SOC 221 Representing E/migration from Latin America
This 2-unit course focuses on how emigration/migration from Mexico and Central America is represented in film. Before each in-class film showing, students will have read sociological analyses on the socio-economic and political conditions leading to emigration, or to the urgent exodus, from these countries beginning in the 1980s. We will also study film and sociological readings on the reception of Mexicans and Central Americans in the United States. For comparative purposes, we will examine some works on the U.S. reception of immigrants from Latin America, including Spanish-speaking caribeños. The value of learning about the socio-economic and political processes involved in the mass displacement of people through film is that students will learn about such human experiences and their contexts (that is, multiple interacting variables through time and space) in three-dimensional ways. As this is a 2-unit course, students should expect to invest at least six hours a week (including in-class time). Learning outcome(s): Students will learn about the contemporary humanitarian crisis in Mexico and Central America through a critical analysis of cultural artifacts.
Cross Listed Courses
This course focuses on themes of general interest to LLAS students as well as to all Latinx students whose parents are migrants or refugees.