Courses

What follows are:

--Courses sponsored by LAS@UofT on UTSG
--Courses eligible for LAS credit at UTSG, by department
--Courses eligble for LAS credit at UTM, by department
--Courses eligible for LAS credit at UTSC, by department

* departmental websites are also given; please check them for updates on course offerings

UTSG

LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
http://www.utoronto.ca/las

LAS 200Y
Latin American History, Civilization and Culture
VICTOR RIVAS
An introductory course that studies 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. This course is open to students in at least their second year of undergraduate study. It provides both a broad foundation, and an invitation to delve deeper in further courses and in different disciplinary concentrations.
This is a Humanities or a Social Science course.

LAS 300HF
Latin America: Topics in the Social Sciences
(Latino/a Identity in Canada)
LORENA GAJARDO
This issue-oriented seminar explores the construction of Latina/o identity in Canada from an interdisciplinary perspective. We look to generate knowledge and understanding about: 1) the manner in which Latina/o diasporas have been constructed through historical and socio-political processes such as exile, migration, immigration, and the ways in which they are articulated within transnational processes of capital accumulation and the redefinitions of ‘authentic’ national subjecthood and, 2) the ways in which Latinidad emerges both within Latina/o communities and in relation to the Canadian nation and transnational realities. Prerequisite: IAS 200Y / LAS 200Y
This is a Social Science course.

LAS 301HS
Latin America: Topics in the Humanities
(Cultural Icons of Latin American History)
DAVID ROJINSKY
A critical assessment of a series of iconic figures from Latin American history between 1492 and the present. Emphasis is placed on the constantly shifting symbolic significance of these figures in popular culture, and the ways in which they have been mythologized or commodified both in and outside Latin America.
Prerequisite: IAS 200Y1 / LAS 200Y1
This is a Humanities course.

LAS 302H1S
Topics in Latin America: The Hispanic Caribbean
B. GARCIA
An advanced undergraduate seminar featuring in-depth exploration of specific themes in the study of Latin America and the Caribbean. This year's seminar examines the Hispanic Caribbean, and in particular Cuba's relevance and legacy from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. Its rendering in history, the arts, and literature will be studied through an interdisciplinary approach. (cross-list: NEW 327H1S)
Recommended preparation: LAS 200Y
This is a Humanities course.

ANTHROPOLOGY
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/anthropology/

ANT 340H
Anthropology of Latin America
VALENTINA NAPOLITANO QUAYSON
This course provides a framework for understanding current anthropological issues in the different geo-political regions of Latin America. Special attention will be paid to historical/conceptual development of the discipline in the region, and the course will introduce a debate about the death and “resurgence” of area studies as well as critical reflections on current ethnographic writings in the region.
Prerequisite: ANT 204Y

GEOGRAPHY
http://geog.utoronto.ca

GGR 240Y
Historical Geography of the Americas
JOCK GALLOWAY
An introduction to issues in the historical geography of the Americas emphasizing the comparisons between North and South. The course begins with the pre-Columbian Americas and the impact of European imperial expansion. It explores the emergence of cultural realms and the development of regional economies and societies into the 20th Century.
This is a Humanities course.

GGR249H
Contemporary Latin America
TBA
Conflict between the conservatism of long-established patterns of settlement and land use and the drive for economic development. Agricultural reform; colonization of the interior; studies of the problems of regional development. Latin America in world trade. Trade relations with Canada (Offered in alternate years)
This is a Social Science course.

HISTORY
http://chass.utoronto.ca/history

HIS 291Y
Latin America: The Colonial Period
PETER BLANCHARD
The evolution of Spanish and Portuguese America from pre-Columbian civilizations to the wars of independence.

HIS 292Y
Latin America: The National Period
PETER BLANCHARD
A survey of Latin American history from the wars of independence to the present day.

HIS 301Y
Imperial Spain
MARK MEYERSON
This course treats the political, social, and religious history of Spain and its empire ca. 1450 – 1714, including the history of colonial Latin America.
Recommended preparation: HIS 243H1

HIS 333Y
Revolution in 20th Century Latin America
PETER BLANCHARD
An examination of the impact of 20th Century Latin American revolutions on the lives of their participants.
Exclusion: HIS 333H1
Prerequisite: GGR 249H1 / HIS 292Y1/ IAS 200Y1 / POL 201Y1 / 305Y1

HIS 390Y
Latin American in the Age of Revolution
PETER BLANCHARD
This course examines how Latin America and Latin Americans responded to the American, French, Haitian, Latin American, and industrial revolutions of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Prerequisite: 2 HIS courses
Recommended preparation: HIS 291Y1 / 294Y1 / IAS 200Y1 / GGR 240Y1

HIS 402H
Indigenous Colonial Cultures in the Spanish and Portuguese Americas
KENNETH MILLS
Explores the changing worlds of native peoples in Latin America from the pre-Columbian period through to the late eighteenth century. Discussions focus upon the ways in which complex Indian cultures transformed and were forged in the colonial Spanish and Portuguese Americas through the interactions of Amerindians with others.
Recommended preparation: HIS 106Y1 / 291Y1 / 294Y1

HIS 441H
Conversion and Christianities in the Early Modern Spanish World
KENNETH MILLS
Investigates religious conversion and cultural change in the Spanish world ca. 1450 – 1750. Principal settings include the late medieval Spanish kingdoms, Mexico, Peru, Paraguay, and the Philippines archipelago. Primary sources translated into English will inform discussions and secondary readings whenever possible, and visual images will also be considered.
Recommended preparation: HIS 106Y or 291Y may be useful.

HIS 456Y
Black Slavery in Latin America
PETER BLANCHARD
An examination of black slavery in Latin America, with emphasis on the lives of the slaves, from the conquest of America to abolition in the 19th Century.
Prerequisite: HIS 291Y1 / 292Y1 / 294Y1 / 295Y1 / 394Y1 / 408Y1/ IAS 200Y1 / 320H1

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
http://www.trinity.utoronto.ca/Academics/Programs/IR/

TRN410
U.S.-Latin American Relations
WILLIAM WALKER
This course will examine major events in U.S.-Latin American relations from the late nineteenth century to the present. With a substantial Latin American component in required readings, it will look at political systems, cultural differences, patterns of U.S. imperialism and hegemony, and the prospects for inter-American reciprocity.
Recommended prerequisites: HIS344 or HIS377

POLITICAL SCIENCE
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/polsci/

POL 305Y
Politics and Society in Latin America
TBA
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

POL442HS
Post-Transition Politics in Latin America
ANA MARIA BEJARANO
This seminar explores the post-transition literature in Latin American politics in search for the emerging interpretive frameworks currently guiding scholarly work on the region. No longer preoccupied with the transition process, such literature is mostly concerned with the problems and challenges of democratic consolidation. The seminar focuses on the Andean region of Latin America. After considering each case on its own, the seminar proposes a comparative assessment of the challenges currently facing this sub region of the continent.
Exclusion: POL 442Y1
Prerequisite: POS 201Y1 / 305Y1; minimum 14 FCEs

SPANISH & PORTUGUESE
http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/spanish_portuguese

PRT 100Y
Beginners Portuguese
TBA
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 PRT 110Y1)
Exclusion: OAC Portuguese or equivalent.

PRT 110Y
Elementary Portuguese
TBA
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 PRT 220Y1)
Exclusion: OAC Portuguese or equivalent.
Prerequisite: A familiarity with Portuguese

PRT 220Y
Intermediate Portuguese
TBA
Students enlarge their vocabulary and improve their oral and writing skills through reading, composition and translation.
Prerequisite: OAC Portuguese or equivalent / PRT 100Y1 / 110Y1

PRT 255H
The Brazilian Puzzle: Culture and Identity
RICARDO STERNBERG
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).

PRT 258H
(formerly PRT 258Y1)
Introduction to Luso-Brazilian Studies
TBA
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: PRT 258Y1
Co-requisite: PRT 220Y1

PRT 355H
Topics in Brazilian Studies
TBA
In years when this course is offered, topics are described in the departmental brochure.
Prerequisite: PRT 258H1

PRT 357H
Modern and Contemporary Brazilian Literature (formerly PRT 457Y1)
TBA
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: PRT 457Y1
Prerequisite: PRT 220Y1, 258Y1

PRT 365H
The Rise of Modern Identity
TBA
Studies Portuguese and Brazilian Romanticism tracing the development of a new sense of personal and national identity in those countries as reflected in novels, poems and essays.
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: PRT 258H or permission of instructor

PRT 454Y
The Luso-Brazilian Novel
TBA
Fiction in Portugal and Brazil from the 19th Century to the present. Naturalism, realism, the experimental novels of the 1920s, the novel of social protest.
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: PRT 220Y1, 258Y1

PRT 455Y
(formerly PRT 356Y1)
Machado de Assis and Eça de Queiroz
RICARDO STERNBERG
The novel as a way of life. The growth and maturation of Machado and Eça as novel-/life-writers, from Eça’s critical examination of Portuguese society to Machado’s corrosive skepticism. The ongoing dialogue between the two authors evidences their philosophies of novelistic writing and reading.
(Offered in alternate years)
Exclusion: PRT 356Y1
Prerequisite: PRT 220Y1, 258Y1

PRT 458H1
The Luso-Brazilian Short Story
JOSIAH BLACKMORE
The development of the Luso-Brazilian short story. Examination of theories of the genre as they relate to short stories of Machado de Assis, Eça de Queiroz, Gracillano Ramos, João Guimareaes Rosa, Clarice Lipsector and Miguel Torga.
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: PRT 220Y1, 258Y1

SPA 100Y
Spanish for Beginners
TBA
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

SPA 220Y
Intermediate Spanish
TBA
ANA T. PÉREZ-LEROUX
DAVID ROJINSKY
SANDA MUNJIC
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: SPA 319Y1
Prerequisite: OAC / Grade 12 U Spanish / SPA 100Y1

SPA 259H
Introduction to Hispanic Cultural Studies
VICTOR RIVAS
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: SPA 100Y1
Co-requisite: SPA 220Y1/319Y1

SPA 375H
Latin American Cinema
TBA
Latin American cinema within the framework of cultural studies, film theory, and film criticism. Analysis of representative films from Argentina (Solanas, Puenzo), Brazil (Babenco, Camus, Salles), Cuba (Ichaso, Gutiérrez Alea, Solás), Mexico (Ripstein, Cuarón, González Iñárritu), and Venezuela (Román Chalbaud).
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA 220Y1 / SPA 319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA 258H1 / 259H1

SPA 380HF
Colonial Literatures and Cultures
DAVID ROJINSKY
Issues of gender, race, and identity in major texts from the colonial period, from the Conquest to the end of the eighteenth century.
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA 220Y1 / 319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA 258H1

SPA 381HF
Nation and Modernism in Spanish America
NÉSTOR RODRÍGUEZ
This course deals with the analysis of poetry, short stories, essays, and graphic art in the context of nation-building and the question of cultural identity in Latin America during the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Prerequisite: SPA 220Y1/ SPA319Y1
This is a Humanities course.

SPA 382H
Spanish American Women in Art, Film, and Literature
ROSA SARABIA
Study of different creative expressions by women in Spanish America from the colonial period to the present; analysis of selected works of visual art, film, essays, poetry, and fiction.
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA 220Y1 / 319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA 258H1

SPA 384H
Avant-Garde Movements in Spanish America
ROSA SARABIA
Study through representative works of major artistic literary movements in 20th and 21st century Spanish America: avant-garde poetry, theatre of the absurd, surrealist art, neo-realism, and postmodernism.
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA 220Y1 / 319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA 258H1

SPA 385H
Literature and Social Change in Spanish America
MANUEL RAMÍREZ
Modern literature in its critical relation to social conditions. Emphasis on socio-historical context, ideologies of the period and writers’ views of their social responsibility as a framework for literary analysis.
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA 220Y1 / 319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA 258H1

SPA 467H
Topics in Spanish-American Culture
TBA
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: SPA 220Y1 / SPA 319Y1

SPA 468H
Topics in Modern Spanish-American Literature
TBA
A course on a specific topic in Spanish American literature, designed for advanced students. Course content and instructor are established on a yearly basis.
Prerequisite: SPA 220Y1 / 319Y1

SPA 471H
The Historical Novel in Spanish America
DAVID ROJINSKY
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: SPA 220Y1 / 319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA 258H1

SPA 480H
Theories of Culture in Latin America
TBA
Theories of cultural identity and production, as articulated by Latin American thinkers since the Independence period. Issues for study will include civilization and barbarity, cultural imperialism, the commodification and consumption of cultural icons, museums, the mass media and national identity, processes of transculturation and cultural hybridity.
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA 220Y1 / 319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA 258H1 / 259H1

SPA 482H
20th Century Spanish American Narrative
TBA
Detailed study of the major movements in Spanish-American narrative, including magic realism, fantastic literature, women’s writing, and testimonial literature, though analysis of representative novels and short stories.
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA 220Y1 / 319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA 258H1

SPA 486H
Contemporary Caribbean Literatures and Identities
NÉSTOR RODRÍGUEZ
Literature studied as a socio-political space for the articulation of new concepts of culture identity; examination of cultural change and aesthetic innovation in selected poetic, dramatic and narrative texts from different national traditions (Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico).
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA 220Y1 / 319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA 258H1

SPA 487H
The Culture of Revolution
NÉSTOR RODRÍGUEZ
Detailed study of key moments and texts in Spanish American culture from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, focusing on such topics as the creation of new nations, indigenismo, Caribbean anti-slavery literature, and the Mexican and Cuban Revolutions.
(Offered in alternate years)
Prerequisite: SPA 220Y1 / 319Y1
Recommended preparation: SPA 258H1 / 259H1

UTM
HISTORICAL STUDIES
http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/historicalstudies

HIS 290H
Intro to Latin American History
DEREK WILLIAMS
This course offers an introduction to the history of Latin America from pre-conquest indigenous empires to the end of the 20th Century.

HIS 345H
Popular Culture in Latin America
DEREK WILLIAMS
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.
Recommended Preparation: A course in Latin-American history or politics.

HIS 390H
Revolutions and Nations in Latin America
DEREK WILLIAMS
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.

HIS 391H
Modern Mexico
DEREK WILLIAMS
This course will examine the origins and evolution of modern Mexico, from independence to present day. A crucial objective of the course will be to assess the multiple meanings of the "Revolution" (1910-1917) for understanding the economics, politics and cultures of contemporary Mexican society. Recommended Preparation: A course in Latin-American history or politics.

HIS 454H
Race, Gender and Nation in Modern Latin America
DEREK WILLIAMS
This seminar examines the interconnected histories of race, gender and nation in Latin America. It studies the significance of race/racism and gender/patriarchy in the construction of national societies in Latin America during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Subtopics include: slavery and Indian servitude; acculturation and eugenics; immigration and urbanization; machismo and marianismo; and current Indian and women's movements.
Recommended Preparation: A course in Latin-American history or politics.

HIS 490H
Religion and Society in Latin America
DEREK WILLIAMS
An interdisciplinary seminar that examines religion and its historical role in shaping culture, society, and politics in Latin America. It considers both formal-institutional practice of religion and informal and popular religiosities. A framing theme of the course is the complex relationship between Church and State - and more broadly, between religion and politics - in the region. It explores shifts in Latin American religiosity during the 19th and 20th centuries, including Liberation Theology and evangelism. While the primary focus is on Christianity, the seminar also considers the history of Jewish and Islamic faiths and the enduring relevance of indigenous and Afro-Latin American religious practices.
Recommended Preparation: A course in Latin-American history or politics

POLITICAL SCIENCE
http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/1740.0.html

POL 201Y
Politics of the Third World
ANA MARÍA BEJARANO
The course will introduce students to the analysis of Third World Politics from the standpoint of the dynamics of underdevelopment. It aims to make students acquainted with the interaction amongst contemporary political structures, ideologies and processes of socio-economic change that occur in the so-called Third World countries. Theories of underdevelopment; the historical roots of underdevelopment; development styles; militarization; political instability; revolutionary changes, and recurrent political processes are discussed by reflecting on the national histories and social structures of countries such as Brazil, Chile, Senegal, and "troubled areas" such as Southern Africa and Central America.
Prerequisite: 1.0 POL credit/4.0 credits

POL360H5F
State, Society and Regime Change in Latin America
ANA MARIA BEJARANO
This course is an introduction to the political history and contemporary politics of Latin America, as well as to some of the main theoretical approaches to understanding the region. The first half of the course emphasizes the historical setting: from independence, through the struggle to build nation-states during the 19th century. The second half of the semester is devoted to an examination of Latin America’s search for economic and political modernity in the 20th century: we will explore revolutionary paths in Mexico and Cuba, industrialization and populism in the Southern Cone, and finally, Latin America’s double transition to democracy and the market.

POL361H5S
After Regime Change: The Quality of Democracy in Latin America
ANA MARIA BEJARANO
This course explores the advances and setbacks of democracy in Latin America since the early 1980s. Emphasis is placed on identifying and evaluating the nature and sources of the most important challenges to democratic consolidation in the region. Topics to be covered include: socio-economic inequality; constitutional structure; parties, party systems, elections and political representation; the judiciary and the rule of law; and authoritarian legacies from the past.

UTSC
POLITICAL SCIENCE
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~socsci

POL B90H
Comparative Development in International Perspective
JUDITH TEICHMAN
This course examines the historical and current impact of the international order on the development prospects and politics of less developed countries. Topics include colonial conquest, multi-national investment, the debt crisis and globalization. The course focuses on the effects that these international factors have on domestic power structures, on the urban and rural poor, and on the environment.
Exclusion: POL B91Y, POL 201Y
Prerequisite: Any 4.0 FCEs

POL B91H
Comparative Development in Political Perspective
JUDITH TEICHMAN
This course examines the role of politics and the state in the processes of development in less developed countries. Topics include the role of the militaries and bureaucracies, the relationship between the state and the economy, and the role of religion and ethnicity in politics.
Exclusion: POL B91Y, POL 201Y
Prerequisite: Any 4.0 FCEs

POL C90H3
Development Studies: Political and Historical Perspectives
TBA
This course provides students with a more advanced examination of issues in development studies. The first section will examine some of the mainstream theoretical approaches to development studies and this will be followed by a critical examination of development practice in historical perspective. The course will be designed in seminar format.
Prerequisite: POL B90H & POL B91H or POL B91Y

POL C99H3
Latin America: The Politics of the Dispossessed
JUDITH TEICHMAN
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: POL C98Y, POL 305Y
Prerequisite: POL B90H & POL B91H or POL B91Y or equivalent

SOCIOLOGY
http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/~socsci

SOC C25H
Comparative Ethnic and Race Relations
TBA
Explores the formation of ethnic and racial identities within a range of nation-states, as well as the construction of diasporic or transnational cultural identities. Drawing on studies from advanced capitalist and third world locations, it identifies differences and similarities in patterns of racialization and the collective responses that subordinated populations forge to challenge marginalization.
Limited enrolment: 60
Prerequisite: SOC A01H & SOC A02H or (SOC A01Y), SOC B40H, SOC B41H, SOC B42H, SOC B43H, SOC B52H or SOC B53H

VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS
Click here for link

VPHC71H3S
Brazilian Modernism: Art and Architecture
RENATA CAMARGO SA
Focusing on the 1950's and 60's, a priviledged moment of Brazilian culture that was dominated by the boundary-free language of Modernism, this seminar explores how the architecture of Oscar Niemeyer, Vilanova Artigas and Affonso Eduardo Reidy, and Neoconcretist abstract art, were related to utopian modernist political and social visions of building a civilized world through education.
Prerequisite: VPGB58H or VPHB59H or permission of instructor