History of The Andes

(4 Credits)

This course offers an introduction to one of the core regions of Latin America from preconquest to modern times. Course themes include Andean regional and cultural identity; ecology and peasant agriculture; native society and the Inca; colonialism, nationalism, and race; global commodity production (from silver to coca) and economic dependency; Indian and working-class political struggles. The Peruvian novelist and ethnographer Jos? Mar?a Arguedas is taken as an exemplary figure whose life, work, and death provide a focus connecting diverse elements in the course.