Race and Empire in the Americas

This course explores the culture and politics of imperialism in the Americas from the early 19th century to the present, with particular attention to race and ethnicity. We ask how formal and informal imperial relationships developed by looking at French, British, and especially United States imperialism across the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Focusing on topics like revolution, migration, military occupation, tourism, climate change, and humanitarianism, we examine how empire functioned on the ground for those who imposed it and those who resisted, appropriated, or accommodated it. Course texts include theory from Frantz Fanon and Gloria Anzaldúa, fiction by Jamaica Kincaid, documentaries like No Más Bebés and Aftershocks of Disaster, and primary sources like imperial maps from the Pusey library collection, Central American political cartoons about the US, and oral history accounts by Bracero workers.
Class Notes:To enroll in an HL90 seminar, students must apply on the Hist & Lit website.