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HILA 3559: Human Rights in Latin America
Sweeney
For the past seventy years, the issue of human rights has defined Latin American societies and political cultures. Today, Latin American countries continue to confront the legacies of human rights violations committed during decades of civil war and military dictatorship, as well as in the cradle of neoliberalism and during our current climate crises and backlashes against immigrants. Many social movements and social sectors have come to define their demands in human rights terms, and much of the art and literature emerging from Latin America speak to the tragic and transformative experiences of torture, disappearance and terror, or its echoes in the experiences of others. We will also look at the major triumphs of human rights activism, especially on the part of everyday Latin American citizens. This course uses a variety of interdisciplinary sources—film, performance, art and literature, as well as legal documents, testimonies, confessions and memoirs—to explore the implications of generations of trauma and resistance on politics and culture in Latin America and its diaspora today.
HILA 4511: Indigenous Latin America
Sweeney
What does it mean to be indigenous in Latin America today? How have understandings of “lo indio” framed history, politics and day-to-day existence in Latin America from the pre-Columbian period up until now? How might the shifting sands of human rights activism, extractivism, tourism, climate change, feminism, migration and pan-indigenous social and political movements continue to change understandings and experiences of indigeneity in Latin America and beyond its borders? This class will look at case studies from South America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, focusing on indigenous and non-indigenous first-hand accounts and secondary studies of the Latin American indigenous experience from the pre-Columbian period up until the present day. Documentaries, local sites and even products of popular culture will support our analysis of “indigenous” as a social and cultural category more broadly, while the questions of Afro-indigenous identity, indigeneities emerging after the 1990s, and genocide will be highlighted. Students will have a choice of writing two 15-20 page papers or a series of 7-page essays across the semester.