The course schedule is subject to modifications considering guest speakers, local organization visits, excursions, and communal activities. Class sessions will all run from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Local guided excursions, day trips, and free time are all specified below.
Important Dates
Departure from NYC JFK on Friday night, 1/2/2026.
Arrival in Santiago, Chile, on Saturday morning, 1/3/2026.
Communal lunch (cost covered by Brooklyn College) MR Mar Suites Hotel in Reñaca, Viña del Mar,
Check-In Saturday afternoon 1/3/2026.
Communal dinner Saturday evening: (dinner covered by Brooklyn College Study Abroad)
Sunday, 1/4/2026: FREE TIME! Rest/recover from travel and prepare for our first week!
WEEK ONE: JANUARY 5 – JANUARY 9
Day One: Monday, January 5th
Introduction to Study Abroad in Chile & Chile’s History
Class session #1 (9:30 am – 12:30 pm) with orientation and welcome keynote
Welcome Lunch (Covered by UAI)Viña del Mar guided walking tour (1:00 pm – 4:00 pm)
End of tour snack (Covered by UAI)
Dinner: Students on their own
Read the following to prepare for class today:
Book excerpts: Galeano, E. (1997). Open Veins of Latin America. Monthly Review Press. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online) – Only read the Foreword, “In Defense of the Word,” and the Introduction.
Chapter: Williamson, E. (2009). “Chile: Democracy, Revolution and Dictatorship” in The Penguin History of Latin America. London: Penguin Books. Borrow with free account from Internet Archive.
Listen to the following NPR Throughline Podcast Episode: “Democracy Dies in a Day,” OR Read the transcript of Democracy Dies in A Day. (Podcast).
News article: “How Chile Won Back Its Democracy” in The Atlantic.
Day Two: Tuesday, January 6th
Introduction to Chile’s History: Indigenous Communities
Class session #2 (9:30 am – 12:30 pm)
Valparaíso communal lunch (covered by Brooklyn College)
Valparaíso walking tour (2:00 pm – 3:00 pm)
Dinner: Students on their own
Read the following to be prepared for class:
Report: The Indigenous World 2025: Chile (pages 342-352). PDF from fully open book available on IWGIA website.
Article: “The Mapuche Struggle for the Recognition of its Nation: From a Feminine and Decolonizing Point of View.” Harvard Revista, 2023. Fully open web article.
Resource Shared in Class: Report: Mapuche Nütram: Historias y voces de educadores tradicionales, Pages 9-17 and 20-27 (In Spanish with excerpts translated by Prof. España. Class presentation will feature translations).
Day Three: Wednesday, January 7th
Black in Latin America: Chile’s Afrodescendant Community& Overview of Haitian Diaspora in Chile, Part One
Class session #3 (9:30 am – 12:30 pm)
Guest Speaker: Prof. Francois Pierre Louis
Afternoon and evening: Free time
Lunch & Dinner: Students on their own
Read the following in preparation for our class today:
Annotated Bibliography: Select one source from “Treatment of Haitian Migrants in Chile” from the University of California Hastings College of the Law Center for Gender & Refugee Studies. (Free online report).
Article: Pierre-Louis, F. (2011). A Long Journey from Protest to Incorporation: The Political Development of Haitians in New York City. Journal of Haitian Studies, 17(2), 52–72. (JSTOR. Login with BC Library credentials to read online)
Day Four: Thursday, January 8th
Black in Latin America: Chile’s Afrodescendant Community& Overview of Haitian Diaspora in Chile, Part Two
Day Trip to Santiago:
Visit with local Haitian Advocacy Organization (example: Fundación Sitadel or Ayisyen Nou Ye Production (We are Haitians), Santiago)
Historical walking tour through Patronato neighborhood, guided by Annette Garcia, Historian and Executive Director of Cultura Mapocho
Communal lunch (covered by Brooklyn College)Return to the hotel after lunch
Evening free time
Dinner: Students on their own
Read the following in preparation for our trip today:
Article: Lazcano, Cristian Báez. “Reflections on the Afro-Chilean Social Movement.” Harvard Revista, 2018.
Book chapters: Casimir, J. (2020). The Haitians : a decolonial history (L. Dubois, Tran.). The University of North Carolina Press. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online) (Only read the Foreword and the Introduction)
Watch: “Ser migrante en Chile” on Hablemos de Chile. (Youtube Video. Select settings to Auto-Translate for English closed captions)
Day Five: Friday, January 9th
Overview of Haitian Diaspora in Chile, Part Three
Class Session #4 (9:30 am – 12:30 pm)
Guest Speakers: Prof. Jasmine Mitchell
Afternoon Free Time
Lunch & Dinner: Students on their own
Texts to engage with in preparation for class today:
Watch the following presentation: “Understanding the Haitian Migration Flow from Chile to the US Southern Border” The University of New Mexico Latin American and Iberian Institute. (Youtube Video. Runtime: one hour and 26 mins)
Watch the following: “From Haiti to Chile: Watch How IOM Creates Legal Pathways for Migrants.” (Youtube Video. 2 mins).
Read the following article: How Chile’s Welcome Turned Sour. Mixed Migration Center. 2024. (Blog Post)
WEEKEND: SATURDAY, JANUARY 10TH – SUNDAY, JANUARY 11TH
FREE TIME*
* Sample itineraries will be provided on our class website. For example:
Option #1: Remain in Viña del Mar and use public transportation to visit local sites in Viña and Valparaíso (cost-effective)
Option #2: Day trip to Santiago for the local sites (cost-effective)
Option #3: 1-2 night(s) trip to Algarrobo (costly with hotel)
Option #4: 2-night trip to La Serena, San Pedro de Atacama, or another location in the north of Chile (most costly with flight and hotel)
Option #5: 2-night trip to Temuco, Valdivia, Pucón, Villarrica, Chiloe, or another location in the south of Chile (most costly with flight and hotel)
WEEK TWO: JANUARY 12 – JANUARY 16
Day Eight: Monday, January 12th
Cultural Expressions
Guest Speaker #1: Brooklyn College Puerto Rican and Latinx Studies Department Chair, Prof. Alan Aja
Class session #5 (9:30 am – 12:30 pm)
TBDCommunal Lunch (Covered by Brooklyn College Study Abroad)
Evening Free Time
Dinner: Students on their own
Book Clubs: Each book club will come to class prepared to discuss its book (provided by Prof. España)
Book Club #1: We’re Alone by Edwidge Danticat (essays)
Recommended: Listen to the NPR All Things Considered Podcast episode on We’re Alone (Podcast).
Recommended: Watch We’re Alone: A Conversation with Edwidge Danticat and Roxane Gay at Rutgers. (Youtube Video)
Book Club #2: (S)kin by Ibi Zoboi (young adult novel in verse)
Recommended: Watch Latinx Kidlit Book Festival Q&A with Author Ibi Zoboi
Recommended: Watch Endless Imagination with Ibi Zoboi
Book Club #3: Ayiti by Roxane Gay (short stories)
Recommended Reading:
Policy Report: Misael Galdámez, Morís Gomez, Rocio Perez, et al. “Centering Black Latinidad: A Profile of the U.S. Afro-Latinx Population and Complex Inequalities.” Latino Policy & Politics Institute, April 20, 2023. (Blog Post)
Report: Gonzalez-Barrera, Ana. “About 6 million U.S. adults identify as Afro-Latinos” Pew Research Center, May 2, 2022.
Day Nine: Tuesday, January 13th
Diasporic Communities Comparative Analysis Part One
Class Session #6 with keynote and featured speakers (9:30 am – 12:30 pm)
Guest Speaker: Prof. Lina Meruane, Author and faculty at NYU
Afternoon and evening free time
Lunch & Dinner: Students on their own
Read one of the following to prepare for class today:
Book Chapter: Bawalsa, N., Aly, R., & Abdelhady, D. (2023). To be denied a homeland: British Mandate policy and the making of the Palestinian diaspora in Chile. In Routledge Handbook on Middle Eastern Diasporas (1st ed., Vol. 1, pp. 23–38). Routledge. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online)
Book Chapter: Rein, R., M.K. Sheinin, D., & Rinke, S. (2020). Constructing a Transnational Identity: the Three Phases of Palestinian Immigration to Chile, 1900–1950. In Migrants, Refugees, and Asylum Seekers in Latin America (Vol. 12). BRILL. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online)
Article: Baeza, C. (2014). Palestinians in Latin America: Between Assimilation and Long-Distance Nationalism. Journal of Palestine Studies, 43(2), 59–72. (JSTOR. Login with BC Library credentials to read online).
Everyone reads: Transcript of a talk: “Chilestinians: Notes on migration, assimilation, and the myth of Palestinian reawakening in Chile” by Lina Meruane (provided by author)
Book Chapter: Silhi-Chahin, N. (2025). “The Palestinian Community in Chile: Distant in Time and Space, Yet Politically Close to Palestine.” In De/Colonising Palestine (pp. 375–400). Graduate Institute Publications. (Open Access Book).
Day Ten: Wednesday, January 14th
Diasporic Communities Comparative Analysis Part Two
Class session #7 (9:30 am – 12:30 pm)
Afternoon and evening free time
Lunch & Dinner: Students on their own
Read the following to prepare for class today:
Journal Article: Leal, A., Palomera, A., & Norambuena, C. (2020). Protection and Refuge in Brazil and Chile: the Case of Palestinian Refugees – an Analysis from the Model of Economic and Cultural Adaptation. Journal of International Migration and Integration, 21(4), 1115–1130. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Introduction and chapter one from the following book:
Schwabe, S. (2023). “Introduction”: In Moving memory : remembering Palestine in postdictatorship Chile. Cornell University Press. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Article: Arancibia, H., Leihy, P., & Samari, D. (2021). A Generation 1.5 Palestinian Diaspora Child Refugee in Chile. Journal of Loss & Trauma, 26(1), 78–93. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Day Eleven: Thursday, January 15th
Diasporic Communities Comparative Analysis Part Three
Class session #8 (9:30 am – 12:30 pm)
Afternoon and evening free time
Lunch & Dinner: Students on their own
Read the following to prepare for class today:
Abusidu, E. (2020). “More Than a Team, It Is an Entire People”: 100 Years of Palestinian Football in Chile. Middle East Monitor. (Open Access article).
Parra, D. V. (2025). Chile’s Club Palestino: Football and the Complexities of Contemporary Palestinian Identity. Social Research, 92(3), 619–639. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Days Twelve – Fourteen: Friday, January 16th – Sunday, January 18th
Long Weekend
FREE TIME*
* Sample itineraries will be provided on our class website. For example:
Option #1: Remain in Viña del Mar and use public transportation to visit local sites in Viña and Valparaíso (cost-effective)
Option #2: Day trip to Santiago for the local sites (cost-effective)
Option #3: 1-2 night(s) trip to Algarrobo (costly with hotel)
Option #4: 2-night trip to La Serena, San Pedro de Atacama, or another location in the north of Chile (most costly with flight and hotel)
Option #5: 2-night trip to Temuco, Valdivia, Pucón, Villarrica, Chiloe, or another location in the south of Chile (most costly with flight and hotel)
WEEK THREE: JANUARY 19 – JANUARY 23
Day Fifteen: Monday, January 19th
Cultural Expressions
Class session #9 (9:30 am – 12:30 pm)
Guest Speaker: (virtual) Dr. Sawsan Jaber
Afternoon and evening free time
Lunch & Dinner: Students on their own
Read the following to be prepared for class:
Article: Bascuñan-Wiley, N. (2019). Sumud and Food: Remembering Palestine Through Cuisine in Chile. Mashriq & Mahjar, 6(2), 100–129. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Article: Bawalsa, N. (2018). Palestine West of the Andes: Chile is home to the world’s largest Palestinian diaspora community. How did Chile’s Arabic newspapers contribute to its formation? NACLA Report on the Americas (1993), 50(1), 34–39. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Resources Shared in Class:
Children’s Books by the following authors:
Book Club #1: Hannah Moushabeck
Book Club #2: Safa Suleiman
Book Club #3: Rifk Ebeid
Book Club #4: Maysa Odeh
Day Sixteen: Tuesday, January 20th
Supporting Immigrant Students in Chilean Schools
Class session #10 (9:30 am – 12:30 pm)
Guest Speaker TBD
Afternoon and evening free time
Lunch & Dinner: Students on their own
Engage with the following texts to be prepared for our class:
Watch the Teacher Leader Videos at the CUNY-NYSIEB (New York State Initiative on Emergent Bilinguals). (Open Access Website).
Read the following chapter:
Cerat, M. L., Sylvain, P., & Tamerat, J. (2022). Funds of Knowledge – Culturally Relevant, Culturally Sustaining, and Reality Pedagogies. In Education Across Borders: Immigration, race, and identity in the classroom. Beacon Press. PDF; Chapter reproduced here with permission of Prof. Cerat.)
Read the following article:
Holst, J. (2006). Paulo Freire in Chile, 1964–1969: Pedagogy of the Oppressed in Its Sociopolitical Economic Context. Harvard Educational Review. 76(2): 243-270. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Day Seventeen: Wednesday, January 21st
Immigrant Community Organizing and Political Engagement Part One
Day Trip to Santiago:
Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos
Communal Lunch (covered by Brooklyn College): Centre for Social Conflict and Cohesion Studies at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Return to the hotel after lunch
Dinner: Students on their own
Read the following to be prepared for our trip:
Tijoux Merino, M.E. & Cortés, C.A. (2022). When Migrant Pain Does Not Deserve Attention: Institutional Racism in Chile’s Public Health System. In: Herrera, G., Gómez, C. (eds) Migration in South America. IMISCOE Research Series. Springer, Cham. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Day Eighteen: Thursday, January 22nd
Immigrant Community Organizing and Political Engagement Part Two
Morning: Visit to local immigrant advocacy organizations in Viña del Mar and/or Valparaíso Afternoon and evening free time
Lunch & Dinner: Students on their own
Evening free time
Read the following to be prepared for class today:
Book Chapter: Busdiecker, S. (2018). Redrawing borders of belonging in a narrow nation: Afro-Chilean activism in the hinterlands of Afro-Latin America. In Showers Johnson, V., Graml, G., & Williams Lessane, P. (eds). Deferred dreams, defiant struggles: Critical perspectives on Blackness, belonging, and civil rights. Liverpool University Press. (PDF book chapter)
Article: Ferrer-Lues, Marcela Patricia, Matías Jaramillo Rojas, Macarena Chepo Chepo, Nelson Muñoz Lizana, Constanza Ambiado Cortes, and María Emilia Tijoux Merino. “Desafíos del enfoque de competencias culturales para atender la salud de personas migrantes en Chile.” (Challenges of Cultural Competencies Approach for the Health Care of Migrants in Chile) Migraciones Internacionales 15 (April 2024). https://doi.org/10.33679/rmi.v1i1.2726 (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Resource shared in class:(Excerpts translated by Prof. España for class) Tijoux, M. E., & Ambiado, C. (2023). Ser paciente haitiano/a en Chile y vivir el racismo en centros de la red pública de salud. Interdisciplinaria, 40(1), 363. https://doi.org/10.16888/interd.2023.40.1.22 (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Day Nineteen: Friday, January 23rd
Student Presentations (10 mins each) & Closing Celebration
Class session #11 (9:30 am – 12:30 pm)
Lunch: Students on their own
Dinner: Communal Dinner (covered by Brooklyn College)
Read one of the following to be prepared for our final discussions and celebrations:
Book chapter: Póo, X., Retis, J., & Tsagarousianou, R. (2019). The Power of Communication Networks for the Political Formation of a New Social Actor in Chile. In The Handbook of Diasporas, Media, and Culture (pp. 283–293). John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Book chapter: Silva-Tapia, A., Fernández Ossandón, R., Gutiérrez Rodríguez, E., & Tate, S. A. (2022). Feminist Movements in Chile: New Configurations and the Intensification of Their Critical Power. In The Palgrave Handbook of Critical Race and Gender (pp. 265–283). Springer International Publishing AG. (Login with BC Library credentials to read online.)
Magazine Article: García, Gabrielle Apollon and María Alejandra Torres. “Anti-Blackness Knows No Borders and Neither Should Haitian Migrant Rights Advocacy.” North American Congress on Latin America (NACLA), September 6, 2023.
Departure: Saturday, January 24th, 2026
Morning and Lunch: Student free time and lunch on your ownDeparture from hotel: 6:30 pm Arrival at airport: 8:30 pm.
