How did race and ethnicity become among the most important dimensions of
identity in Latin America?  How have racial and ethnic boundaries been
perceived and enforced by European Americans, African Americans, and Native
Americans?  How have ideas about race and ethnicity changed over time?  How
have visions of race and ethnicity been used to construct national
identities in Latin America? Why and how have racial and ethnic identities
resurged in Latin American politics and art in recent years?
This course is designed to introduce students to the kinds of questions
historians pose about identities and boundaries.  We will use a variety of
materials to explore race and ethnicity over time.  Students will be exposed
to different kinds of information about race, including both written and
visual primary sources from the past, historical writing based on such
evidence, contemporary cinematic depictions of race and ethnicity in both
the past and the present, and contemporary art and literature.  They will be
asked to think critically about all of these materials and produce arguments
in both written and verbal forms.