Chapter 23: Latin American, Caribbean And Iberian Studies: An Interdisciplinary Curriculum and the UN Sustainable Development Goals

This chapter illustrates how Latin American, Caribbean and Iberian Studies (LACIS) connects internationalization of its curriculum to the current UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly, the mitigation of the climate change, environmental degradation, and the economic and political inequality in the Luso-Hispanic World. The chapter focuses on the LACIS Lunchtime Lecture Series and the LACIS Interdepartmental Graduate Seminar with their recent special interests area on race and indigeneity, science and technology and the environment. We also briefly outline our program’s origins and evolution within the context of the 20th and 21st century debates regarding development. We explain how our current teaching and programming analyzes and questions the notion of sustainable development in concrete local contexts of Latin America, taking into consideration indigenous peoples’ life practices, values, and knowledge, the destruction of local ecosystems and migration.