Summer 2023
Study Abroad:
HIST 341S/POSC 371S: Selected Themes in World History: Argentine Politics and Society
Kristen McCleary | Study Abroad- Argentina
SPAN 446: Special Topics in Spanish Literature
Study Abroad- Argentina
SPAN 447: Special Topics in Spanish Culture
Study Abroad- Argentina
SPAN 365S: Spanish for Medical Professionals I
Study Abroad- Salamanca
SPAN 385S: Latin American Short Story
Study Abroad- Salamanca
Maymester (05/22/2023 - 06/16/2023):
POSC 351: Topics in American Politics: Race and Ethnic Politics
Rachel Torres | Asynchronous | Elective
SPAN 308: Latin American Cultures
Verónica Davila-Ellis | Asynchronous | Core
June Semester (06/20/2023 - 07/14/2023):
SPAN 375: Spanish for Medical Professionals II
Diana Galaretta | Asynchronous | Elective
SPAN 476: Culture and Medicine in Latin America
Diana Galaretta | Asynchronous | Elective
Fall 2023 Courses
Core Courses
Minors must take 2 core courses (6 credit hours). The following are available Fall 2023:
LAXC 252 focuses on cultural expressions and change over time of the Americas from conquest to the present day. This course will be constructed around three days (Columbus Day, Día de los Muertos / Day of the Dead, and the feast day for the Día de la Virgen / Our Lady of Guadalupe). Themes included in our explorations of these days include change over time, history ‘from below,’ or social history, history and public space, power relations, syncretism, mestizaje, rituals, transcul-turation, gender, rural and urban cultures. We look at both popular and elite expressions of popular culture to underscore the strong social class divisions in the region that give rise to competing visions of national identity. We look at the blending of cultures that arise out of Indigenous, Afri-can, and European in the Americas. We consider the Americas as a geography both with and without national political borders.
POSC 350: Latin American Politics
Chris Blake | MW 1:50-3:05PM
A comparative study of the political institutions, processes and current issues in the Latin American states, and an analysis of their importance in regional and global relations.
SPAN 308: Latin American Cultures
Tomás Regalado-López | MW 3:25-4:40PM
Elective Courses
Minors must complete 4 electives. The following are available Fall 2023:
ANTH 364: Anthropology of the US/Latin American Border(s)
Becca Howes-Mischel | TTh, 11:10-12:25
This class offers an ethnographic and historically contextualized approach to issues that saturate today’s news headlines and political discussions. Taking “the border,” as a central provocation, we will primarily focus on cultural and political negotiations at and about the Southern U.S. border—a focus that will draw contemporary political and cultural discourses into conversation with anthropological research. Students will gain skills in critically examining issues in the U.S. and Latin America’s intertwined and complex relationship and in presenting multiple narratives about the people behind the headlines. Important questions we will consider include: What are borders and borderlands? How have they been created, how have they changed, and what impact does change have on the lives of people? What forms of hierarchical power are vested in the control of national boundaries? (How) do borders produce a particular kind of culture? How are border people and border-crossing people imagined, constructed, and exploited by individuals, governments, and corporations on both sides of the border?
ECON 270-1/2: International Econ
Phil Heap |
Nevin Cavusoglu |
A survey of the relationships among national economies, including trade theory, trade policy, international monetary relations and the balance of Payments. Not open to students who are enrolled in or have already received credit in ECON 370 or 372.
ECON 312: Comparative Economic Systems*
Zachary Gochenour | MW, 3:25-4:40PM
*Prerequisite: ECON 200 and ECON 201. An additional tuition charge of $50 per credit hour applies to this course.
An examination of the distinguishing characteristics, institutions and performances of the various types of major economic systems in the world today.
EDUC 310-1/2/3/4: Teaching in a Diverse Society
Diana Meza |
Diana Meza |
Ruthie Bosch | M
Ruthie Bosch | TTh, 9:35AM- 10:50AM (Section 4)
HIST 447- South America (Memory and History)*
Kristen McCleary | TTh, 2:20PM-3:35PM
*Open to history majors for the first week, then opened to all
An examination of nineteenth and twentieth-century South America by emphasizing recent historiographies of the region. The class draws from social and cultural history to explore themes such as gender, race and ethnicity, nation-building and historical memory.
HON 200-3: Multi-Cultural America
Fawn-Amber Montoya | T 2:00PM-4:30PM
This course will analyze the historical, social and cultural context of 21st-century race relations, socio-economic class-status, and gender and sexual identity. Students will think critically about how history and current events are linked to each other and have established the foundations for systemic racism, inequity, and culture clashes. Course assignments will focus on individual and group analysis of current events, defining best practices for how to structure responses, and developing a framework for how to use these topics as foundational approaches in developing a long-term professional mindset focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.
LAXC 299: Internship in Latin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies
Kristin Wylie | Times/ Days TBD
SOCI 318: Sociology of Immigration
David Trouille | TTh, 11:10AM-12:25PM
This course explores the patterns and processes defining immigration around the world: the reasons for migration, the types of migration, and the way it affects the sending and receiving societies. The course investigates the social forces that affect immigrants and the traits that impact their relocation experience; and how immigration creates new identities for those successful in their quest, contributing to greater cultural diversity of receiving societies.
SPAN 321: Written and Oral Communication for Heritage Speakers
Verónica Davila-Ellis | MWF, 11:30AM-12:20PM
This course provides heritage Spanish students with the opportunity to continue their study of Spanish while partially fulfilling their program’s language requirement. Students will have the chance to improve on their existing proficiency while developing language skills useful for a variety of settings such as academic and formal ones. We will emphasize writing, reading, and speaking while engaging with current issues pertinent to the Latinx community. The course will empower heritage speakers to communicate in Spanish with confidence at home, in their communities, the university, and in their careers.
SPAN 365: Spanish for Medical Professionals I
Diana Galarreta | TTh, 11:10AM-12:25PM
This course focuses on the basic Spanish language and vocabulary required in the fields of medicine and health sciences. Students practice their oral Spanish skills in various simulated medical situations in preparation for future professional application in the medical environment.
SPAN 375: Spanish for Medical Professionals II
Diana Galarreta | TTh, 12:45PM- 2:00PM
This course provides future medical professionals with further practice in Spanish in the medical context. Students learn advanced medical vocabulary and anatomical terminology, develop their reading comprehension skills, and acquire greater fluency through student presentations and classroom discussions on the latest medical techniques and advances.
SPAN 385: Latin American Short Story
Tomás Regalado | MW, 5:00PM-6:15PM
Reading and analysis of representative short stories from Latin America. Student reports on selected authors. Instruction is in Spanish.
SPAN 404: Spanish in the United States
Jennifer Lang-Rigal | TTh, 11:10AM-12:25PM
This course will study the present situation of Spanish in the United States, how Spanish has been shaped by social forces in the US and how Spanish, in turn, shapes these forces.
SPAN 485: Business and Society in Latin America
Veronica Haun | MW, 9:35AM-10:50AM
This course explores the development of Latin American society in the business and economic contexts and investigates areas such as importation and exportation, the health and education systems, banking and financial institutions, agriculture, and the textile, fashion, wine, motion picture, music, and media industries.
SPAN 492: Latinx Community Engagement
Karina Kline-Gabel | W, 12:40PM-1:30PM
This course gives students the opportunity to collaborate with the local Spanish-speaking community through semester placements in schools or service agencies. Students will develop a better understanding of the Hispanic culture as well as immigration issues affecting the community.
Course Directives
ENG 221-4: Literature / Culture / Ideas [C2L] - The Fantastic Feminine
Majo Delgadillo | TTh, 9:35AM- 10:50AM
The Fantastic Feminine: History, Gender and Wonder. In this class we'll rethink history through the lens of Latin American women writers from the 20th and 21st centuries. By learning about colonialism, imperialism, racism, colorism and violence in the context of Latin America, we will learn narrative strategies that look to challenge and subvert the historical expectations and roles of women and minorities in these countries. While the class is centered around historical and social processes, we will focus on authors who have crafted narrative pieces that subvert what testimony and history mean, through the use of research and archives; but also, of the fantastic, wonder, and horror. Be aware that due to the topics, both fictional and historical, some of the writing will include depictions of violence.
ENG 302-2: Special Topics in Literature and Language: Caribbean Writers
Lauren Alleyne | TTh, 9:35AM- 10:50AM
Study of a particular literary or linguistics topic. (May be repeated for credit when course content changes but not more than once, except with the approval of the department head.)
HON 300-8/IDLS 385: The Unfinished Journey of People of Color in the United States
H Gelfand | TTh, 3:55-5:10 Online
This course is an in-depth interdisciplinary study of people of color in Contemporary America, centered on the experiences of people who identify as African American, Asian American, Hispanic and Latinx, Native Alaskan, Native American, and Native Hawaiian, as well as the many communities that make up each of these identities and cross the boundaries of these identities. The course focuses on cultural, economic, political, and social factors, and explores social activism, cultural perseverance, immigration, sexuality, discrimination, historical trends, environmental justice, governmental policies, and structural challenges that have helped to define these communities’ experiences. Finally, we will work together to contemplate paths forward toward making life in this country more equitable, fair, and accepting in a future in which people of color become the majority of the American population.
JUST 328: Race, Class, and Justice
Graciela Perez | MWF, 12:40PM-1:30PM
This course provides students with an overview of contemporary justice issues in a comparative perspective. It includes an introduction to case-studies, comparative research methods and cross-national comparisons of justice issues concerning race and class.
JUST 357: Environmental Justice
Case Watkins | TTh, 12:45PM-2:00PM
This course provides students with an interdisciplinary introduction to environmental justice. Emphasizing how contemporary environmental issues are profoundly rooted in social, political, and economic conditions, students will apply principles and conceptions of justice to ecological challenges and sustainability efforts in local, national, and global contexts.
POSC 341: Social Movements in the US & Abroad
Kristin Wylie | MW, 3:25PM-4:40PM
In this course we will comparatively analyze the origins, modes of action, and impact of movements centered on four issues: race, gender, immigration, and sexuality. We will make comparisons between the civil rights & BLM movements in the United States and the anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa; women’s movements in the United States, Brazil, & Chile; immigrant rights movements in the United States & Europe; and LGBTQ+ movements in the United States and the global South. The goal of this comparative enterprise is to examine intersectionally how different socioeconomic and political contexts shape social movements based on common issues. We will emphasize how social movements emerge and function within and alongside existing structures of formal politics.
POSC 371-1:Topics in Comparative Politics (Black Politics)
Jaimee Swift | MWF, 11:30AM-12:20PM
This course is an introduction to how Black political scientists and Black communities have developed and articulated a Weltanschauung or worldview that situates their political thought, behavior, productions, leadership, and pathways to liberation from historical, contemporary, transnational, and intersectional frameworks. Topics discussed in this course include political organizing for social justice; political thought and philosophy; formal and informal political leadership; race, gender, class, and sexuality; electoral politics; and more.
POSC 371-2: Topics in Comparative Politics (Global Black Feminist Politics)
Jaimee Swift | MW, 1:50PM-3:05PM
This course explores how anti-Blackness, racialization, transphobia, misogynoir, violence, and more impact the everyday lives of Black women and gender expansive communities from a transnational Black feminist lens. We will explore how racialized, gendered, and sexualized hierarchies manifest themselves in various country and societal contexts, and how these hierarchies historically and contemporarily shape the socio-political and cultural exclusion of Black women and gender expansive communities. In centering Black feminist politics, we will investigate how Black women and gender expansive people globally are resisting state and structural exclusion from intersectional perspectives. Countries of exploration include Australia, Brazil, Cuba, Haiti, South Africa, Uganda, Ghana, the United States, and more.
SCOM 248-1/2/3/4/5/6: Intercultural Communications
Michael Broderick |
Michael Broderick |
Mohammad Ala Uddin | MW, 5:00PM-6:15PM (Section 5)
Mohammad Ala Uddin | Online (Section 6)
The study of human communication in a variety of cultural settings and contexts. Emphasis on developing understanding and analytical skills regarding communication between people from different racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds in both domestic and international settings. Consideration of relevance and application to social, business and political environments.
SCOM 313-2: Topics in Communication Studies: IMMIGRANT ADVOCACY
Carlos Alemán | TTh, 11:10AM-12:25PM
Study of current topics and issues in human communication. Emphasis on contemporary theories, research and principles.
SCOM 347: Communication, Diversity, and Popular Culture
Reslie Cortes | TTh, 11:10AM-12:25PM
This course explores the representational, institutional and communication practices that contribute to the construction of identities and diversity in popular culture. Students will explore how ideologies are reproduced and how understandings of race, class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, ability and a range of other intersecting axes of identity are shaped within popular culture artifacts. Emphasis will be placed on critical analysis of current popular culture texts.
Spring 2023 Courses
Core Courses:
Minors must take 2 core courses (6 credit hours). The following are available Spring 2023:
Verónica Davíla- Ellis
Following the guiding principles of the Cluster Two, this course introduces students to the history of hemispheric Latinx Feminisms through the study of popular cultural performances produced by communities of Latin American descent across the Americas. We will engage with the most pressing issues tackled by feminist movements since the 1960’s and follow through their development into the present moment, WE will do this by looking at the multiple ways in which popular culture has provided spaces to debate, teach, innovate, and question in tandem with both grassroots and institutionalized forms of social movements. By providing a historical overview of the development of these discourses and movements alongside the cultural production of migrant, displaced, and colonized communities, students will be able to critically engage with the theoretical and social lines of dissension and allyship between US hegemonic women’s movements and grassroots women of color, queer and trans Feminisms. Additionally, students will learn how to interpret and critically analyze performances by Latinx cultural producers, finding meaning both in mainstream and commercial culture as well as in the marginalized and independent cultural products, and understanding the various narratives of belonging across racial, ethnic, and gender groups in the Americas. Some of the questions we will be tackling are How are Latinx feminisms different from Western, European, and White US feminisms? How does popular culture help engage audiences with social issues, while responding to the heterogeneous experiences of communities of Latin American descent in the United States? What value does popular culture hold in our society?
Bill Van Norman | TTH, 12:45PM - 2:00PM (Section 4)
SPAN 308: Latin American Cultures
Tomás Regalado-López | MW 3:25-4:30pm
Elective Courses:
Minors must complete 4 electives. The following are available this Spring:
EDUC 310: Teaching in a Diverse Society
Diana Meza |
Diana Meza |
Ruthie Bosch |
Ruthie Bosch | M
This course will examine how personal and professional values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors affect teaching and learning. The pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of similar unique characteristics of Pre-K to 12 grade students and their families, including culture, race, ethnicity, heritage language and learning abilities, gender socialization and sexual orientation.
GEOG 339: Geography of the Caribbean
Mary Kimsey |
This course is designed to give students a general geographical overview of the islands states and territories surrounded by the Caribbean Sea. Students will study physical landforms, weather and climate, environmental issues, population characteristics, history, local and regional politics, and economic aspects of political units in the region.
HIST 401-2: Slave Trade & Capitalism
Bill Van Norman |
HON 200-2: Multicultural Leadership
Gabriel Driver, Fawn-Amber Montoya | Th
Multi-Cultural Leadership II: Application and Praxis. DESCRIPTION: This team-taught course will expand on the Hon 200 multicultural leadership Fall 22 course. It will address one's background and culture impacts their leadership style. Students will design individual and group projects that reflect current strategies for leadership that focus on diverse histories and cultures. In addition, there will be a specific focus on poetry, creative writing, and cultural interactions of Black and Latinx populations. This course is the second half of a 2 part course. Please get in touch with the instructors if you did not take the 1st part of the course and would still like to enroll.
HON 300-12: Latinx Voices
Fawn-Amber Montoya | MW
The class will focus on the experiences of Latinos in the United States and neighboring countries. Students will explore ideas of Latinx culture within the context of literature, music, and film. *This course will have a mandatory field trip to the Dominican Republic during spring break.
LAXC 299:
Kristin Wylie | TBA
The LAXC Social Media and Outreach Internship (1-3 credit hours) entails four primary roles: creating and promoting content for LAXC social media accounts, cultivating collaborative relationships across LAXC and with LAXC affinity groups (i.e. Latinx Student Alliance, Madison Hispanic Caucus, Scholars Latino Initative, other student and community organizations), and promote the LAXC minor through social media accounts, class visits, and attending student organizations' events, and holding weekly office hours in the LAXC-MHC space, Moody 102.
SPAN 365:
SPAN 375:
Diana Galarreta-Aima |
SPAN 395: Latin American Poetry
Tomás Regalado |
SPAN 404:
SPAN 476: Culture and Medicine in Latin America
Diana Galarreta-Aima |
Note: Students must take coursework in at least three disciplines, with no more than 9 hrs from a single discipline.
Course Directives:
Courses count for credit with permission of LAXC adviser. Contact Dr. Becca Howes-Mischel (howesmre@jmu.edu) for a course directive. The following are available this Spring:
ENG 221-2: Literature / Culture / Ideas [C2L]
María José Delgadillo |
ENG 367: Latinx Literature
Jason Baltazar |TuTh
This course is a study of literature by U.S. Latinx authors. The course explores the way writers from a variety of racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds who identify as Latinx use the written word in service of narrating counter-histories, identity formation, and aesthetic and imaginative engagement with the world.
JUST 356: Refugees & Humanitarian Response
Daniel Beers |
POSC 366: Politics of Race & Ethnicity
Rachel Torres | MW
POSC 367: U.S. Immigration and Refugee Law
Jennifer Byrne | TTh
SCOM 248: Intercultural Communication
Michael Broderick | TTH
Michael Broderick| MWF
Reslie Cortés | MWF
Kristiana Baez | TTH
The study of human communication in a variety of cultural settings and contexts. Emphasis on developing understanding and analytical skills regarding communication between people from different racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds in both domestic and international settings. Consideration of relevance and application to social, business and political environments.
THEA 303:
Rachel Rhoades | Th
