Gender, Race and Nation in Modern Latin America

Learning Outcomes

In this course you will study the past in order to understand the present. The course examines major turning points in Spanish and Portuguese America from the middle nineteenth century to the present, with a focus on how these upheavals affected and reflected the politics of class, gender and race. We will investigate how nation- states endeavoured to forge class, gender and race relations of a particular type, and how different sectors in society struggled with or against the state.We examine the role of outside actors, particularly the U.S. and Great Britain, and assess their impact on Latin American politics and society. The course introduces you to theoretical debates on gender, race, class and the nation-state; we analyse how race and gender are historically constituted, and how different theoretical approaches to history mould our understanding of the past and present. An indicative list of topics that may be covered is as follows : the Myth of racial democracy in Brazil and Cuba, Mestizaje and the Mexican Revolution, the Zapatistas, the Brazilian Landless Workers’ Movement, Chile before and after Pinochet, the Sandinistas of Nicaragua, Guatemalan Indians and the State, the Perons and the Dirty War in Argentina, Drugs and Violence in Colombia, extractivism. Material studied will include primary and secondary sources.

Teaching methods include: Lectures introducing the key topics Small group seminars to discuss primary sources and secondary readings Individual essay tutorials Learning activities include: Close analysis of using and evaluating primary and secondary historical texts Extensive reading of secondary and theoretical literature