OLLI0075 - Introduction to Latin America

Course Description

Latin America is a varied and complex region that is home to some 600 million people (10% of the world’s population), living in thirty-four nations that extend over 12% of the planet’s surface. We will explore the region as a whole and focus on the rich diversity that characterizes Latin America. This course is organized chronologically and thematically, beginning with precolonial times, and then diving into several important periods: conquest, colonization, wars of independence, nationalism, twentieth-century revolutions, and the Cold War. We will end the course by examining some of the key debates regarding Latin America’s current situation in a global context. Through the study of these historical moments, we will explore the legacy of slavery, social change, and global capitalist dynamics. This is an opportunity to learn about territories and ways of life that differ from those that we in the United States consider familiar, as well as a space to examine our own lives in a new light and consider our role in Latin America’s past, present, and future.