| Course Title: Advanced Studies in Concepts and Practices of Power: 'The Agency of Things: Material Culture of Latin America, Spain, and the U.S. Border' |
| Start Date: 09/09/2026 End Date: 12/22/2026 |
| Term: Fall Semester 2026 |
| Description: What is a thing? What is stuff? Water bottles, bread, trash, relics, photos, dirt, a broken printer, your favorite socks... Where do they come from and where are they going? In this course we'll gain an understanding of the political, historical, spatial, and affective agency of objects. We'll study how artists, writers, collectors, hoarders, migrants, and things of modern-day Latin America, Spain, and U.S.-border areas engage with the inanimate things around us. Our study will be enlightened by theoretical discussions on "object oriented ontology," environmental humanities, the Anthropocene, everyday life, and automation. Students will also have a chance to decipher the meaning and trajectories of their own "stuff." |
| Distribution(s): I - Humanities , LANG - Language , MP - Multicultural Perspectives , SI - Speaking-Intensive , TP - Topics Course |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Megan Saltzman | msaltzma@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 09/09/2026 - 12/22/2026 | Lecture | Wednesday | 01:30PM - 04:20PM | TBA | TBA | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| Prereq: Two 200-level Spanish courses above SPAN-212. | Take previously | Required |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Taught in Spanish. |
| Course Tags | ||
| LATAM0001 | LATAM: Latin American Studies minor | This course has been approved to count towards the Latin American Studies major and/or minor. |
| ENVST-HUM | ENVST-HUM: Env Studies pre-2024 Minor - Humanities | This course has been approved to count towards the Environmental Studies minor Humanities area. |
| CRPE0001 | CRPE-1: CRPE - Major Pathway/Minor | This course has been approved to count towards the CRPE major pathway and the CRPE minor. |
| CRPE0003 | CRPE-3: Critical Social Thought - Major Pathway | This course has been approved to count towards the CRPE Critical Social Thought major pathway. |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Open | Capacity: 16 | Enrollment: 0 | Available: 16 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| To be determined. |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is NOT the complete book list for this class. |