Semester:
Offered:
Professor, Americo Mendoza-Mori
Wednesday 3:00-5:45pm
As the original inhabitants of the Americas, Indigenous communities resist and thrive across the hemisphere, despite the dynamics of colonization that still affect their existence and way of living. Many prejudices affect these communities, sometimes perceived as ‘timeless’ and ‘pure’ subjects, when in reality adaptation and migration have been a constant characteristic for many of these groups. The course offers an exploration of the diversity of Indigenous Latinx communities across the United States and their migration processes and current enclaves in urban and rural areas: OaxaCalifornia, the Mixtec/Zapotec community in Los Angeles County; Quechua/Kichwa-language speaking groups of Andean heritage in the Washington DC and New York metro areas; Guatemalan-Maya neighborhoods in South Florida and California; transnational communities in what is now the US-México border, among others.
Additionally, this seminar will facilitate a platform to discuss expanding notions of Latinidad, mestizaje and Indigeneity, drawing on how current conversations, education and social movements are re-imagining identity. Throughout the class, students will be exposed to frameworks of decolonial history and knowledge, participation and agency, migration, notions of border thinking, and the current state of Indigenous rights movements.
Community testimonies and guest speakers, multimedia content, interdisciplinary readings, and class debates will be part of the dynamics of this course. This is a speaking seminar, open to all students, that will promote oral communication and critical thinking skills through discussions, projects, and prepared presentations.