HIST 281 - The Andes: Landscape and Power

Cross-Listed as ENVI 281 and LATI 281

This course explores the interaction between landscape and power in Andean history from the colonial period to the present day. The dramatic mountains have both shaped and have been shaped by sociopolitical relations, from the “vertical archipelagos” of ancient Andean peoples to the extractive economies of the Spanish and post-colonial Andean states. The course incorporates analytical perspectives from environmental, cultural, and urban history, alongside eyewitness accounts, to consider the relationship between the natural and built environments, on the one hand, and Andean racial and social identities, on the other. In selected years, this course will involve collaboration with contemporary Andean communities deploying oral history as a means of community and environmental preservation. Meets the post-1800 requirement, and can count towards “Colonization and Empire,” or “Environment,” or “Race and Indigeneity,” or “Latin American/Caribbean” fields. Alternate years. (4 Credits)