Session II: “Como Agua para Chocolate/Like Water For Chocolate” taught in Spanish by Chris Boyer, Ph.D. and Dr. Jürgen Buchenau, Ph.D.
June 3 and June 5; June 10 and June 12
10am – 12pm

What can an iconic movie about food, love, and family tell us about the great Mexican Revolution of 1910? A lot, actually. This course will introduce you to the revolution, the borderlands, and the sometimes complicated understandings of gender in the Mexico of yesterday and today. We will watch the Spanish-language version of the 1992 adaptation of Laura Esquivel’s novel Como agua para chocolate/Like Water for Chocolate. Instructors Jürgen Buchenau, Ph.D. and Chris Boyer, Ph.D. will fill in the historical details.

Class will be in Spanish, and all levels of language are welcome. Students are encouraged to buy a copy of the book (available in Spanish and English editions from online vendors or your favorite bookstore).

Meet your instructors:

Dr. Christopher R. Boyer is Founding Dean of the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences at UNC Charlotte. An environmental historian of modern Mexico and Latin America, Boyer’s scholarship investigates the social history of forest management in Mexico between 1880 and 2000, with special emphasis on the experiences of indigenous communities in the north and west of the country. He has won multiple teaching awards and has held several fellowships including the National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for University Teachers. Boyer is the author of many journal articles and books, and his most recent work, Political Landscapes: Forests, Conservation, and Community in Mexico, was the winner of “Best Book in Social Sciences” from the Latin American Studies Association, Mexico Section, and winner of the Charles A. Weyerhaeuser book award from the Forest History Society.

Dr. Jurgen Buchenau is Dowd Term Professor of Capitalism Studies and Professor in the History Department at UNC Charlotte. He is an expert on 19th and 20th century Mexico, the Mexican Revolution, and political violence, political economy, and immigration. He has recently published, The Sonoran Dynasty: Revolution, Reforms, and Repression (2023) and a co-edited volume of essays, Anti-Catholicism in the Mexican Revolution, and has finished drafting, Unequal Neighbors: The United States and Mexico. While wrapping up those books, he also began work on a major new project on Mexico in the late Cold War — conducting archival research in Mexico City and three presidential libraries in the United States (namely the Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan libraries). In all, he has authored, co-authored, and edited thirteen books and thirty-seven peer-reviewed book chapters and articles. While producing all this scholarship, Dr. Buchenau led the department of History for 13 years, directed the Latin American Studies Program, the Interdisciplinary Studies Program, and Capitalism studies. His UNC Charlotte graduate students place into top Ph.D. programs all over the country because of his dedicated mentorship.