LALC Courses for Fall 2026
Considering majoring in LALC? Check here for more information!
LALC 101, Introduction to Latin American, Latinx & Caribbean Studies (Prof. Vega). Section 01: MR 1:30-2:45
Required of all LALC majors. A multi-disciplinary, introductory course designed to familiarize students with the regions through a study of their history, economics, politics, literature, and culture in transnational and comparative perspective. The purpose of the course is to provide a framework that will prepare students for more specialized courses in particular disciplines and specific areas of LALC studies.. Attributes: AMST Struct & Instit Elective, Social Sciences, Appropriate for First Year, Global Diversity
LALC 200-01, Latin America Through Salsa and Literature (Prof. Zegarra). TF 1:30-2:45
Cross-listed with SPAN 280-01. Salsa music is a popular expression of the multiple realities that permeate Latin America. Salsa songs depict the histories, traditions, beliefs, expectations, achievements, frustrations, cultures, and perspectives of the peoples of Latin America. In sum, there is probably one Salsa song for every single circumstance, topic or situation that you can think of: birth, life, food, love, death, national identity, etc. The richness that Salsa offers goes far beyond the realm of music. It is an open archive that mirrors the good, the bad, and the ugly of the Latin American world, so to speak. This course provides the students with an opportunity to get acquainted with different aspects of the social, cultural, political, and economic realities of Latin America using Salsa music as a core component. The course also incorporates a plethora of literary texts, mainly poems, short stories, and essays that either supplement or complement the themes that the selected Salsa songs deal with. The main objective of the course is to enhance students’ awareness of the different Latin American realities (past and present) through Salsa and literature while they improve their interpretive, presentational, and interpersonal skills in Spanish. Additionally, the course offers an opportunity for the students to get together to watch fun Salsa videos, and if watching is not enough, dance to the irresistible rhythm of Salsa music. The materials selected as well as the sources aim at covering a thematic breadth impossible to cover otherwise. Attributes: Humanities (DVHM); INST Latin America Course (ISLA); SPAN/PORT Elective (SPST)
LALC 230, Early Latin American History (Prof. Borges). TR 9 - 10:15
Cross-listed as HIST 130. Survey of pre-Colombian and colonial Latin American history. Students explore the major ancient civilizations of the Americas, the background and characteristics of European conquest and colonization, the formation of diverse colonial societies, and the breakdown of the colonial system that led to independence. The course includes both the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in the Americas from a comparative perspective. Attributes: Social Sciences, FLIC Portuguese, FLIC Spanish, Appropriate for First-Year, Global Diversity, HIST Latin American Hist Crs, Pre-1800 History Course, INST Latin America Course, MEMS Elective, Portuguese & Brazilian Studies, Sustainability Connections, SPAN/PORT Pre-Contemporary Crs, SPAN/PORT Elective
This course is cross-listed as HIST 130.
LALC 239, Spanish for the Health Professions (Prof. Lesman), MR 1:30 - 2:45
Cross-listed as SPAN 207-01. This course prepares students to use Spanish meaningfully in real-world health contexts by combining classroom learning with direct service. This is a space where linguistic, cultural, ethical, and social knowledge come together. Through reflection, reading, and a sustained partnership with the Beacon Clinic, students build the vocabulary, cultural awareness, and interpersonal skills required to serve Spanish-speaking communities with empathy and clarity. By applying Spanish in healthcare settings, students confront the complexities of power, equity, and responsibility, especially in the context of migration, labor,and structural inequality.
Prerequisite: SPAN 202 or above.
Attributes: Food Studies Elective, Health Studies Elective, NRSC Non-Div 3 Elective, Sustainability Connections, Service Learning, US Diversity
LALC 272, The Atlantic Slave Trade and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450-1850 (Prof. Ball), TR 10:30-11:45
Cross-listed with HIST 272 and AFST 272. During several centuries of European colonization in the New World, a thriving slave trade forced the emigration of millions of Africans across the Atlantic-an immigration far larger than the simultaneous immigration of Europeans to the same regions. We will address not only the workings of the slave trade on both sides (and in the middle) of the Atlantic, but also the cultural communities of West and West-Central Africa and encounters and exchanges in the new slave societies of North and South America. Through examination of work processes, social orders, cultural strategies and influences, and ideas about race and geography, across time and in several regions, we will explore the crucial roles of Africans in the making of the Atlantic world.
Attributes: AFST - Africa Course; AFST - Diaspora Course; AMST American History Elective; AMST Struct & Instit Elective; Social Sciences; Global Diversity; HIST African History Course; HIST Global Comp Hist Crs; HIST Latin American Hist Crs; Pre-1800 History Course; Portuguese & Brazilian Studies
LALC 300-01, Panoramas II: Embodiment and Film (Prof. Frohlich), MR 3-4:15
Cross-listed with FMST 310-04 and SPAN 325-01. What is the role of embodiment in creating an impactful film? How does it create powerful storytelling and engagement of our senses? How do films align us with a character’s point of view or create emotional resonance with the world portrayed? This course explores the sensorial and emotional experiences of the film spectator; how thoughts and senses work together to make meaning; how intercultural cinema represents embodiment; and how films explore the affective and embodied aspects of human lives. Students will deepen their knowledge of embodiment through the analysis of a broad range of U.S. Latinx, Latin American and Spanish films. Assignments will include viewing multiple films, theoretical readings, and writing assignments. It is taught in English and films will include English subtitles. Attributes: Arts, Humanities, FMST Lat Am/Carib Cltrl Persp, FMST US Cultural Perspective, SPAN/PORT Advanced Topics, Taught in English
LALC 300-02, Across the Windward Passage: Cuban Haitian Entanglements in the Early Twentieth Century (Prof. Past), MR 1:30-2:45
Cross-listed with AFST 310-01 and SPAN 380-01. Through works of fiction, film, and poetry, this seminar examines the entangled histories, cultural, and spiritual traditions of Haiti and Cuba in the early to mid-twentieth century. How does cultural production reflect specific sites of struggle alongside larger sociopolitical concerns within communities whose livelihoods depend on the sugar industry? Where and how do instances of resistance, political, and cultural solidarity emerge? To what degree are boundaries blurred between languages, cultural traditions, and national identity discourses related to race, class, gender, and spiritual practices? Attributes: Social Sciences, Global Diversity, SPAN/PORT Advanced Topics
LALC 300-03, Indigenous Movements in Latin America: Citizenship, Indigeneity and Interculturality (Prof. Pesantes Villa), MR 1:30-2:45
Cross-listed with ANTH 345-01 and ARCH 345-01. The goal of this course is to analyze contemporary Indigenous Movements in Latin America through a historic and ethnographic lens. We will explore and discuss the key demands of indigenous peoples, their strategies to negotiate at the national level as well as the policies that have been developed in response to indigenous activism in the region. We will discuss the various levels of success indigenous movements have accomplished in different countries, and analyze the explanations given to understand such differences. Using texts from a range of Latin American countries, this course will begin by doing a historical analysis of the position of Indigenous peoples after independence, during the nation-building processes, and their strategies to resist assimilation. We will discuss the particularities of indigenous identity in a region where the colonial hierarchies based on class and ethnicity persists and shapes privilege of lighter skinned Latin Americans and discrimination towards indigenous peoples. We will analyze contemporary intercultural policies in both education and health to learn about the possibilities and limitations of the concept of "interculturalidad." This approach, meant to improve the recognition of indigenous perspectives and culture has oftentimes resulted in the cooption of indigenous peoples demands. Attributes: Social Sciences
LALC 390-01, Senior Research Seminar (Prof. Bartosik), W 1:30 - 4:30
Cross-listed with SPAN 401-01. Students will work on a semi-independent basis along with the professor on a focused research project. Students will choose a research project that investigates a particular aspect of Hispanic or Luso-Brazilian studies. Students will be required to submit regularly scheduled progress reports and will participate in discussions on research strategies, the writing process, and peer review of their writing. Students will be required to present their research at various stages. The culmination of this course will be a research paper that may serve as a launching pad for the Honor’s Thesis in the spring semester. Students must develop research related to Latin America, Latinx and/or the Caribbean in order for this course to count as LALC. Attributes: SPAN/PORT Advanced Topics.
Course taught in Spanish. Prerequisite: SPAN 299, two 300-level SPAN courses, and permission of the professor based on professor’s advanced approval of student’s topic. This course is cross-listed as SPAN 401. Offered regularly in the fall. Students may write their papers in Spanish or English (or Portuguese or French if available), depending on their priorities and interests.
LALC 490, Latin American, Latinx and Caribbean Studies Senior Research Seminar (Prof. Borges), M 1:30-2:45
Research into a topic concerning Latin America directed by two or more faculty representing at least two disciplines. Students must successfully defend their research paper to obtain course credit. The paper is researched and written in the fall semester for 1.0 credit and then defended and revised in the spring semester for .50 credit.
Prerequisite: senior majors.
Additional SPAN Classes that will have the LALC Elective in Fall 2026:
These specific sections of SPAN 215 (Spanish Composition and Conversation) and/or SPAN 245 (Introduction to Hispanic Literatures and Cultures) in Fall 2026 will carry the LALC elective and count toward the LALC major.