Search Results
Your search for courses · during 2025-26 · tagged with LTAM Electives · returned 54 results
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ARCN 111 Archaeology of the Americas 6 credits
This class will examine how archaeologists know the past, focusing on North and South America. The course is organized by themes including migration (first peopling of the Americas, trans-Atlantic slave trade), early cities (Caral in South America, Teotihuacan in Central America, Cahokia in North America), and the environment (domestication, over hunting). Remember–the past is not something natural and static that waits to be “discovered.” The past changes depending on who gets to tell the story–it is not neutral! Whose past is legitimate? Which voices get heard or ignored? In this course, you will find out!
Not offered in 2025-26
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ARCN 211 Coercion and Exploitation: Material Histories of Labor 6 credits
What do antebellum plantations, Spanish missions, British colonies in Australia, mining camps in Latin America, and Roman estates all have in common? All are examples of unfair/unfree and forced labor in colonial and imperial settings. This class will review archaeological, archival, and ethnographic cases of past coerced and exploitative labor, and compare them with modern cases such as human trafficking, child slavery, bonded labor, and forced marriage. Case studies include the Andes under Inka and Spanish rule, North American and Caribbean plantations, British colonial Australia, and Dutch colonial Asia.
Not offered in 2025-26
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CAMS 295 Cinema in Chile and Argentina — Storytelling in Context 6 credits
This course offers a broad historical and cultural overview of Chile and Argentina through a study of fiction and documentary films. It examines significant political and cultural developments including New Latin American Cinema, cinematic diasporas, dictatorship and the return of democracy, commercial consolidation of film industries, and recent films targeting international audiences. The goals of the class are to provide cinematic and culture histories from the 1960s through the present, to equip students with critical and cultural approaches for interpreting and analyzing cinematic practices, and to prepare students for the December OCS study trip to Santiago and Buenos Aires.
Open only to participants in Carleton OCS CAMS Cinema and Storytelling in Chile and Argentina Winter Break Program
- Fall 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis CX, Cultural/Literature
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Student is a member of the OCS Cinema and Storytelling in Chile and Argentina winter program.
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CAMS 296 Chile and Argentina–Modes of Storytelling 6 credits
This course is the second part of a two-term sequence and begins with a study trip to Santiago and Buenos Aires in December 2025. The study trip concentrates on cinema while examining other forms of storytelling. Our time abroad is spent visiting filmmakers, scholars, and cultural organizations that shape cinematic practices. Back on campus we unpack the study trip and work on projects proposed in fall term. Paper drafts, rough cuts, and preliminary curatorial work are due at midterm and students present their work to the Carleton community in a gallery exhibition and symposium in weeks nine and ten.
Open only to participants in Carleton OCS CAMS Cinema and Storytelling in Chile and Argentina Program
- Winter 2026
- ARP, Arts Practice IS, International Studies
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): CAMS 295 with a grade of C- or better.
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ECON 240 Microeconomics of Development 6 credits
This course explores household behavior in developing countries. We will cover areas including fertility decisions, health and mortality, investment in education, the intra-household allocation of resources, household structure, and the marriage market. We will also look at the characteristics of land, labor, and credit markets, particularly technology adoption; land tenure and tenancy arrangements; the role of agrarian institutions in the development process; and the impacts of alternative politics and strategies in developing countries. The course complements Economics 241.
- Winter 2026
- IS, International Studies QRE, Quantitative Reasoning SI, Social Inquiry
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): ECON 111 with a grade of C- or better or ECON AL (Cambridge A Level Economics) with a grade of B or better or has received a score of 5 on the AP Microeconomics test or a score of 6 or better on the IB Economics test.
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ECON 244 Gender and Ethnicity in Latin American Economic Development 6 credits
Latin America has the highest level of inequality in the world, undergirded by significant ethnic and gender inequalities. The course will analyze key gender issues such as the feminization of poverty, female labor force participation and violence against women. We will also investigate how men can contribute to promoting gender equality and how public policy can promote healthy—rather than toxic—masculinities. We will explore what development means for indigenous peoples in the Americas, analyze different ways of measuring development with identity, and delve into how to promote better health and educational outcomes for indigenous peoples, in collaboration with indigenous communities and in ways that respect their worldview. This course is designed to be a combination of topics and tools. You will be equipped with a few useful tools from the economist’s toolkit, including using randomized controlled trials to measure the effectiveness of public policy and deploying nudges inspired by behavioral science to change behaviors in quick and low-cost fashion.
Not offered in 2025-26
- IS, International Studies QRE, Quantitative Reasoning SI, Social Inquiry
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): ECON 111 with a grade of C- or better or ECON AL (Cambridge A Level Economics) with a grade of B or better or has received a score of 5 on the AP Microeconomics test or a score of 6 or better on the IB Economics test.
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ECON 277 History and Theory of Financial Crises 6 credits
This course explores the history of financial crises and what we can learn from their patterns over time. You'll also learn about the economic ideas behind these crises, such as how debt, risky behavior, and the lack of coordination among individuals can create problems. We'll discuss tools that governments and institutions use to manage risks and prevent crises, including deposit insurance and foreign currency reserves.
- Spring 2026
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): ECON 110 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 on the Macroeconomics AP exam and ECON 111 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 5 on the Microeconomics AP exam OR has received a score of 6 or better on the Economics IB exam.
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ENGL 141 Latinx Voices in the Age of Trump 6 credits
The last few years have placed Latinx communities under siege and in the spotlight. The demands of the census and new policies around immigration mean that who counts as Latinx and why it matters has public visibility and meaning. Simultaneously, the last few years have seen an incredible growth of new literary voices and genres in the world of Latinx letters. From fictional and creative nonfiction accounts of detention camps, border crossings, and asylum court proceedings to lyrical wanderings in bilingualism to demands for greater attention to Afrolatinidad and the particular experiences of Black Latinxs–Latinx voices are rising. We will engage with current literary discussions in print, on social media, and in literary journals as we chart the shifting, developing terrain of Latinx literatures. Offered at both the 100 and 200 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly.
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ENGL 227 Imagining the Borderlands 6 credits
This course engages the borderlands as space (the geographic area that straddles nations) and idea (liminal spaces, identities, communities). We examine texts from writers like Anzaldúa, Butler, Cervantes, Dick, Eugenides, Haraway, and Muñoz first to understand how borders act to constrain our imagi(nation) and then to explore how and to what degree the borderlands offer hybrid identities, queer affects, and speculative world-building. We will engage the excess of the borderlands through a broad chronological and generic range of U.S. literary and visual texts. Come prepared to question what is “American”, what is race, what is human.
Not offered in 2025-26
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ENGL 241 Latinx Voices in the Age of Trump 6 credits
The last few years have placed Latinx communities under siege and in the spotlight. The demands of the census and new policies around immigration mean that who counts as Latinx and why it matters has public visibility and meaning. Simultaneously, the last few years have seen an incredible growth of new literary voices and genres in the world of Latinx letters. From fictional and creative nonfiction accounts of detention camps, border crossings, and asylum court proceedings to lyrical wanderings in bilingualism to demands for greater attention to Afrolatinidad and the particular experiences of Black Latinxs–Latinx voices are rising. We will engage with current literary discussions in print, on social media, and in literary journals as we chart the shifting, developing terrain of Latinx literatures. Offered at both the 100 and 200 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly.
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ENTS 250 Food, Forests & Resilience 6 credits
The course will explore how the idea of sustainability is complicated when evaluated through a socio-ecological framework that combines anthropology and ecology. To highlight this complexity, the course is designed to provide a comparative framework to understand and analyze sustainable socio-ecological propositions in Minnesota and Oaxaca. Key conceptual areas explored include: coupled human-natural systems, resilience (ecological and cultural), self-determination, and social justice across stakeholders. The course includes a series of fieldtrips to nearby projects of interest. This course is part of the OCS winter break Oaxaca program, involving two linked courses in fall and winter terms. This class is the first class in the sequence.
Winter Break Program in Oaxaca Mexico
- Fall 2025
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Student Cohorts any in the selection list OCS Socioecological Life – Oaxaca Mexico Program
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ENTS 313 Conscious Nature: Towards and Anthropology of Non-Human Beings 6 credits
The core of anthropological thought has been organized around the assumption that the production of complex cultural systems is reserved to the domain of the human experience. While scholars have contested this assumption for years, there is an emerging body of scholarship that proposes expanding our understandings of culture, and the ability to produce meaning in the world, to include non-human beings (e.g. plants, wildlife, micro-organisms, mountains). This course explores ethnographic works in this field and contextualizes insights within contemporary conversations pertaining to our relationship with nature, public health, and social justice movements that emerge within decolonized frameworks.
Recommended preparation: SOAN 110 or SOAN 111.
SOAN 313 is cross listed with ENTS 313.
Not offered in 2025-26
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ENTS 323 Mother Earth: Women, Development and the Environment 6 credits
Why are so many sustainable development projects anchored around women’s cooperatives? Why is poverty depicted as having a woman’s face? Is the solution to the environmental crisis in the hands of women the nurturers? From overly romantic notions of stewardship to the feminization of poverty, this course aims to evaluate women’s relationships with local environments and development initiatives. The course uses anthropological frameworks to evaluate case studies from around the world.
Recommended preparation: SOAN 110 or SOAN 111
SOAN 323 is cross listed with ENTS 323.
Not offered in 2025-26
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GWSS 365 Black Feminist Thought 6 credits
This seminar offers students an opportunity to engage closely with key concepts, figures, and arguments in the Black Feminist intellectual tradition. We will focus primarily on texts by key figures/scholars from the Americas/Caribbean—in order to situate Black Feminisms within a transnational feminist context. We will take a historical approach, starting in the 19th century and work our way to more contemporary figures and texts throughout the term. Some of the key figures we will examine are Sojourner Truth, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida B. Wells, Angela Y. Davis, Sylvia Wynter, Hortense Spillers, Saidiya Hartman, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, and Patricia Hill Collins. Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly.
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HIST 100 U.S.-Latin American Relations: A Declassified View 6 credits
“Colossus of the North” or “Good Neighbor”? While many of its citizens believe the United States wields a benign influence across the globe, the intent and consequences of the U.S. government’s actions across Latin America and Latin American history offers a decidedly more mixed picture. This course explores the history of Inter-American relations with an emphasis on the twentieth century and the Cold War era. National case studies will be explored, when possible through the lens of declassified U.S. national security documents. Latin American critiques of U.S. involvement in the region will also be considered.
Held for new first year students
- Fall 2025
- AI/WR1, Argument & Inquiry/WR1 IS, International Studies
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Student is a member of the First Year First Term class level cohort. Students are only allowed to register for one A&I course at a time. If a student wishes to change the A&I course they are enrolled in they must DROP the enrolled course and then ADD the new course. Please see our Workday guides Drop or 'Late' Drop a Course and Register or Waitlist for a Course Directly from the Course Listing for more information.
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HIST 169 Colonial Latin America 6 credits
This course examines the formation of Iberian colonial societies in the Americas with a focus on the lives of “ordinary” people, and the ways scholars study their lived experience through the surviving historical record. How did indigenous people respond to the so-called Spanish conquest? How did their communities adapt to colonial pressures and demands? What roles did African slaves and their descendants play in the formation of colonial societies? How were racial identities understood, refashioned, or contested as these societies became ever more globalized and diverse? These and other questions will serve as the starting point for our study of the origins and formation of contemporary Latin America.
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HIST 170 Modern Latin America 6 credits
This course focuses on some of the principal challenges that Latin Americans have confronted over the first two centuries of post-colonial existence (ca. 1820-2020). Case studies will highlight themes and concerns still pertinent today, such as: political instability and authoritarianism, economic underdevelopment and poverty, neo-colonial challenges to national sovereignty, deeply ingrained socioeconomic and racial inequalities, and popular struggles to attain meaningful political, economic, and cultural rights, among others.
Not offered in 2025-26
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HIST 209 Slavery in the Atlantic World 6 credits
This course explores the history of enslavement in the Atlantic World, including West Africa, South America, the Caribbean, North America, and Europe. The course examines the intersecting themes of power, labor, law, race, gender, sexuality, and resistance. It will consider how these themes each shaped the construction of different institutions of enslavement while simultaneously focusing on the experiences of the enslaved who lived and died within in these systems. Using a comparative methodology, we will ask canonical questions, such as what constitutes a slave society and which forms did resistance, rebellion, and revolution by enslaved people take.
Not offered in 2025-26
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HIST 272 The Mexican Revolution: History, Myth and Art 6 credits
The Mexican Revolution was the twentieth-century’s first major social and political upheaval and a watershed moment in Latin American history. This course examines the factors that precipitated the conflict, as well as its main domestic and international dimensions. It explores how an official myth of “The Revolution” was created and contested by the Mexican state, artists, intellectuals, and peasants through the means of education, murals, photography, protest, commemorations, and shrines. The mythification of martyred agrarian leader and rebel chieftain Emiliano Zapata will be examined. Students will work with the College’s collection of Mexican silkscreen posters created in commemoration of the ninetieth anniversary of Zapata’s assassination in 1919.
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HIST 274 The Andes Under Inca & Spanish Rule 6 credits
This course examines imperial rule in the Andes under both Inca and Spanish rule. Indigenous intermediaries will be highlighted throughout, including the ethnic lords (kurakas) who mediated the competing interests of their communities and the state, as well as the indigenous and mestizo writers who drew from Andean and European traditions to craft a new kind of history of the Andes and the Inca dynasty. Visions of the Inca past and the strategies of survival developed by ethnic lords and communities during Spanish rule will inform our study of the Great Andean Rebellion, which foreshadowed the Latin American wars of independence by a generation.
Not offered in 2025-26
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HIST 276 In Search of Moctezuma: Reimagining Mexico’s Indigenous Past 6 credits
Even while still on the campaign trail, Spain’s conquistadors endeavored to describe Mexico's native societies to other Europeans. Thus began a centuries-long fascination with all things Mesoamerican, real and imaginary. This course explores how the Mesoamerican past has been imagined by indigenous and non-indigenous people. Potential subjects include Spanish conquistadors and missionaries, early Mexican nation-builders and artists, professional and pseudo-archaeologists, apocalyptic doomsayers, promoters of the Mexican tourist industry, and the counterculture and Chicano movements of the 1960s. Importantly, we will also consider how Mexico's indigenous groups have come to understand their own past from the time of Spanish rule to the present day.
Not offered in 2025-26
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HIST 277 The Other September 11th: History & Memory in Chile 6 credits
September 11, 2023 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the coup d’état that deposed the democratically elected government of socialist Salvador Allende and ushered in the seventeen-year dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet. Students will examine this era through published eyewitness accounts and testimony, oral history projects, documentary film, photography and music. The course covers the rise and fall of Allende’s government, life under both Unidad Popular and Pinochet, the 1980s protest movement against military rule, and the ongoing struggles and debates over human rights, justice, and collective memory.
Not offered in 2025-26
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HIST 278 The Aztecs and Their World 6 credits
Come explore the world of feathered serpents, smoking mirrors, flower songs, and water mountains! This course examines from multiple disciplinary perspectives the Nahuatl-speaking people of central Mexico under both Aztec and early Spanish rule (spanning approximately the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries). Students will gain experience working with a range of sources produced by Nahua authors, scribes, and artists, including ritual calendars, imperial tribute records, dynastic annals, and translated documents. The College’s rich collection of Mesoamerican codex facsimiles will play a prominent role in our investigation. No prior knowledge is required or expected.
- Winter 2026
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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LTAM 110 Portuguese for Spanish Speakers 3 credits
This fast-paced introductory Portuguese language course focuses on developing communication skills and emphasizes speaking, reading, and writing. Previous knowledge of Spanish is assumed in presentation of grammar and vocabulary.
- Spring 2026
- No Exploration
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): SPAN 204 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Literature AP exam or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Language AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Spanish IB exam or received a score of 205 on the Carleton Spanish Placement exam.
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LTAM 113 Archeology of Ancient Latin America 6 credits
This course examines ancient peoples of the large, geographically and culturally diverse region of Latin America. Focused on Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, we will examine the material culture of Indigenous peoples from c. 20,000 years ago to the time of European contact (1500 AD), including the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, Moche, Inka, Taíno, and Rapa Nui peoples. Themes include migration, the environment, settlement, long-term social change, and daily life. We will also review current debates and ethical issues, with an emphasis on Indigenous perspectives and cross-disciplinary dialogues between archaeology and related fields.
- Spring 2026
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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LTAM 220 Eating the Americas: 5,000 Years of Food 6 credits
Food is both a biological necessity and a cultural symbol. We eat to survive, we “are what we eat,” and delicious foods are “to die for.” What does this all mean in the context of Latin America, which gave us the origins of peanut butter (peanuts), spaghetti sauce (tomatoes), avocado toast (avocados), french fries (potatoes), and power bowls (quinoa)? In this class, we will explore the long history humans have had with food in Latin America, drawing from archaeology, ethnohistory, and anthropology to explore the relationship between food, culture, power, identity, gender, and ethnicity.
Not offered in 2025-26
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LTAM 230 Ancient People of the Andes 6 credits
Who were the first settlers of South America? Was Caral the first city on earth? Who made the Nazca Lines? How did the Inka build Machu Picchu? Which societies flourished or collapsed in the Andean region of South America? This course will examine these questions using archaeology to understand the sociopolitical arrangements that existed among ancient Andean peoples prior to the arrival of the Spanish. Evidence used to explore these themes comes from a range of prehispanic societies, including the Chavin, Tiwanaku, Wari, Moche, Chimu, and Inka. Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly. Students who have previously taken any 200-level LTAM social science or humanities course or a 200-level ARCN course should register for LTAM 330; students who have not should register for LTAM 230.
Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly. Students who have previously taken any 200-level LTAM social science or humanities course or a 200-level ARCN course should register for LTAM 330; students who have not should register for LTAM 230.
Not offered in 2025-26
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LTAM 330 Ancient Peoples of the Andes 6 credits
Who were the first settlers of South America? Was Caral the first city on earth? Who made the Nazca Lines? How did the Inka build Machu Picchu? Which societies flourished or collapsed in the Andean region of South America? This course will examine these questions using archaeology to understand the sociopolitical arrangements that existed among ancient Andean peoples prior to the arrival of the Spanish. Evidence used to explore these themes comes from a range of prehispanic societies, including the Chavin, Tiwanaku, Wari, Moche, Chimu, and Inka. Offered at both the 200 and 300 levels; coursework will be adjusted accordingly. Students who have previously taken any 200-level LTAM social science or humanities course or a 200-level ARCN course should register for LTAM 330; students who have not should register for LTAM 230.
Not offered in 2025-26
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LTAM 398 Latin American Forum 2 credits
This colloquium will explore specific issues or works in Latin American Studies through discussion of a common reading, public presentation, project, and/or performance that constitute the annual Latin American Forum. Students will be required to attend two meetings during the term to discuss the common reading or other material and must attend, without exception. All events of the Forum which take place during fourth week of spring term (on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning). A short integrative essay or report will be required at the end of the term. Intended as capstone for the Latin American Studies minor.
- Spring 2026
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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MUSC 241 Music of Latin America 6 credits
This course is designed to increase your awareness of musical styles in Latin America within particular social, economic, and political contexts. We will cover topics related to popular, folkloric, classical, and indigenous musics spanning from Mexico to South America’s Southern Cone. The course will include elements of performance and dance instruction in addition to a critical examination of lived experiences across the region. No previous musical experience is necessary.
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MUSC 242 Tango: More Than a Dance 6 credits
This course explores the Argentine tango as a lens into over 100 years of global and cultural change. Tango is much more than a dance; It represents important moments related to migration, sexuality, nationalism, tourism, appropriation, and of course, music. We will trace its history from working-class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires to its adoption by Parisians in the early 20th century, to the worldwide phenomenon that we know it as today. You’ll have the opportunity to play tango charts in class and engage with tango communities in Minnesota. A working knowledge of western music notation is helpful, though not required.
Extra Time Required: Students will have the opportunity to attend tango music/dance events in the Twin Cities, which typically occur in the evening hours. However, there will always be an alternative assignment for students who have evening conflicts or wish to not leave campus.
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PHIL 275 Latina Feminist Philosophy 6 credits
Latina feminist philosophers have developed and continue to develop valuable philosophical contributions to feminist scholarship and the discipline of philosophy more broadly. This course sheds light on these contributions by exploring the major questions, concepts, and debates within the Latina (and Latinx) feminist philosophical tradition. We will specifically explore the relationships between race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and identity; lived experience, embodiment, and knowledge; and the possibilities for self/social transformation through the process of creative writing.
Not offered in 2025-26
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PHIL 304 Decolonial Feminisms 6 credits
This course familiarizes students with major issues and debates within the emerging field of decolonial feminist philosophy. We will start by considering some of the historical, geopolitical, and theoretical underpinnings from which decolonial feminisms emerged. We will then investigate core concepts and problems pertaining to decolonial feminisms as a critical methodology and as a practice to build solidarity between and across anti-racist, anti-colonial, anti-sexist, anti-capitalist schools of thought and/or political coalitions. We will pay particular attention to Latina feminist philosopher María Lugones and her development of the “colonial modern gender system” and her articulation of “decolonial feminism.” Recommended preparation: One prior course in Philosophy or a relevant area of studies.
Not offered in 2025-26
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POSC 221 Latin American Politics 6 credits
This course will enable students to think critically and comparatively about the Latin American political and socio-economic reality. The course serves as an introduction for those who are unfamiliar with the contemporary history, politics, and social structures of the region. Instruction in this class, however, will go beyond a mere introduction to Latin American political history. It will challenge students to analyze complex problems in Latin American politics and development and encourage them to provide informed arguments on these matters.
Not offered in 2025-26
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POSC 261 The Global Crisis of Democracy 6 credits
Democracy is in trouble worldwide. The most visible indicators are the rise of explicitly anti-democratic leaders and anti-liberal parties that employ populism and exploit ethnic and ideological polarization to acquire power. Democratic norms and institutions have eroded across the globe. Structures that undergirded the positive-sum linkage between industrialization, the rise of labor unions, and democratic parties in much of the West have been transformed in ways that undermine democracy. This course will analyze these and related trends that demonstrate that liberal democracy is suffering a global crisis. Instruction will cover cases across time and from all regions of the world.
Extra Time Required: Film screenings, guest lectures, talks and events.
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POSC 322 Polarization and Populism in Latin America 6 credits
Polarization and populism have shaped Latin American politics and development for much of the region's history. These forces have re-emerged in the post-Cold War period in acute and powerful ways in threatening democracy and systems of accountability. This course will examine these forces and adjacent phenomena such as democratic backsliding, the aggrandizement of presidential powers, socio-economic conflicts, contentious politics, and the continuation of state crises in Latin America. Students will work on their own research projects.
Not offered in 2025-26
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RELG 227 Liberation Theologies 6 credits
Is God on the side of the poor? This course explores how liberation theologians have called for justice, social change, and resistance by drawing on fundamental sources in Christian tradition and by using economic and political theories to address poverty, racism, oppression, gender injustice, and more. We explore the principles of liberationist thought, including black theology, Latin American liberation theology, and feminist theology through writings of various contemporary thinkers. We also examine the social settings out of which these thinkers have emerged, their critiques of “traditional” theologies, and the new vision of community they have developed in various contexts.
Not offered in 2025-26
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SOAN 203 Anthropology of Good Intentions 6 credits
Is the environmental movement making progress? Do responsible products actually help local populations? Is international AID alleviating poverty and fostering development? Today there are thousands of programs with sustainable development goals yet their effectiveness is often contested at the local level. This course explores the impacts of sustainable development, conservation, and AID programs to look beyond the good intentions of those that implement them. In doing so we hope to uncover common pitfalls behind good intentions and the need for sound social analysis that recognizes, examines, and evaluates the role of cultural complexity found in populations targeted by these programs. The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above.
Not offered in 2025-26
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SOAN 233 Anthropology of Food 6 credits
Food is the way to a person’s heart but perhaps even more interesting, the window into a society’s soul. Simply speaking understating a society’s foodways is the best way to comprehend the complexity between people, culture and nature. This course explores how anthropologists use food to understand different aspects of human behavior, from food procurement and consumption practices to the politics of nutrition and diets. In doing so we hope to elucidate how food is more than mere sustenance and that often the act of eating is a manifestation of power, resistance, identity, and community.
- Spring 2026
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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SOAN 313 Conscious Nature: Towards and Anthropology of Non-Human Beings 6 credits
The core of anthropological thought has been organized around the assumption that the production of complex cultural systems is reserved to the domain of the human experience. While scholars have contested this assumption for years, there is an emerging body of scholarship that proposes expanding our understandings of culture, and the ability to produce meaning in the world, to include non-human beings (e.g. plants, wildlife, micro-organisms, mountains). This course explores ethnographic works in this field and contextualizes insights within contemporary conversations pertaining to our relationship with nature, public health, and social justice movements that emerge within decolonized frameworks.
Recommended preparation: SOAN 110 or SOAN 111.
SOAN 313 is cross listed with ENTS 313.
Not offered in 2025-26
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SOAN 323 Mother Earth: Women, Development and the Environment 6 credits
Why are so many sustainable development projects anchored around women’s cooperatives? Why is poverty depicted as having a woman’s face? Is the solution to the environmental crisis in the hands of women the nurturers? From overly romantic notions of stewardship to the feminization of poverty, this course aims to evaluate women’s relationships with local environments and development initiatives. The course uses anthropological frameworks to evaluate case studies from around the world.
Recommended preparation: SOAN 110 or SOAN 111
SOAN 323 is cross listed with ENTS 323.
Not offered in 2025-26
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SOAN 343 Advanced Ethnographic Workshop 6 credits
This advanced methods course is designed to have students think about the complexities of ethnographic fieldwork by showcasing a powerful and rigorous mode of inquiry that informs societal questions in unique ways. The main goals are to explore classic ethnographies with an eye towards methods and experience ethnographic research in its entirety: from exploratory observations, into the process of defining cultural hypotheses, to the coding of various kinds of qualitative and quantitative ethnographic evidence. Ethnographic methods explored include: participant observation, semi-structured interviewing techniques, cultural mapping, pile sorting activities, photo-essays, and network analysis. The department strongly recommends that Sociology/Anthropology 110 or 111 be taken prior to enrolling in courses numbered 200 or above.
- Spring 2026
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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SPAN 218 Introduction to Latin American Cinema 6 credits
This course will introduce the student to several production systems and aesthetic traditions in Latin American cinema, from silent cinema to current Netflix productions, allowing students to engage cinematic debates by situating them in their national, regional and global cultural contexts. Be prepared to be immersed in the moving image and its cultural significance through the viewing of many films and critical work on them. Recommended as a foundation course for further study.
Not offered in 2025-26
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): SPAN 204 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Literature AP exam or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Language AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Spanish IB exam or received a score of 205 on the Carleton Spanish Placement exam.
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SPAN 220 Racism, Immigration, and Gender in Contemporary Latin American Narrative 6 credits
This course focuses on contemporary short stories and short novels. We will read some of the most relevant living authors from Latin America including Carlos Gamerro, Pilar Quintana, Kike Ferrari, Yeniter Poleo, Antonio José Ponte, among others. This will expose students to the most pressing issues in today’s Latin America, ranging from gender, violence, racism, and immigration. We will interview at least one of the authors read during the term and discuss the social implications of their literature in today’s world.
In Trans
Not offered in 2025-26
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): SPAN 204 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Literature AP exam or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Language AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Spanish IB exam or received a score of 205 on the Carleton Spanish Placement exam.
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SPAN 242 Introduction to Latin American Literature 6 credits
An introductory course to reading major texts in Spanish provides an historical survey of the literary movements within Latin American literature from the pre-Hispanic to the contemporary period. Recommended as a foundation course for further study. Not open to seniors.
Not open to seniors
- Fall 2025
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): SPAN 204 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Literature AP exam or received a score of 4 or better on the Spanish Language AP exam or received a score of 6 or better on the Spanish IB exam or received a score of 205 on the Carleton Spanish Emmersion Placement exam AND does not have Senior Priority.
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SPAN 246 Not by Blood: Family Beyond Kinship 6 credits
Motherhood is central in Latin-American literature of the twenty-first century. Beyond the tendency to represent motherhood as a paradise of love and snuggles, Latin-American writers have been proposing new reconfigurations of family. Families that are not bonded by blood. In this class we will study novels, poems, and short stories about these non-traditional families, for example, families that are led by trans-women, families that are formed between species (with plants or animals), among others. We will analyze what insights these fictional families can offer on topics such as race, reproductive rights, legalization of abortion, marriage equality, and new feminisms.
- Spring 2026
- HI, Humanistic Inquiry IS, International Studies
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): SPAN 205 with a grade of C- or better or received a score of 205 on the Carleton Spanish Emmersion Placement exam.
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SPAN 319 Works on Work: Films and Literature on Labor in Latin America 6 credits
This course studies the cultural representation of labor in Latin America. It focuses on the racial division of labor over the colonial, industrial, and neoliberal periods. We will analyze a wide range of visual and literary representations of Native, Black and women workers under the Encomienda labor system; peonages during the period of independence and specific national contexts (i.e. rubber tapper); industrial workers throughout the twentieth century (blue-collar workers); as well as the role of unemployment and precarized labor within the context of globalization.
Not offered in 2025-26
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One SPAN course numbered 205 or higher excluding Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.
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SPAN 330 The Invention of the Modern Novel: Cervantes’ Don Quijote 6 credits
Among other things, Don Quijote is a "remake," an adaptation of several literary models popular at the time the picaresque novel, the chivalry novel, the sentimental novel, the Byzantine novel, the Italian novella, etc. This course will examine the ways in which Cervantes transformed these models to create what is considered by many the first "modern" novel in European history.
Not offered in 2025-26
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One SPAN course numbered 205 or higher excluding Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.
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SPAN 356 The Political and Cultural History of the Cuban Revolution 6 credits
In 2014 Obama and Castro simultaneously announced the end of an era: the Cold War. This announcement was a turning point for one of the most influential and symbolically important political movements in Latin America: The Cuban Revolution. We will study the political and historical background that sustained this revolution for over fifty years. We will read historical, political, philosophical, and cultural texts to understand this process and the fascination that it commanded around the world. We will also examine the different exoduses that this revolution provoked and the exile communities that Cubans constructed in different parts of the world.
Not offered in 2025-26
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One SPAN course numbered 205 or higher excluding Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.
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SPAN 360 Green Labyrinth: Storytelling and Sacred Plants 6 credits
Through films, short stories and novels, we analyze how plants like ayahuasca, peyote, and coca are at the intersection of exploitation, psychedelia, sacred practices and ecological awareness. We examine how the representations of plants in literature and cinema address biopiracy, colonialism, and the commodification of sacred plants. Also, we will study how indigenous communities preserve ancestral knowledge and resist environmental destruction. Students will critically reflect on the connections between storytelling, plant-based medicine, and contemporary environmental challenges in Latin America and beyond.
Extra Time Required: Film screenings and attending talks.
- Winter 2026
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One SPAN course numbered 205 or higher excluding Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.
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SPAN 366 Jorge Luis Borges: Less a Man Than a Vast and Complex Literature 6 credits
Borges once said about Quevedo that he was less a man than a vast and complex literature. This phrase is probably the best definition for Borges as well. We will discuss the many writers encompassed by Borges: the vanguard writer, the poet, the detective short story writer, the fantastic story writer, the essayist. We will also study his many literary masks: H. Bustoc Domecq (the apocryphal writer he created with Bioy Casares) a pseudonym he used to write chronicles and detective stories. We will study his impact on contemporary writers and philosophers such as Foucault, Derrida, Roberto Bolaño, etc.
Not offered in 2025-26
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One SPAN course numbered 205 or higher excluding Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.
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SPAN 369 The Carnival Trail: Carnival Literature in Latin America 6 credits
Carnivals are frequently associated with colourful crowds, merrymaking and excess. But what role do carnivals play in the construction of national and collective identities? We will try to answer this and other questions focusing on films, paintings, and literary texts from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries that represent some of the most popular carnivals in Latin America: Candombe (Uruguay), Yawar Fiesta (Peru), Blacks and Whites (Colombia), Oruro (Bolivia), and Rio (Brazil). We will analyze them from an interdisciplinary perspective that includes literary criticism, anthropology, and history. Students will engage with debates about nation, popular culture, modernity/modernization, and intangible cultural heritage.
Not offered in 2025-26
- IS, International Studies SI, Social Inquiry
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One SPAN course numbered 205 or higher excluding Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better. Not open to students that have taken SPAN 250.
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SPAN 376 Mexico City: The City as Protagonist 6 credits
This seminar will have Mexico City as protagonist, and will examine the construction of one of the largest urban centers of the world through fictional writing, cultural criticism, and visual/aural culture. We will critically engage the fictions of its past, the dystopias of its present, the assemblage of affects and images that give it continuity, but which also codify the ever-changing and contested view of its representation and meaning. From Carlos Fuentes to Sayak Valencia, in the company of Eisenstein and Cuarón, among others.
- Winter 2026
- IS, International Studies LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One SPAN course numbered 205 or higher excluding Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.
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SPAN 385 Riots, Rebellions & Revolutions in Latin America 6 credits
Latin American cultural history is one of agitation and turmoil. Since colonial times, Riots, Rebellions, and Revolutions are not only at the center of Latin America’s politics, but also its art, literature, and culture. Through a survey of a representative selection of canonical and non-canonical Latin American texts (including literary pieces, films, pamphlets, periodicals, photographs, among others), this course will examine the intersections between literature, politics of unrest, and intellectuals in Latin America. Students will gain an understanding of fundamental topics of Latin American cultural and political history, including colonialism, modernity, racism, and political resistance.
Not offered in 2025-26
- LA, Literary/Artistic Analysis
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Student has completed any of the following course(s): One SPAN course numbered 205 or higher excluding Independent Studies with a grade of C- or better.