Spanish 382 - Seeds in the Diaspora: Building a Postmigrant Garden

(Offered as SPAN 382, ARCH 382 and LLAS 382) This course aims to reconsider the concept of community in the context of migration and refuge rather than as a condition of settlement. It explores how communities form away from traditional places of belonging and national allegiances. We will investigate the distinctions between building community and practicing radical hospitality, examine spaces that welcome these initiatives, and explore practices that give rise to history, memory, and (re)telling for these communities. To examine these issues, the class will build a community garden with "seeds from the diaspora." Seeds migrants have carried with them throughout their journey as memories of where they are from. The following local partnerships will be key: Book & Plow, Center for New Americans, and the Western Asylum Support Network. Students will work closely with community partners in a compilation of participants' stories and memories about flowers, fruits, and herbs in connection with personal narrations of their transit and previous homes. This narrative component will be followed by research assignments and, finally, the construction and planting of the garden in collaboration with the community partners. The class will also include readings and assignments on migration and refuge, environmental justice and ancestral knowledge, gardening as artistic and political practice, and gardens as monuments and memorials. Conducted in Spanish.

Requisite: SPAN 301 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 20 students. Fall Semester: Professor Ferrari.

How to handle overenrollment: Preference given to students completing the Spanish Major

Students who enroll in this course will likely encounter and be expected to engage in the following intellectual skills, modes of learning, and assessment: Emphasis on independent research and community-based artistic practices.