SOSC 4450 3.0 /  HUMA 4300 3.0
Aspects of Modern Latin American and Caribbean Studies: Culture and Politics

Winter 2018

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Tuesdays 11:30 AM -2:20 PM
Room: North 306 Ross

This course will bring together works from both social science and the humanities to explore some of the central themes of Latin American and Caribbean history and contemporary life. Drawing on oral history, novels, and social science, the course will cover a range of topics that include: the impact of the conquest and colonial rule, the consolidation of land tenure patterns, indigenous culture and movements, revolutions, resistance and repression, the politics of race relations, rural life in the Caribbean and Latin America, national and international immigration, and the life of Latin American and Caribbean people in the diaspora.

Requirements:

The course meets as a weekly, three-hour seminar on Tuesdays, 11:30 AM -2:20 PM. Members of the seminar will be expected to attend every week and to come to class prepared with a two page, double-spaced, written reflection on the weekly readings (500-600 words with a “word count” at the bottom of the page). This written work must also be submitted via Turnitin. There will be no formal presentations. Rather, every member of the seminar will be expected to arrive in the classroom ready at any time to respond to a request to lead off the discussion on the readings of that week, based on her or his reading of the material.

Given the centrality of seminar participation anyone absent from seminar more than once will lose participation points except in the case of a fully documented medical problem or emergency. Those who regularly come late to class will lose participation credit in proportion to their tardiness.

The policies regarding missed examinations will be as stated on Professor Canel’s website at the following link: http://www.yorku.ca/ecanel/policies/misexam.html

20% of the final grade will be determined by an in-class midterm exam in Week 8, March 7th. For the remaining 20% of the grade you can choose between a formal, sit-down final examination in the regular exam period or you can elect to research and write an oral history of a person from Latin America or the Caribbean whom you will interview in multiple sessions and whose story you will contextualize in an eight to ten page paper. The instructor will provide help to assist you in locating and gaining permission to interview the person whose history you will relate in your written essay.

Evaluation: 

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