History

Time and Place:1959 Havana: Revolution in Latin America

Module code: V1477
Level 5
15 credits in spring semester
Teaching method: Lecture, Seminar
Assessment modes: Essay

On 1 January 1959, Cuban revolutionary forces took control of the city of Havana. This sent shock waves through the world. Led by Fidel Castro and Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara, the Cuban Revolution achieved the unthinkable: the creation of a revolutionary socialist government on the doorstep of the United States.

This module uses Havana 1959 as a starting point to explore the wave of revolutionary movements that swept Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s. Looking at case studies from Mexico, Chile, Peru and Argentina, you'll examine how a new generation of revolutionaries proposed and enacted radical new solutions to the region’s endemic poverty and political oppression. This was an era marked by:

• growing anti-imperialist sentiment
• armed guerrilla warfare
• the assertion of indigenous identities
• rising Third World solidarity.

Using source materials translated from Spanish and other languages, this module explores the revolutionary fervour of the era in all its complexity, from the pronouncements of political leaders and intellectuals to the daily struggles of peasants, workers and students.

Module learning outcomes

• Critically evaluate the historiography around a particular moment.
• Critically evaluate the applicability of historical concepts to particular cases.
• Supply evidence of these skills in extended essay form.
• Demonstrate ability to use limited amounts of primary source material in extended historical argument.