Ciao!

I think any given topic on the list would be interesting. Undergrads, on the other hand tend to gravitate towards hot button topics in current discourse.

I'd wager that religion and politics would generate a lot of interest. Although the ""non-Latin" Latin American" topic could invoke all sorts of interesting political concepts, eg. nationalism, cracks in the Westphalian system, political identity, etc.

So far my favorite is parties and party systems. But I don't know if that's "hot topic" enough for most undergrads.

Also, sadly, I'm not aware of very many non-Latin Latin American books (w/ the exception of the near-constant volume on indigenous stuff). For whatever reason, people don't seem to really study immigrant communities in Latin America. Yet only about 1/3 of all immigrants to the New World landed in North America. It's almost assumed that Latin Americans have either Spanish or indigenous surnames.

The first one!!!

I like the idea about parties and party systems. Specially if it is going to touch on the identity crises they are going through.

Perhaps you could include something about the fact that the void being left by the "traditional" parties is being filled by other groups, like social movements, civil society groups, etc.

You know, I am also developing a 101 course about politics in the Andes (Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru). Some ideas will be welcomed.

What about political issues of Latin America through the movie lens or sth like that? I would like to take a class like that, and I thought college kids like sth like that. It would teach them (mis)representations of reality by Hollywood and and introduce them to Latin America cinema and also would involve discussion of past/current political issues of the region (law & order, political movements, Marxism, poverty, violence, corruption, sexuality, religion, indigenous population, etc.). N.

Andean politics would be an interesting topic and would at least restrict you geographically (if you make the class title too open-ended it can be very difficult to cover the subject in one semester!)

Anything with "populism" in the title would probably also attract a lot of students who are into the whole Evo/Chavez South American socialism/populism movement.

Those are all great ideas. Thanks, y'all.

I'd love to do a film course some day, but it'd require me to have time ahead of time to watch a lot of films. Plus, I know next to nothing about "formal" film criticism.

As for Andean politics. I taught from Politics in the Andes (University of Pittsburgh Press) a year ago. I thought it was quite good; it also includes chapters on Colombia & Venezuela. There's also a book by Conaghan & Malloy, Unsettling Statescraft: Democracy and Neoliberalism in the Central Andes. It's a bit "thicker" than the first book, but it's focused exclusively on Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia.

And the winner is ... POPULISM. I'm going to teach a course on populism & populist movements in Latin America. I've already picked out five texts. I *might* change my mind, but it seems that's a hot topic all around. I might include a book (or some readings) on party systems in Latin America in general just to give a contrast w/ non-populist movements (socialists, liberals, etc).

I'd love to teach a course on the "non-Latin" Latin Americans (German-Argentines, Japanese-Brazilians, muslim Ecuadorians, Afro-Bolivians, indigenous peoples, etc)

This would be interesting, but wouldn't a large part of it be based on sociology and anthropology? I took a cultural anthropology course at the UCB in Cochabamba, in which one of the texts we read was by an Afro-Bolivian professor about the communities in the Yungas.

However, it might be interesting from the point of view of how these groups feel left out of the political process. A couple of weeks ago it was interesting to observe a small protest, which included Afro-Bolivians, the disabled, and gay and lesbian Bolivians all asking to be included in the Constituent Assembly.

It might also be interesting to look at majority/minority populations and groups with a disproportionate amount of economic power.

However, populism is a good choice. Will you be including others like the autonomy movement in Bolivia as a form of populism?

The idea of a "non-Latin" Latin Americans course is mostly because of the stereotype/myth of Latin America as a Spanish/Indigenous world. Some of that has dissipated, w/ more attention to Afro Latin Americans. But there's still this idea of Latin America as primarily "Spanish-American" in some way.

Yes, such a course would be very anthropological/sociological. But it'd be interesting as all get up. I'm having trouble finding books, though. They'd have to be in English (for obvious reasons), which is too bad. But I found what seems like a really cool book I can't wait to read about Japanese immigrants in Latin America (my best friend at school growing up in Bolivia was a Nikkei named Tadashi).

The book is: The Japanese in Latin America by Daniel Masterson & Sayaka Funada-Classen.

Mainly, I like the idea of challenging the notion that Latin America is "Spanish". It's as immigrant as the US/Candada, w/ its large German, Italian, Slav, Mennonite, Jewish, Japanese, Chinese, Syrian, Lebanese, Irish, African, and other communities.

For populism, I'm not going to have many books on autonomy movements in Bolivia (since it's such a recent phenon). But we'll certainly talk about it in class.

I'm probably too late to vote, but the non-Latin immigrant groups would be interesting. During WWII many Europeans came to South American, also the menonite and Japanese colonies. Look at the Italian of Buenos Aires, for example. Come to think of it there are a lot of groups who probably feel left out. Some of those probably don't care, but maybe I'm wrong. Also those who are left out are some of the indigenouse groups such as the Ayore.

I'd go for the first or third ideas.

I think the topic of populism is right on the money at this time. Ex. Chavez, Morales, even Lula and Vazquez, to some extent.

I might also see it in a historical context and explore the relationships between populism and caudillismo, and maybe also "personalismo" (with some tones of religion here). Also explore why is it that in LatAm. people tend to go that way.

As for literature, I think it is time that in the US students are expected to read texts in other languages. I mean, it is good that most of the literature is published in English, but to be able to read Spanish text or perhaps French text, should be already a custom.

In Germany for example, university students are expected to be able to read English texts. That is not even a question. If students take clases about Latin America, professors are keen on assigning literature in Spanish.

I would say that if students in the US would be pushed a bit to at least read in other languages it would only be to their advantage. There is so much literature available in other languages that it would only enrich much more their learning.

Hey, I didn't see this post earlier.
My top faves:

1.Latin America & national imaginaries
2. a course on the "non-Latin" Latin Americans (German-Argentines, Japanese-Brazilians, muslim Ecuadorians, Afro-Bolivians, indigenous peoples, etc)
3.Something related to the independence movements (here we can talk about Simon Bolivar, etc)

Also, a lesson or two on transnational crimes originating/between Latin American countries.

the transnational crimes would be interesting to me, too - but a criminal justice topic, ja?

I imagine they have mostly to do w/narcotraficantes ...

Tom, yup, the judicial system (ora rather, the failure of the criminal process) would be part of it. Human trafficking, drugs, counter-terrorism responses, black cover ops.