So far, so good...

So far, I've thoroughly enjoyed this course. It's definitely lived up to my expectations. I've found the readings for this class interesting, and rather diverse. However, I enjoyed reading the more literary readings, such as the folk tales or the Borges reading, and wish there was a bit more balance between the academic and literary readings. But, maybe I'm speaking too soon! It is, after all, only half way through the semester.

I also like the way the course has been organized. Although we did spend quite a bit of time defining culture and "the people" in general terms before jumping into Latin American-specific popular culture, I felt this was necessary in order to understand the rest of the course.

I have found the readings & discussions we've had on mestizaje and racial mixture particularly interesting. Looking forward in the course, I see we have a few more lectures on this topic, and I am definitely looking forward to learning more about it. I feel like it's a very complex topic, with many different arguments for and against it. I also enjoyed reading the article by Vasconcelos. It was different from your conventional, university-assigned reading in that we were encouraged to challenge the author's arguments and ideas, and not just agree with them.

While the readings have been great, I also enjoyed the use of video and youtube clips that were used at the very beginning of the semester. I find I learn better when a variety of different media is used (such as writing, music, video). Hopefully there will be more of this later on in the course!