| Unit name | Colonial Worlds: Latin America and the Caribbean, 1400-1900 |
|---|---|
| Unit code | HISP20122 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Fisk |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units) |
None |
| Units you may not take alongside this one |
None |
| School/department | Department of Hispanic, Portuguese and Latin American Studies |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Why is this unit important?
‘Colonial Worlds’ centres on Latin America and the Caribbean during the early modern period. Rather than begin with Columbus, we take a longer-term approach by beginning with indigenous cultures and histories from 1400. Together we will examine the worlds that indigenous and black people lived in and transformed across the vast Spanish empire. We will consider the Hispanic Caribbean, less studied than the mainland, as a crucial place for understanding colonial Latin America, while appreciating the connections between Spanish territories and those governed by other colonial powers.
The unit is interdisciplinary—we will bring together a wide range of sources and approaches to access the wider range of voices that made up colonial Latin America and the Caribbean. We will rethink and remake the canon of colonial Latin American history by bringing together English language texts and visual sources from the vantage point of indigenous and black people in the South Atlantic, while studying the creation of the structures of power that surrounded them.
How does this unit fit into your programme of study?
The unit builds on the knowledge that you will have gained in Spanish units in the first year. The unit allows students to deepen their knowledge of colonial Latin America and the early modern Caribbean and global processes.
The unit will form the basis of students’ understanding of early modern Latin American history, cultures, and languages. It will prepare students for learning more about indigenous, black, and colonial histories of Latin America.
An overview of content
The unit covers the pre-contact Americas, Africa, and Iberian Peninsula, and will chart major events, trends, sources, life stories, and scholarship from and about colonial Latin America and the Caribbean. Key themes include labour and slavery, blackness and indigeneity, colonial institutions, the intersection of race and gender, and cultural politics. The choice of subjects focuses the autonomies of colonised peoples in their own histories, while the primary and secondary works studied emphasise Latin American, Caribbean, and African diaspora knowledge production.
How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?
By the end of the unit, students will have gained knowledge on the central topics of the unit, and have learnt how to apply their understanding through close analysis and primary source-based creative assessments. Students will gain fluency in theories from the Global South, research independently, and reflect upon crucial debates in Latin American history.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
Teaching will be delivered through a combination of synchronous and asynchronous sessions, including group seminar-style discussion and self-directed exercises.
Tasks that will help you develop the necessary skills include:
Weekly seminar readings
In-class presentations
Contributions to class podcast
Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):
10-minute oral group presentations in seminars 1-5 with verbal feedback from the unit tutor.
Tasks which count towards your unit mark (summative):
Poster or creative presentation in thematic group panels, 5 minutes (30%) [ILOs 1-4]
Coursework essay, 2,500 words (70%) [ILOs 1-3 and 5]
When assessment does not go to plan
When required by the Board of Examiners, you will normally complete reassessments in the same formats as those outlined above. However, the Board reserves the right to modify the form or number of reassessments required. Details of reassessments are normally confirmed by the School shortly after the notification of your results at the end of the academic year.
If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.
If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. HISP20122).
How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours
of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks,
independent learning and assessment activity.
See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.
Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit.
The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates
within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.
