ITSF 4094: Education across the Americas
Course Overview: In this seminar, students will be introduced to education and social issues in Latin America and the Caribbean since the consolidation of national systems of public education during the twentieth century. Using theoretical perspectives drawn from development studies, globalization and comparative education, the course will include case studies of individual nations as well as issues embracing the region as a whole. Topics will include social and political dimensions of education, ethnicity and academic achievement, women’s education and social change, teacher preparation, student movements and patterns of migration. Moreover, the effects of projects financed by international organizations will be evaluated in terms of improved access, teacher training and intercultural understanding within the education systems of Latin America and the Caribbean.
ITSF 4060: Latinos in Urban Schools
Course Overview: Students will be introduced to theories and research explaining why Latinos in the United States are least likely of all major social groups to be enrolled in school and, as adults, are most likely to lack a high school diploma. The course will explore the racial/ethnic differences that exist between and within recent immigrant groups, drawing especially on research that shows the diversity of cultural backgrounds within Latino subgroups. Topics will include assimilation of new immigrants, educational achievement and persistence in school, language and schooling, the interplay of race and gender and class with educational attainment, and transnational communities.
ITSF 4007: Race, Class and Schooling: Ethnographic Approaches
Course overview: This course examines the role of schooling in the formation of race and class structures across the Americas, including Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States.
ITSF 4021: Foundations of Bilingual-Bicultural Education: Special emphasis on US Latinos
Course overview: This course focuses on the policies and practices of bilingual education as it pertains to U.S. Latinos -- the Latin@ child in his/her social contexts including home, school, and society; and languages and literacies in those social contexts. Through the Latin@ child we will study bilingualism, types and characteristics of bilingual education, bilingual education history and policy, and strategies for educating U.S. Latinos bilingually in the United States. This course will be offered once a year.
ITSF 4021: Foundations of Bilingual-Bicultural Education: Special emphasis on Latin America
Course overview: This course focuses on the policies and practices of bilingual education in Latin America. As such the course will study bilingual education programs and practices for indigenous peoples of Latin America, as well as elite types of bilingual education for the acquisition of English and other prestigious languages. Furthermore, attention will be paid to bilingual education policy and practices to address the circular migration of Latin Americans not only to the United States, but to other countries. This course will be offered once every two years.
ITSF 4025: Languages, Societies and Schools: Special emphasis on language-in-education policy across the Americas
Course overview: This course looks at language planning and policy for Latinos in the United States and in Latin America. It is especially designed to help students gain understandings of (1) languages in Latin America and how they are used in the United States; (2) language policy in schools in Latin America and the United States; (3) language shift, maintenance and reverse language shift, and in particular issues of language that surround immigration, the revitalization of endangered language communities, the spread of English and other world languages, and the role of power in sociology of language; (4) language, nationalism and globalization with respect to Latin America and the United States. This course will be offered once every two years.
ITSF 4027: Current Topics in Bilingual Education: Latina Women in Education
Course overview: A course on narratives of Latina women in education. The course will look at issues of feminization in teaching; on the construction of narratives (and multiple discourses) of the teaching lives of Latina women; and on the analysis of narratives as a methodology for creating knowledge about Latinas. This course will be offered once a year.
ITSF 5012: Culture and Society in the Caribbean
Course overview: Detailed survey, utilizing contributions from
theoretical approaches to anthropological research in the area.
Emphasis on socioeconomics, community studies, and sociopolitical
analyses.
