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Identities and Power in the Americas

Course Description

This course examines how different forms of collective identity—including class, race, ethnicity, indigeneity and gender—have shaped Latin American and Latino politics in the 20th and 21st centuries. We will focus on a range of cases in Latin America and the US to address the following questions: In what ways does the state create and sustain certain categories of identity as the basis for political inclusion and exclusion?  What explains changes in the political salience of certain categories of collective identity? Why do some identities become politically salient and others do not? How have forms of political representation changed over the past century? How does state policy affect the ability of groups to mobilize and press for demands? How do organized groups affect state policy? What are the possibilities and limitations of identity-based mobilization?

This is an upper-division seminar cross-listed in Government, the Program in Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Studies (LALACS), and the Program in African and African American Studies  (LACS 80/AAAS 90/GOVT 84.06).

Click here for a recent syllabus: LACS80_Syllabus_W17-2h5ikmw