Labor in Latin America and the Caribbean: Pedestals and Veils of Disposability
SPAN 281
Fall 2025
| Section:
01
|
| Course Cluster and Certificates: Caribbean Studies Minor |
This course examines the racialized and gendered exploitation of labor that has long structured everyday life across the Western hemisphere. It asks how shifting productions of race and gender mediate the distinction between productive and disposable humanity. We will examine a variety of materials from the region spanning the colonial period to the present, including literature, film, visual and performance art, economic theory, political philosophy, grassroots activism, testimonials, chronicles, and journalism. Through these texts, we will problematize a range of interdisciplinary issues, such as the veiled continuities of conquest and enslavement, the accelerated pace of capitalist extraction of human and non-human value, and state responses to forced migrations of populations considered criminal, undesirable, or superfluous. We will also study aesthetic and lived examples of resistance from Latin America, the Caribbean, and their diasporas, with particular interest in how collective organizing has taken on new forms in the face of work's increasing informalization and precaritization. Building off these examples, students will develop an accessible final project that applies their research and analytical skills not only to produce knowledge, but to cultivate critical consciousness for the reader, listener, or viewer. |
|
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA RLAN |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: SPAN221 |
|
Fulfills a Requirement for: (Caribbean Studies Minor)(Hispanic Literatures and Cultures)(Latin American Studies) |
|
Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Literary texts by Baldomero Lillo, Rosario Castellanos, José Revueltas, José María Arguedas, Clarice Lispector, Diamela Eltit, Yuri Herrera, Aura Xilonen, Claudia Hernández, etc.
Narrative and documentary films by Vicki Funari, Ernesto Cabellos Damián, Nicolás Guillén Landrián, Julio Hernández Cordón, Ecologies of Migrant Care, Marlén Viñalo, etc.
Theoretical, historical, and critical works by Christopher Colombus, Karl Marx, José Mariátegui, Franz Fanon, Sayek Valencia, José Nun, Silvia Federici, Tithi Bhattacharya, Verónica Gago, etc.
|
Examinations and Assignments:
Class participation, weekly Perusall annotations, individual discussion facilitation, bi-weekly written reflections, a collaborative final project with staggered deadlines |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
:
This class is intended for students who have completed SPAN 221 with a B- or better. Students who have not done so should consult with the professor before preregistering. Readings, written assignments, and class discussions will be in Spanish. Only COL students may take this course CR/U. Students are expected to be active/informed participants in class discussions, further developing their spoken Spanish skills. |
Instructor(s): STAFF
Times: ..T.R.. 02:50PM-04:10PM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 8 | JR major: 2 | | |
| Seats Available: 14 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 1 | JR non-major: 1 | SO: 2 | FR: 1 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
|
|