This course examines political life in Latin America in the postcolonial period. The course covers the entire region but emphasizes the most representative countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, and Peru. The overarching purpose of the course is to understand change and continuity in this region. We will endeavor to accomplish this by emphasizing both the historical development of institutions and political actors in Latin America (e.g. the state, capital, labor, the church, the military) as well as the variety of theoretical frameworks that scholars have constructed to understand the dynamics of political development throughout the region (e.g. modernization, dependencia, and political culture). Among the major themes covered in the course are the legacies of European colonialism, state building, revolution, corporatism and populism, military rule, and redemocratization. Open to all students.

This course is an introduction to major issues in the historical and anthropological study of Spanish and Portuguese colonial domination in the Americas. The course begins with an overview of three major pre-conquest societies in the Americas-the Maya, the Aztec, and the Inca-and with an examination of the Christian "reconquista" in Iberia. The course will then explore the consolidation of Spanish and Portuguese political and economic domination in the 16th and 17th centuries, the never-ending "spiritual conquests", slavery in the New World, and the legal and social reconstitution of colonial indigenous communities. We will then examine the colonial social fabric through an analysis of the categories of class, ethnicity, and gender. Afterwards, we will turn to the dynamics of conflicts between native peoples and the colonial order. After an assessment of late 18th-century reforms, this course ends with a consideration of the Latin American independence movements in the early 19th century. Course requirements include a map quiz, midterm and final exams, and a short research paper.

See description in Anthropology section.