Course Syllabus
HIST3470Y-4470Y (Multiethnic Identities in Latin America)
Multiethnic Identities in Latin America
(2014)
Description
Latin America is ethnically diverse given the initial encounter between Amerindians, Africans, and Iberians and because of subsequent waves of migration from Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. This course explores the multiethnic character of the region through an analysis of ethnic identities and how nations were built along racial lines. Beginning with the viceregal period, students will be exposed to colonial socioracial hierarchies and how Indians, Africans, mulattos, mestizos, and creoles constructed personal and group identities under Spanish and Portuguese rule. This course will then look at how this diverse group of peoples were included/excluded as citizens in the new countries that formed in the wake of the wars for independence. Upon reaching the turn of the twentieth century, students will analyze how official programs of mestizaje and indigenismo, together with various aspects of popular culture, contributed to the formation of national identities. The last part of the course will follow the transition from national discourses of mestizaje to more recent attempts at multicultural citizenship as Latin American countries have been forced to confront their ethnic diversity in new ways. By way of conclusion, this course follows the Latin American diaspora through experiences of transnational labour and migration in Canada and the United States.
Keywords
- Latin America,
- identities,
- race,
- ethnicity
Disciplines
Publication Date
2014
Citation Information
Jason Dyck. "HIST3470Y-4470Y (Multiethnic Identities in Latin America)" Multiethnic Identities in Latin America (2014) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/jason-dyck/35/