Courses

This graduate-level course examines the study of Latin American history from the beginning of the wave of decolonization at the turn of the nineteenth century to the present day. Throughout the semester, we will read and discuss scholarship that familiarizes students with major themes in the study of postcolonial Latin America; this scholarship also raises questions, implicitly and sometimes explicitly, about just what Latin America is, and about what distinguishes the postcolonial period from earlier moments (and about such conventional watersheds as independence and other political transitions). Our readings are designed to stimulate discussion along the lines of the subfields that they each address—gender, environmental history, nation-building, and so on—but more broadly, and together, they will help us establish a critical understanding of the historically contingent definition of Latin America as a geopolitical and historical construct. This course is primarily designed for doctoral students, but those enrolled in MA programs or in the professional schools may register with the instructor’s permission. All required readings will be in English; reading knowledge or Spanish and/or Portuguese would expand the possibilities available for writing the final paper but is not a requirement.