979518 Contemporary Latin(o) Americas

Description

This subject introduces students to the Spanish-speaking Americas in their sociocultural, political and economic dimensions and is designed to prepare students for their year of in-country study in Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Costa Rica or Latino USA. The subject is based on the premise that that the 'Latinised' USA and Latin America are so mutually intertwined historically, socially, culturally and economically that it makes more sense to study them together.

Through a combination of tutorial-based, independent and collaborative learning, students develop research-led analytical skills and gain knowledge of important current theories, concepts and debates, and learn to apply these to contemporary patterns of sociocultural change in Latin America and in an increasingly Latinised USA, now the world's second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico.

The subject is taught through a dedicated Wordpress blog in combination with UTSOnline and is taught in flipped and blended learning mode. The subject begins with a seminar on maps, names and key terms, followed by seminars on the periods of colonisation, independence and nation-state formation as stages vital to understanding Latin America's problematic insertion into Western modernity in the 20th century. The subject then moves to seminars on the complex interactions between the USA and the Spanish-speaking Americas since the mid-19th century and the resultant migration patterns. It continues with seminars on popular music and church and gender before turning to country-specific studies. The subject ends with a reflection on the politics of difference, post-nationalism and technological revolution in the Latin(o) Americas in the 21st century. The subject links contemporary Latin American and US Latino peoples and cultures to broader processes of transnationalisation, globalisation and transculturation.