"For Land, Bread and Liberty": The Latin American Social Revolution in History and Culture

Catalog description

This course provides a broad inter-disciplinary study of how the phenomenon of social revolution has emerged as a unique part of the culture and the history of Latin America. The methodology of comparative analysis will be employed to examine how social revolution has played a role in the literature, cinema and history of three major countries: Chile, Cuba and Venezuela. Major focus will aim at the areas of economic and social inequalities and efforts to address them; e.g., land distribution, workers’ rights, racial discrimination, female equality, and problems of poverty and economic underdevelopment. Historical texts, novels, and poetry and films will be utilized as curricula. Theoretical models of revolution will be surveyed, followed by detailed study of the three countries, each of which provides a different pattern of revolutionary change. Course requirements include several short interpretive papers, essay midterm and final exams, study guides on reading and films, regular seminars and group work.