USLT450

With attention to history, memory, politics, and culture, this course examines the relationships, conflicts, and exchanges of people and power between the United States and the Central American isthmus. We will investigate the role of the US government and military, as well as US corporate interests and US-backed dictatorships, in the culture, politics, and economy of nations including El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras. Through literature, feature films, documentary films, theatre, poetry, and other mediums, the class will analyze responses to this history in Central American cultural productions originating both from the isthmus and from Central Americans living in the United States. In addition to US interventions in the Americas, the course will examine migration from Central America to North America and will conclude by exploring the lives and activities of Central Americans living in the USA.