Researching Cultures: The Black Parade: Black Social Movements in Columbia & Peru, 1960s to Present

3 units

This course is a conceptual and thematic exploration of Black social movements in Colombia and Peru from the 1960s to present. Learners will explore topics such as Black Consciousness, Black Women's Rights, civil conflicts and drug conflicts, land rights, environmental justice, genocides against Black activists, Black Lives Matter, forced and quasi-voluntary displacements, as well as COVID-19, among others. The course not only highlights the widespread resistance by Blacks against systemic racism and inequality but also movements that celebrate Blackness and the curation of Black representation in countries that have intentionally made Black bodies invisible. Through an interdisciplinary and intersectional approach in an inclusive and co-collaborative environment, learners will analyze, understand, and juxtapose multiple (trans)national movements centering on the dimensions of race, gender, and class in order to productively discuss Afro-Latin American history, culture, and politics. Although this course is focused on writing, research and instructor feedback, learners will have the opportunity to engage bi-weekly with articles, videos, music, children's books, poetry, performances, films, and much more. This course will have a strong, mandatory and graded written communications component, and it is taught in Spanish. It also fulfills the Writing Intensive (WI) requirement for Arts & Sciences students. Students who have taken more than four Spanish culture or literature classes are not allowed in this course and must proceed to a Major Seminar.