Great Britain and Ireland in the Early Modern World

Catalog description

This course provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the study of Latinas and Latinos in the United States. The course includes a historical overview of the major events in the U.S. Southwest, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America that led to the creation of Latina/o communities in this country. Students will examine the formation of racial and class hierarchies within U.S. Latina/o communities; the processes of (international and regional) migration; gendered hierarchies and responses to sexism; and the complexities of U.S. Latina/o identity. HIST 134 provides a survey of the history and cultures of Great Britain and Ireland from 1400 to 1800. The course particularly focuses on the diversity of English, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish cultures and customs, their influence on early forms of nationalism in the British Isles, and their importance in the formation of the modern British nation-state. The relationships between English and Scottish protestants, the importance of translating the Book of Common Prayer from English to Welsh, and the influence of Irish-born families of English descent on the governance of early modern Ireland were all key elements in the emergence of an empire under the authority of an English dynastic state whose practical control over the territories it claimed to govern often remained quite limited. Through an examination of primary and secondary historical sources. students will consider the dynamism of this process, involving complex interrelationships, rather than the simple supremacy of one ethnic group over another.