From Chocolate to Coca: Commodities and the Making of Latin America
HIST 257
Fall 2020 not offered
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| Crosslisting:
LAST 218 |
Bananas, silver, and coffee connect Latin America to consumers across the globe. From the discovery of massive silver deposits in Potosà in the 16th century to the growth of the illegal drug industry in the 20th century, these commodities have shaped how people work and eat, not only in Latin America but worldwide. Everyday goods like sugar or rubber have also given rise to political revolutions, environmental destruction, scientific discovery, and new literary and artistic movements across the region. How do commodities shape the societies that produce or consume them? What commodities are shaping today's global economy? Is it possible to extract these goods in a sustainable way?
This course combines approaches from anthropology, history of science, and environmental history to study key commodities in the history of Latin America from the colonial period until the present day. It will examine the ways in which various material goods linked local actors to broad networks of production and consumption of an increasingly interconnected global economy. The course will pay particular attention to how these relationships irretrievably changed local communities and to the ways in which historical actors contested, adapted to, or transformed production and consumption regimes. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS HIST |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (CBST-MN)(HIST-MN)(HIST)(LAST) |
Major Readings:
Marcy Norton, SACRED GIFTS, PROFANE PLEASURES: A HISTORY OF TOBACCO AND CHOCOLATE IN THE ATLANTIC WORLD
Steven Topik, Carlos Marichal and Zephyr Frank (eds.), FROM SILVER TO COCAINE: LATIN AMERICAN COMMODITY CHAINS AND THE BUILDING OF THE WORLD ECONOMY
Heidi Tinsman, BUYING INTO THE REGIME: GRAPES AND CONSUMPTION IN COLD WAR CHILE AND UNITED STATES
Gregory T. Cushman, GUANO AND THE OPENING OF THE PACIFIC WORLD: A GLOBAL ECOLOGICAL HISTORY
John Soluri, BANANA CULTURES: AGRICULTURE, CONSUMPTION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN HONDURAS AND THE UNITED STATES
Paul Gootenberg, ANDEAN COCAINE: THE MAKING OF A GLOBAL DRUG
Marie Sarita Gaytán, TEQUILA!: DISTILLING THE SPIRIT OF MEXICO
Matthew James Crawford, THE ANDEAN WONDER DRUG: CINCHONA BARK AND IMPERIAL SCIENCE IN THE SPANISH ATLANTIC
Fernando Ortiz, CUBAN COUNTERPOINT: TOBACCO AND SUGAR
John Tully, THE DEVIL'S MILK: THE SOCIAL HISTORY OF RUBBER
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Examinations and Assignments:
Assignments include an in-class mid-term, two short papers, and a final assignment.
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