- Department: History
- Credit value: 20 credits
- Credit level: I
- Academic year of delivery: 2024-25
By 1820 the former Spanish territories of Latin America had successfully cast off their colonial ties and become home to the majority of the world's democratic republics. In committing themselves to republicanism, Latin Americans undertook a political experiment of an unprecedented scale. Challenging the conventional view of the region as a case of failed modernization, anarchic turmoil, and political breakup, this module examines how Latin Americans —peasants, artisans, formerly enslaved people, Indigenous communities, and letter men and women— charted new meanings of citizenship, shaped new political practices, and struggled over political recognition in their recently constituted republican settings.
Drawing on a great variety of primary sources, including official reports, political discourses, commercial correspondence, diaries, travel writing, visual sources, and objects, we will pay special attention to the many contradictions and trials of upholding the republican experiment in the region’s socially, ethnically, and racially divided societies. The latter will inform our understanding of the legacies of republicanism in the region and across the Atlantic, and of Latin America’s enduring problem of social and racial inequality.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Semester 1 2024-25 |
The aims of this module are:
Students who complete this module successfully will:
Students will attend a 1-hour briefing in week 1. Students will then attend a 1-hour plenary/lecture and a 2-hour seminar in weeks 2-4, 6-8 and 10-11 of semester 1. Weeks 5 & 9 are Reading and Writing Weeks (RAW) during which there are no seminars. Students prepare for and participate in eight 1-hour plenaries/lectures and eight 2-hour seminars in all.
Seminar topics are subject to variation, but are likely to include the following:
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
None
For formative assessment, students will complete a referenced 1200 to 1500-word essay relating to the themes and issues of the module. This will be submitted in either the Week 5 or Week 9 RAW week (on the day of the weekly seminar).
For summative assessment, students will complete an Assessed Essay (2000 words, footnoted). This will comprise 100% of the overall module mark.
Summative assessments will be due in the assessment period.
Task | % of module mark |
---|---|
Essay/coursework | 100 |
Following their formative assessment task, students will typically receive written feedback that will include comments and a mark within 10 working days of submission.
Work will be returned to students in their seminars and may be supplemented by the tutor giving some oral feedback to the whole group. All students are encouraged, if they wish, to discuss the feedback on their formative work during their tutor’s student hours. For more information, see the Statement on Feedback.
For the summative assessment task, students will receive their provisional mark and written feedback within 25 working days of the submission deadline. The tutor will then be available during student hours for follow-up guidance if required. For more information, see the Statement of Assessment.
For term time reading, please refer to the module VLE site. Before the course starts, we encourage you to look at the following items of preliminary reading: