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Courses

Syllabi are for course approval and reference only. Students will receive up-to-date syllabi when their courses begin.

All students take two required courses: Peruvian Politics and the Local Agency Affiliation course, and choose either an advanced Spanish language course or a course on contemporary Peruvian literature. Students must enroll for a total of 10 credits. Courses may count toward the Spanish and/or Latin American Studies major or minor. All courses carry four Boston University credits with the exception of IP 400 which carries two credits.

CAS LS 304 Composition and Conversation in Spanish II
Prerequisite: CAS LS 212, fourth-semester Spanish, or the equivalent. Development of skills in spoken and written Spanish. Grammar review, vocabulary building, frequent compositions. Readings will include texts related to contemporary Peruvian life. Taught in Lima at the Universidad Católica. 4 cr.

CAS LS 452 Topics in Latin American Literature and Culture: Contemporary Peruvian Literature
Prerequisite: CAS LS 350 or equivalent, or permission of program director. Analysis of various twentieth-century Peruvian literary works: novels, essays, and short stories. Special attention will be paid to the representation of Peru’s multifaceted social and political realities. Taught in Lima at the Universidad Católica. 4 cr.

CAS PO 465 Peruvian Politics During and After Shining Path
This course provides a broad overview of the dynamics of politics since independence and places it in the larger context of Latin America’s alternation between authoritarianism and democracy. Shining Path’s emergence in Ayacucho and its growing capacity to spread nationwide are analyzed. Written assignments may be completed in English or Spanish. Taught in Ayacucho at the Universidad Nacional de San Cristóbal de Huamanga. 4 cr. Syllabus

CAS IP 400 Local Agency Affiliation
Participation in the daily routines of a government agency or non-governmental organization in Ayacucho. Each student is affiliated with an organization as part of their program of study. Among the concerns of these organizations are human rights, women's issues, nutrition, education, health, resettlement, microcredit, microdevelopment, and reconstructing civil society. A written report is required. 2 cr.

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Faculty

Courses are taught by Peruvian faculty who are experts in their fields and visiting Boston University faculty.

Dr. Pedro Lasarte, a native of Peru, is associate professor of Spanish at Boston University and the author of a number of publications on colonial and modern Latin American literature. He teaches Composition and Conversation in Spanish II.

Ponciano Del Pino is a doctoral candidate in History at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and has previously taught at the Universidad Nacional San Cristobal de Huamanga in Ayacucho. He has conducted extensive field research with survivors of the war that convulsed the Ayacucho region and he is the author of number of publications about memory, violence, and reconstruction.

Rocio Silva Santisteban has a law degree from the University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru. She has been a professor at the University of Lima and is a widely recognized poet and essayist. She is currently pursuing a doctorate in the Department of Modern Foreign Languages at Boston University. She oversees the community affiliations placement.

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