SP312 “Oral Practice and Composition Abroad: Maya Yucatec Cultural Expressions”, Professor Jessica Sánchez

Arrival in Izamal, México: August

In this course, students will explore a diverse array of cultural expressions by contemporary Maya Yucatec artists and creators. Students will immerse into the works of award-winning novelist Sol Ceh Moo, poet Briceida Cuevas Cob, and the groundbreaking Maya rap by ADN Maya Colectivo, featured in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Throughout the course, students will analyze, learn, and engage in the process of unlearning to understand the cultural productions by Maya creators. The focus extends to how these Indigenous creators not only thrive in their communities but engage, navigate, and succeed in a globalized society.

Fulfills 1 unit of the language study requirement.

Block 2: SP307 “Maya Yucatec Territories, Resistance, and Activism”, Professor Jessica Sánchez

In this course, we will delve into how Maya Yucatec artists, producers, community members, and activists have historically challenged settler colonial nation-states and their allied forces; the oppression and dispossession of native lands; erasure and genocide. We will analyze a variety of media such as literature, photography, art, songs, film, and digital technologies to emphasize listening, visual, bodily, and sensory practices. With this approach, students will have the opportunity to situate and discuss media productions within systemic structures of power and relations. Finally, students will examine how producers intricately interweave racial, ethnic, gender, linguistic, cultural, political, technological, and historical dimensions in their works.

Fulfills 1 unit of the language study requirement. Fulfills 1 unit of Creative Expression.

Block 3: PG300 Portuguese for Spanish Speakers, Professor Naomi Wood

Arrival in Salvador Brazil: TBD

Through an immersive language experience, students will study Brazilian Portuguese language and Bahian culture. This is an accelerated introduction to Portuguese language. Students with intermediate level Spanish, French, or Italian are eligible. Students who have studied Portuguese language prior will be placed into a higher level language section. Prerequisite: SP201, placement into SP305, or Consent of Instructor.

Fulfills 1 unit of the language study requirement.

Block 4: PG308 “Comunidades quilombolas da Bahia: Territories, Resistance, and Activism”, Professors Naomi Wood and Feva Omo Iyanu

In this course students will explore various comunidades quilombolas, or collectives formed by ancestors of formerly freed enslaved Black and Indigenous populations, in the state of Bahia. We will study the historical formation, the contemporary relationship between the comunidades and the Brazilian State government, and the sustainable economic and environmental justice activism fostered within the collectives. Students will study contemporary struggles against mega-corporations and State violence through conversations with current residents and leadership, and engagement with cultural production from within the communities. 

Fulfills 1 unit of the language study requirement. Fulfills 1 unit of Equity and Power Global.

Fall break: November 23 – December 1