LACS 263 - Poverty and Marginality in the Americas

SOAN 263 FDR: SS4
Credits: 3

In recent decades, a number of global transformations have increased inequality and marginality in various regions of the world. Neoliberalism has generated both opportunities and challenges to human development in different countries. This course will focus on how the undermining of safety nets, the decline of models of economic growth centered on state intervention, and the internationalization of labor markets have affected societies in Latin America and the United States. We will analyze not only the structural causes of marginality, but also how the experience of poverty varies for people in both regions. The course will rely on anthropological and sociological studies to address a number of key questions. How do disadvantaged individuals and families in the Americas deal with the challenges brought about by deindustrialization, violence, and environmental degradation? How do their communities struggle to sustain public life? Finally, what are the processes causing many of these people to migrate from one region to the other?