Lina Del Castillo

The main objective of the course is to understand the role of maps in the creation of Latin America as a specific sort of place.  As such, the course itself will allow students to become familiar with a broad overview of Latin American history from Pre-Columbian civilizations to the modern period.

This graduate research seminar examines the emergence of Latin America as a world region through its engagement with and contribution to long-term global trends. Students will read weekly monographs and essay collections covering themes that include (but are not limited to): colonization, migration, scientific knowledge transfer, the Atlantic Slave Trade, decolonization, nation-state formation, second slavery, the rise of commodities trade, settler colonialism, changing relations between gender and the state, the Cold War, and illicit flows. The class will be held in the Benson Library Seminar room to facilitate weekly engagement with Benson Library Special Collections. All students will write weekly reviews of assigned readings. Each student will select up to 4 weeks for which they will complement their reviews of assigned secondary sources with relevant primary sources they found at the Benson. For their final project, students must develop a grant proposal to conduct research on a topic of their choosing that incorporates collections at the Benson Library (and other UT archival collections where relevant).

This course introduces students to the history of Latin America from the eve of the wars of independence to the present.  Major issues to be covered include the breakdown of Spanish and Portuguese Empires, the struggle to form independent nation-states, the re-integration of the region into the world economy, the emergence of national politics and mass culture, Cold War cycles of revolution and counter-revolution, the promise of democracy in the region, and implications of immigration from the region to the United States. In addition to highlighting the political history of the past two centuries, the course readings and lectures will examine the importance of ethnicity, race, class, nationality, and gender in understanding the changing characteristics of Latin American societies. A combination of primary sources and scholarly works will shed light on the historical development of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Argentina, among other countries.

Over the course of the semester, students will consider the following broad questions: how has Latin America come to be imagined as a particular kind of place? What elements went into forging the imagined national communities of the region? How have different ideas of “progress” and “modernization” been applied over time in Latin America and what impacts have they had in practice? Why have hierarchical social orders proved so durable in Latin America? What have been the motors of reform, revolution, and counter-revolution in the region? And finally, what how has the relationship between the United States and Latin America changed over time?

Through weekly discussions, essays, group work, and examinations, students will hone their talents for historical interpretation, including their critical thinking and writing skills. In addition, the course provides tools for understanding present-day problems in the Americas from a broader historical perspective.

The following texts are available from the UT Co-op.  They may also be consulted on reserve in Perry Castañeda library.

John Charles Chasteen & James Wood, Problems in Modern Latin American History: Sources and Interpretations. Fourth edition. ISBN: 978-1-4422-1859-8

Hector Tobar, Deep Down Dark: The untold story of 33 Men buried in a Chilean Mine, and the miracle that set them free (Picador 2014)

i>clicker remote for in class discussions

Course Packet (TBD)
Grading:
Map quiz                                            5%
Overall Engagement and  Participation  20%
Mid-Term                                           15%
Paper             35%  (25% paper; 10% prep for paper)
Final Exam    (During Exam Week)                                              25%

This course interrogates the historical origins of the regional category of “Latin America.” It examines the kinds of trends and forces of the 19th century that contributed to its conceptual emergence and to its political, economic, and cultural significance on the global stage. “Latin America” as a term referring to this specific geopolitical region dates back to at least the mid-nineteenth century. Debates among and between European, North American, Latin American, and Caribbean scholars and politicians over what countries should be included in -- and excluded from -- the Latin American region, and for what political, social, cultural, ethnic, economic, and historical reasons, have continued well into the 21stcentury. This course, therefore, takes into consideration perspectives offered by 19th-century historical actors from the region and outside it, and from contemporary scholars interested understanding region’s emergence and historical significance for the 19th century.

Keeping debates over periodization in mind, the course adopts a long nineteenth century (roughly 1780s-1930s) as its historical timeframe, and will proceed somewhat chronologically, but more importantly, thematically. Each week we will examine a particular historical theme of the 19th century that will help us better think through how to conceptualize “Latin America” geographically and temporally. Students individually and in groups will read and analyze a combination of articles, chapters from books, and primary sources to better understand the implications of major regional trends (and exceptions) including: the Bourbon Reforms; the transnational causes and local effects of Independence; the caudillo question; the US-Mexican (and Independent Indian) War; slavery, manumission, and emancipation; processes of republican territorial nation-state formation as linked to changing racial, ethnic, class, labor, and gender relations; the emergence of international trade networks; urbanization; and health and hygiene campaigns.

This class is also intended to help students understand the different audiences that historians address, from public history in the digital age to scholarly historical writing. As a group, students in the class will select from an array of available primary sources in the Nettie Lee Benson Latin America Collection at UT Austin to develop and curate an online exhibition that tells a compelling story about Latin America’s 19th century.
The online exhibit will be visible worldwide. In that sense, this class will also allow students to expand their understanding of digital humanities in the age of social media. Linked to this exercise in public history is the final 3,000-4,000 word research paper students will write.

Note on Foreign Language Materials: This class does not require you to have any background in a language other than English. And yet, through this class, you will develop some basic language skills that will allow you to read original primary sources in foreign languages and translate them into English.

Required Texts:
Please note: there is no required textbook for this class. ALL readings listed in the syllabus, however, are required readings. There will be an optional course reader available for readings that are not easily accessible online.

Assessment:

Engagement and Participation (including daily in-class workshops and quizzes): 25%

Critical Reviews of Primary and Secondary Sources (3 over the course of the semester, each 20%): 60%

Class Project: Tasks associated with Student Curated Online Exhibit of primary sources: 15%

May be repeated for credit when the topics vary.

The main objective of this course is to understand the role of maps in the creation of Latin America as a specific sort of place. As such, the course itself will allow students to become familiar with a broad overview of Latin American history from Pre-Columbian civilizations to the modern period. By paying particular attention to the maps produced of and in the region within this broad time span, students are challenged to question existing assumptions of what “Latin America” means historically, culturally, and of course, spatially.

This course introduces students to the history of Latin America from the eve of the wars of independence to the present.  Major issues to be covered include the breakdown of Spanish and Portuguese Empires, the struggle to form independent nation-states, the re-integration of the region into the world economy, the emergence of national politics and mass culture, Cold War cycles of revolution and counter-revolution, the promise of democracy in the region, and implications of immigration from the region to the United States. In addition to highlighting the political history of the past two centuries, the course readings and lectures will examine the importance of ethnicity, race, class, nationality, and gender in understanding the changing characteristics of Latin American societies. A combination of primary sources and scholarly works will shed light on the historical development of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Argentina, among other countries.

Over the course of the semester, students will consider the following broad questions: how has Latin America come to be imagined as a particular kind of place? What elements went into forging the imagined national communities of the region? How have different ideas of “progress” and “modernization” been applied over time in Latin America and what impacts have they had in practice? Why have hierarchical social orders proved so durable in Latin America? What have been the motors of reform, revolution, and counter-revolution in the region? And finally, what how has the relationship between the United States and Latin America changed over time?

Through weekly discussions, essays, group work, and examinations, students will hone their talents for historical interpretation, including their critical thinking and writing skills. In addition, the course provides tools for understanding present-day problems in the Americas from a broader historical perspective.

The following texts are available from the UT Co-op.  They may also be consulted on reserve in Perry Castañeda library.

John Charles Chasteen. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. Third edition (New York: Norton, 2011) ISBN: 0393911543

John Charles Chasteen & James Wood, Problems in Modern Latin American History: Sources and Interpretations. Fourth edition. ISBN: 978-1-4422-1859-8

Hector Tobar, Deep Down Dark: The untold story of 33 Men buried in a Chilean Mine, and the miracle that set them free (Picador 2014)

i>clicker remote for in class discussions

Course Packet (TBD)

Map quiz                                           5%

Overall Attendance and Participation in Friday Discussions 15%

Mid-Term                                           25%

Paper             30%  (25% paper; 5% prep for paper)

Final Exam    (During Exam Week)                                              25%

This course interrogates the historical origins of the regional category of “Latin America.” It examines the kinds of trends and forces of the 19^th century that contributed to its conceptual emergence and to its political, economic, and cultural significance on the global stage.  “Latin America” as a term referring to this specific geopolitical region dates back to at least the mid-nineteenth century. Debates among and between European, North American, Latin American, and Caribbean scholars and politicians over what countries should be included in -- and excluded from -- the Latin American region, and for what political, social, cultural, ethnic, economic, and historical reasons, have continued well into the 21^st century. This course therefore takes into consideration perspectives offered by 19^th-century historical actors from the region and outside it, and from contemporary scholars interested understanding region’s emergence and historical significance for the 19^th century.

Keeping debates over periodization in mind, the course adopts a long nineteenth century (roughly 1760s-1930s) as its historical timeframe, and will proceed somewhat chronologically, but more importantly, thematically. Each week we will examine a particular historical theme of the 19^th century that will help us better think through how to conceptualize “Latin America” geographically and temporally. Students individually and in groups will read and analyze a combination of articles, chapters from books, and primary sources to better understand the implications of major regional trends (and exceptions) including: the Bourbon Reforms; the transnational causes and local effects of Independence; the caudillo question; the US-Mexican War; slavery, manumission, and emancipation; processes of republican territorial nation-state formation as linked to changing racial, ethnic, class, labor, and gender relations; the emergence of international trade networks; urbanization; and health and hygiene campaigns.

Texts: TBA

1 critical review (approx. 800-1200 words) of Smoldering Ashes (15%)

1 critical review (approx. 800-1200 words) of Contentious Republicans (15%)

1 critical review (approx. 800-1200 words) of The Hour of Eugenics (15%)

Each critical review will have the option for a re-write.

2 short responses to a prompt (each 400-800 words) 10% each = 20%

2 short critical analyses of primary sources (400-800 words) 10% each = 20%

Participation 15%: Based on attendance (5%), active participation (5%), and leading the seminar at least once in the semester (5%).

The main objective of this course is to understand the role of maps in the creation of Latin America as a specific sort of place. As such, the course itself will allow students to become familiar with a broad overview of Latin American history from Pre-Columbian civilizations to the modern period.  By paying particular attention to the maps produced of and in the region within this broad time span, students are challenged to question existing assumptions of what “Latin America” means historically, culturally, and of course, spatially.
Students will have the chance to develop their map-reading skills by using a wide range of graphic representations of the Americas. Students will come away from the course with an understanding of the nature of maps (that is, not only the natural environment they represent, but also how maps work to conjure up particular kinds of natural environments). They will be able to identify the kinds of arguments maps make through the many ways they present and communicate information. Students will learn to identify how and why particular maps are made; the historical changes involved in processes of surveying, map drawing, and map printing; interpret how people have read different kinds of maps under different circumstances; and be sensitive to the implications of map silences onplace formation.

This course offers graduate students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the spatial dimensions of nation-state formation in Latin America. It builds on the idea that “space” has never been a neutral abstraction or a homogenous and disinterested stage upon which human dramas are set. Rather, it considers that spaces, and representations of them, are constitutive elements of society, the consequences of interactions and interrelations between people and their material world. Places are related in important ways to “space” since places are also outcomes of interactions and interrelations, but instead of “abstract” space, places are generally held to be culturally significant, memorable places imbued with meaning for the lived experience of individuals and communities. The course grounds these ideas in the spaces and places that emerged from processes of territorial nation-state formation in Latin America. The readings and discussions of this course will underscore that, in order to best understand these processes, the dichotomy drawn between “spaces” and “places” must be bridged. Some of the major themes the course will draw attention to include: the spatial dimensions of constitutions and citizenship; war-making and state-building (and dismantling); memory and history in the creation of nation-states; cartographic visions of the nation; resource use, labor-exploitation and enclave economies; spaces of urbanization and modernity; ethnicity, race, gender and place; the movement of bodies and germs through spaces and places; overlapping territorialities, borderlands, and criminality.

Over the course of the semester, all students will write short (1-2 page) weekly response papers to assigned readings. Typically, these readings will consist of one book and an article, or a collection of articles on a particular “spatial” theme. In addition, each student will select three weeks for which they will present their evaluation of a supplementary secondary reading of their choosing. These supplementary readings, selected by students (and pre-approved by the professor), should examine the role of space and place as it relates to each student’s particular research interests. By the end of the semester, students will have laid a firm foundation for their final paper, one that evaluates how scholars have approached the “spatial dimensions” of their specific research question.

This course introduces students to the history of Latin America from the eve of the wars of independence to the present.  Major issues to be covered include the breakdown of Spanish and Portuguese Empires, the struggle to form independent nation-states, the re-integration of the region into the world economy, the emergence of national politics and mass culture, Cold War cycles of revolution and counter-revolution, the promise of democracy in the region, and implications of immigration from the region to the United States. In addition to highlighting the political history of the past two centuries, the course readings and lectures will examine the importance of ethnicity, race, class, nationality, and gender in understanding the changing characteristics of Latin American societies. A combination of primary sources and scholarly works will shed light on the historical development of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Argentina, among other countries.

Over the course of the semester, students will consider the following broad questions: how has Latin America come to be imagined as a particular kind of place? What elements went into forging the imagined national communities of the region? How have different ideas of “progress” and “modernization” been applied over time in Latin America and what impacts have they had in practice? Why have hierarchical social orders proved so durable in Latin America? What have been the motors of reform, revolution, and counter-revolution in the region? And finally, what how has the relationship between the United States and Latin America changed over time?

Through weekly discussions, essays, group work, and examinations, students will hone their talents for historical interpretation, including their critical thinking and writing skills. In addition, the course provides tools for understanding present-day problems in the Americas from a broader historical perspective.

Texts:

The following texts are available from the UT Co-op.  They may also be consulted on reserve in Perry Castañeda library.

John Charles Chasteen. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. Second Edition (New York: Norton, 2011) ISBN: 0393911543

John Charles Chasteen & James Wood, Problems in Modern Latin American History: Sources and Interpretations (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009) ISBN:  978-0-7425-5645-4

i>clicker remote for in class discussions

Course Packet (TBD)

Grading:

Attendance: 5%

Map quiz: 5%

Participation via iclicker: 10%

Mid-Term 25%

Final Exam: 25%

Paper 30%  (25% paper; 5% prep for paper)

Bonus points on final average (up to 3 points total) may be earned through short (5 minute max) in-class presentations.

This course problematizes both the term “Latin America” and the historical period of the 19th century. “Latin America,” as a term referring to a specific geopolitical region, itself dates back to at least the mid-nineteenth century. Debates among and between European, North American, Latin American, and Caribbean scholars and politicians over what countries should be included in -- and excluded from -- the Latin American region, and for what political, social, cultural, ethnic, economic, and historical reasons, have continued well into the 21st century. This course calls into question the geographical category of Latin America by examining the kinds of trends and forces of the 19th century that contributed to its conceptual emergence and to its growing political, economic, and cultural significance on the global stage. It will take into consideration perspectives offered by scholars and historical actors from the region and outside it. Precisely because Latin America is the focus, this course also calls into question a second, seemingly straight-forward issue: determining when, exactly, the nineteenth century begins and ends for the purposes of understanding different historical themes and trends.

Keeping debates over periodization in mind, the course adopts a long nineteenth century (roughly 1780s-1930s) as its historical timeframe, and will proceed somewhat chronologically, but more importantly, thematically. Each week we will examine a particular historical theme of the 19th century that will help us better think through how to conceptualize “Latin America” geographically and temporally. Students individually and in groups will read and analyze a combination of articles, chapters from books, and primary sources to better understand the implications of major regional trends (and exceptions) including: the Bourbon Reforms; the transnational causes and local effects of Independence; the caudillo question; the US-Mexican War; slavery, manumission, and emancipation; processes of republican territorial nation-state formation as linked to changing racial, ethnic, class, labor, and gender relations; the (often violent) emergence of international trade networks; urbanization; and health and hygiene campaigns.

Texts:

Course Reader (Divided into secondary and primary sources): TBD

Assessment

Attendance, active participation (6%) + in-class presentation (4%) = 10% total

5 Answers to prompts on secondary sources 6 points each= 30% total

3 Critical analyses of primary sources (900-1500 words each) 20 points each = 60% total

This course introduces students to the history of Latin America from the eve of the wars of independence to the present.  Major issues to be covered include the breakdown of Spanish and Portuguese Empires, the struggle to form independent nation-states, the re-integration of the region into the world economy, the emergence of national politics and mass culture, Cold War cycles of revolution and counter-revolution, the promise of democracy in the region, and implications of immigration from the region to the United States. In addition to highlighting the political history of the past two centuries, the course readings and lectures will examine the importance of ethnicity, race, class, nationality, and gender in understanding the changing characteristics of Latin American societies. A combination of primary sources and scholarly works will shed light on the historical development of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, and Argentina, among other countries.

Over the course of the semester, students will consider the following broad questions: how has Latin America come to be imagined as a particular kind of place? What elements went into forging the imagined national communities of the region? How have different ideas of “progress” and “modernization” been applied over time in Latin America and what impacts have they had in practice? Why have hierarchical social orders proved so durable in Latin America? What have been the motors of reform, revolution, and counter-revolution in the region? And finally, what how has the relationship between the United States and Latin America changed over time?

Through weekly discussions, essays, group work, and examinations, students will hone their talents for historical interpretation, including their critical thinking and writing skills. In addition, the course provides tools for understanding present-day problems in the Americas from a broader historical perspective.

Required Materials

The following texts are available from the UT Co-op.  They may also be consulted on reserve in Perry Castañeda library.

John Charles Chasteen. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. Second Edition (New York: Norton, 2011) ISBN: 0393911543

John Charles Chasteen & James Wood, Problems in Modern Latin American History: Sources and Interpretations (Rowman and Littlefield, 2009) ISBN:  978-0-7425-5645-4

i>clicker remote for in class discussions

Course Packet (TBD)

Grading Policy on Major Course Requirements and Assignments:

Map quiz (In class on Friday, Sept. 14)                                        5%

Overall Attendance and Participation in Friday Discussions        15%

Mid-Term (In class on Friday, Oct 24)                                        25%

Paper (1200-1800 words due in class Friday, Nov. 19)      30%  (25% paper; 5% prep for paper)

Final Exam       (During Exam Week)                                         25%

This course problematizes both the term “Latin America” and the historical period of the 19th century. “Latin America,” as a term referring to a specific geopolitical region, itself dates back to at least the mid-nineteenth century. English-language scholarship tends to attribute the coining of this term to pan-Latinist intellectuals close to Napoleon III who wished to justify French intervention in Mexico in the 1860s. More recently, scholars from the region have demonstrated that a decade prior to the French intervention, influential intellectuals from New Granada (the 19th century country that included today’s Colombia and Panamá), Chile, and the Dominican Republic, writing in Spanish, frequently adopted the terms “América Latina,” and “latinoamericano.” They did so in order to refer to a united geopolitical entity distinct from (rather than an extension of) the Latin nations of Europe, and in opposition to the growing influence (and worrisome territorial expansion) of the United States.  Debates among and between European, North American, Latin American, and Caribbean scholars and politicians over what countries should be included in -- and excluded from -- the Latin American region, and for what political, social, cultural, ethnic, economic, and historical reasons, have continued well into the 21st century. This course calls into question the geographical category of Latin America by examining the kinds of trends and forces of the 19th century that contributed to its conceptual emergence and to its growing political, economic, and cultural significance on the global stage.  It will take into consideration perspectives offered by scholars and historical actors from the region and outside it. And yet, determining when, exactly, the nineteenth century begins and ends has also been a cause for debate.

Keeping debates over periodization in mind, the course adopts a long nineteenth century (roughly 1780s-1940s) as its historical timeframe, and will proceed somewhat chronologically, but more importantly, thematically. Each week we will examine a particular historical theme of the 19th century that will help us better think through how to conceptualize “Latin America” temporally and geographically. Students individually and in groups will read and analyze a combination of articles, chapters from books, and primary sources to better understand the implications of some major regional trends (and exceptions) including: the Bourbon Reforms; the transnational causes and local effects of Independence; slavery, manumission, and emancipation; processes of republican territorial nation-state formation as linked to changing racial, ethnic, class, and gender relations; the (often violent) emergence of international trade networks; urbanization; and health and hygiene campaigns.

Texts:

Nancy Appelbaum, Anne S. Macpherson, and Karin Alejandra Rosemblatt (eds.) Race and Nation in Modern Latin America (North Carolina UP, 2006).

Charles Walker, Smoldering Ashes: Cuzco and the Creation of Republican Peru, 1780-1840 (Duke UP, 1999)

James Sanders, Contentious Republicans: Popular Politics, Race, and Class in Nineteenth-Century Colombia (Duke UP, 2004)

Nancy Leys-Stepan, The Hour of Eugenics: Race, Gender and Nation in Latin America (Cornell, 1991).

Grading:

1 critical review (approx. 800-1200 words) of Smoldering Ashes (15%)

1 critical review (approx. 800-1200 words) of Contentious Republicans (15%)

1 critical review (approx. 800-1200 words) of The Hour of Eugenics (15%)

Each critical review will have the option for a re-write.2 short responses to a prompt (each 400-800 words) 10% each = 20%2 short critical analyses of primary sources (400-800 words) 10% each = 20%Participation 15%: Based on attendance (5%), active participation (5%), and leading the seminar at least once in the semester (5%).

Please check back for updates.

The two major aims of this course are: 1) introduce students to the deeply intertwined history of US-Latin America Relations and 2) prepare each student for a potential experience in Latin America (or with Latino communities in the United States) through study abroad, research, and/or community engagement. The history of US actions towards Latin America has encompassed everything from a sentimental desire to “help the less fortunate” in developing countries through aid, to direct and indirect military intervention when the internal circumstances of a particular country have been perceived to threaten US interests. Latin American states have, in turn, attempted to establish confraternal solidarity among statesmen in the early 19th century against European incursions, to confronting and/or cooperating with an emerging imperial power to the north.  This course will allow students to deepen their knowledge of this history by exploring the historical development of the inextricably intertwined and long-standing relationships between the US and Latin America from the late 18th century until the present. Readings and lectures will allow students to consider and debate the political, economic, cultural, racial, and scientific dimensions of these relationships. These discussions are intended to allow students to consider the implications of “cultural citizenship,” a political identity that extends beyond the boundaries of the nation-state. One of the inalienable “rights” that comes with this kind of citizenship includes the right to apply  -- and the right to go beyond -- the knowledge gained through readings, lectures, and discussions by identifying a particular issue concerning US-Latin American relations that they would like to explore further through a research, community engagement or study abroad experience.

Required Readings:

Peter Smith, Talons of he Eagle: Latin America, The United States, and the World (Oxford University Press, 2013) Fourth edition.

Brian DeLay, War of a Thousand Desserts: Indian Raids and the US-Mexican War (Lamar Series in Western History) (Yale, 2008)

Steven Palmer, Launching Global Health: The Caribbean Odyssey of the Rockefeller Foundation (U Michigan Press, 2010)

Course Reader available at Jenn’s Copies 220 Guadalupe St.

Assignments:

Participation & answers to weekly discussion questions                                  20%

Short 3-5 page Position Papers:                                   3 worth 20% each = 60% total.

Annotated Bibliography & Final oral presentation                                          5%

Final Paper (10-15 pages):                                                                               15%

Please check back for updates.

This course offers graduate students the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the spatial dimensions of nation-state formation in Latin America. It builds on the idea that “space” has never been a neutral abstraction or a homogenous and disinterested stage upon which human dramas are set. Rather, it considers that spaces, and representations of them, are constitutive elements of society, the consequences of interactions and interrelations between people and their material world. Places are related in important ways to “space” since places are also outcomes of interactions and interrelations, but instead of “abstract” space, places are generally held to be culturally significant, memorable places imbued with meaning for the lived experience of individuals and communities. The course grounds these ideas in the spaces and places that emerged from processes of territorial nation-state formation in Latin America. The readings and discussions of this course will underscore that, in order to best understand these processes, the dichotomy drawn between “spaces” and “places” must be bridged. Some of the major themes the course will draw attention to include: the spatial dimensions of constitutions and citizenship; war-making and state-building (and dismantling); memory and history in the creation of nation-states; cartographic visions of the nation; resource use, labor-exploitation and enclave economies; spaces of urbanization and modernity; ethnicity, race, gender and place; the movement of bodies and germs through spaces and places; overlapping territorialities, borderlands, and criminality.

Over the course of the semester, all students will write short (1-2 page) weekly response papers to assigned readings. Typically, these readings will consist of one book and an article, or a collection of articles on a particular “spatial” theme. In addition, each student will select three weeks for which they will present their evaluation of a supplementary secondary reading of their choosing. These supplementary readings, selected by students (and pre-approved by the professor), should examine the role of space and place as it relates to each student’s particular research interests. By the end of the semester, students will have laid a firm foundation for their final paper, one that evaluates how scholars have approached the “spatial dimensions” of their specific research question.

This course explores the history of Latin America from the eve of the wars of independence of the early nineteenth century to the present. Major issues to be covered include the breakdown of Spanish and Portuguese Empires, the struggle to form independent nation-states, the re-integration of the region into the world economy, the emergence of national politics and mass culture, Cold War cycles of revolution and counterrevolution, the promise of democracy in the region, and implications of immigration from the region to the United States. In addition to highlighting the political history of the past two centuries, the course readings and lectures will examine the importance of ethnicity, class, nationality, and gender in understanding the changing characteristics of Latin American societies. A combination of primary sources and scholarly works will shed light on the historical development of Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, and Argentina, among other countries. 

Over the semester, students will consider the following broad questions: How have different ideas of progress and modernization been applied over time in Latin America and what impacts have they had in practice? What factors explain the contradiction between Latin America’s incredibly rich resources and its extreme levels of social inequality, among the highest in the world? Why have hierarchical social orders proved so durable in Latin America? What have been the motors of reform, revolution, and counter-revolution in the region? What are the factors that have created “Latin America” as a particular kind of place in the world, and in our imaginations, and what alternate criteria might be used to think about the meaning of “Latin America”? 

Through weekly discussions, essays, group work, presentations, and examinations, students will hone their talents for historical interpretation, including their critical thinking and writing skills. In addition, the course provides tools for understanding present-day problems in the Americas from a broader historical perspective.

This course will allow students to deepen their knowledge of the history of US-Latin American relations from the nineteenth century into the twenty-first.  Readings and lectures will allow students to consider and debate the political, economic, cultural, racial, and scientific dimensions of these relationships.  These discussions will allow students to begin to think of themselves as cultural citizens of the Americas more broadly. Ultimately, this course encourages students to use what they learn as background for a potential experience in the region through study abroad, community engagement, or internship.

The main objective of this course is to understand the role of maps in the creation of Latin America as a specific sort of place. As such, the course itself will allow students to become familiar with a broad overview of Latin American history from “pre-contact” civilizations to the modern period. By paying particular attention to the maps produced of and in the region within this broad time span, students are challenged to question existing assumptions of what “Latin America” means historically, culturally, and of course, spatially.

Students will have the chance to develop their map-reading skills by using a wide range of graphic representations of the Americas since the arrival of Western Europeans. Students should interrogate these sources in terms of the extent to which they have contributed to constructing the idea of “Latin America.” Students will come away from the course with an understanding of how maps work (and how they do work). That is, they will be able to explain the many ways maps present and communicate information, identify how and why particular maps are made, interpret how people have read different kinds of maps under different circumstances, and be sensitive to the implications of map silences on place formation. 

The history of U.S. actions towards Latin America has ranged from a sentimental desire to “help the less fortunate” in developing countries through aid, to more violent forms of intervention when the internal circumstances of a particular country are perceived to threaten U.S. interests.  Responses from Latin American countries have ranged from attempts to establish confraternal solidarity among statesmen in the early nineteenth century, to confronting, cooperating, and/or seeking greater economic integration with an emerging imperial power to the north.  This course will allow students to deepen their knowledge of this history by exploring the inextricably intertwined and long-standing relationships that developed between the United States and Latin America from the nineteenth century into the twenty-first.  Readings and lectures will allow students to consider and debate the political, economic, cultural, racial, and scientific dimensions of these relationships.  These discussions will allow students to begin to think of themselves as cultural citizens of the Americas more broadly. Ultimately, students are encouraged to use what they learn in this class as background for a potential experience in the region through study abroad, community engagement, or an internship.