New Courses Spring 2010
THEA 591/ AFST 550 "Carnival and Festivals of the African Diaspora"
Instructor: Prof. Kathy Perkins
kaperkin@illinois.edu
The class will cover carnival in Trinidad, Brazil, New Orleans, Colombia, and also Brooklyn, Toronto, and Notting Hill.
*****
HIST 498B RESEARCH AND WRITING SEMINAR
Topic: Indians and Nation State Formation in Latin America
Instructor: Nils Jacobsen
This section of the undergraduate seminar has two goals: first, to achieve a good understanding of the varied and significant roles that indigenous groups played in the long process of building the modern Latin American nation states, from Mexico to Bolivia and Guatemala to Brazil; and second, to help students to produce a significant piece of research and writing associated broadly with the theme of the course. Each week we will read on specific aspects of Indian/nation-state relations - from the revolutions of independence 200 years ago to the modern indigenous rights movements. And each week we will tackle a specific task in the research and writing process so that everyone remains on target for producing a sharp paper at the end of the semester. Possible topics range from the portrayal of Indians in novels and essays, to indigenous rebellions, the recruitment of Indians for armies, and the role of protestant missionaries in indigenous communities.
*****
HIST 498C RESEARCH AND WRITING SEMINAR
Topic: Disaster and Dictatorship in Latin America
Instructor: Tillman, E.
This course examines readings and documents from across disciplines to examine natural disasters and their role in the political history of modern Latin America. We will analyze the historical effects of such disasters as floods, volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, earthquakes, and epidemics. Throughout the course, we will assess the impact that these events had on the societies and politics of Latin American countries, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries. The course emphasizes both through reading and individual student research projects, a wide variety of different types of natural disasters, and will also represent a broad swath of Latin American geography. Readings will focus especially on Mexico and Guatemala, Cuba and Haiti, Peru and Ecuador, and Brazil. Response papers and in-class discussions will address the ways in which the consequences of disaster in each of these areas is representative and ways in which they are geographically and culturally unique. This set of exercises encourages students to consider the more universal aspects of historical occurrences alongside the specifics that affect each individual occurrence.
This course provides a non-western view of disasters and their effects on society, how they are received, and their longer-term effects. Readings, discussion, and research confront such questions as geographical determinism. Students will analyze the reasons for certain common Latin American trends such as poverty and dictatorship. We will also address the aftermath of disaster by answering as to how disasters are represented and explained over time and how countries and populations recover. The latter question will form a large part of reading and discussion throughout the course of the semester, so that students will be able to address what happens to a national or group consciousness when foreign powers are called in to aid, when populations are uprooted, or when traditional industries are destroyed, to name a few examples.
In individual research projects, students will be asked to make connections between modernization/technology and poverty. The final research paper uses one historical example to address the following questions: How do different governments and government types respond to natural disasters? What role do these disasters play in the continuation or overthrow of governments—how are some overthrown because of a disaster while others manage to use them to stay in power or even increase their power? How does unequal wealth distribution affect the damage done by such disasters?
*****
DANC 441 Dance History II: Introduction to World Dance
UIUC Department of DanceInstructor: Sarah Nixon
sarahng@uiuc.edu
Dance Administration Building
T/TH 11-12:30
Our course trajectory loosely follows the path traced by our ancestors, over the course of millennia, from Africa, through Europe, across Asia and Oceania, and on to the Americas. Of all human activities, the performative arts are among the most portable: as peoples have circumnavigated and migrated the globe, they have brought with them a wealth of dance capital—a cultural commodity which has been shared and disseminated diasporically with others.
Our conceptual framework will therefore draw on core ideas from cultural studies and dance ethnology. Students will be introduced to traditional and current modes of inquiry in dance studies, and where appropriate, will seek to identify inherent canonical biases that may have distorted conventional methodologies and historiographies, while at the same time exploring approaches that promote cultural plurality and exchange. Our interpretive modality thus encourages critical thinking about the forces that shape dance forms and social attitudes to them. A truly engaged contemporary understanding of how dance forms evolve the way they do requires that we pay special attention to cultural politics: this means asking questions about power, agency, gender, inheritance, religion, science, war/ invasion, relocation, colonialism and tourism, to name some key considerations.
*****
HDFS 398 / HDFS 499
HCD STUDY TOUR: Family Strengths and Challenges in Brazil
This course will focus on contemporary urban Brazilian families.
The course will include a preparatory class during the second half of the spring semester to acquaint students with Brazilian history, culture, and current social conditions.
The 15 day study tour (tentatively scheduled for July 28-August 11, 2010) will include visits to two coastal cities (Rio de Janeiro and Recife). Activities will include observational and experiential assignments (e.g., observations in public settings, analysis of the built environment), field trips to institutions working with families, participation in social and cultural events, and regular discussions.
There is no formal language requirement, but students are encouraged to take basic Portuguese before the trip.
Open to undergraduate and graduate students from any UIUC department.
Application and instructor approval required.
Application required by November 15, 2009.
Estimated expenses $3,500.
Undergraduate students sign up for HDFS 398 (3 credit hours);
Graduate students sign up for HDFS 499 (4 credit hours).
Contact Marcela Raffaelli (mraffael@illinois.edu) for further information.
*****
New Courses Fall 2009
Local Policy and Immigration
UP 594V: Local Policy and Immigration
Professor Stacy Anne Harwood
CRN: 54909
Duration: Oct 19, 2009 - Dec 09, 2009
room 223, Temple Hoyne Buell Hall
9:30 AM - 11:50 AM Thursday
2 credit hours
This seminar reviews the major issues confronting urban planners working in diverse places. The course focuses on the day-to-day realities of communities facing rapid demographic, economic, social and cultural changes, as well as local level policy making in communities with large numbers of immigrants, particularly in cities and regions in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Course Topics
- National versus local impacts of immigration
-"Browning of the Midwest": who, where and what are immigrants doing?
Impacts on urban form and function: variations in the use of work, home and neighborhood space
- Ethnic enclaves: neighborhood revitalization and economic development
- Local politics around living and work conditions of immigrants
- Anti-immigrant legislation at the local and state level
- Immigrant-friendly cities - local policies and social movements
- Community participation in multicultural and transnational communities
Email if you have any questions: sharwood@illinois.edu
*****
Constructing African and Caribbean Identity
French 240: Constructing African and Caribbean Identity
Prof. John Nimis
CWL 225
226 Wohlers Hall
MWF 12-12:50pm
3 credits hours
*****