Module description
The modules offered in each academic year are subject to change in line with staff availability and student demand: there is no guarantee every module will run. Module descriptions and information may vary between years.
The module will survey the historiography of Latin America since 1810, devoting particular attention to 20th century Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. Topics will include nation-state formation, race and ethnicity, revolution, populism, military dictatorships, and human rights. Students will analyse fundamental scholarly debates about Latin America’s past, and also consider contemporary political and cultural debates in their appropriate historical contexts. The goal is to understand Latin American societies on their own terms and through local perspectives. Accordingly, many of the readings are by Latin American scholars. Knowledge of other languages is not required or expected, but students will have the opportunity to read some texts in Spanish and Portuguese. The module will also introduce students to a range of primary sources that might be useful for future research, including U.S. and British diplomatic documents and other English-language sources.
Assessment details
1 x 3,500 words essay (100%)
Educational aims & objectives
This module encourages students to analyze and engage with some of the most significant debates in Latin American historiography. Readings and discussions will illuminate and account for the shift away from historical materialism toward analyses of race, gender, sexuality, and culture. Students will evaluate various strategies for incorporating the insights of the cultural and linguistic turns in order to reexamine fundamental questions of Latin American political history. A central aim of the module will be to understand Latin American societies on their own terms and through local perspectives. In addition, students will learn to define and apply key concepts like dependency theory, state formation, resistance, and political consciousness.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the module, students will have developed the intellectual and practical skills required at level 7, while also acquiring detailed knowledge of modern Latin American history and historiography. In particular, students will be able to:
- Demonstrate understanding of significant themes, approaches, and debates in the study of modern Latin America;
- Explain the rationale for studying Latin America as a region, while showing awareness of the diversity and complexity of historical experiences among and within nations;
- Consider contemporary political and cultural debates in their appropriate historical contexts;
- Critically evaluate other scholars’ evidence, methodologies, and conclusions;
- Present coherent oral and written arguments, substantiated by thoughtful and wide-ranging research.
Suggested reading list
This is suggested reading and purchase of these texts is not mandatory
Teresa Meade, History of Modern Latin America: 1800 to the Present, second edition (Oxford, 2016)
Jose C. Moya (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Latin American History (New York, 2011)
Thomas Holloway (ed.), A Companion to Latin American History, (Malden, 2008)