Susan Deans-Smith

This course explores the “conquest” of Mexico and the social, cultural, political, and economic processes which were set in motion by the Spanish invasion of Mexico. We will examine primary accounts of conquest (textual and visual) and the recent historical literature that interrogates the complexities of conquest and conquest society. How do we account for the Spanish military victory and for the consolidation of Spanish power in Mexico? What roles do the Catholic Church, Spanish settlers, and indigenous elites play in the consolidation of conquest society? What kind of society did the Spanish intend to establish in Mexico in the sixteenth century? In what ways is indigenous society (political structures and power relationships, gender relations, economic organization, religious practices and beliefs, etc.) affected by conquest? Conversely, how does indigenous society affect colonial policies and practices? How do we explain regional variations in indigenous insurrection in Mexico in the aftermath of conquest? The conquest of Mexico had global repercussions, not only in economic terms but also in cultural and intellectual terms. How did Spanish encounters with previously unknown peoples and places affect thinking about humanity and the world? How is the conquest currently represented in contemporary expressions and what do those interpretations tell us about resistant stereotypes of Spanish conquest?

Texts:
• Matthew Restall When Moctezuma Met Cortes
• Daniel Castro The Other Face of Empire
• Ross Hassig Mexico and the Spanish Conquest
• Camilla Townsend Malintzin’s Choices
• Diana Magaloni Kerpel, The Colors of the New World

• Miguel León Portilla,  Bernardino de Sahagún. First Anthropologist 

Grading:
• Informal response papers 10%
• Analysis of primary sources 15%
• Critical reviews 35%
• Analytical essay Draft 10%
• Analytical essay 20%
• Class Participation and attendance 10%

Aztecs and Incas: Alternative Histories of the Spanish Conquest and Colonialism

Description:

This course explores the Spanish invasion of the indigenous empires of the Aztecs and the Incas and the consolidation of Spanish imperial power and colonial rule. We will examine the ways in which indigenous societies in the viceroyalties of Mexico and Peru were transformed and how their structures, in turn, also shaped the expansion and limitation of Spanish rule. What transformations in their societies occur and how do we explain recognizable continuities. How do the post-conquest indigenous societies of Peru and Mexico differ in their responses to Spanish conquest? How do we explain, for example, the eruption of the largest anti-colonial rebellion in Peru in 1781 under the leadership of Tupac Amaru, but nothing comparable in scope and scale in Mexico? What can we say about relationships and interactions that emerge among Spaniards, Indians, Africans, and their multi-racial offspring? In what ways did indigenous communities shape the trajectories of the independence movements in Mexico and Peru? Particular attention will be paid to the question of what primary sources (written and visual) are available to historians and how we use them to reconstruct the indigenous experiences under Spanish colonial rule and alternative histories of conquest. We will also consider briefly the long-term legacies of colonialism for contemporary indigenous societies in Mexico and the Andean region.

Texts/Readings:

* Kenneth Andren, Andean Worlds

* Ida Altman, The History of Greater Mexico

* Camille Townsend, Malintzin's Choices

* Matthew Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest

* David Carrasco and Scott Sessions, Daily Life of the Aztecs

* Michael Andrew Malpass, Daily Life in the Inca Empire

* Class Reader - The reader will include primary sources such as excerpts from indigenous codices, accounts of conquest from indigenous perspectives, indigenous maps, wills and testaments, inquisition records, paintings, etc., as well as articles that deal with military, religious, economic, cultural, and political aspects of conquest and colonialism. All of the readings are designed to expose students not only to the different methodologies and interdisciplinarity of research on this topic but also to the current debates and disagreements among historians.

Assignments:

* Short weekly critical reviews (2 pages) of assigned readings that will address a combination of secondary and primary sources (for a total of 16 pages; 40%)

* A longer essay (15 pages) that addresses comparison of a specific aspect of Mexican and Andean indigenous societies (additional research beyond assigned readings is required) (draft, 15%; final 30%)

* Participation in seminar debate and oral presentation of one critical review (15%)

Instructor Biography: 

Susan Deans-Smith, Associate Professor, Department of History
Ph.D., Cambridge University

Research interests
My research and teaching interests include the history of Colonial Latin America and the Spanish Empire, with particular emphasis on Mexico and the Andean region, society and culture in 17th and 18th century Mexico and the Andes, the visual arts and material culture in Latin America, and comparative colonial history.

Courses taught
Colonial Latin America; Rethinking the Conquest of Mexico, Historiography of Colonial Spanish America, Resistance, Rebellion, and Revolution in Colonial Mexico and the Andes

Awards/Honors
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 2000-2001
Social Science Research Council/American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship, 1995-96
National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, 1988-1989
Herbert Eugene Bolton Memorial Prize, Honorable Mention, 1993, for Bureaucrats, Planters, and Workers - the Making of the Tobacco Monopoly in Bourbon Mexico (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1992)

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

This course explores the “conquest” of Mexico and the social, cultural, political, and economic processes which were set in motion by the Spanish invasion of Mexico. We will examine primary accounts of conquest (textual and visual) and the recent historical literature that interrogates the complexities of conquest and conquest society. How do we account for the Spanish military victory and for the consolidation of Spanish power in Mexico? What roles do the Catholic Church, Spanish settlers, and indigenous elites play in the consolidation of conquest society? What kind of society did the Spanish intend to establish in Mexico in the sixteenth century? In what ways is indigenous society (political structures and power relationships, gender relations, economic organization, religious practices and beliefs, etc.) affected by conquest? Conversely, how does indigenous society affect colonial policies and practices? How do we explain regional variations in indigenous insurrection in Mexico in the aftermath of conquest? The conquest of Mexico had global repercussions, not only in economic terms but also in cultural and intellectual terms. How did Spanish discovery of unknown peoples and places affect thinking about humanity and the world? How is the conquest currently represented in contemporary expressions and what do those interpretations tell us about resistant stereotypes of Spanish conquest?

Texts:

• Ida Altman et al The Early History of Greater Mexico
• David Carrasco Daily Life of the Aztecs
• Daniel Castro The Other Face of Empire
• Ross Hassig Mexico and the Spanish Conquest
• Camilla Townsend Malintzin’s Choices
• Class Reader

Grading:

• Informal response papers 10%
• Analysis of primary sources 15%
• Critical reviews 35%

• Research project/essay Draft 10%

• Research project/essay 20%

• Class Participation 10%

The main objectives of this readings seminar are to explore  the history of empire in Spanish America from comparative, theoretical, and methodological approaches. We will examine questions related to theories of empire and to the development, consolidation, and break-up of the Spanish empire. Topics include the construction of imperial and colonial archives, the formation of colonial societies and socio-racial hierarchies, law and colonialism, religion and colonialism, church-state relations, colonial bureaucracies, colonial economies, class, gender and race relations, imperial imaginaries/visual and material culture, African and indigenous societies, intra/inter-imperial interactions and conflicts in a global context.

Texts:

TBD

Class Reader

Grading:

Weekly review papers 50%

Draft of historiographical essay 10%

Final historiographical essay 30%

Seminar participation 10%

This seminar focuses on the visual and material culture of colonial Spanish America. We will explore ways in which particular images and objects came into being and how they provide insights into the social, political, economic, religious, and intellectual histories of colonial Spanish America. We will explore and analyse a wide range of materials - paintings, sculptures, architecture, maps, textiles, prints, etc. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the connections between visual and material culture and the formation of the Ibero-American empires. At the core of this seminar is the deep contextualization of specific images and artifacts to understand how they came into being-who produced them, who wanted them and why, and what we can discover about their circulation, reception, and transformation. We will also consider how images and artifacts function as historical evidence to be interrogated in the same way that we critically assess written sources.

Texts:

1. Kelly Donahue-Wallace, Art and Architecture of Viceregal Latin America, 1521-1821

2. Matthew Restall and Kris Lane, Latin America in Colonial Times

3. Dana Leibsohn and Barbara E. Mundy, Vistas. Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520-1820/Cultura visual de Hispanoamérica, 1520–1820

4. Selection of articles on Canvas

Grading:

•1. 25% five response papers of assigned readings

•2. 20% curated mini-exhibition project

•3. 5% Abstract and bibliography for final analytical essay

•4. 5%–peer critique of first drafts of analytical essay

•5. 10%–first drafts of final analytical essay

•6. 25%–final analytical essay

•7. 10%–Attendance/Engagement and Preparation

Description: 

This course explores the Spanish invasion of the indigenous empires of the Aztecs and the Incas and the consolidation of Spanish imperial power and colonial rule. We will examine the ways in which indigenous societies in the viceroyalties of Mexico and Peru were transformed and how their structures, in turn, also shaped the expansion and limitations of Spanish rule. What transformations in their societies occurred and how do we explain recognizable continuities? How do the post-conquest indigenous societies of Peru and Mexico differ in their responses to Spanish conquest and how do we explain such differences? In what ways did indigenous communities shape the trajectories of the independence movements in Mexico and Peru? Particular attention will be paid to the question of what primary sources (written/visual/archaeological) are available to historians and how we use them to reconstruct the indigenous experiences under Spanish colonial rule and alternative histories of conquest and colonialism.

Texts:

David Carrasco, Daily Life of the Aztecs 

Gordon F. McEwen, The Incas. New Perspectives

Matthew Restall and Kris Lane, Latin America In Colonial Times

Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan, 1517-1570 (2nd. ed.)

Yanna Yannakakis, The Art of Being In-Between: Native Intermediaries, Indian Identity, and Local Rule in Colonial Oaxaca

Class Reader - The reader (PDF uploads on Canvas) will include primary sources such as excerpts from indigenous codices, accounts of conquest from indigenous perspectives, indigenous maps, wills and testaments, inquisition records, paintings, etc., as well as articles that deal with military, religious, economic, cultural, and political aspects of conquest and colonialism. All of the readings are designed to expose students not only to the different methodologies and interdisciplinarity of research on this topic but also to the current debates and disagreements among historians.

Assignments:

*Short weekly critical reviews of assigned readings that will address analysis of a combination of secondary and primary sources (for a total of 16 pages; 40%)

* A longer critical essay that addresses comparison of a specific aspect of Mexican and Andean indigenous societies (additional research beyond assigned readings is required) (draft, 15%; final 30%)

* Participation in seminar debate, peer review, and oral presentation of one critical review (15%)

Biography:

Susan Deans-Smith earned her Ph.D. in 1984 from Cambridge University. Her research interests include the history of the Spanish Empire, the history of Mexico and the Andes, comparative colonial studies, and the history of artists, artisans, and the material and visual culture of colonial Latin America. She is the recipient of fellowships from the ACLS/SSRC and the NEH. She has published extensively on the economic, social, political and cultural history of colonial Mexico. She is currently completing a book on the first fine arts academy in colonial Mexico, the Royal Academy of San Carlos.

The main objectives of this readings seminar are to explore  the history of empire in Spanish America from comparative, theoretical, and methodological approaches. We will examine questions related to theories of empire and to the development, consolidation, and break-up of the Spanish empire. Topics include the construction of imperial and colonial archives, the formation of colonial societies and socio-racial hierarchies, law and colonialism, religion and colonialism, church-state relations, colonial bureaucracies, colonial economies, class, gender and race relations, imperial imaginaries/visual and material culture, African and indigenous societies, intra/inter-imperial interactions and conflicts in a global context. Particular attention will be paid to comparisons of the Ibero-American empires with those of the British and French experiences.

Texts:

TBD

Class Reader

Grading:

Weekly review papers 50%

Draft of historiographical essay 10%

Final historiographical essay 30%

Seminar participation 10%

This seminar focuses on the visual and material culture of colonial Spanish America. We will explore ways in which particular images and objects came into being and how they provide insights into the social, political, economic, religious, and intellectual histories of colonial Spanish America. We will explore and analyse a wide range of materials - paintings, sculptures, architecture, maps, textiles, prints, etc. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the connections between visual and material culture and the formation of the Ibero-American empires. At the core of this seminar is the deep contextualization of specific images and artifacts to understand how they came into being-who produced them, who wanted them and why, and what we can discover about their circulation, reception, and transformation. We will also consider how images and artifacts function as historical evidence to be interrogated in the same way that we critically assess written sources.

Texts:

1. Kelly Donahue-Wallace, Art and Architecture of Viceregal Latin America, 1521-1821

2. Matthew Restall and Kris Lane, Latin America in Colonial Times

3. DVD-Rom, Dana Leibsohn and Barbara E. Mundy, Vistas. Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520-1820/Cultura visual de Hispanoamérica, 1520–1820

4. Class Reader

Grading:

•1. 25% five response papers of assigned readings

•2. 20% curated mini-exhibition project

•3. 5% Abstract and bibliography for final analytical essay

•4. 5%–peer critique of first drafts of analytical essay

•5. 10%–first drafts of final analytical essay             

•6. 25%–final analytical essay

•7. 10%–Attendance (5%) and active participation (5%)

This course explores the “conquest” of Mexico and the social, cultural, political, and economic processes which were set in motion by the Spanish invasion of Mexico. We will examine primary accounts of conquest (textual and visual) and the recent historical literature that interrogates the complexities of conquest and conquest society. How do we account for the Spanish military victory and for the consolidation of Spanish power in Mexico? What roles do the Catholic Church, Spanish settlers, and indigenous elites play in the consolidation of conquest society? What kind of society did the Spanish intend to establish in Mexico in the sixteenth century? In what ways is indigenous society (political structures and power relationships, gender relations, economic organization, religious practices and beliefs, etc.) affected by conquest? Conversely, how does indigenous society affect colonial policies and practices? How do we explain regional variations in indigenous insurrection in Mexico in the aftermath of conquest? The conquest of Mexico had global repercussions, not only in economic terms but also in cultural and intellectual terms. How did Spanish discovery of unknown peoples and places affect thinking about humanity and the world? How is the conquest currently represented in contemporary film and what do those interpretations tell us about resistant stereotypes of Spanish conquest?

Texts:

•           Ida Altman et al                                      The Early History of Greater Mexico

•           David Carrasco                                        Daily Life of the Aztecs

•           Daniel Castro                                          The Other Face of Empire

•           Ross Hassig                                           Mexico and the Spanish Conquest

•           Camilla Townsend                                  Malintzin’s Choices

•           Class Reader

Grading:

•           Informal response papers               10%

•           Analysis of primary sources                       15%

•           Critical reviews                                       35%

•           Analytical essay                          30%

•           Class Participation                                   10%

The Signature Course (UGS 302 and 303) introduces first-year students to the university’s academic community through the exploration of new interests. The Signature Course is your opportunity to engage in college-level thinking and learning.

In this seminar we will focus on the visual and material culture of colonial Spanish America. We will explore ways in which particular images and objects came into being and how they provide insights into the social, political, economic, religious, and intellectual histories of colonial Spanish America. We will explore and analyse a wide range of materials - paintings, sculptures, architecture, maps, textiles, prints, etc. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the connections between visual and material culture and the formation of the Ibero-American empires. Emphasis will also be placed on the deep contextualization of specific images and artifacts to understand how they came into being-who produced them, who wanted them and why, and what we can discover about their circulation, reception, and transformation. We will also consider how images and artifacts function as historical evidence to be interrogated in the same way that we critically assess written sources.

Readings (**subject to confirmation)

1. Kelly Donahue-Wallace, Art and Architecture of Viceregal Latin America, 1521-1821

2. Matthew Restall and Kris Lane, Latin America in Colonial Times

3. DVD-Rom, Dana Leibsohn and Barbara E. Mundy, Vistas. Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520-1820/Cultura visual de Hispanoamérica, 1520–1820

4. Class Reader

Grading:

•1. 25% five response papers of assigned readings

•2. 20% curated mini-exhibition project

•3. 5% Abstract and bibliography for final analytical essay

•4. 5%–peer critique of first drafts of analytical essay

•5. 10%–first drafts of final analytical essay              

•6. 25%–final analytical essay

•7. 10%–Attendance (5%) and active participation (5%)

This seminar focuses on the histories of the Catholic Church and religious devotion in colonial Latin America between 1521 and 1821. We will analyse the Church as an institution imbricated in colonial rule, its physical construction and presence in colonial Latin America, the secular and religious orders (including female religious), religious confraternities of the Spanish, indigenous, and African peoples, and the development of local devotions. Topics to be addressed include the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Spanish monarchy, and how it changed over 300 years of Spanish imperial rule, the early post-conquest work of friars among indigenous communities and their proto-anthropological characteristics, the influences of the Reconquista (the reclaiming of Christian Spain from Islamic rule and the expulsion of the Jewish population) upon the evangelization campaigns of the indigenous populations, and the enduring influences of pre-hispanic religious beliefs upon indigenous Catholic practices. We will also pay special attention to New World devotions that came into being during Spanish colonial rule and the question of how to understand the miraculous, the divine, and the mystical in colonial society. Particular emphasis will be placed on religious art and architecture as primary sources for thinking through and about these issues. Assignments include a combination of weekly informal writing responses, two short analytical essays, analysis of several primary sources, all of which will be used as the basis for a longer final research essay. A reading proficiency in Spanish is preferred but not mandatory.

Texts:

Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests

William B. Taylor, Kenneth Mills, and Sandra Lauderdale-Graham, Colonial Latin America. A Documentary History

William B. Taylor, Marvels and Miracles in Late Colonial Mexico and Shrines & Miraculous Images. Religious Life in Mexico Before the Reforma

Gabriela Ramos, Death and Conversion in the Andes

Grading:

1. Informal weekly response paper 10%

2. Two short essays 30%

3. Analysis of primary sources 15%

4. Peer Review assignment 5%

5. Draft of research essay 10%

6. Final essay 20%

7. Seminar participation 10%

The main objectives of this readings seminar are to explore approaches to the history of empire in Spanish America from comparative, theoretical, and methodological approaches. We will examine questions related to theories of empire and to the development, consolidation, and break-up of the Spanish empire. Topics include the construction of imperial and colonial archives, the formation of colonial societies and socio-racial hierarchies, law and colonialism, religion and colonialism, church-state relations, colonial bureaucracies, colonial economies, class, gender and race relations, imperial imaginaries/visual and material culture, African and indigenous societies, intra/inter-imperial interactions and conflicts in a global context. Particular attention will be paid to comparisons of the Ibero-American empires with those of the British and French experiences.

Texts:

TBD

Class Reader

Grading:

Weekly review papers  50%

Draft of historiographical essay 10%

Final historiographical essay 30%

Seminar participation  10%

This course explores the Spanish invasion of the indigenous empires of the Aztecs and the Incas and the consolidation of Spanish imperial power and colonial rule. We will examine the ways in which indigenous societies in the viceroyalties of Mexico and Peru were transformed and how their structures, in turn, also shaped the expansion and limitation of Spanish rule. What transformations in their societies occur and how do we explain recognizable continuities. How do the post-conquest indigenous societies of Peru and Mexico differ in their responses to Spanish conquest? How do we explain, for example, the eruption of the largest anti-colonial rebellion in Peru in 1781 under the leadership of Tupac Amaru, but nothing comparable in scope and scale in Mexico? What can we say about relationships and interactions that emerge among Spaniards, Indians, Africans, and their multi-racial offspring? In what ways did indigenous communities shape the trajectories of the independence movements in Mexico and Peru? Particular attention will be paid to the question of what primary sources (written and visual) are available to historians and how we use them to reconstruct the indigenous experiences under Spanish colonial rule and alternative histories of conquest. We will also consider briefly the long-term legacies of colonialism for contemporary indigenous societies in Mexico and the Andean region.

Texts/Readings:

* Kenneth Andren, Andean Worlds

* Ida Altman, The History of Greater Mexico

* Camille Townsend, Malintzin's Choices

* Matthew Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest

* David Carrasco and Scott Sessions, Daily Life of the Aztecs

* Michael Andrew Malpass, Daily Life in the Inca Empire

* Class Reader - The reader will include primary sources such as excerpts from indigenous codices, accounts of conquest from indigenous perspectives, indigenous maps, wills and testaments, inquisition records, paintings, etc., as well as articles that deal with military, religious, economic, cultural, and political aspects of conquest and colonialism. All of the readings are designed to expose students not only to the different methodologies and interdisciplinarity of research on this topic but also to the current debates and disagreements among historians.

Assignments:

*Short weekly critical reviews (2 pages) of assigned readings that will address a combination of secondary and primary sources (for a total of 16 pages; 40%)

* A longer essay (15 pages) that addresses comparison of a specific aspect of Mexican and Andean indigenous societies (additional research beyond assigned readings is required) (draft, 15%; final 30%)

* Participation in seminar debate and oral presentation of one critical review (15%)

Biography:

Susan Deans-Smith earned her Ph.D. in 1984 from Cambridge University. Her research interests include the history of the Spanish Empire, the history of Mexico and the Andes, comparative colonial studies, and the history of material and visual culture in Latin America. She is the recipient of fellowships from the ACLS/SSRC and the NEH. Her most recent publication is Race and Classification. The Case of Mexican America (Stanford, 2009), co-edited with Ilona Katzew.

This course explores the “conquest” of Mexico and the social, cultural, political, and economic processes which were set in motion by the Spanish invasion of Mexico. We will examine primary accounts of conquest (textual and visual) and the recent historical literature that interrogates the complexities of conquest and conquest society. How do we account for the Spanish military victory and for the consolidation of Spanish power in Mexico? What roles do the Catholic Church, Spanish settlers, and indigenous elites play in the consolidation of conquest society? What kind of society did the Spanish intend to establish in Mexico in the sixteenth century? In what ways is indigenous society (political structures and power relationships, gender relations, economic organization, religious practices and beliefs, etc.) affected by conquest? Conversely, how does indigenous society affect colonial policies and practices? How do we explain regional variations in indigenous insurrection in Mexico in the aftermath of conquest? The conquest of Mexico had global repercussions, not only in economic terms but also in cultural and intellectual terms. How did Spanish discovery of unknown peoples and places affect thinking about humanity and the world? How is the conquest currently represented in contemporary film and what do those interpretations tell us about resistant stereotypes of Spanish conquest?

Texts (subject to final confirmation):

• Ida Altman et al                                       The Early History of Greater Mexico
• David Carrasco                                        Daily Life of the Aztecs
• Daniel Castro                                          The Other Face of Empire
• Ross Hassig                                           Mexico and the Spanish Conquest
• Camilla Townsend                                   Malintzin’s Choices
• Class Reader

Grading:

• Informal response papers                           10%
• Analysis of primary sources                       15%
• Critical reviews                                       35%
• Analytical essay                                      30%
• Class Participation                                   10%

This seminar focuses on the histories of the Catholic Church and religious devotion in colonial Latin America between 1521 and 1821. We will analyse the Church as an institution imbricated in colonial rule, its physical construction and presence in colonial Latin America, the secular and religious orders (including female religious), religious confraternities of the Spanish, indigenous, and African peoples, and the development of local devotions. Topics to be addressed include the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Spanish monarchy, and how it changed over 300 years of Spanish imperial rule, the early post-conquest work of friars among indigenous communities and their proto-anthropological characteristics, the influences of the Reconquista (the reclaiming of Christian Spain from Islamic rule and the expulsion of the Jewish population) upon the evangelization campaigns of the indigenous populations, and the enduring influences of pre-hispanic religious beliefs upon indigenous Catholic practices. We will also pay special attention to New World devotions that came into being during Spanish colonial rule and the question of how to understand the miraculous, the divine, and the mystical in colonial society. Particular emphasis will be placed on religious art and architecture as primary sources for thinking through and about these issues. Assignments include a combination of weekly informal writing responses, two short analytical essays, analysis of several primary sources, all of which will be used as the basis for a longer final research essay. A reading proficiency in Spanish is preferred but not mandatory.

Grading:

1. Informal weekly response papers                 10%

2. Two short essays                                        30%

3. Analysis of primary sources                         15%

4. Peer Review assignment                               5%

5. Draft of research essay                               10%

6. Final essay                                                 20%

7. Seminar participation                                 10%

Texts (subject to confirmation):

Inga Clendinnen, Ambivalent Conquests

William B. Taylor, Kenneth Mills, and Sandra Lauderdale-Graham, Colonial Latin America. A Documentary History

William B. Taylor, Marvels and Miracles in Late Colonial Mexico and Shrines & Miraculous Images. Religious Life in Mexico Before the Reforma

Gabriela Ramos, Death and Conversion in the Andes

Class Reader

In this seminar we will focus on the visual and material culture of colonial Latin America. We will explore ways in which particular images and objects came into being and how they provide insights into the social, political, economic, religious, and intellectual histories of colonial Latin America. We will explore and analyse a wide range of materials - paintings, sculptures, architecture, maps, textiles, prints, etc. Emphasis will be placed on understanding the connections between visual and material culture and the formation of the Ibero-American empires. Emphasis will also be placed on the deep contextualization of specific images and artifacts to understand how they came into being-who produced them, who wanted them and why, and what we can discover about their circulation, reception, and transformation. We will also consider how images and artifacts function as historical evidence to be interrogated in the same way that we critically assess written sources.

Grading:

Weekly response papers/peer review      30%

First draft of research paper           10%

Second draft of research paper  30%

Seminar presentation and participation  30%

Texts (subject to confirmation)

Class Reader

Kelly Donahue-Wallace, Art and Architecture of Viceregal Latin America

Dana Liebsohn and Barbara Mundy, Vistas. Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520-1820 / Cultura visual de Hispanoamérica, 1520-1820

Serge Gruzinski, Images at War: Mexico from Columbus to Blade Runner Kenneth Mills et al, Colonial Latin America: A Documentary History

Description:

This course explores the Spanish invasion of the indigenous empires of the Aztecs and the Incas and the consolidation of Spanish imperial power and colonial rule. We will examine the ways in which indigenous societies in the viceroyalties of Mexico and Peru were transformed and how their structures, in turn, also shaped the expansion and limitation of Spanish rule. What transformations in their societies occur and how do we explain recognizable continuities. How do the post-conquest indigenous societies of Peru and Mexico differ in their responses to Spanish conquest? How do we explain, for example, the eruption of the largest anti-colonial rebellion in Peru in 1781 under the leadership of Tupac Amaru, but nothing comparable in scope and scale in Mexico? What can we say about relationships and interactions that emerge among Spaniards, Indians, Africans, and their multi-racial offspring? In what ways did indigenous communities shape the trajectories of the independence movements in Mexico and Peru? Particular attention will be paid to the question of what primary sources (written and visual) are available to historians and how we use them to reconstruct the indigenous experiences under Spanish colonial rule and alternative histories of conquest. We will also consider briefly the long-term legacies of colonialism for contemporary indigenous societies in Mexico and the Andean region.

Texts/Readings:

* Kenneth Andren, Andean Worlds

* Ida Altman, The History of Greater Mexico

* Camille Townsend, Malintzin's Choices

* Matthew Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest

* David Carrasco and Scott Sessions, Daily Life of the Aztecs

* Michael Andrew Malpass, Daily Life in the Inca Empire

* Class Reader - The reader will include primary sources such as excerpts from indigenous codices, accounts of conquest from indigenous perspectives, indigenous maps, wills and testaments, inquisition records, paintings, etc., as well as articles that deal with military, religious, economic, cultural, and political aspects of conquest and colonialism. All of the readings are designed to expose students not only to the different methodologies and interdisciplinarity of research on this topic but also to the current debates and disagreements among historians.

Assignments:

* Short weekly critical reviews (2 pages) of assigned readings that will address a combination of secondary and primary sources (for a total of 16 pages; 40%)

* A longer essay (15 pages) that addresses comparison of a specific aspect of Mexican and Andean indigenous societies (additional research beyond assigned readings is required) (draft, 15%; final 30%)

* Participation in seminar debate and oral presentation of one critical review (15%)

Biography:

Susan Deans-Smith earned her Ph.D. in 1984 from Cambridge University. Her research interests include the history of the Spanish Empire, the history of Mexico and the Andes, comparative colonial studies, and the history of material and visual culture in Latin America. She is the recipient of fellowships from the ACLS/SSRC and the NEH. Her most recent publication is Race and Classification. The Case of Mexican America (Stanford, 2009), co-edited with Ilona Katzew.

This course is designed to provide students with an overview of the social, cultural, economic, and political development of colonial Spanish America between 1492 and 1840. Spanish imperial control over its American colonies lasted for three hundred years. How do we explain the longevity of Spanish control and when the Spanish American colonists fought for their independence why did the insurgent movements occur in the early nineteenth century and not before? Between Spanish invasion, conquest, and eventual loss of empire, what kind of societies were created in Spanish America? On what terms were the indigenous populations incorporated into conquest society and economy and what factors shaped their responses to Spanish colonialism? What images did the Spanish form of the "New World" inhabitants and what impact did they have upon Spanish intellectual thought? What type of society and economy did those Spaniards who sought their fortunes in the colonies shape for themselves and their descendants? Topics to be addressed include the Spanish and Pre-Colombian traditions of conquest and imperialism, the consolidation of Spanish imperial government in the so-called "New World", Church-State relations, the development of the colonial economies in the context of early globalization, race, class, and gender in colonial society, the movements of political independence from Spain and the problems faced by the new republics as emergent nation-states in the nineteenth century. Special emphasis will be placed on indigenous and Afro-American responses to Spanish colonialism during three centuries of imperial rule. Particular emphasis will also be placed on students’ critical readings of primary sources, both visual and textual.

Texts (subject to final confirmation):

•Jonathan C. Brown, Latin America. A Social History of the Colonial Period (2nd ed.)

• Daniel Castro, The Other Face of Empire

• Camilla Townsend, Malintzin’s Choices

• Karen Racine, Francisco de Miranda. A Transatlantic Life in the Age of Revolution

• Class Reader

Grading:

Informal response papers 10%

Analysis of primary sources 20%

Critical reviews 60%

Class Participation 10%

The main objectives of this readings seminar are to explore approaches to the history of empire in Latin America from comparative, theoretical, and methodological approaches. We will examine questions related to theories of empire, construction of archives, and how historians have understood the development and consolidation of the Spanish and Portuguese empires. Topics include the formation of colonial societies and socio-racial hierarchies, the development of the Catholic Church, religion and devotional cults, colonial bureaucracies and economies, gender, visual and material culture, African and indigenous societies, inter-imperial interactions and conflicts, and challenges to colonial rule. Particular attention will be paid to comparisons of the Ibero-American empires with those of the British and French experiences. 

Texts

Jane Burbank and Fred Cooper, Empires in World History

John Elliott, Empires of the Atlantic World

Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain

Kathryn Burns, Into the Archive

Stuart B. Schwartz, All Will Be Saved

Gabriela Ramos, Death and Conversion in the Andes

Yanna Yannakakis, The Art of Being In-between: Native Intermediaries, Indian Identity, and Local Rule in Colonial Oaxaca 

Alida Metcalf, Go-Betweens and the Colonization of Brazil 1500-1600

Gabriel Paquette, Enlightenment, Governance and Reform in Spain and Its Empire

Kelly Donahue-Wallace, The Art and Architecture of Viceregal Latin America

Matthew D. O’Hara, A Flock Divided

Carlos Marichal, Bankruptcy of Empire

Class Reader

Grading

Weekly review papers 50%

Draft of historiographical essay 10%

Final historiographical essay 30%

Seminar participation 10%

This course is designed to provide students with an overview of the social, cultural, economic, and political development of colonial Spanish America between 1492 and 1840. Spanish imperial control over its American colonies lasted for three hundred years. How do we explain the longevity of Spanish control and when the Spanish American colonists fought for their independence why did the insurgent movements occur in the early nineteenth century and not before? Between Spanish invasion, conquest, and eventual loss of empire, what kind of societies were created in Spanish America? On what terms were the indigenous populations incorporated into conquest society and economy and what factors shaped their responses to Spanish colonialism? What images did the Spanish form of the "New World" inhabitants and what impact did they have upon Spanish intellectual thought? What type of society and economy did those Spaniards who sought their fortunes in the colonies shape for themselves and their descendants? Topics to be addressed include the Spanish and Pre-Colombian traditions of conquest and imperialism, the consolidation of Spanish imperial government in the so-called "New World", Church-State relations, the development of the colonial economies in the context of early globalization, race, class, and gender in colonial society, the movements of political independence from Spain and the problems faced by the new republics as emergent nation-states in the nineteenth century. Special emphasis will be placed on indigenous and Afro-American responses to Spanish colonialism during three centuries of imperial rule. Particular emphasis will also be placed on students’ critical readings of primary sources, both visual and textual.

Texts (subject to final confirmation):

•Jonathan C. Brown, Latin America. A Social History of the Colonial Period (2nd ed.)

• Daniel Castro, The Other Face of Empire

• Camilla Townsend, Malintzin’s Choices

• Karen Racine, Francisco de Miranda. A Transatlantic Life in the Age of Revolution

• Class Reader

Grading:

Informal response papers 10%

Analysis of primary sources 20%

Critical reviews 60%

Class Participation 10%

HIS 350L

This course explores the “conquest” of Mexico and the social, cultural, political, and economic processes which were set in motion by the Spanish invasion of Mexico. We will examine primary accounts of conquest (textual and visual) and the recent historical literature that interrogates the complexities of conquest and conquest society. How do we account for the Spanish military victory and for the consolidation of Spanish power in Mexico? What roles do the Catholic Church, Spanish settlers, and indigenous elites play in the consolidation of conquest society? What kind of society did the Spanish intend to establish in Mexico in the sixteenth century? In what ways is indigenous society (political structures and power relationships, gender relations, economic organization, religious practices and beliefs, etc.) affected by conquest? Conversely, how does indigenous society affect colonial policies and practices? How do we explain regional variations in indigenous insurrection in Mexico in the aftermath of conquest? The conquest of Mexico had global repercussions, not only in economic terms but also in cultural and intellectual terms. How did Spanish discovery of unknown peoples and places affect thinking about humanity and the world? How is the conquest currently represented in contemporary film and what do those interpretations tell us about resistant stereotypes of Spanish conquest?

Texts (subject to final confirmation):

• Ida Altman et al                                    The Early History of Greater Mexico
• David Carrasco                                    Daily Life of the Aztecs
• Daniel Castro                                    The Other Face of Empire
• Ross Hassig                                                Mexico and the Spanish Conquest
• Camilla Townsend                                    Malintzin’s Choices
• Class Reader

Grading:

• Informal response papers                        10%
• Analysis of primary sources                        15%
• Critical reviews                                    35%
• Analytical essay                                    30%
• Class Participation                                    10%

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Please check back for updates.

Prerequisite: Upper-division standing.

Individual study to be arranged with a faculty member.

Prerequisite: Graduate standing and consent of instructor and the graduate adviser.

Restricted enrollment; contact the department for permission to register for this class. May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisite: For 698A, graduate standing in Latin American studies and consent of the supervising professor and the graduate adviser; for 698B, Latin American Studies 698A.

Offered on the credit/no credit basis only. Restricted enrollment; contact the department for permission to register for this class.