Slavery and Freedom in Latin America and the Caribbean

3 units

This course surveys the history of slavery and freedom in the Atlantic world of Latin America and the Caribbean. It focuses on slavery as an economic system and the relations of power it created. The course moves forward chronologically, with each week organized according to a particular theme and geography. Students will learn how British, French, Spanish and Portuguese settlers established slavery in the new world; how different social and legal practices developed around particular labor patterns and commodity production; how the enslaved endured and resisted enslavement; and what it meant to be free in a slave society.