A.   Focus on a specific cultural tradition, custom, practice, expression (which could include clothing, food, coffee, music), or historical topic that pertains to a particular people, nation, or region in the Americas covered in the course.  Historical and cultural examples covered in the course material (i.e. from the reading, lecture & viewing material) are acceptable as long as you develop them into a presentable topic with newer research.

B.  Demonstrate comprehension of the course material and themes.  You topic should address or cover ideas and concepts from the course material where appropriate in the historical or cultural aspect of your topic.  Where does the legacy of colonialism, slavery, cultural hybridity, gender fluidity, and resistance in the Americas express itself in the historical and cultural traditions, customs, expressions, or representations that your topic covers?  This does not have to be the basis of your topic, but an item included in your research.

C.  Present academic and community engagement-based research and analysis, enhanced by visuals and graphics.  Depending upon whatever slideshow format or social media platform you use, creatively assemble your research and visuals into an engaging and informative presentation of your creative project topic.

Specifically, students should focus on cultures and histories that pertain to the course themes (colonialism, slavery, and resistance) in relation to the peoples of Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, South America, or Native American peoples in the United States.

Please review the basic requirements below for each specific media presentation format:

For projects created with Google Slides, Powerpoint, of Keynote, your presentation must be 8 or more slides.  This does not include your title slide and bibliography slide at the end.

For Instagram, you project must consist of an account with at least 8 or more posts.  Your posts should include images and text describing the content.  Your posts can also include video content in addition to images or photographs.  A separate document with a bibliography of your project’s sources must also be submitted.

For creative video projects, your project should be about 3 to 5 minutes max.  For this option, students are advised to upload their creative or educational video onto YouTube and submit a link to the video project along with a document containing a short description of the video project with a bibliography of sources.

The following is a list of general subjects and suggested topics, from which students can either a) choose and develop a more specific topic, or b) choose and research specific examples and case studies that bring a topic into focus.

• Students are free to create their own topic as long as it adheres to the course theme and criteria, and is approved by the instructor.
• Make a topic based on one of the more complex readings in the course.  Yes, you can make a project based on one of the readings, as long as you add to the research and discussion by connecting the reading material to a more recent and directly-related topic.  During the discussion forums, Prof. Espinoza will provide examples of how to use this approach to completing the assignment.
• Make a project about how colonialism and/or slavery are reflected in the history of specific Latin American cuisine/coffee/fruit/etc.  What types of historical or contemporary cultural mixing inform the “roots” of your example?

Make a project about how African and/or indigenous heritage is reflected in specific Latin American customs and traditions, including music, dance, performance, rituals, festivals, apparel, etc.

The following are popular topics directly-related to the course material:

the Muxes of Juchitán, Oaxaca, the EZLN in Chiapas, Mexico

the Migrant Caravan and the indigenous people of Central America

• Veracruz, Mexico, and the son jarocho music tradition
• Argentinian tango & its African roots
• Guatemalan indigenous history, struggle and resistance; Mayan culture & history

Honduran indigenous history, struggle, and resistance

bachata music and its roots in the Dominican Republic

Native American and indigenous history and cultures topics (focus on specific Native American and indigenous peoples in the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Central American, South America, Caribbean)

• Latin American and Native American gender identity topics (LGBTQ, gender roles, third gender, fourth gender)
• the Transatlantic Slave Trade and its legacy (human trafficking)
• U.S. Jim Crow-Era racial policies and the Black Lives Matter Movement
• Peoples and cultures of African descent in Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America
• The Chicano Movement, Chicano cinema, Chicanx critiques of U.S. foreign policy.
• Explore and explain Eduardo Galeano’s The Open Veins of Latin America, or Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz’s An Indigenous People’s History of the United States, or the 1619 Project.
• the United Fruit Company’s history in Central America
• German immigrants in Sinaloa, Mexico & the rise of banda music
• The history of cumbia music
• The Mesoamerican history of tacos; colonization and the history of Mexican, Central American, or Caribbean cuisine.
• The following is a list of general subjects, from which students can either
• choose and develop a more specific topic, or
• choose and research specific examples and case studies that bring a topic into focus, or
• use these suggested general subjects as a starting point to explore other similar or related topics

Native Americans, indigenous cultures, indigenous social movements in Mexico and Central America.

Mexican history topics, Mesoamerican Civilizations, indigenous and/or Afro-Mexican history and peoples, Mexican or Central American cultural traditions, cuisine, language.

Spanish colonialism in the Caribbean, Native Americans and slavery; the complex culture of the Dominican Republic, Haiti’s past and present, Afro-Cuban history and culture, the Cuban Revolution & US-Cuba relations, Puerto Rican history, the Arawak peoples, the Tainos, the Garifuna peoples in Central America.

• Peru’s history & culture, Afro-Peruvian music, the Inca Empire and culture, Machu Picchu, the Andes, Aymara, Bolivia’s history, culture, or politics, Argentina’s history, culture, or politics,
• Brazilian history, culture, or politics, Afro-Brazilian culture, Quilombos in Brazil, Zumbi and Afro-Brazilian consciousness, Native people and culture in the Amazon, neoliberalism & environmental issues in the Americas,
• Muxes of Juchitán, sexual identity in Latin American cultures, Native American third gender cultures
• Latin American, Afro-Latin, and indigenous music cultures, son jarocho music, mambo, tango, capoeira, bachata, the colonial history of cuisine in Latina America, quinoa in Latin America,

Any of the above, focusing specifically on the historical or social role of women, gender-fluidity, and other sexualities.