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Geography 475/575 Geography of Development in Latin America This course critically examines the history and geography of “development” in Latin America, including its political, economic and cultural dimensions. At each step we will return to three organizing questions: 1) How do changing political economic relations in 20th century Latin America shape material and cultural landscapes? 2) How is power exercised, how are social hierarchies created (i.e. those marked through gender, class and race), and what are the material and cultural consequences of these processes? 3) How does power intersect with knowledge, whether that be academic, bureaucratic, or “quotidian” knowledges? These questions will be worked through as we examine processes of "development" in Latin America, including their impacts on people and place, and as we discuss the social movements that contest and rework institutions and cultures of “development.”
Topics:
Week 1: Colonialism and its legacies in Latin America Week 2: 20th century Brazil and U.S. foreign policy Week 3: Paradigms of "development" and ISI Week 4: The rise of neoliberalism and the city Week 5: Urban dilemmas: Social justice and the environment Week 6: Immigration and labor markets Week 7: Race, gender and class: Cultural geographies Week 8: Rural 20th century political economy– food and hunger Week 9: Rural space: Environmental degradation and cultural survival Week 10: Globalization, democratization and social movements
Graduate students have an additional reading list, dealing with more theoretical topics such as debates about “development”, colonialism, democracy and social/ political identities (ie. gender and ethnicity) in Latin American history and society. |