Latin American History Commons^™

Public Rhetoric And Private Strategy: The World Bank's Relationship With Mexico Through The 1980s Debt Crisis, Phillip Purcell

Holster Scholar Projects

This project investigates how the World Bank's relationship with Mexico changed through the 1980s debt crisis and whether the institution's internal assessments differed from its public presentation. Drawing on archival memoranda, correspondence, briefing papers, and publicly available reports, the study compares World Bank deliberations with official statements and publications. It demonstrates that examining these private and public records together provides a clearer understanding of how the Bank formulated policy, exercised influence over Mexico's economic strategy, and responded to the challenges of debt, adjustment, and reform. More broadly, the project contributes to understanding the role of international financial institutions in shaping …

Book Review: The Futures Of Reparations In Latin America: Imagination, Translation, And Belonging, Jakob Leichtman

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Rebuilt From The Same Stone: Religion And Colonization In Sixteenth-Century Mexico, Aziren South

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

When the Spanish landed in what is now Mexico in the early sixteenth-century, religious figures on mission trips took it upon themselves to convert indigenous peoples to Christianity and to the European way of life. The role of these missionaries was complex. They wanted to abolish the way of life of the societies they encountered, but they were also some of the most prominent defenders of the people they were trying to convert. They lived with them, learned their languages, advocated for their protection, and some supported indigenous efforts to preserve their history in writing. Ultimately, this paper aims to …

Foodways And Community: Shellfish Consumption At Sitio Drago In Bocas Del Toro, Panamá, Megan E. Winnick

Graduate Masters Theses

Food-related practices provide marginalized groups with spaces for cultural exchange and asserting agency within colonial contexts, often leading to the formation of new communities and identities. Marine mollusks, due to their widespread accessibility, have a significant role in the cuisines of African Diaspora and Indigenous communities in Latin America. This thesis examines shellfish consumption at Sitio Drago in Bocas del Toro, Panamá, highlighting how shellfish harvesting and communal cooking fostered community expression through local food sources. The study includes analyses of spatial distribution of mollusk species, MNI counts across three temporal periods, and a size distribution of common gastropods. Findings …

The El Mozote Massacre Of 1981: Central American Human Rights And United States Cold War Policy, Abbey Botko

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

This research explores the motivations behind the denial of the 1981 El Mozote Massacre in El Salvador. In this event, the US-backed Atlácatl battalion of the Salvadoran Army brutally killed over 500 Indigenous peoples in the department of Morazán. Despite multiple eyewitness accounts of the massacre, both the United States and Salvadoran governments repeatedly denied responsibility for the event.

This project is based on official US governmental documents from the Central Intelligence Agency, Department of Defense, Department of State, and Congress. These documents illuminate conversations within the government concerning knowledge about the massacre, plans for continuing foreign aid, and further …

The Catholic Church And Their Response To The Rise Of Human Rights Abuses By The Military Regimes In Argentina And Brazil: A Comparative Analysis On The Argentine And Brazilian Church From The 1960’S To The 1980’S, Mya Miller

Global Studies Senior Capstone

This study is primarily focused on the Catholic Church's role in Argentina and Brazil throughout the 1960's to 1980's. It explores the historical and political context of Latin America amidst Cold War influence which resulted in the rise of military dictatorships who resorted to violence due to their strong political views. The Catholic Church, at the time, was experiencing deep internal tension which, in some cases, lead to an unfortunate lack of action despite their vast influence and their ability to aid their communities in need.

Balancing Power And Influence: U.S.-Brazil Foreign Relations In The 20th Century, Thais Russo Goncalves

The Kennesaw Journal of Undergraduate Research

This paper explores the intricate dynamics of U.S. foreign policies directed toward Brazil during the 20th century. The paper examines Brazil’s unique role in Latin America as the only country in the region to actively participate in both World Wars, which led to its emergence as a key ally of the United States. This partnership influenced U.S. foreign policy, particularly in economic and military aid, fostering Brazil’s dependency on the U.S. while simultaneously granting it regional significance. The paper acknowledges four schools of thought: exclusion, reactionary, parental, and economic-political, to analyze the motivations and implications of U.S. policies. The exclusion …

The Emotional World Of Ex-Confederate Expatriates In Latin America, 1865–1870, Chase H. Mccarter

History ETDs

From 1865 to 1870, tens of thousands of ex-Confederate soldiers, officials, and citizens fled the South for destinations in Latin America. They did so because their defeat in the U.S. Civil War instigated an emotional and identity crisis. Ex-Confederates felt that they could no longer live in the South given the changes wrought by Reconstruction. Rather than remain in the region, many looked toward Latin American states, such as Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, and British Honduras (Belize), where they believed they could create a way of life like that experienced in the Old South. To do so, ex-Confederates sought settlement in …

Todo Sobre América Latina, Kayla Madeline Schwartz

World Languages and Cultures

This project attempts to inform a Spanish-speaking audience about the humanities of Latin America. The format is a blog which solicits more engagement with the embedded research and written text. Colorful photos and informative videos attract the attention of a general public that may otherwise not be interested in learning extensively about history and culture. Such focus is important because Latin American past has great bearing on the lives of much of the Latinx community today—in many regions.

Specifically, this blog contains articles about history, literature, movies and shows, dance, and travelling. The audience can learn about a broad timeline …

Interviews In Global Catholic Studies: Richard Wood, Mathew N. Schmalz, Richard Wood

Journal of Global Catholicism

No abstract provided.

Quisieron Enterrarnos, Pero No Sabían Que Éramos Semillas: The Ayotzinapa 43 And The Historical Legacy Of Las Escuelas Normales Rurales, 1921-2014, Noah A. García

Masters Theses

In September of 2014, forty-three normalistas from the Escuela de Ayotzinapa were forcibly disappeared. While their whereabouts remain unknown, the attacks and subsequential forced disappearances is but one of many attacks the escuela normal rural has faced since its formation in 1926. This thesis traces the development of rural education in the post-revolutionary Mexican State and how its development provides insight into the 2014 forced disappearances. Additionally, I examine how the Escuela de Ayotzinapa’s legacy of a socialist education has historically been opposed. During its early years of operation, this form of education was predominantly challenged by conservatives and Catholics. …

Idiosyncrasy Of The State And God: An Analysis On Religiosity And Ideology In Latin America, James D. Fiorenza

Culture, Society, and Praxis

In this research paper, I will be analyzing the relationship between the religiosity of Latin America in terms of popular religion and religiosity of its followers, and how it has impacted and continues to impact the political systems of Latin America in terms of ideology. I will be conducting this research by conducting three case studies following the development of my hypothesis, my research of my case nations and the collecting of all needed data. After this, I will compare all my data and establish a well-developed conclusion which accurately conveys and demonstrates this data. My research will focus on …

Coastal Frontiers: The Littoral Borderland In Alta California And The Spanish Pacific World, Chantra Vanna Potts

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores the intricate relationship between Spanish exploration, the economy of the Pacific World, and their impact on colonization in Alta California during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It offers a new perspective on the history of the region by situating it within the context of the Eastern Pacific Basin and littoral borderlands, highlighting the transregional and global processes that shaped social and economic exchanges among Spanish colonists, Indigenous people, European and Anglo-American merchants, and diverse groups of sailors on the northern frontier of New Spain. Using the theoretical framework of mental mapping, or the subjective mental representation …

Teaching Abortion As A Historical Construct: The Case Of Early Twentieth-Century Brazil And Beyond, Cassia Roth

Feminist Pedagogy

Using open-access primary sources available online, this activity teaches abortion as an unstable category through a specific case study, early twentieth-century Brazil. The one-week module, although specific to one geographic region and chronological period, can serve as a lesson plan for undergraduate history courses, for disciplines that use genealogy methods, and for interdisciplinary courses. The lesson plan helps undergraduates think critically about what we think we know about abortion, and how our current understandings are not fixed but rather contingent on the society in which we live and on who is practicing abortion. Changing understandings of what constitutes an abortion …

The Lettered Barriada: Workers, Archival Power, And The Politics Of Knowledge In Puerto Rico [Book Review], Mariel Acosta Matos

Publications and Research

En su más reciente libro The Lettered Barriada: Workers and the Politics of Knowledge (La barriada letrada: los obreros y las políticas del conocimiento), Jorell Meléndez-Badillo (University of Wisconsin-Madison) nos presenta una historia de la producción subalterna de conocimiento obrero en Puerto Rico, desde los primeros años de colonialismo estadounidense en el archipiélago, a finales de siglo XIX, hasta la primera mitad del siglo XX. Los protagonistas de la misma fueron un grupo de obreros que creó redes de aprendizaje, conocimiento y transmisión de información de manera autogestionada y a los márgenes de las elites ilustradas. Tomando como referente conceptual …

The Beehive, The Favela, The Castle, And The Ministry: Race And Modern Architecture In Rio De Janeiro, 1811–1945, Luisa Valle

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation deploys a multidisciplinary and decolonial framework to investigate the architecture of cortiços, the Favela Hill, the Castelo Hill, and the Ministry of Education and Public Health (MES) building as constitutive of the history of modernization and modernity in the Centro (city center) of Rio de Janeiro, 1811-1945. The first three chapters investigate the distinct geographies, formal and material qualities, and populations of cortiços, the Favela Hill, and the Castelo Hill, as well as their racialization and essentialization by the “unsanitary” and “degenerate” labels bestowed upon these landscapes by the state. Traditional narratives and practices of modern architecture and …

Vatican Ii, Liberation Theology, And Vernacular Masses For The Family Of God In Central America, Bernard J. Gordillo

Yale Journal of Music & Religion

The Second Vatican Council (1962–65) instituted reforms in the Catholic Church that included changes in language and music employed in the liturgy, inspiring a proliferation of sung vernacular masses throughout Latin America. Drawing on archival and ethnographic research undertaken in Nicaragua and the United States, this article examines three Central American vernacular masses—Misa típica panameña de San Miguelito (1967), Misa popular nicaragüense (1969), and Misa campesina nicaragüense (1975). Each mass emanated from communities founded as part of the transnational Familia de Dios (Family of God) movement, which established programs of religious education, leadership training, and community building among impoverished …

How Democratic Is Democracy? A History Of Political Corruption In Peru, Kaitlyn Selzler

Great Plains Graduate Review

With the emergence of revisionist scholarship beginning in the 1960’s and 1970’s, scholars have taken terms which had absolute definitions, such as totalitarianism or democracy, and introduced different perspectives and methods which questioned the absolute authority of historical terminology. As a case study into these new historical methodologies, this essay seeks to answer the question: How democratic is Peru’s democracy? To answer this question, this research explores the deep seeded corruption in Latin America, specifically Peru, beginning in 1985 with the election of Alan Garcia, continuing through the presidency of Alberto Fujimori, and eventually ending with the current state of …

Yankee Go Home: Roci In Latin America, Vitoria Hadba

Theses and Dissertations

In 1984, at an event hosted by the United Nations, American artist Robert Rauschenberg announced his most ambitious and controversial project to date: the Rauschenberg Overseas Culture Interchange—or ROCI. Blending primary source documents with social art history, I retrace the artist’s steps—and missteps—during the first leg of his tour through Mexico, Chile, and Venezuela. This thesis investigates the convoluted political implications of ROCI in Latin America during the transitional period in which binary Cold War politics were ebbing amidst the rise of a global free-market economy.

Pedagogies Of Latin American Independence: An English-Speaking Analysis, Abigail Townend

History - Master of Arts in Teaching

I. Synthesis Essay………………………………3

II. Primary Documents and Headnotes………..20

III. Textbook Critique……………………………...36

IV. New Textbook Entry…………………………..40

V. Bibliography…………………………………....43

Lending A Helping Hand: Dollar Diplomacy In Latin America, Rachel Hollenbeck

Undergraduate Research Journal

“Lending a Helping Hand: Dollar Diplomacy in Latin America” examines Dollar Diplomacy as a U.S. foreign policy during the Taft Administration, including the context and previous policies related to Dollar Diplomacy and the success and breakdown of Dollar Diplomacy in Latin America. An explanation of Dollar Diplomacy and the reasons behind implementing the policy are also a part of this study. This paper reveals an aspect of U.S. and Latin American relations that still affects foreign affairs today. While the intentions in creating Dollar Diplomacy were a mixture of good and bad and the hopes for a successful and profitable …

A Historiography Of Populism And Neopopulism In Latin America, Michael Conniff

Faculty Publications, History

For over a half century, Latin American and other scholars have written reams and held innumerable conferences about the populist style of politics in the region. Historians quickly joined in with their theories, methods, and perspectives. Most literature focused on the classic period from the 1930s-1970s, when populism dominated many nations’ governments. In the 1980s and 1990s, as the region rebounded from military dictatorship, new leaders using populist methods won office and instituted economic policies in line with neoliberalism. This reappearance, called neopopulism, sparked new interest in the subject. Finally, after 2000 numerous left-leaning politicians gave rise to a radical …

The Borders Of Dominicanidad—Interview With Lorgia Garcia Peña, Nelson Santana, Amaury Rodríguez

Publications and Research

Dr. Lorgia García Peña is associate professor of Latinx Studies at Harvard University and the author of The Borders of Dominicanidad: Race, Nations and Archives of Contradictions (Duke, Fall 2016). Lorgia García Peña’s book delves deep into Dominican society and history by dissecting foundational myths and state-sponsored propaganda. Lorgia García Peña also looks at Dominican alternative cultural production and the socio-political resistance found in performance art and Afro-Dominican popular religions. In the most recent roundtable installment from the Ethnic Studies Rise initiative that celebrates the work and legacy of García Peña's scholarship, translator and scholar Kaiama Glover argued that [Lorgia …

Acoso Visual: Staring Back At The State And Gender Conformity, Juan Luna

Honors Theses

A semi-autoethnographic piece that uses a radical transfeminist lens to interrogate hegemonic systems of gender and race in the Dominican Republic through the violence that Trans and Gender Nonconforming people face. While focusing on trans violence, this thesis explicitly turns its gaze away from Trans/Gender Nonconforming people and interrogates the state, cisnormativity, and gender conformity. This thesis explores how acoso visual (visual accosting) is a historically informed process that works to border trans/gender nonconformity out of the idea of Dominicanidad. Ultimately, this text reminds Trans/Gender Nonconforming individuals that they are not the reason for the transphobia that they experience, and …

After The Deluge: Central American Historiography At Low Tide, Robert H. Holden

History Faculty Publications

This essay reviews the following works:

Centroamérica: Filibusteros, estados, imperios y memorias. By Víctor Hugo Acuña. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial Costa Rica, 2014. Pp. xv + 151. $5.99 paperback. ISBN: 9789968684408.

I Ask for Justice: Maya Women, Dictators, and Crime in Guatemala, 1898–1944. By David Carey Jr. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2013. Pp. xxv + 335. $55.00 hardcover. ISBN: 9780292748682.

A Camera in the Garden of Eden: The Self-Forging of a Banana Republic. By Kevin Coleman. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2016. Pp. 312. $27.95 paperback. ISBN: 9781477308554.

Empire by Invitation: William Walker and Manifest Destiny in …

Special Relationships: Anglo-American Latin America Policy And The Redefining Of National Security, 1969-1982, Benjamin Jared Pack

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

From 1969–82, the United States and Great Britain redefined national security in a distinctive way, separating the notion of national security from its traditional foundations in realist thought. The way the two powers come to define national security was the result of more than a century of historical interaction with Latin America and their own historical experience with ideology, imperialism, and colonialism. As such, the way the United States and Great Britain perceived their respective special relationships influenced the way they chose to intervene in matters of national security, particularly in Latin America’s Southern Cone countries of Chile and Argentina. …

#Bolivia: Trascendiendo Las Fronteras De La Participación Social Y Política A Través De Los Hashtags, Azella Markgraf

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

En los últimos años, el uso masivo de los medios de comunicación a través del internet ha cambiado irrevocablemente las formas de socialización y participación pública de la humanidad. Con la existencia de las redes sociales como Facebook y Twitter, los discursos políticos que hace unas décadas hubieran sido restringido por las fronteras materiales ahora se extienden a nivel mundial. Siguiendo la elección nacional de Bolivia el 20 de octubre de 2019, el hashtag #Bolivia se viralizó mientras personas de todas partes del mundo iban discutiendo lo que pasaba en el país. En el presente estudio, observo y analizo el …

Becoming A Superpower: China’S Rise And The Belt And Road Initiative In Latin America, Garrett Bullock

History Summer Fellows

Is China a Superpower? Will it become one? After half a century of establishing a strong international military presence, thriving economic growth, domestic/international political authority, and considerable cultural “soft power”, the PRC has emerged as a hegemon capable of competing in international geopolitics. Nevertheless, these questions remain unanswered. For this reason, this research explores what it means to be a superpower, whether China is or will be a superpower, and, importantly, what impact China’s rise has on the world. To do this, this research explores existing debates surrounding China’s current global status, the historical emergence of the PRC as a …

Us And The Cold War In Latin America, Thomas Field

Publications

The Cold War in Latin America had marked consequences for the region’s political and economic evolution. From the origins of US fears of Latin American Communism in the early 20th century to the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, regional actors played central roles in the drama. Seeking to maximize economic benefit while maintaining independence with regard to foreign policy, Latin Americans employed an eclectic combination of liberal and anti-imperialist discourses, balancing frequent calls for anti-Communist hemispheric unity with periodic diplomatic entreaties to the Soviet bloc and the nonaligned Third World. Meanwhile, US Cold War policies toward …

Mapping The Presence Of Latin American Art In Canadian Museums And Universities, Alena Robin

Hispanic Studies Publications

This essay overviews how Canadian museums and universities have historically accessioned Latin American visual culture and identifies potential ways of sustaining interest, streamlining initiatives, and promoting access. The larger project aims at contributing to a hemispheric and transnational understanding of the history and growth in Canada of the field of Latin American art and its subfields of Pre-Columbian, colonial, modern, and contemporary art. While the study of art history among Canadian museums and universities has kept up with the decades-long interest in Latin American art and visual culture, there remain considerable challenges in bringing Latin American art to the forefront …