[Histmaj] SPR 2024 - new spaces in HSTLAC 280 , Drug Wars in Latin America

[HISTORY UNDERGRADUATE ADVISORS]

Hello Historians,

We just opened up twice as many spaces in the very popular HSTLAC 280, Drug Wars in Latin America! 32 seats are open now.

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             Writing Credit Optional






>From War on Drugs to War on People


Any mention of the Drug War or the Drug Trade immediately conjure images of unrestrained violence, corruption, and criminality in Latin America. That is, once again countries south of the US border are depicted in global news outlets and popular media as inherently chaotic and self-destructive. This course will take on a historical reading of the local, regional, and global politics and economic dynamics that render certain mood-altering substances legal while others are subjected to serious state surveillance or are outright criminalized at different moments in time. This course investigates the long-standing colonial logics that organize the geographies of drug production and trade, rendering some areas more vulnerable to spectacular forms of violence

The class explores the business side of the Trade and the so-called War against it, especially in the twentieth century, to unearth the forces of production, market, transportation, investment, and consumption that make these endeavors so profitable. We will elucidate how this informal economy is, in fact, well entrenched within longstanding, powerful institutions such as political parties, militaries, police forces, and corporations (real state, hydroelectric power, agribusinesses, mining, forestry) as well as banking and finance organizations, all with extensive transnational links. We ask: who are ultimately benefiting from the apparent mayhem? Simultaneously, we will pay attention to the racialized, classed, and gender logics that shapes these processes.

The drug war indeed has unleashed terror and death. To many, it has led to dispossession, migration, and family disintegration, shaping everyday life in fundamental ways. For some others, it has afforded upward mobility, authority, and consumption power. We will explore the forms of cultural expression that register these transformations and its affects (i.e. fear, disorientation, frustration) as well as has contributed to the production of new ethics and aspirations. Finally, this course aims to look at the work of the individuals and communities that continue to confront and challenge the injustices and violence (s) they experience through forms of everyday survival, direct political mobilization, and/or the arts.

Assessment in this class is comprised of weekly reading reflections, quizzes, short writing assignments, discussion boards, and mid-term and final research exercises.

Enjoy the course!


TRACY MASCHMAN MORRISSEY
Director of Academic Services
Department of History
http://depts.washington.edu/history/

Please click here to schedule an advising appointment<https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/UWHistoryAdvising@cloud.washington.edu/bookings/>

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