Courses

What does Brazilian slavery have to teach the world? This course examines the history of slavery, as well as resistance to it, its abolition, the way it has been remembered and forgotten, in Latin America’s largest country in its hemispheric, Atlantic, and global context. In Brazil, the practice of enslaving Africans and their descendants lasted longer and involved more people than in any other place in the world. Our readings and in-class discussions broadly survey the entire sweep of Brazilian history from the sixteenth century to the present, demonstrating how the enslavement of people originally brought from Africa and their descendants is an inextricable part of the country’s history, and to the history of the African Diaspora, and is fundamental to understanding Brazil’s relationship to the rest of the world. No prior knowledge of Latin American or Brazilian history is required, and all required readings will be in English.