HS 382 - Crime and Punishment in Latin America

(3.00 cr.)

Crime, punishment, and the laws that define them are examined to provide a window onto the history of class, ethnic, and gender relations in Latin America. Courtrooms-and the documents they generate-are exceedingly important for historians writing about laboring classes, women, indigenous peoples, Africans, and other marginalized groups. Through books, articles, films, and primary sources, students study how laws and crime have shaped people's understandings of politics, morality, and social relationships. Understanding the factors that bring people into contact with the law, as well as their perceptions of it, will elucidate how racism, sexism, and poverty determine people's paths to crime. In turn, deconstructing laws and social norms will elucidate some of the ways governments and elites maintain power. As the relationship between laws, crime, and power is reconceptualized, students may begin to rethink how they study the past.

Prerequisite: One HS 100-level course.
Sessions Typically Offered: Fall/Spring
Years Typically Offered: Varies

Interdisciplinary Studies: FO/GT/IFS/IL