Latin America is an exciting, diverse, and dynamic region that has considerable variation in economic success, political stability, culture, sustainability, and development. The purpose of this course is to learn the historical, cultural, political, and economic foundations of the region. We will use a variety of methods and sources to give you a flavor of Latin America. We will also follow contemporary events in the region through readings from current news sources. Our special focus will be on narcotics and how those shape politics, economics, society, and international relations. We will also follow important 2026 Latin American elections.
This is an advanced undergraduate course suitable for serious undergraduate students of any year and graduate students. It is reading intensive and you are expected to carefully read the assignments before class and not merely skim them. If you do not like to read, this is possibly not the class for you.
Students are expected to maintain the highest standards of academic integrity. All work submitted must be original and properly cited. Plagiarism, cheating, or any form of academic dishonesty will result in immediate consequences as outlined in the university's academic integrity policy.
Core Impacts:
This is a Core IMPACTS course that is part of the Social Sciences area.
Core IMPACTS refers to the core curriculum, which provides students with essential knowledge in foundational academic areas. This course will help master course content, and support students’ broad academic and career goals.
This course should direct students toward a broad Orienting Question:
- How do I understand human experiences and connections?
Completion of this course should enable students to meet the following Learning Outcomes:
- Students will effectively analyze the complexity of human behavior, and how historical, economic, political, social or geographic relationships develop, persist or change.
Course content, activities and exercises in this course should help students develop the following Career-Ready Competencies:
- Intercultural Competence
- Perspective-Taking
- Persuasion