Comparative Politics: Latin America
Students from the course Comparative Politics: Latin America focus on Indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples in Latin America, exploring themes of race, politics, and nationhood.
Historically, Indigenous and Afro-descendant populations have been among the most vulnerable in Latin America, facing persistent challenges in achieving full citizenship rights. Despite experiencing domination and exploitation since Spanish and Portuguese colonization, these groups have employed various creative strategies to resist imposed identities and hegemonic structures. Students compare the experiences of domination and resistance strategies of Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities through the lens of coloniality. By examining relevant cases and iconic figures from both past and present, students reflect on the intersections of race, class, gender, and political identity, which have been, and continue to be, central to their efforts against discrimination, exclusion, and poverty.
The projects address key questions relevant to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: Who are Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and Afro-Indigenous peoples? How do they resist neoliberalism, patriarchy, and racism? What does decoloniality mean for them? In what ways do decolonial politics and movements support their exercise and experience of citizenship? How do they engage with the nation as an imagined community?
Podcasts
Agrarian Reforms of the Twentieth Century in Peru and Bolivia: From Ethnic Identity to Economic Identity
By Alonso Ruiz and Alice Farrell (2024)
How did agrarian reforms reshape indigenous identity and activism in Peru and Bolivia? These two episodes explore the political shift from indio to campesino and its impact on indigenous movements in both countries. By examining the economic and social consequences of this transformation, we analyze how state policies redefined ethnic identity, shaping indigenous struggles. Episode 1 delves into Peru’s 1969 agrarian reform, focusing on Velasco Alvarado’s government and his Día del Indio speech. Episode 2 continues with Bolivia’s 1952 agrarian reform, comparing its implementation with Peru’s. We assess the effectiveness, flaws, and long-term impact of these reforms, questioning their accessibility and outcomes for the communities they aimed to include in their political projects.
21st Century Female-led Afro-descendant Activism in Cuba and the Dominican Republic
By Chrissy Hoerig, Catalina Diaz, Eden Wilson, Ceren Ozkan, Mariana Rueda Hartman (2025)
This three-part podcast series explores non-traditional female Afro-descendant activism in the 21st century in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. It examines how women play a crucial role in resisting and challenging systemic racism and advocating for gender justice through creative means, like music. The two case studies, Las Krudas (Cuba) and Ochy Curiel (Dominican Republic), are used to analyze how they both address and challenge coloniality and embrace a decolonial framework within the confines of their messages and respective countries. Episode 1 provides the topic's geographical, historical, and sociocultural context. Meanwhile, episode 2 presents two case studies, some of their music, and an analysis of their work. Lastly, episode 3 compares two case studies to Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Throughout the three episodes, the creators aim to introduce the topic and its context, demonstrate how the two case studies operate within a decolonial framework, and analyze the convergences and divergences of Las Krudas and Ochy Curiel and Cuba and the Dominican Republic based on their conceptualizations and experiences with non-traditional female afro-descendant activism. (References and aknowledgments)