HIS 2074 Oil, Sugar, Bananas and Blood: Labor Struggle in Latin America
Production of natural resources and agricultural products in Latin America relied heavily on slave labor and indigenous labor, followed by poorly paid wage workers. Regional oligarchs and domestic state actors, coupled with US economic and military power, created a repressive machine geared toward mass production for foreign markets. This course will trace the economic and political relations that emerged in Latin America following independence in the 1820s. Emphasis will be placed on the labor organization, social struggle, and violence that accompanied extractive economies, commodities, the transition to import substitution industrialization, the rise of populism, and the implementation of neoliberalism.
LA