Isthmian Imaginaries: (Re)Orienting Central America

Catalog description

In the 21st century, the role of Central America in U.S. Latinx political discourse as well as broader geopolitical frameworks has become increasingly central to conversations regarding immigration, imperialism, and incarceration. This course aims to traverse the temporal and social fabric of the Isthmus through historical, literary, and sociopolitical frameworks to examine key themes across the region within Panama, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Costa Rica. By centering Central America, students will engage with the complexities of race, gender, class, governance, economic development, and social movements, while also considering its intersections with broader hemispheric and global contexts through the unique Central American subject-position. This includes specific attention to decolonial and abolitionist movements within the isthmus including that of the Maya, Garifuna, Nawat, Lenka, and Miskito. The course seeks to foster a nuanced understanding of the region's historical transformations and realities, emphasizing the ways Central America has shaped and been shaped by transnational dynamics. Student facilitators: Cecilia Xitlali Juarez and Kimberly Gonzalez-Zelaya.