LLAS 250 Dialogue on Critical Latinx/Latin American Issues

This highly interactive seminar brings students from different identity groups together for informed, sustained, and respectful dialogue about “hot topics” in the lives of Latinxs in the U.S. There are three components to the course. Part 1 focuses on Dialogic Skill Building; Part 2 focuses on Power, Privilege, and Group Membership; and Part 3 focuses on specific Hot Issues (see below for specific topics). Course goals include a deeper intellectual and personal understanding of the structural implications of Latinx/Latin American identity in the U.S., honed ability to communicate across difference, and development of intergroup alliances. Seminars are co-facilitated by a faculty member and trained peers representing intersectional identities within Latinx culture. A semi-structured curriculum integrates readings, experiential activities, dialogue, and reflective writing. Next year’s topics include: Identity -- Who is Latinx? (phenotype, class, language, authenticity); (in)visibility and Representational Challenges (Beyond the Black-White binary, Media, ); Politics of Intersectionality and Simultaneity Across Contexts and Generations (Assimilation, Enculturation, Gender, Sexuality, and Religion); Educational Options for Self or Community (Curricular marginalization, Counterspaces or Balkinization); Political Resistance and Coalition Possibilities (Ideological tensions, Rebellious Lawyering, Work). Student demand will determine whether an Intragroup (all Latinx) Dialogue or an Intergroup (mixed race) Dialogue option will be offered.