Colonial Latin America

3 Units

Colonial Latin American history is a period fraught with bloodshed, deadly disease, and the brutal enslavement of Africans and Indigenous peoples, yet was also a time of resistance, mobilization, and the flourishing of arts, culture, and unique hybrid religious practices. This course is an invitation to focus on primary sources and wrestle with the writing of colonial history throughout the last 500 years, with all its discrepancies, biases, and unanswered questions. We look especially at the role that women, Indigenous peoples, and Africans played in society--voices that have traditionally been silenced. How can we resurrect those voices? We ponder the construction of colonial society and conclude with how the wars of Independence fundamentally altered society. Counts as a CAS Global & Cultural Diversity course.