History | Latin American Culture and Civ I
H211 | 0389 | Diaz

Above section carries culture studies credit
Above section meets with LTAM L300

This course is Part One of a two-course sequence on the history of
the history of Latin America from its first inhabitation to the
independence period in the nineteenth century.  Six major themes will
be addressed: the development of the great Amerindian civilizations,
the encounter between Europeans and Amerindians, the making of a
colonial society in Spanish America and Brazil, the struggles leading
to the collapse of colonial rule, and the civil wars of
independence.  The overriding concern of this survey is to provide an
understanding of how the complex interaction between the different
cultures that met in the Americas shaped these colonial societies,
and how some elements of this legacy persisted and/or were
transformed by different social groups before and after
independence.  This knowledge of colonial Latin America will help us
interpret and understand first-hand accounts of this period, pivotal
skills that we should cultivate in order to critically analyze any
current event in Latin America, the United States or the rest of the

Readings include a textbook by Jonathan C Brown, "Latin America:  A
Social History of the Colonial Period," an Aztec account of the
Mills and William B. Taylor, Colonial Spanish America: A Documentary
of the course materials.  Students' learning will be evaluated
through essay exams(70%), in-class written exercises(25%), and a map