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 life, writings, global impact, mythical significance, and legacy of revolutionary icon Ernesto Che Guevara (1928-1967). While the discussions will mostly concentrate on the events that shaped Guevara's life, the class will also delve into Guevara's involvement in Africa, his death in Bolivia, and his legacy in the Americas. We will also pay particular attention to the social and political environment that surrounded his birth in Argentina in the late 1920s, his political awakening as a bohemian medical student traveling in his motorcycle throughout South America during the 1950s, and his rise as a key leader of the Cuban Revolution following the 1954 CIA-sponsored coup in Guatemala. We will conclude the class with a discussion on the emergence of Che Guevara as a pop icon commodity in more recent decades. Following a close look at the life and writings of Guevara and his legacy, students will be asked to write a research paper that examines Che as a symbol of rebelliousness, as differently re-appropriated by a variety of movements, ranging from student activists, religious figures, film directors and conservative critics, to leaders of labor, gay, environmental, feminist, and indigenous movements. Please note: the class does not exclusively put the emphasis on Che Guevara-the man-but rather on the global events and influential figures that shaped and responded to his radicalization, on the one hand, and the different ways in which a variety of people made sense of Guevara's legacy and his iconography, on the other.