Topic: Sex and Honor in Latin America
HIST 483/583, By Reuben Zahler
Term: Fall 2021
Syllabus:HIST483-SexHonorLatinAmerican-Zahler-Fall2021
Description:
What happens to the honor code, gender roles, and racial hierarchies when a society undergoes dramatic political and economic changes? In the early nineteenth century, Spain’s empire collapsed and the independent countries or Latin America arose. Spanish America then experimented with the “modern” ideals of liberty, equality, representative government, open markets, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, etc. They also had to find a place within a world economy that was rapidly industrializing and globalizing. Under these circumstances, what it meant to be an honorable man or woman was critically important but also in flux. What did it mean to be a good, modern, honorable citizen? Could young women now choose their own husbands? Could husbands could no longer hit their wives? If a husband couldn’t control his wife and children, could he still be a good man and enjoy full rights as a citizen? Would the country slip into chaos if illiterates got the vote? Could the republic stand if black or Native American men ran for political office, just like whites? Why should non-whites fight in national wars if the country’s leaders still considered them to be inferior? We will consider this period, and these questions, through an examination of original sources and scholarly research. In so doing, we will explore issues that resound in our contemporary world, as many peoples today struggle with the conflicts between their traditional values and the new realities that come from democracy, a globalized economy, and the very troublesome ideals of equality and freedom.