Art and Revolution in Latin America

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course is designed to introduce students to the Mexican (1910-1940s), Cuban (1959-1970s), Nicaraguan (1979-1990), and Anti-Neoliberal (1990s-present) Revolutions and their impact in Latin America, as represented in the arts. Following a brief introduction to the various definitions of the word "Revolution," students will examine what it meant to be a Latin American revolutionary in the political world of artistic production and reception. In particular, students will explore how and why a broad range of representative leaders of Latin America's most important political and cultural revolutions used paintings, murals, graphic art, poetry, music, and film to (A) lead a social, cultural, and political restructuring of their respective countries; (B) export their unique notions of "Revolution" to the world; and (C) question the contradictions that some artists at times faced within their own revolutionary movements.