HIST 6310 - Gender/Sexuality in Latin America

From the time when native and European peoples met in the era of conquest, cultural ideas about appropriate behavior for men and women played a critical role in the negotiation of social and political life. Despite the attempts of the colonial ruling elite to prescribe gender roles, most people resisted elite notions of gender propriety and instead created their own codes of conduct. These gender contests continued through the transition to Independence when the new Latin American nations attempted to influence men’s and women’s public and private activities. In the twentieth century, the boundaries of acceptable gender behavior have been challenged yet again by new contexts like political activism and migration. As the class follows Latin American men and women on this lengthy and complex path, it highlights how diversity among women and men affected their experience with gender roles, sexism, and patriarchy. This course will serve as an introduction to gender theory in history. What does it mean to be a man? A woman? A person of a third gender? There is no set answer to these questions because gender is a culturally bound idea. Therefore, we will be using the region of Latin America in this course.

Hours:
3