Latin American History at the University of Kansas

Faculty in Latin America History at the University of Kansas

Requirements for the Ph.D

(1) pass language examinations in Spanish and Portuguese,
(2) take written and oral comprehensive examinations in both Colonial and National Latin American History,
(3) take at least one colloquium in Colonial (823 or 827) and one in National Latin American History (808, 820, 821, 822, 824, 825, 826), and at least one research seminar (900 level),
(4) fulfill all Departmental requirements--these include a total of 33 hours of graduate credit, and History 805: Nature of History, and
(5) write a dissertation based on original sources.

Also, students may choose between two options for their course work. In Track A students have one major (18 hours) and two secondary fields (two courses in each, 12 hours). In Track B students will offer two major fields (eight courses, 24 hours), plus one secondary field (two courses, 6 hours). All three fields may be offered in History or the secondary field (or one of the secondary fields) may be taken in a discipline outside the History Department. Students are encouraged to choose one non-History field such as Anthropology, Sociology, Economics, or Geography as a secondary field. Latin American History as a Secondary Field: Proficiency in Spanish and/or Portuguese is useful but not required.

With the help of a Latin American History faculty member students should define the configurations of the field. Possible fields include topical fields such as urban, diplomatic, environmental, social, or labor history of Latin America, or the history of women and/or the family in Latin America. Students may focus on a topical field that spans the time period from 1492 to the present or they can focus more generally on either the colonial or the national period. Ordinarily the student will take a minimum of six hours of graduate credit for the secondary field.

Library and Other Resources

The University of Kansas Library system has been systematically collecting Latin American materials including books, periodicals, maps, and documents since the 1950s. It has outstanding collections in Central America and Brazil and several South American countries and it provides access to an ever-increasing number of electronic databases. Through exchange relationships with many universities and research centers in Latin America University of Kansas students have ready access to conduct research in the field. In addition, Latin American specialists in fields related to History, such as the History of Art, Spanish and Portuguese, Geography, Environmental Studies, and Anthropology, provide graduate students in Latin American History to broaden research opportunities.

Recent Dissertations

  • "Runaway Daughters and Dangerous Women: Work, Sexuality, and Gender Relations Among the Working Class in Porfirian Oaxaca, Mexico," Kathryn Sloan,
  • "A Tripartite Study of Nicaragua, Costa Rica and U.S. Relations," Marcia Olander, 1999
  • "Purifying the Environment for the Coming New Dawn: Anarchism and Counter-Cultural Politics in Cuba," Kirk Shaffer, 1998
  • "Class and Ethnicity in the Canton of Cayambe, The Roots of Ecuador's Modern Movement," Marc Becker, 1997
  • "The Green Republic: The Conservation History of Costa Rica, 1838-1996," Sterling Evans, 1997
  • "The Impact of Jacques Maritain's Political Thought in 20th Century Latin America," Mario Ramos-Reyes, 1996

Courses

The Department of History offers a wide variety of courses focusing on specific countries or regions such as Brazil, Mexico, and Central America and on topics such as Latin American economic, cultural, and family history. Courses numbered 500 and above can be taken by graduate students, but after the first year graduate students should be taking courses at the 800 and 900 levels.

The following is an abbreviated list of current courses at the Colloquium or Seminar level for Latin America

  • Hist 808: Colloquium on Comparative History: This course takes a thematic approach to cities, labor, immigration, the family, political thought, or industrialization. It often focuses on Latin America and Africa
  • Hist 820: Colloquium on Popular Culture in Latin America: Investigation of themes such a hybridity, cultural imperialism, and gender roles applied with a cross-disciplinary perspective to phenomena such as film, art, carnival, music, and telenovelas themes.
  • Hist 821: Colloquium on Iberian and Latin American Democracy: Focus on evolution of government with special emphasis to promotion of democracy.
  • Hist 822: Colloquium on the Urban History of Latin America: Growth of urban culture in the colonial and modern periods with attention to public space, crime, public health, housing, artisans, leisure activities and social protest.
  • Hist 823: Colloquium on Colonial Latin America: Major themes and issues of colonial period including ethnohistorical studies, gender ideology, political evolution, economic change, and hegemony.
  • Hist 824: Seminar on Labor in Latin America: Major problems in class conflict resulting from industrialization, including labor movements, women in the workforce, migration, and the relationship of workers to the state.
  • Hist 825: Seminar in Latin American Foreign Relations: The history of Latin American attitudes and policies toward other parts of the world. Imperialism, pan-americanism, international cooperation, NAFTA and Mercosur.
  • Hist 826: Seminar in Twentieth Century South America: Research seminar focus on themes such as poverty, the dirty wars, rise of military regimes, and persistence of traditional cultures.
  • Hist 827: Colloquium on the Social History of Latin America: Explores historiography and themes of Latin American social history from conquest to present. Indigenous groups, peasants, slaves, women, families, workers and the poor are possible focus.
  • Hist 853: Seminar on the Atlantic World in the Early Modern Period: Focus on interactions between old world and new world in three centuries after Columbus.
  • Hist 950: Seminar in Latin American History: focus on specific theme in Latin American History.
  • Hist 951: Seminar in Latin American Revolutions: Focus on upheavals such as those in Mexico 1910, Guatemala in 1944, Bolivia in 1952, Cuba in 1959, and Nicaragua in 1979.
  • Hist 952: Seminar in Ideology, Violence and Social Change in Latin America: Focus on role of ideas and ideologies, values and cultural norms in history of Latin America. Political action and efforts toward social control will be major themes, as will "social change" and when it can be said to have occurred.