Time after time, Brazil has been hailed as the "land of the future". Capturing the world's attention for over five centuries of colonialism and modernization, Brazil has offered rich natural resources for extraction and diverse social and political realities for the imagination of travelers and the work of scientists, academics and artists alike. Drawing from history, anthropology, literature and the arts, this Global Seminar explores how Brazil's becomings have been represented nationally and internationally and the ways in which its peoples have evolved within or escaped and recast the frames of this imagined country.

The course studies the history of Argentina's modernity through the lenses of cinema, literature, art, music, as well as readings from the social sciences. The course is divided into 7 units, each of them organized around a main theme, including the city and the countryside, urban modernity, Evita and populism, revolution and state violence, and libertarian populism and the remaking of the welfare state. In addition to lectures and class discussions, the course includes museum visits, class visits by local scholars and artists, and a trip to the beautiful Salta province in northwestern Argentina.