Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies course catalog

All 26 recorded UW–Madison courses in this department, including courses not offered this term. Open a course for prerequisites, historical grades and instructors.

  • AAE/ANTHRO/C&ESOC/GEOG/HISTORY/LACIS/POLISCI/PORTUG/SOC/SPANISH 982: Interdepartmental Seminar in the Latin-american Area

    1–3 credits

    Interdisciplinary inquiry in Latin American society and culture.

  • AFROAMER/ANTHRO/C&ESOC/GEOG/HISTORY/LACIS/POLISCI/SOC/SPANISH 260: Latin America: an Introduction

    Credits unavailable

    Latin American culture and society from an interdisciplinary perspective; historical developments from pre-Columbian times to the present; political movements; economic problems; social change; ecology in tropical Latin America; legal systems; literature and the arts; cultural contrasts involving the US and Latin America; land reform; labor movements; capitalism, socialism, imperialism; mass media.

  • ANTHRO/LACIS 361: Elementary Quechua

    Credits unavailable

    Phonology and morphology; concentration on the acquisition of conversational skills; reading of texts of graded difficulty.

  • ANTHRO/LACIS 362: Elementary Quechua

    Credits unavailable

    Continued introduction to phonology and morphology; concentration on the acquisition of conversational skills; reading of texts of graded difficulty.

  • ANTHRO/LACIS 363: Intermediate Quechua

    Credits unavailable

    Advanced morphology and syntax; advanced conversation and composition; cultural background of Quechua speaking peoples through reading of myths, legends and folktales.

  • ANTHRO/LACIS 364: Advanced Quechua

    Credits unavailable

    Continuation of advanced conversation and composition; cultural background of Quechua-speaking peoples through reading of myths, legends, folktales; problems in dialectology.

  • ANTHRO/LACIS 376: First Semester Yucatec Maya

    Credits unavailable

    Introduction to Yucatec Maya language. Focus on acquiring vocabulary and grammar for basic conversational proficiency. Taught through in-class oral and aural exercises, language tapes, and primary texts. Learn about Maya culture, history, folklore, and language politics.

  • ANTHRO/LACIS 377: Second Semester Yucatec Maya

    Credits unavailable

    Continued introduction to Yucatec Maya language. Focus on acquiring vocabulary and grammar for basic conversational proficiency. Taught through in-class oral and aural exercises, language tapes, and primary texts. Learn about Maya culture, history, folklore, and language politics.

  • CHICLA/EDPOL/LACIS 342: Education Across the Americas: Empire, Capitalism, and Resistance

    Credits unavailable

    Examines educational inequality across the Americas through the lens of imperialism, different forms of colonialism, and capitalism. By exploring the logics and actions of different education stakeholders, critically examine how educational policy across the hemisphere has a shared history of oppression and contestation.

  • CHICLA/HISTORY/LACIS/POLISCI 268: The U.s. & Latin America From the Colonial Era to the Present: a Critical Survey

    Credits unavailable

    A critical examination of US-Latin American relations from the colonial era to the present, tracing the emergence and evolution of the United States as a hemispheric and global power and its political and economic impact on Latin America. Primary attention will be focused on US relations with Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, but other Latin American countries will figure prominently during certain episodes.

  • CHICLA/HISTORY/LACIS/POLISCI 355: Labor in the Americas: US & Mexico in Comparative & Historical Perspective

    Credits unavailable

    Critical examination of the history of labor and working people in the Americas from the colonial era to the present. Focuses on the experiences of the U.S. and Mexico, offering a comparative perspective on their distinct but interconnected histories. Surveys major episodes in the evolution of labor systems, from colonial structures imposed by Spanish and British empires to the roles of slavery, forced labor, and industrialization. Examines the rise of corporate capitalism, labor unrest in the post-Civil War U.S., labor's role in the Mexican Revolution, and the impact of the Great Depression and post-WWII labor incorporation. Includes the shift to neoliberalism in the late twentieth century and the emergence of an integrated North American production system and its consequences for workers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border.

  • CHICLA/LACIS/SPANISH 282: Citizens of Photography

    3 credits

    Explores photographic archives and photography-based aesthetic projects that reflect on the experiences of the Latinx, Caribbean, Latin American and AfroAmerican experience. Explores race and identity, migration, marginalization and colonialism in the USA, as well as key moments in Caribbean and Latin American history and culture: revolutions; dictatorship and genocide; globalization and violence; environmental and financial catastrophes. Stimulates critical thinking about power structures and political representation. Encourages political participation in a multicultural society and contributes to a deeper understanding of the experience of marginalized groups.

  • HISTORY/INTLST/LACIS 242: Modern Latin America

    Credits unavailable

    A broad overview of Latin American history in the modern period, since independence but with a primary focus on the twentieth century. Particular emphasis will be placed on the socioeconomic, cultural, and political structures and processes that shaped and continue to influence life in Latin America. Key issues such as colonialism, nationalism, democracy, and revolution will be examined critically in light of broad comparative themes in Latin American and world history. Among the topics to be explored in detail will be the Mexican and Cuban revolutions, populism and dictatorship, socialism and neoliberalism, and drugs and migration.

  • HISTORY/LACIS 243: Colonial Latin America: Invasion to Independence

    3–4 credits

    An introductory survey of colonial Latin American history, from the late fifteenth to the early nineteenth century. Examines developments in Spanish and Portuguese America by reading both secondary and primary sources. Beginning with fifteenth-century Europe, the Americas and West Africa, discusses European expansion and invasion, first contacts between the so-called Old and the so-called New Worlds, as well as the role of religion, sexuality, gender, labor and production, trade and exchange, and politics. Each week, a central question will address the topic for that week. Become familiar with and contextualize key processes and events in colonial Latin American history and learn about the nature of colonization. Identify and evaluate historical arguments. Practice interpreting primary sources and building historical arguments about them.

  • ILS/LACIS 367: The Literature of Migration and the Migrant Experience in the Americas

    3 credits

    Explores literature to understand representations and experiences of migration within the United States, and in the Americas more broadly, over time and across cultures. Focusing on literature and employing historical and psychoanalytic interpretive approaches, critically analyze artistic and literary representations of the migrant experience. Topics include: the relationships between literature, art, and migration; the role of migrants in constructing the United States; the role of art and literature in the empowerment of marginalized groups. Analyze literary texts in their contexts using tools of literary analysis and express ideas about literary texts and art from a critical perspective.

  • LACIS 200: Topics in Latin America: Introduction to Contemporary Issues

    Credits unavailable

    An introduction to pressing issues shaping Latin America and the Caribbean in the twenty-first century. Political, social, cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions of the region are examined, with particular attention to how these spheres intersect in shaping everyday life and regional development. Topics may include democracy and governance, inequality and social movements, migration and transnationalism, cultural identities and artistic expression, climate change and sustainability, and questions of human rights and global interdependence.

  • LACIS 300: Topics in Latin America: Intermediate Issues and Debates

    Credits unavailable

    Examine central interdisciplinary debates in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Uses scholarly readings and case studies to explore themes such as democracy and governance, inequality and social movements, migration and diasporas, cultural identity and representation, environmental change and sustainability, and questions of human rights. Gives attention to the diversity of voices that shape the region, including Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and Caribbean perspectives, and to the ways local and regional issues intersect with global trends.

  • LACIS 320: Climate Justice in Latin America

    Credits unavailable

    Examines the impact of climate change on Latin America and the Caribbean, focusing on justice initiatives and community solutions that enhance resilience. Frames the region's ecological diversity, extractive economies, and ongoing struggles for environmental justice. Analyzes the disproportionate effects of climate change on marginalized groups - such as Indigenous peoples, rural populations, displaced persons, and the urban poor - while considering the political, economic, and historical forces that shape these injustices. Considers specific climate struggles, justice campaigns, and regional efforts to adopt sustainable practices.

  • LACIS 440: Topics in Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies

    1–4 credits

    An examination of specific topics related to the Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian region. Topics vary each semester, but may include specific themes in history, literature, media, political science, sociology, culture, politics, social work, and agriculture.

  • LACIS 450: Latin America Now: Democracy and Media in Latin America

    Credits unavailable

    In depth exploration of contemporary democracy in Latin America with emphasis on political institutions, democratic legitimacy, and the role of media systems in shaping public life. Examines how citizenship, political identities, and public trust are influenced by journalism, television, and digital platforms, with attention to campaign communication, mediated public debate, polarization, populist discourse, and the circulation of disinformation. Emphasizes interdisciplinary analysis of key regional challenges including inequality, corruption, violence, migration, and human rights, highlighting how these dynamics affect governance, elections, accountability, and civic participation. Focuses on critical engagement with classic and emerging scholarship and on the application of conceptual tools to interpret democratic conflict, crisis, and resilience across the region.

  • LACIS 500: Topics in Latin America: Advanced Seminar on Contemporary Issues

    Credits unavailable

    In-depth exploration of contemporary issues in Latin America and the Caribbean, with emphasis on theoretical frameworks, methodological approaches, and interdisciplinary analysis. Examines themes such as democracy and governance, inequality and development, migration and diasporas, cultural identity and expression, environmental justice, and human rights through sustained engagement with scholarly literature and research. Emphasizes critical analysis of classic and emerging scholarship, including the interrogation of assumptions, comparison of methodological perspectives, and application of conceptual tools to the study of the region. Includes the design and completion of an original research or policy-oriented project contributing to academic and professional debates in Latin American and Caribbean Studies.

  • LACIS 681: Senior Honors Thesis

    3 credits

    Mentored individual research and study for students completing a thesis in an Honors program.

  • LACIS 682: Senior Honors Thesis

    Credits unavailable

    Mentored individual research and study for students completing a thesis in an Honors program.

  • LACIS 698: Directed Study

    Credits unavailable

    Advanced directed study projects as arranged with a faculty member.

  • LACIS 699: Directed Study

    1–6 credits

    Advanced directed study projects as arranged with a faculty member.

  • LACIS/SPANISH 285: Race and Culture in the Americas

    3 credits

    Examine how the experiences of marginalized groups in the U.S. are profoundly intertwined with hemispheric historical processes. Review the categories that emerged to conceptualize human difference as European colonizers dispossessed indigenous peoples of their lands and inaugurated the forced migration and enslavement of peoples from Africa. Focus on how race was transformed after the revolutions of independence, exploring key concepts such as the one drop rule, mestizaje, racial democracy, and color-blindness. Explore how race intersects with gender, class, and migration, as well as with slavery, anti-colonial struggles, and US expansionism. Examine common assumptions in comparisons of race relations -e.g., the idea of a more more "fluid" understanding of race in Latin American countries, versus the binary models of the U.S.