Latin American & Iberian Studies

On April 23, 1519, Hernán Cortés lands in the Yucatan with the intention of bringing the Aztec Empire to heel and seizing all the wealth of the territory. But he has a paltry force at his command: fewer than 600 men and some horses.

Interviews with Latino community leaders—university presidents, professors, artists, doctors, CEOs, bishops, and ministers—bring home the diversity and achievement of this rapidly expanding segment of the American populace.

This program considers the Latin American market, exploring the important approaches and skills necessary to establish business relationships in our neighboring region to the south—while also examining variations in approach and culture within the Latin American world.

The dictatorship of Miguel Primo de Rivera. Spain's Second Republic. The Spanish Civil War. This program, composed almost entirely of period footage and photographs, seeks to understand the tortuous sociopolitical forces at work in Spain between the two world wars. Profiles of public figures and popular movements combined with background on liberal reforms and horrific atrocities evoke an image of a people torn between hope and despair.

From small towns in the Midwest to the President of the United States, Ed Lavandera travels across America uncovering the country’s deep and contingent need for undocumented workers.

The Era of Revolution severed political ties between Latin America and the Old World—but cultural independence was another matter. This program explains how the region’s literature began to come into its own, relying on models and themes imported from Spain while establishing a dialogue with other literary traditions and aesthetic movements.
(Spanish with optional English subtitles)

Here is a portrait of Simón Bolívar—aristocratic revolutionary, victor in battle, and loser to those who considered the revolution their personal mandate—and of the landscapes and forces that shaped the Latin America of his day and ours. This superb documentary details how and why Spain lost her colonies, and the historic trends and national heroes responsible for the outcome.