230633 Studienprojekt: Latin@s in the Americas: "Viviendo la vida loca" (S) (WiSe 2008/2009)

By reading historical, theoretical and literary texts on Latin@s in the Americas, this interdisciplinary course will introduce students to the many practices of Inter-American Studies. In order to give students the opportunity to meet and learn more about intellectuals engaged in this field of study, a series of lectures by scholars and activists working in different areas of Inter-American Studies will also be integral part of this seminar. In this sense, this course presents a platform for understanding the way Latin@s disrupt hegemonic discourses about e.g. the idea of Latin America, the conquest of the Wild West, Manifest Destiny, the Border. Finally, through our historical, theoretical and literary readings, by the end of the course, we will have a better sense of the usefulness and the conceptual limitations of the "Latin@s" and "Hispanics" terms that by now have acquired real power in the public discourse in the Americas.