History 397ES - ST-US Empire&Solidarity/CentAm

This course will examine the role of U.S. imperialism in the region and the revolutionary organizing of Central Americans to build a world free of exploitation and state violence. As a diverse group of people, Central Americans have practiced solidarity to unite their struggles across class, racial, and rural and urban divides, and national borders. Why has the United States intervened in the region? What do these solidarity practices have to teach us? We will mainly focus on the twentieth century and explore the following topics: export economies and labor organizing, racial ideologies and nationalism, women guerrillas and revolutionary movements, US-Central America solidarity, and the present-day movement for immigrant rights.

CLASS NOTE: This class is being offered in conjunction with the History Department's 2022-2023 Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series. As part of course, students will attend several Feinberg Series events featuring historians, community organizers, artists, and people with lived experience discussing the history of U.S. imperialism and resistance to it. Read more about the Feinberg Series: https://www.umass.edu/history/feinberg-series