Indigenous Mexico

Currently, Mexico considers itself a pluricultural nation. This has not always been the case. Indigenous peoples have always lived in Mexico, but their visibility and inclusion within the nation has ranged. We will start studying Mexico before it was Mexico and continue into the present day. Through historical texts, literature, art, and film, this course will explore how Indigenous people have been represented and represent themselves, how Indigenous cultures were appropriated by the state, and how Indigenous peoples continue to fight for autonomy on various fronts.CRN: grad 54430,...

Unwritten Textualities: Indigenous Literatures and Beyond

Indigenous literatures are often placed in binaries and in a western chronological timeline, from oral to written and from traditional to modern. And yet Indigenous literatures of Abiayala include a wide range of textualities, with many Indigenous authors claiming that there are not always strict separations between the written word and other non-alphabetic texts, instead they are in conversation and inform each other. This course will introduce students to various forms of Indigenous textualities and the connections between them. Students will read poetry, oral stories, zines, murals and...

The Social Lives of Bilingualism

This course presents an introduction to fundamental concepts regarding language, bilingualism, and society, and furthermore, we will integrate these concepts with real-world applied contexts, specifically to technology and large language models, healthcare and health behavior, weather risk communication, business management, and immigration, law, and politics. You will learn about how languages, such as Spanish and English, are used and perceived in these contexts and how their use and perception can have positive and negative material outcomes for speakers. Texts include both scholarly...

The Social Lives of Bilingualism

This course presents an introduction to fundamental concepts regarding language, bilingualism, and society, and furthermore, we will integrate these concepts with real-world applied contexts, specifically to technology and large language models, healthcare and health behavior, weather risk communication, business management, and immigration, law, and politics. You will learn about how languages, such as Spanish and English, are used and perceived in these contexts and how their use and perception can have positive and negative material outcomes for speakers. Texts include both scholarly...

Global Varieties of Spanish

This Spanish dialectology course explorers the linguistic and social markers that give rise to the numerous varieties of Spanish spoken across the world. We will explore the relationship between language, individual and society in the context of the spread of Spanish across the world, concentrating on Spanish varieties spoken in Spain and Latin America, including the United States, but will also give an overview of Spanish in Africa (Equatorial Guinea, Morocco), and other parts of the world (Israel, Turkey, the Philippines). Students will synthesize information regarding how the Spanish...

Sociolinguistics

This course is an introduction to the theoretical and empirical foundations of sociolinguistic variation, with a specific-focus on Spanish-speaking and/or Hispanic/Latine communities. The course will start off with discussions of why we study sociolinguistics and how we can use our research towards efforts in diversity, equity, and inclusion. From there the course will introduce students to the field’s history, starting with variationist practices moving into questions of performance and indexicality. We will also pause before the semester break to have a week-long, practical workshop on...

Queering the Borders: Gender, Sexuality, and Migration in Latin American and Latinx Culture

Queering the Borders: Gender, Sexuality, and Migration in Latin American and Latinx Culture SPAN 246 (LLS 246) - SPRING 2026 This course focuses on the analysis of gender, sexuality, migration, and borders in Latin American and Latinx cultures. It serves as a survey course that introduces key issues and themes surrounding gender identities, sexuality, and borders, drawing on Gloria Anzaldúa's borderland theory. Her theory recognizes the experiences of immigrants, exiles, mixed-race individuals, queer communities, and those who cross...

"Tan Cerca de los Estados Unidos": U.S. Interventions in Latin America Through Literature & Visual Culture

This course addresses the conflictive relationship between the United States and Latin America through literature and visual culture. In 1891, Cuban writer José Martí published his essay Nuestra América, referring to Latin America as opposed to the United States and Canada. Martí clearly states that toward the end of the 19th century, the independence of Latin America was not threatened by Europe but by the predominantly North American power, namely the United States of America. Martí calls all Latin American nations to remain united and to fight against the rising...

Dr. Salvatore Callesano awarded $19,349 from Curiousity to Impact Fund

Salvatore Callesano
Prof. Salvatore Callesano has been awarded $19,349 in funds from the inaugural Curiosity to Impact Fund (C2I) by the College of LAS, to develop a general education US Minority Cultures course tentatively titled “The Social Lives...

Dr. Ann Abbott awarded 2026 SLCL Summer Fellowship

Ann Abbott
Prof. Ann Abbott has been awarded a 2026 SLCL Summer Fellowship for Specialized Faculty, for her project, “Near-Native: An Autoethnographic Book Manuscript about Languages and Cultures.”  The fellowship...
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