HISPS51A

This course fosters a critical understanding of racial paradigms that have endured and morphed over centuries. The course is based on close readings of documents (essays, visual texts, and historical documents) that serve as the origins of racial and racialized discourse. Particular emphasis is placed on racial capitalism and the ways in which this paradigm undergirded the Spanish and Portuguese empires and continues to sustain the exploitation of Black and Brown bodies throughout the Iberoamerican world. The course takes account of how concepts such as "blood purity," mestizaje, Indigeneity, and Blackness inform understandings of nationhood throughout the Iberoamerican world. Prerequisite(s): HISP 205 and 210 or 211. Recommended background: one 200-level or 300-level course in Hispanic studies or from abroad.