CHICANO 20
Central American Studies: Histories and Cultures
Description: Lecture, one hour; discussion, one hour. Survey of histories of Central Americans from time of independence movements of early 18th century to present. Major topics include local indigeneities, independence movements, 19th- and 20th-century dependency, state-nation and identity formation, politics of mestizaje, Indigenous resistance, imperialism and economic growth, relations with U.S., politics of development, and contemporary social movements. Letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2023 - Professor Abrego's class was very interesting and made me a lot more engaged in the topic of Central American culture and history. The class was manageable and well-structured, but the TAs themselves were not. Most would offer no help whatsoever and kind of just gave students whatever grade they felt like due to them also constantly cancelling class every week, which felt like I was not learning nothing after Week 4. The readings are actually useful and the class is graded on two open-note exams and an annotated bibliography. I would definitely take her again, just with different TAs if possible. She is very knowledgeable in the subject and her lectures were always super interesting.
Fall 2023 - Professor Abrego's class was very interesting and made me a lot more engaged in the topic of Central American culture and history. The class was manageable and well-structured, but the TAs themselves were not. Most would offer no help whatsoever and kind of just gave students whatever grade they felt like due to them also constantly cancelling class every week, which felt like I was not learning nothing after Week 4. The readings are actually useful and the class is graded on two open-note exams and an annotated bibliography. I would definitely take her again, just with different TAs if possible. She is very knowledgeable in the subject and her lectures were always super interesting.
Most Helpful Review
Spring 2023 - I took CCAS2O with Dr.Alma during the spring and it has honestly been my favorite class so far (1st year). As a Central American student, this class gave so much insight on knowledge that is not widely known by the common individual and that is definitely not taught in the typical American-history textbook. Truly it was such a good experience, engaging and really interesting. The midterm was an open-note quiz, and consisted of material during the lecture. So if you take notes, you will get a really good score and it was only like 10 questions. For the final you had the option to write an essay or create an infographic, I chose an infographic and it was honestly fun. Overall, the course was really easy imo and it was very engaging and interesting material. Dr.Alma is very kind, literally such a sweet person and you receive that vibe even just by listening in on lectures, even more when engaging or talking with her. 10/10
Spring 2023 - I took CCAS2O with Dr.Alma during the spring and it has honestly been my favorite class so far (1st year). As a Central American student, this class gave so much insight on knowledge that is not widely known by the common individual and that is definitely not taught in the typical American-history textbook. Truly it was such a good experience, engaging and really interesting. The midterm was an open-note quiz, and consisted of material during the lecture. So if you take notes, you will get a really good score and it was only like 10 questions. For the final you had the option to write an essay or create an infographic, I chose an infographic and it was honestly fun. Overall, the course was really easy imo and it was very engaging and interesting material. Dr.Alma is very kind, literally such a sweet person and you receive that vibe even just by listening in on lectures, even more when engaging or talking with her. 10/10