Frida Kahlo and Che Guevara: Icons, Myths, and Legacies

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This is a course on twentieth century Latin American history. It examines the region through the lives, writings, global impact, mythical significance, legacy, and contradictions of revolutionary icons Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) and Ernesto Che Guevara (1928-1967). While the discussions of the readings and film screenings will mostly concentrate on the events that shaped Kahlo’s and Guevara’s lives from the 1920s to the 1960s, the class will also delve into their respective relationships to the Mexican and Cuban Revolution, the impact of their deaths, and their legacies in the Americas. We will pay particular attention to the social and political environment that surrounded their respective lives in Mexico and Argentina, their political awakening as bohemian and revolutionary leaders, their rise as icons of the broader Latin American Revolution following the 1954 CIA-sponsored coup in Guatemala, and their relevance to the liberationist movements of the late 1960s and 1970s. We will conclude the class with a discussion on the emergence of Frida Kahlo and Che Guevara as pop icon commodities in more recent decades.