HIST 1960 - Modern Latin America

(crosslisted) LATA 1960
(GB) (HA-AS)

Spring. 4 credits.

R. Craib.

A survey of the social, political, cultural and economic history of Latin America from roughly 1800 to the present. Primary aim is to develop a mental map of the history of Latin America - of prominent themes issues; of historical eras and trajectories. Given the vastness of Latin America, and its somewhat arbitrary composition as an object of study, the approach of the course is thematic and chronological rather than regional. We will pay attention to a number of more specific and interconnected themes: the development of, and relationship between, economies and processes of state formation; the complex roles Britain and the U.S. have played in the region, but always with an appreciation for how Latin Americans have shaped their own histories and those of the U.S. and Britain; the ways in which non-elites - slaves, workers, peasants, among others - have shaped history; the politics of the production of history; and Latin America’s ‘situatedness’ in a broader world. Weekly readings include historical and theoretical works memoirs, speeches, documents and novels.