HIST 204 - From Gold to Guacamole: Latin American Commodity History

FC SSCI CD

4 credits
This course studies the histories of colonial and modern Latin America through its commodities. Students will learn about the place of the region in the development of capitalism and world systems and analyze Latin American history through commodity chain and dependency theories. Tools and perspectives on commodities from social, environmental, cultural, and Atlantic history frameworks will complement economic history. Assignments in this course help students to build skills in historical analysis and critical thinking as we consider the construction of the present: documentary analysis, historical and historiographical argumentation, and writing using and citing primary and secondary sources.