U D 381E / ARC 327R / ARC 386M / CRP 385C / LAR 388 Seminar
Wed 9:30am – 12:30pm, SUT 2.110
Open to all ARC, CRP, LAR, U D, and non-SOA students
Juana Salcedo-Ortiz: juana.salcedo@austin.utexas.edu
Latin America is one of the most urbanized regions in the world with over 80% of the population living in urban areas. Cities have been both centers of cultural, political, and economic power, and social struggle, as well as sites of environmental change−"human ecosystem habitats" that in the process of urbanization have increasingly transformed their biosphere, surroundings, and more distant territories. This seminar discusses the history of urban Latin America. Throughout the seminar, we will understand cities as social and environmental formations and analyze the processes that have shaped urban Latin America. By looking at the material, geographic and architectural histories of cities like Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Bogota, Lima, Manaus, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasilia, we will explore the changing ideas, discourses and practices that have sought to define what is a "good city," as well as the social struggles for the city and the everyday lives of its inhabitants. We will use the extensive archives and collections held at the Benson Latin American Collection and the Blanton Museum of Art to enrich our discussions.
Image: León Ferrari, Cidade, from the series Heliographies. The Architecture of Madness, 1980.