How do shared fictions within human societies shape and sometimes justify the exclusion of individuals or groups who do not subscribe to these narratives?

This course uses 20th and 21st century Latin American pop culture (television, film, music, and visual arts) and a variety of texts, both written and visual, to identify, describe and explain pressing questions regarding the scope of human fictions. This course will center in analyzing fictions which stage the political and socioeconomic associations of ethnic groups in regions dominated by Hispanic elites. Starting with the textbook Latin American Politics and Society: A Comparative and Historical Analysis (Cambridge University Press, 2022) by Gerardo Munck and Juan Pablo Luna, this course engages students in the critical examination of empirical data, oral history, maps, and chronologies using a multi- disciplinary approach garnered from history, sociology, cultural studies, and political sciences. Students will scrutinize the complexities of Latin American societies by evaluating the expansion of democracy and citizenship rights, and responses to abuses of human rights, corruption, and violence. They will compare the data with pieces of Latin American pop culture to understand how fiction portrays, imbeds, or questions stereotypes, prejudice, and racism into shared fictions.