Professor M. McLeod
This Module I core seminar will focus on one of the major problems afflicting the modern world – the widespread violation of human rights – in the context of Latin America. What are human rights? What are the dimensions of human rights abuses in Latin America? What are the various factors behind the observance and nonobservance of human rights in the region? Who are the different actors involved in denying and defending human rights in Latin America? In seeking to answer these questions, this course will explore such themes as conquest, colonialism, slavery, liberalism, economic underdevelopment, democracy, dictatorship, revolution, liberation theology, U.S. foreign policy, immigration, neoliberalism, and globalization. We will be particularly concerned with analyzing questions of economic, political, and social inequality, both within Latin America itself as well as between Latin America and the so-called Western world.