Race, Culture, and Society in the Latino Caribbean
CRN
Course Number
Credits
Course Description
Increasingly, the Caribbean is becoming a critical area of study and interest to researchers, academicians, theorists and others who wish to understand the growing nexus between the Caribbean and U.S. Society. Changing relationships via US Presidents coinciding with a long history of immigration from the region has prompted a greater awareness of the hemispheric linkages and co-dependency between the United States and the Caribbean.
The purpose of the course is to provide students with Spanish language instruction at their particular level of competency and to examine the past and present context of how race, culture, and health have been experienced among peoples in and from the Caribbean. Particular emphasis will be placed on the various ways in which racial/cultural/health identities are influenced and complicated by questions of gender, class, religion, and sexuality both in the Caribbean as well as those Caribbean populations residing in the United States.
In conjunction with the Instituto Intercultural del Caribe (IIC) the course will be a quarter long course with six weeks spent in country that will provide for Spanish language training each week day morning with afternoon class sessions, seminars, and lectures on history, culture, politics, and health of the Caribbean region. The course will also feature Dominican guest lecturers, field trips, as well as weekend excursion trips that relate to the subject material and cultural understanding of the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean region. Students will also participate in a designated service-learning project with Haitian/Dominico students and given ample opportunity to intermingle with Dominican as well as other international students at both of the IIC campuses and surrounding universities in Santo Domingo and Sosua.
Prerequisites
none
Required Texts
Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World, Anu Taranath, (Between the
Lines), 2019
Credit/Evaluation
Since this is a faculty-led travel abroad course, participation within classroom discussions is vital. Students will also be assigned as discussion leaders and discussants on various topics throughout the quarter. There will be assigned 1-2 page response/perspective papers on particular guest speakers, videos, and excursions throughout the quarter. These will be determined by the instructor. Students are required to maintain a consistent Journal of their experiences and thoughts that will be reviewed periodically by the instructor. Students must also submit a final self-evaluative report that summarizes their perceptions, growth and development of learning while attending this class and residing in the Dominican Republic. Students will also be evaluated on their progress and final assessment in terms of Spanish Language Instruction. A written assessment of all student work in Spanish will be provided by the IIC instructional staff and included in the final teacher evaluation for all students.
Attendance and Participation: Your success in this course depends on you coming to class on time for all sessions inclusive of Spanish language instruction, class seminars, guest speakers as well as excursion trips. Illness is the only plausible excuse for missing any component of the course. The course will be handled as a graduate seminar course similar to what you would find at a major research university such as UCLA, U.C. Berkeley, Stanford and Harvard. This places responsibility upon you as a co-learner and contributor to each and every class. The instructor will rarely lecture in this class but instead will act as a facilitator of key questions and will prompt discussion and critical analysis on particular topics and issues. Students are encouraged to bring to class current events or news stories that pertain to the subject matter and content within the class. During most class sessions students at the beginning will be allowed to share items of interest pertaining to politics, culture, and current events pertaining to the Latino Caribbean and or Dominican Culture. Students are also encouraged to share their thoughts and ideas with classmates on any experiences or issues they encounter. Throughout the quarter the instructor will assign particular readings to groups of students who in turn act as discussion leaders and facilitators.