杏吧论坛

Dr Anna Cant SAR 3.12

This course is available on the MA in Asian and International History (杏吧论坛 and NUS), MA in Modern History, MSc in Empires, Colonialism and Globalisation, MSc in History of International Relations, MSc in International Affairs (杏吧论坛 and Peking University), MSc in International and Asian History, MSc in International and World History (杏吧论坛 & Columbia) and MSc in Theory and History of International Relations. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit.

Extending from the late Spanish colonial era, through the wars of independence and up to present-day social conflicts, this course will focus on land. How has land been conceptualised and fought over? How have different social groups developed relationships with land? In what ways have conflicts over land shaped Latin American politics? Students will be encouraged to take an interdisciplinary approach to these questions, drawing on new research in geography, anthropology and political science, as well as various strands of history. Despite the great diversity of the Latin American continent, land is a constant reference point and one that lends itself to rich comparative study. Topics will include the global and local politics of the colonial hacienda system, anti-colonial indigenous rebellions, scientific exploration and population displacement, peasant movements, land reform, Cold War development policies and ongoing social protests over land and resource extraction.

The School aims to run in-person seminars, subject to circumstances, with some online provision if and where necessary. There will be a reading week in week 6 of the Michaelmas and the Lent Terms.

Students are required to write one 3000-word formative essay in the Michaelmas Term.

• Brooke Larson, Cochabamba, 1550-1900: Colonialism and Agrarian Transformation in Bolivia (Duke University Press, 1998);

• Steve J. Stern, The Tupac Amaru Rebellion (Harvard University Press, 2014);

• F. Salomon and S. Schwartz (eds.), Cambridge History of the Native Peoples of the Americas: South America (CUP, 1999);

• Nora E. Jaffary and Jane E. Mangan (eds.), Women in Colonial Latin America, 1526 to 1806: Texts and Contexts (Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2018);

• Nancy P. Appelbaum, Mapping the Country of Regions: The Chorographic Commission of Nineteenth-century Colombia (Univeristy of North Carolina Press, 2016);

• Laura Gotkowitz, A Revolution for Our Rights: Indigenous Struggles for Land and Justice in Bolivia,1880-1952 (Duke University Press, 2007);

• Jacob Blanc, Before the Flood: The Itaipu Dam and the Visibility of Rural Brazil (Duke University Press, 2019);

• Carmen Diana Deere and Magdalena León, Empowering Women: Land and Property Rights in Latin America (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001);

• Cindy Forster, The Time of Freedom: Campesino Workers in Guatemala’s October Revolution (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2001);

• Enrique Mayer, Ugly Stories of the Peruvian Agrarian Reform (Duke University Press, 2009);

• Bebbington, Anthony (ed.), Social Conflict, Economic Development and the Extractive Industry: Evidence from South America (Routledge, 2011);

• García Trujillo, Andrés, Peace and Rural Development in Colombia: The Window for Distributive Change in Negotiated Transitions (Routledge, 2020).

Essay (50%, 5000 words) in the ST.
Essay (30%, 3000 words) in the LT.
Class participation (20%) in the MT and LT.

Some departments have produced short videos to introduce their courses. Please refer to the course selection videos index page for further information.