Latin American & Caribbean Studies Spring 2026 Courses

LACS 12200 (PORT 12200)
Ana Lima
MWF 10:30 – 11:20 AM

This course is intended for speakers of Spanish to develop competence quickly in spoken and written Portuguese. In this intermediate-level course, students learn ways to apply their Spanish language skills to mastering Portuguese by concentrating on the similarities and differences between the two languages. Students with a placement of 20100 or higher in any of the other Romance Languages are eligible to take PORT 12200 for completion of the College Language Competency Requirement

LACS 14500 (PORT 14500)
Juliano Saccomani
MWF 11:30 – 12:20 PM

This is an accelerated language course that covers vocabulary and grammar for students interested in working in a business environment where Portuguese is spoken. The focus of this highly interactive class is to develop basic communication skills and cultural awareness through formal classes, readings, discussions, and writings. PORT 14500 satisfies the Language Competency Requirement.

LACS 15011 (GNSE 15011; RDIN 15011)
Kaneesha Parsard
MW 1:30 – 2:50 PM

Description TBD

LACS 16300 (ANTH 23103; HIST 16103; RDIN 16300; SOSC 26300)

Section 1: TTr 11:00 – 12:20PM with Nicholas Scott

Section 2: TR 2:00 – 3:20PM with Nicholas Scott

Section 3: MW 1:30 – 2:50PM with Brodwyn Fischer

Spring Quarter focuses on the long twentieth century (1870+), with emphasis on how Latin American peoples and nations have grappled with the challenges of development, inequality, imperialism, revolution, authoritarianism, racial difference, migration, urbanization, citizenship, violence, and the environment.

LACS 20401 (KREY 20400; CHST 20400; RDIN 20410)
Gerdine Ulysse
W 4:30 – 6:20 PM

This course will provide opportunities to promote deeper knowledge of the Haitian culture while emphasizing the development of writing skills in the Kreyòl language through the use of a variety of authentic texts and cultural experiences. Topics covered in the course will include the Haitian revolution, cuisine, and audio-visual and performing arts. Moreover, students will participate in different cultural exploration outings in the city of Chicago, which will provide additional opportunities to interpret cultural artifacts and reflect on the Haitian culture and its influence on the representation and daily lives of Haitians in the diaspora, particularly in Chicago. In this course, we will: 1) analyze different cultural artifacts in the Haitian cultures through primary and secondary texts, 2) examine the influences of these cultural phenomena on the representation of Haitians and the creation of Haitian identity in the diaspora, and 3) and reflect on the importance of cultural identity in a migration context. Those who will take the course for Kreyòl credits will also develop additional syntactic knowledge in the language through creation of diverse essays. This course will be conducted in two weekly sessions: a common lecture session in English and an additional weekly discussion session in English or Kreyòl.

LACS 20600 (PORT 20600)
Ana Maria Lima
MWF 11:30 – 12:20 PM

The objective of this course is to help students acquire advanced grammatical knowledge of the Portuguese language through exposure to cultural and literary content with a focus on Brazil. Students develop skills to continue perfecting their oral and written proficiency and comprehension of authentic literary texts and recordings, while also being exposed to relevant sociocultural and political contemporary topics. Students read, analyze, and discuss authentic texts by established writers from the lusophone world; they watch and discuss videos of interviews with writers and other prominent figures to help them acquire the linguistic skills required in academic discourse. Through exposure to written and spoken authentic materials, students learn the grammatical and lexical tools necessary to understand such materials as well as produce their own written analysis, response, and commentary. In addition, they acquire knowledge on major Brazilian authors and works.

LACS 21001 (SOSC 21001; HIST 29304; LLSO 21001; CHST 21001; HMRT 21001; CRES 21001; DEMS 21001)
Susan Gzesh
MW 4:30 – 5:50 PM

LACS 21100 (SPAN 21100)
Felipe Neri Pieras-Guasp
MW 3:00 – 4:20 PM

This sociolinguistic course expands understanding of the historical development of Spanish and awareness of the great sociocultural diversity within the Spanish-speaking world and its impact on the Spanish language. We emphasize the interrelationship between language and culture as well as ethno-historical transformations within the different regions of the Hispanic world. Special consideration is given to identifying lexical variations and regional expressions exemplifying diverse sociocultural aspects of the Spanish language, and to recognizing phonological differences between dialects. We also examine the impact of indigenous cultures on dialectical aspects. The course includes literary and nonliterary texts, audio-visual materials, and visits by native speakers of a variety of Spanish-speaking regions.

LACS 21200 (KREY 21200)
Gerdine Ulysse
MWF 12:30 – 1:20 PM

This advanced-level course will focus on speaking and writing skills through a wide variety of texts, audiovisual materials, and cultural experiences. We will study a wide range of Haitian cultural manifestations (e.g., visual arts, music, gastronomy). Students will also review advanced grammatical structures, write a number of essays, participate in multiple class debates, and take cultural trips to have a comprehensive learning experience with Haitian language and culture.

LACS 21900 (SPAN 21905, RDIN 21905)
Matias Spector
TBD

This course introduces students to the writing produced in Hispanic and Portuguese America during the period marked by the early processes of European colonization in the sixteenth century through the revolutionary movements that, in the nineteenth century, led to the establishment of independent nation-states across the continent. The assigned texts relate to the first encounters between Indigenous, Black, and European populations in the region, to the emergence of distinct ("New World") notions of cultural identity (along with the invention of new racial categories), and to the disputes over the meaning of nationhood that characterized the anti-colonial struggles for independence. Issues covered in this survey include the idea of texts as spaces of cultural and political conflict; the relationships between Christianization, secularization, and practices of racialization; the transatlantic slave trade; the uses of the colonial past in early nationalist projects; and the aesthetic languages through which this production was partly articulated (such as the Barroco de Indias, or "New World baroque," Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Modernismo, among others). In addition to enhancing your knowledge of Latin American cultural history and improving your close reading and critical thinking skills, this course is designed to continue building on your linguistic competence in Spanish.

LACS 22005 (SPAN 22005; RDIN 22205)
Danielle Roper
TTr 9:30 – 10:50 AM

This course will survey some of the main literary and cultural tendencies in Latin America from the beginning of the twentieth century to the present. We will pay special attention to their aesthetic dimensions, as well as the socio-historical and political conditions that made them possible, and in which they simultaneously intervened. Questions to be studied might include the innovations of the Modernist and avant-garde movements, fantastic literature, the novel of the so-called "Boom," cultural production associated with revolutionary movements, military dictatorships, and the Cold War, as well as new currents in literary and theatrical practices. Likewise, the course will foreground some of the following concepts relevant to the study of this production: modernity and modernization; development and neoliberalism; neo-colonialism and empire; cultural autonomy and ideas of poetic and cultural renewal; the epic vs. the novel; realism and non-verisimilitude; and performativity, among others. In addition to enhancing your knowledge of Latin American cultural history and improving your close reading and critical thinking skills, this course is designed to continue building on your linguistic competence in Spanish.

LACS 22600/32600
Instructor TBD
M 3:00 – 5:50 PM

Description TBD

LACS 24001 (ANTH 24001; HIST 24001; RDIN 24001; SOSC 24001)
Adam Green
TTr 11:00 – 12:20 PM

Description TBD

LACS 25540 (ENGL 25540)
Kaneesha Parsard
MW 3:00 – 4:20 PM

Description TBD

LACS 25805 (ENGL 25805; FNDL 25805)
Edgar García
TTr 11:00 – 12:20 PM

Description TBD

LACS 26382/36382
Diana Schwartz Francisco
MW 3:00 – 4:20 PM

Description TBD

LACS 26383
Callie Maidhof
MW 4:30 – 5:50 PM

Description TBD

LACS 27777 (CEGU 27777; FREN 2777; PORT 27777; RDIN 27777; SIGN 27777; SPAN 27777)
Nikhita Obeegadoo
TTr 2:00 – 3:20 PM

Description TBD

LACS 28498 (GNSE 20153; PBPL 28498)
Maria Bautista
TTr 11:00 – 12:20 PM

Description TBD

LACS 29002/39002 (HIST 29002/39002)
Instructor TBD
Time TBD

Description TBD

LACS 29299 (KREY 29300, FREN 29301)
Gerdine Ulysse
MW 3:00 – 4:20 PM

This course examines the concept of language identity (i.e., the language[s] people employ to represent themselves) in multilingual Creolophone communities, particularly in Haiti. This course also examines the relationships between language identity, learning, language use, and literacy development in these societies. By the end of the course, students will be able to explain: 1) what language identity in multilingual Creolophone community reveal about speakers and their language attitudes; 2) how context and mode of communication can impact language identity and language use; 3) literacy acquisition and achievement in Creole communities; and 4) how Creolophones' learning and literacy development are affected by language policies and ideologies. A final project will require students to design and conduct a preliminary sociolinguistic study based on students' interests in the French-Creolophone world.

Course taught in English. Knowledge of French and Kreyòl will be helpful, but not required. Students taking the course for FREN credit will read French texts in the original language and produce at least one piece of written work in the target language

LACS 29399 (SPAN 29400)
Sergio Delgado Moya
TTr 12:30-1:50 PM

Description TBD

LACS 32810 (SPAN 32810)
Larissa Brewer-Garcia
W 9:30-12:20 PM

Description TBD

LACS 38802 (SPAN 38800)
Carlos Halaburda
M 3:00-5:50 PM

Description TBD

LACS 38802 (SPAN 38800)
Carlos Halaburda
M 3:00 – 5:50 PM

Description TBD

LACS 41031 (ANTH 41031)
Instructor TBD
Time TBD

Description TBD

LACS 41100 (SPAN 41100)
Sergio Delgado Moya
F 3:00 – 5:50 PM

Description TBD

LACS 56205 (ANTH 56205)
Alan Kolata
Time TBD

Description TBD

LACS 64400 (SSAD 64400; SPAN 20306)
Veronica Moraga Guerra
9:30 – 12:20 PM

Social Work students will strengthen their knowledge of the Spanish language, especially the vocabulary and functions relevant to clinical social work practice. In addition, they will develop greater cultural competence concerning the Latinx community, enabling them to function pragmatically appropriately in a range of contexts. The course explores a variety of communicative strategies to adapt phonetics, register, and diction to rhetorical situations commonly encountered by clinical social work professionals. It also provides cultural instruction through a variety of readings and participation in hands-on, authentic activities.