Gender History in Latin America

Abstract

Course Description The course will provide a brief introduction to thehistory of gender in Latin America by focusing on the multiple manners in which womanhood has been constructed and experienced from the Conquest up to the twentieth century. Placing a special emphasis on how categories such as race and social class have mediated and defined their experiences, the course will explore some of the differences betweenwomen as well as their attempts to bridge these differences. We willexamine a variety of issues such as labour and family relations, sexuality, religion, education, and the evolution of political and civil rights in order to demonstrate that women have actively participated in and shaped their own historical destinies. By using a variety of primary sources the course will seek to explore and understand some of the challenges that women have faced over time and the manners in which they have actively contributed to shape Latin American history.