SOC 234 - Nationalism and National Identity

(HIST 234) FDR: This course does not meet FDR requirements.
Credits: 3
Planned Offering: Not offered in 2012-2013.

Prerequisite: ANTH 101, SOC 102 or permission of the instructor. This course focuses on the emergence and development of nationalism in Latin America. Readings include works by scholars from across the range of the social sciences, including history, political science, and sociology. The course devotes consideration to the following issues: a variety of explanatory accounts that scholars have provided of why the region turned to nationalism in the early 19th century; the main social and political implications of this transformation of identity; the various competing images of the nation in the region; the question of whether some Latin American nations understand themselves in “civic” and others in “ethnic” terms; the relationship between particularistic Latin American nationalisms and Bolívar’s pan-American dream; and, finally, the nature and roles of nationalism in more recent Latin American politics. Background knowledge of Latin American history is not required. Eastwood.