Courses

By surveying the late colonial period to the early twentieth-century, this class focuses on the troubled transition from colony to nation in Latin America. As students will learn, the transition from European colonialism to modern republics did not translate to the emergence of democratic societies that advanced the rights of all citizens. Indeed, slavery and patriarchal and racial hierarchies--holdovers from Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule--endured and remained deeply entrenched. Additionally, Latin America's colonial legacy complicated its transition to stable, unified nations, practicing liberal, democratic values. Ending with the neocolonial age of late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, students will see how exploitive and unequal colonial relationships between Europe, the US, and Latin America were reestablished and ensconced. Throughout, this class emphasizes the experiences and agency of marginalized groups--women, native peoples, Afro-Latin Americans, and the poor--tracking changes and continuities in their realities during a time of upheaval and great change. By taking this class, students will see the impacts of Western colonialism and how it endured, leaving indelible marks on Latin America's present.