Course Description
This course examines inter-American relations from the 1820s to the present. It focuses on the evolving idea of “national interest,” which drives both U.S. and Latin American foreign policies. In analyzing international relations, interpretive emphasis will be placed on U.S. territorial and economic expansion, U.S. national security, and an American sense of superiority and Latin American inferiority. We will also examine Latin American efforts to manipulate U.S. policy to strengthen either elite or popular control of Latin American society.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the semester, students will learn about the political, economic, social, cultural, and military relations between Latin America and the United States. Likewise, students will learn about the domestic histories of the United States and a few Latin American countries, as well as both America’s and Latin America’s roles in the global geopolitical and economic orders. In addition, students will learn, through oral and written communication, how to make analytical arguments that are historically based.
This research guide will connect you to encyclopedias and dictionaries on the guide topic, good sources for background information, links to primary source databases, to links that will discover print and ebooks on the guide topic, as well as databases for journal articles, dissertations, historic newspapers, and links to all Gumberg Library research guides devoted to History.
Latin America is generally understood to consist of the entire continent of South America in addition to Mexico, Central America, and the islands of the Caribbean whose inhabitants speak a Romance language. The peoples of this large area shared the experience of conquest and colonization by the Spaniards and Portuguese from the late 15th through the 18th century as well as movements of independence from Spain and Portugal in the early 19th century. Even since independence, many of the various nations have experienced similar trends, and they have some awareness of a common heritage.
from Britannica
Ted Bergfelt, MLS
Humanities Librarian
402 Gumberg Library
bergfeltt@duq.edu
412-396-5351
Individual Collections
Open Access Databases
Preset Search Links
