Culture: Indigenous Era to 1886
This course is an exploration of changes in the structure of Caribbean society from earliest human settlement to the final abolition of slavery in 1886. It examines the indigenous Caribbean, the conquest of the Caribbean in the 15th-18th centuries, the emergence of plantation societies, the impact of slavery and patterns of resistance and revolt and the process of emancipation and post-emancipation development.
M. Newton
HIS 359H1: Regional Politics and Radical Movements in the 20th Century Caribbean
This course examines the politics and problems of nationalism and national identity in the 20th century Caribbean. Themes to be covered include the role of the United States in Caribbean politics; Haitian-Dominican relations; the Cuban Revolution; decolonisation in the British Caribbean; continuing colonialism in the French Caribbean; the problems of ‘development’ and ‘industrialization’ and the socialist and Black Power movements.
Recommended Preparation: HIS294Y
P. Blanchard
HIS 390Y1: Latin America in the Age of Revolution
This course is a study of revolutionary development that affected Latin America and Latin Americans between 1750 and 1850. Covering many of the political, economic, intellectual, and cultural aspects of the period, it will pay particular attention to the social factors in order to understand how different sectors of the population responded to the changes of the era. It will discuss the ideas of the 18th-century Enlightenment and the resulting reforms in Spanish America and Brazil, as well as the American, French, and Haitian revolutions as precursors to the Latin American independence struggles. The wars of independence of the early nineteenth century constitute a major focus of the course, with an examination of the differing routes to separation and the relevance of the earlier revolutionary ideas and models to the outcome of the wars. The post-independence situation will then be examined in order to see to what extent the independence struggles had, in fact, produced “revolutionary” changes.
Recommended Preparation: HIS291Y1/292Y1/294Y1/LAS200Y1/GGR240Y1
Prerequisites: two HIS courses
K. Mills
HIS 441H1-F Conversion & Christianities in the Early Modern Spanish World
(Joint undergraduate/graduate course HIS441H1/1709H)
This seminar investigates religious conversion and the ways in which human allegiances and identities emerge and change in colonial settings. Our readings and discussions will concentrate on the Spanish world between about the fifteenth and the eighteenth centuries. Principal settings will include the late medieval Spanish kingdoms, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, and the Philippines archipelago. A few of our meetings will range even more broadly in the hope of awakening you to the wider historical frames in which our theme and period rest, and in search of interdisciplinary thinking tools for students of religious and cultural change. Primary sources translated into English will inform discussions and secondary readings whenever possible, and visual images will also be considered. There will be one seminar each week in the Fall semester.
Recommended Preparation: HIS106Y1 or 291Y1 may be useful.
Political Science, St. George
POL305Y1Y: Politics and Society in Latin America
The colonial heritage, the failure of nation-states to develop as integrated and autonomous power structures, dependent capitalism and political order, contrasting types of domination, rigid monopolization and the flexible use of the state by the ruling sectors, national revolution and the socialist alternative.
Prerequisite: A course in POL
Portuguese, St. George
Manuela Marujo
PRT100Y1Y: Beginners Portuguese
An introduction to the main elements of the language with emphasis on oral and written practice. (May not be taken by students who, in the judgement of the Department, qualify for entry into PRT110Y1)
Exclusion: OAC Portuguese or equivalent
Jose Pedro Ferreira
PRT110Y1Y: Elementary Portuguese
An introduction to Portuguese for students who speak or understand Portuguese but have not formally studied it. (May not be taken by students who, in the judgement of the Department, qualify for entry into PRT220Y1)
Exclusion: OAC Portuguese or equivalent
Prerequisite: A familiarity with Portuguese
Jose Pedro Ferreira
PRY220Y1Y: Intermediate Portuguese
Students enlarge their vocabulary and improve their oral and writing skills through reading, composition and translation.
Prerequisite: OAC Portuguese or equivalent/PRT100Y1/PRT110Y1
R. Sternberg
PRT255H1: The Brazilian Puzzle: Culture and Identity
Taught in English, this course examines the historical and cultural contexts of Brazilian identity. The impact of colonial history on issues such as race, religion and regionalism is explored. The course focuses on the 19th and 20th Centuries: Positivism, Modernism, the Anthropophagous Movement, music and Cinema Novo are discussed. (Offered in alternate years)
J. Blackmore
PRT258H1F: Introduction to Luso-Brazilian Literature
The introductory study of literary texts and consideration of the various ways authors express and situate themselves in culture. Semiotics, gender, the literary canon, advertising, the nature of literary language, and cinema.
Exclusion: PRT258Y1
Co-requisite: PRT220Y1
M. Marujo
PRT320Y1: Composition and Oral Practice
Intensive practice in written and oral Portuguese for the advanced student. Reading and discussion of contemporary literature.
Prerequisite: PRT220Y1
R. Sternberg
PRT342H1S: Machado de Assis: The Creation of the Modern Self (formerly PRT455Y1)
Beginning with Memorias Postumas de Bras Cubas, Machado de Assis developed the art of creating characters who prefigure the 20th century self: contradictory, often delusional. His novels destroy whatever certainties the late 19th century offered. The course examines the transformation of Machado through readings of his novels. (Taught in English)
Exclusion: PRT455Y1
J. Blackmore
PRT351H1F: Discovery and Conquest: Literature and Nationhood (formerly PRT351Y1)
A study of the driving ideologies behind the “Age of Discoveries.” Close scrutiny of key texts reveals how the ideas of displacement, sex, violence, gender, and colonization play crucial roles in the establishment and maintenance of nationhood and nationality in Renaissance Portugal. (Offered in alternate years)
Exclusion: PRT351Y1
Prerequisite: PRT210Y1/PRT220Y1, PRT258H1
R. Sternberg
PRT357H1S: Modern and Contemporary Brazilian Literature (formerly PRT457Y1)
Focus on modern and contemporary Brazilian literature and its social contexts, and examination of the relationship between literary movements and Brazilian cinema, music and art. (Offered in alternate years)
Exclusion: PRT457Y1
Prerequisite: PRT220Y1, PRT258H1
J. Blackmore
PRT358H1S: Transatlantic Africa and Brazil
An exploration of the immense transatlantic enterprise of Portugal from medieval to early modern times. We will think about how Africa and Brazil entered into the European historical and imaginative consciousness and the kinds of writings produced by encounters with the strange, monstrous, marvellous, and historical dimensions of these vast lands. The course will include study of how Africa and Brazil were shaped as places and spaces of the familiar and the unknown, as well as how Portuguese writers and voyagers incorporated them into the imperial enterprise. Monsters, cannibals, the legendary Prester John, the beginnings of the Atlantic slave trade, and the search for paradise on earth are all topics to be covered. Course readings will be available in English and Portuguese, although no previous knowledge of Portuguese is required. All class discussions and evaluative exercises will be in English.
Prerequisite: PRT220Y1, PRT258H1
Spanish, St. George
Manuel Ramírez
SPA100Y1Y: Spanish for Beginners
Introduction to the Spanish language for beginning students; overview of basic grammatical structures, development of vocabulary and oral and written expression.
Exclusion: OAC/Grade 12 U Spanish or equivalent knowledge of Spanish
Manuel Ramírez, Stephen Rupp
Spanish and Portuguese, St. George
SPA220Y1Y: Intermediate Spanish
Intermediate Spanish for non-natives. Intensive grammar review of the structures of Spanish integrated with an introduction to reading authentic Spanish material, with practice designed to build vocabulary and to improve oral and written expression.
Exclusion:SPA319Y1
Prerequisite: OAC/Grade 12 U Spanish/SPA100Y1
SPA258H1F: Introduction to Hispanic Cultural Studies
Introduction to university literary studies in Spanish. Critical terminology and methods. Representative selections of modern Spanish and Spanish American prose, poetry, and drama. (Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: OAC/Grade 12 U Spanish/SPA100Y1
Co-requisite: SPA220Y1/SPA319Y1
SPA259H1
Introduction to Hispanic Cultural Studies
Forms of cultural expression in Spain, Latin America and Spanish-speaking North America, with study of representative media, including literature, journalism, film, visual art, and the urban environment. Introduction to methods of cultural analysis. (Offered in alternate years).
Prerequisite: SPA100Y1
Co-requisite: SPA220Y1/SPA319Y1
SPA319Y1: Spanish for Bilingual and Native Speakers
Survey of the mechanics of writing and basic grammar for fluent speakers of Spanish with limited or no exposure to written Spanish; English/Spanish spelling differences, written and spoken registers of Spanish, basic aspects of the grammatical system.
Exclusion: SPA100Y1, SPA220Y1, SPA320Y1
Y. Iglesias, R. Sarabia, Cuervo
SPA320Y1: Advanced Spanish
Advanced Spanish for non-natives. Selective review of grammar with emphasis on the complex sentence; intensive practice in written and oral expression to improve proficiency.
Exclusion: SPA319Y1
Prerequisite: SPA220Y1
Eva-Lynn Jagoe
SPA 375 Latin American Cinema
This course will examine the cinematic output of two of the most prolific film-making nations in Latin America: Argentina and Mexico. The film industries in each of these countries have been active since the beginning of the twentieth century and though they have struggled to compete with the economic power of Hollywood they have survived and continue to generate their versions of film and national culture. In this course we will examine the historical, political, geographic and social forces that create the conditions of possibility for those themes. Our attention will be focused on cinematic aesthetics of particular periods (silent film, the Mexican Golden Age, Third Cinema, New Cinema) and their relationship to local and international forms. Although this can only be considered a brief introduction to a rich corpus of works, the films have been chosen to represent a range of national sources of production and provide an opportunity to encounter the principal critical and theoretical ideas that have informed our understanding of these flourishing film cultures.
Eva-Lynn Jagoe
SPA381H1S: Nation, Identity and Literary Modernism in Spanish-America
Analysis of poetry, short stories, essays, and graphic art in the context of nation-building and the question of identity during the nineteenth century. Modernismo studied as the first literary movement of Spanish American origin. (Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA220Y1/SPA319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA258H1
R. Sarabia
SPA384H1F: Avant-Garde Movements in Spanish America
Study through representative works of major artistic and literary movements in 20th and 21st century Spanish America: avant-garde poetry, theatre of the absurd, surrealist art, neo-realism, postmodernism. (Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA220Y1/SPA319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA258H1
SPA387H0
Contemporary Mexican Literature
Social change and literary innovation in Mexican literature since THE 1950s; analysis of selections from Agustín, Juan Rulfo, Carlos Fuentes, Fernando del Paso, Octavio Paz, Laura Esquivel, and others. (Offered only in Guadalajara)
Prerequisite: SPA220H1/SPA319Y1 and Placement Examination for the Guadalajara Program
L. Colantoni
SPA422H1S: Sociolinguistics of Spanish
Study of linguistic variation across the Spanish-speaking world; central issues in phonological, morphological, and syntactic variation, analyzed from a geographical as well as from a social point of view. (Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA321H1, SPA420H1 or permission of the department
Recommended preparation: SPA322H1
SPA467H1F: Topics in Spanish-American Culture
A course on a specific topic in Spanish American culture, designed for advanced students. Course content and instructor are established on a yearly basis.
Prerequisite: SPA220Y1/SPA319Y1
M. Ramirez-Salazar
SPA471H1S: The Historical Novel in Spanish America
Issues of nationalism, historical awareness, and the rewriting of the past in Spanish American fiction, with detailed study of representative texts. (Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA220Y1/SPA319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA258H1
Courses at UTM Eligible for Latin American Studies Credit
R. Ward
History, UTM
HIS290H5F: Introduction to Latin American History
NE292
An introduction to the history of Latin America from pre-conquest indigenous empires to the end of the 20th century.
Exclusion: HIS290Y5, 292Y1
Recommended Preparation: HIS101H5, 102Y5
R. Ward
History, UTM
HIS345H5: Popular Culture in Latin America (HUM)
SE 2068
Examines popular culture and its relation to broader economic, social and political processes in modern Latin America. Analyzes the way that cultural forms - such as religious practice and belief; dance and sport; music and folklore; urban and rural fiestas; cinema and television - have shaped and been shaped by the evolution of the region since Independence. [24L]
Recommended Preparation: HIS290H5
R. Ward
History, UTM
HIS390H5F: Revolutions and Nations in Latin America
NE 297
Examines social revolutions in Guatemala, Bolivia, Cuba and Nicaragua. It emphasizes the historical linkages between these revolutions and national identity, and stresses the roles of gender, race and the United States in revolutionary processes. This course considers as well the counterrevolutionary politics of the 1970s and 1980s in Central America and the Southern cone.
Recommended Preparation: A course in Latin-American history or politics.
Courses at UTSC Eligible for Latin American Studies Credit
Tamara Al-Kasey
Languages and Linguistics, Humanities; UTSC
LGGA30H3 Introductory Spanish I
An elementary course for students with no knowledge of Spanish. The course develops listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills through culturally-based materials. Oral and written materials are enhanced by audio-visual and computer-based activities.
Limited enrolment: 30
Exclusion: Grade 12 Spanish, SPA100Y, native or near-native proficiency in Spanish. The instructor has the authority to exclude students whose level of proficiency is unsuitable for the course.
Tamara Al-Kasey
Languages and Linguistics, Humanities; UTSC
LGGA31H3: Introductory Spanish II
A continuation of LGGA30H.
Exclusion: Grade 12 Spanish, SPA100Y, native or near-native proficiency in Spanish. The instructor has the authority to exclude students whose level of proficiency is unsuitable for the course, including those students who meet the prerequisite.
Prerequisite: LGGA30H or permission of instructor
Tamara Al-Kasey
LGGB32H3 Intermediate Spanish I
This course reviews Spanish usage and grammar and builds proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. There is a strong focus on the study of culture and the development of cross-cultural analysis.
Exclusion: SPA220Y, native or near-native proficiency in Spanish. The instructor has the authority to exclude students whose level of proficiency is unsuitable for the course, including those students who meet the prerequisite.
Prerequisite: LGGA31H or permission of instructor
Tamara Al-Kasey
Languages and Linguistics, Humanities; UTSC
LGGB33H3 Intermediate Spanish II
A continuation of LGGB32H3.
Exclusion: SPA220Y, native or near-native proficiency in Spanish
Prerequisite: LGGB32H.
Spanish/English
Isolde Dyson
Languages and Linguistics, Humanities; UTSC
LGGC30H3 Advanced Spanish: Language, Culture and Literature
MW 264
Focus is on advanced language skills through study of literature and arts in Spain and the Americas within their cultural context. The course includes literary and non-literary texts and other media, with advanced grammar review, composition and conversation.
Exclusion: SPA320Y, native or near-native proficiency in Spanish.
Prerequisite: LGGB33H.
Spanish
R. Rice
Political Science, UTSC
POLC90H3 Development Studies: Political and Historical Perspectives
SW 209
This course provides students with a more advanced examination of issues in development studies, including some of the mainstream theoretical approaches to development studies and a critical examination of development practice in historical perspective. Seminar format.
Prerequisite: POLB90H & POLB91H
J. Teichman
Political Science, UTSC
POLC91H3F: Latin America: Dictatorship and Democracy
SW 143
This course explores the origins of Latin America's cycles of brutal dictatorship and democratic rule. It examines critically the assumption that Latin American countries have made the transition to democratic government.
Exclusion: (POLC98Y), POL305Y
Prerequisite: [POLB90H & POLB91H] or (POLB91Y) or equivalent
J. Teichman
Political Science, UTSC
POLC94H3: Globalization, Gender and Development
BV 355
This course explores the gendered impact of economic Globalization and the various forms of resistance and mobilization that women of the global south have engaged in their efforts to cope with that impact. The course pays particular attention to regional contextual differences (Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East) and to the perspectives of global south women, both academic and activist, on major development issues.
Prerequisite: POLB90H
R. Rice
Political Science, UTSC
POLC99H3: Latin America: The Politics of the Dispossessed
SW 309
This course explores the way the poor and oppressed have organized and fought for their rights. Special attention is given to the way in which globalization has affected popular organizing, including its impact on insurgent movements such as the Zapatistas.
Exclusion: POL305Y
Prerequisite: [POLB90H & POLB91H] or equivalent
Courses eligible at University of Toronto Mississauga
L.F. Schwartzman
Dept. of Sociology, UTM
SOC332: Race and Ethnicity 1
Prerequisite: Introduction to Sociology
Focusing on issues of race in Brazil.
