This course is designed to engage students in conversations about particular perspectives on the history of a selected nation, region, people, culture, institution, or historical phenomenon as specified by the respective instructor. By taking this course, students will come to understand, and develop an appreciation for, some combination of: the origins and evolution of the people, cultures, and/or political, economic, and/or social institutions of a particular region(s) of the world. They may also explore how human encounters shaped individual and collective identities and the complex political, economic, and social orders of the region/nation/communities under study. Instructors and subject will vary.

This class covers the history of social revolution in Latin America during the 20th century, with an emphasis on four major case studies: Mexico, Cuba, Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Revolutions are tumultuous political events that aim to comprehensively reorder societies. Revolutionary movements have grand political objectives, and whether they succeed or fail, they have dramatic and lasting repercussions, both domestically and internationally. Revolutions unsettle and sometimes outright undo how societies conceive of gender, race and ethnicity, social class, and the relationship between the state and citizens, even as pre-revolutionary trends and values prove difficult to outright eliminate. Revolutions also reverberate across the international system, inspiring both enmity and solidarity in societies near and far from the center of revolutionary activity. In this class, we will assess the accomplishments and failures of four major revolutions in Latin America, as well as the history of reactionary backlash and US military intervention that accompanied each of these revolutions. Students can expect to complete a wide-ranging selection of primary and secondary source readings, short written reflections due each week, two written exams, and a research project. Instructor bio: Miles Culpepper holds a PhD in history from UC Berkeley and is currently writing a book on the history of Guatemalan exiles during the Cold War. He has taught history at Chabot College, the University of Nevada, Reno, and UC Berkeley.

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Requirements class fulfills