Latin America and the Latinx World

Courses

• LATI 125GS: Latin America and the Latinx World (draft PDF) - coming soon
• LATI 166GS: The Criollo Kitchen: Ethnography of Latin American Cuisine- coming soon
  Course descriptions (PDF)

Why you should go

Buenos Aires is an organized chaotic force that shares characteristics of the majority of the world’s cities, most of which are located in the Global South. Eighty percent of the urban topography is informally constructed. Informal economic activity is also pervasive in the food service industry – street vendors, pop-up restaurants, home eateries, ghost kitchens, etc. These are also sites where one can find some of the country’s best cuisine on showcase.

While the city grew out of a colonial and neocolonial relationship with European and US markets – brokering the selling off of  agricultural products from Argentina’s interior to the highest bidder abroad – poorer sectors have contested this role since independence. Today, 70% of Argentina’s population lives in poverty. The country has gone through boom and bust cycles seemingly every twenty years. These contradictions are visible throughout the city and countryside. Rather than becoming a source of fear, the resilience of Argentina’s population in the face of perpetual crisis puts on display a skill set and know-how that will become urgently necessary in the Global North as such problems are no longer relegated to the South.

Students will benefit from developing a preparedness for a globalized world, one that has remained so for at least five hundred years and one in which the US is rapidly becoming more and more decentered.

Both courses require a significant reading load, but there is arguably nothing better on earth than sitting down to read in one of Buenos Aires’ fin de siècle cafes during the dark and eerie winter months.

Who should go

Are you interested in visiting the ruins of the world’s first refrigerated slaughterhouse? Or 19th Century taverns located in Argentina’s pampas (interior plain) to eat a meal over open fire? To converse with members of the Charrua indigenous nation, a native tribe fighting for recognition and who the Uruguayan government claims to not exist?

This program is oriented towards students interested in social justice questions from a Global South perspective. The program emphasizes links between social movements across the Americas. For example, how have transcontinental social movements thought about solving a looming energy crisis in ways that center the well-being of people and the environment of the global periphery?

The program is also ideal for students interested in pursuing a career in the food service industry, as it will offer a political, economic, and cultural analysis of some of the core food staples globally: sugar, corn, beef, wine and spirits, chocolate, bananas, and coffee. What does food justice look like in the Global South? And how can we consider such things when operating in globally linked food and beverage industries located in the North?

The courses in this Global Seminar will count for a variety of majors and minors including: Latin American Studies, Chicanx/Latinx Studies, and Global South Studies. The courses fulfill Latin American area focus in any field or college. It will also well as fulfill upper-division electives for any major that includes free electives

Dates

Flight Information

• You will be responsible for purchasing your own airplane tickets, and your program coordinator will provide guidelines and resources during the pre-departure process to help you find an appropriate flight.
• Do not purchase plane tickets until the program is confirmed. All approved applicants will be notified by e-mail when the program has reached minimum enrollment.