Postgraduate Course: The Cold War in Latin America (PGHC11590)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The Cold-War rivalry between United States and Soviet Union had major consequences for the rest of the world, where it introduced superpower resources, forces, and ideology into local social and political conflicts. This course examines those consequences in Latin America. It asks to what extent the dialectic between revolution and counterrevolutionary dictatorships in the region had local historical roots, and to what extent it was introduced from the outside by a Cold-War dynamic. |
| Course description |
The course examines the history of the Cold War in Latin America. It draws on a fast-growing historical literature that explores how the conflict between two super-powers was in Latin America refracted through regional, national, and sub-national social and political dynamics. The course thus asks students to think about the interplay between a global process and the peculiar social, cultural, and political history of an important world region. At the end of the course students will be familiar with current academic discussions about (1) the character and periodization of the Cold War in Latin America, (2) the escalation of Cold-War conflict and violence, (3) the ideology and practice of Latin American militant groups and authoritarian or semi-authoritarian governments during the Cold War, (4) the Cuban Revolution and its impact on the region, (5) the role of the superpowers in shaping Latin America's Cold-War experience, and (6) the impact of the Cold War on current political imaginaries in the region.
Content note: The study of History inevitably involves the study of difficult topics that we encourage students to approach in a respectful, scholarly, and sensitive manner. Nevertheless, we remain conscious that some students may wish to prepare themselves for the discussion of difficult topics. In particular, the course organiser has outlined that the following topics may be discussed in this course, whether in class or through required or recommended primary and secondary sources: torture, sexual violence, classism, racism. While this list indicates sensitive topics students are likely to encounter, it is not exhaustive because course organisers cannot entirely predict the directions discussions may take in tutorials or seminars, or through the wider reading that students may conduct for the course.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | Visiting students should have at least 3 History courses at grade B or above (or be predicted to obtain this). We will only consider University/College level courses. Applicants should note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 15 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework:
1,500 word essay (30%)
3,500 word essay (70%) |
| Feedback |
Students will receive feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours for this course or by appointment.
Meaningful mid-semester feedback will be provided by the assessment of the first essay. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- command the body of knowledge considered in the course
- read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship
- develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence
- plan and execute a substantial piece of historical research
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Reading List
Booth, William, "Rethinking Latin America's Cold War," The Historical Journal (First View, published online 5 October 2020): 1-23
Field, Thomas, Stella Krepp, and Vanni Pettinà (eds.), Latin America and the Global Cold War, (University of North Carolina Press, 2020)
Grandin, Greg, The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War, (University of Chicago Press, 2004)
Guerra, Lillian, Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959-1971, (University of North Carolina Press, 2012)
Harmer, Tanya, "The Cold War in Latin America," in Artemy Kalinovsky and Craig Daigle (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of the Cold War, (Routledge, 2014)
Iber, Patrick, Neither Peace nor Freedom: The Cultural Cold War in Latin America, (Harvard University Press, 2015)
Keller, Renata, Mexico's Cold War: Cuba, the United States, and the Legacy of the Mexican Revolution, (Cambridge University Press, 2015)
Mallon, Florencia, "Barbudos, Warriors, and Rotos: The MIR, Masculinity, and Power in the Chilean Agrarian Reform, 1965-74," in Matthew Gutman (ed.), Changing Men and Masculinities in Latin America, (Duke University Press, 2003)
Manzano, Valeria, "Sex, Politics, and the Making of the 'Enemy Within' in Cold War Argentina," Journal of Latin American Studies 47/1 (2015): 1-29
Padilla, Tanalís, "From Agraristas to Guerrilleros: The Jaramillista Movement in Morelos," Hispanic American Historical Review 87/2 (2007): 255-292
Weld, Kirsten, "The Spanish Civil War and the Construction of a Reactionary Historical Consciousness in Augusto Pinochet's Chile," Hispanic American Historical Review 98/1 (2018): 77-115
Westad, Odd Arne, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Makings of Our Times, (Cambridge University Press, 2005) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Command of a substantial body of historical knowledge about the Cold War in Latin America
The ability to develop and sustain historical arguments, formulating appropriate questions and utilising evidence, both in class discussions and in written work
An ability to interrogate, read, analyse, and reflect critically upon scholarship on an often politicized topic
A knowledge of concepts and theories derived from the study of the Cold War in Latin America
An ability to design, research, and present a sustained and independently conceived piece of historical writing |
| Keywords | Not entered |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Timo Schaefer
Tel:
Email: Timo.Schaefer@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr George Bottrell-Campbell
Tel: (0131 6)50 8349
Email: g.bottrell-campbell@ed.ac.uk |
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