HIST173 CM - Global Borderlands

What are the historical processes that have constructed the porous, contested spaces known as borderlands? Instead of taking a diplomatic or state-centered view of borderlands, we examine social processes of border-making, looking at the creation of hybrid, mobile cultures that often defy nationalist visions of the borderlands and the imagined national community. The course prioritizes a decolonial or anti-imperial approach to borderlands to uncover histories of marginalized peoples who have often been exploited and oppressed related to structures of racism. Course readings focus on borderlands in the Americas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although comparative global examples allow students to recognize shared traits of borderlands regions or “in-between peoples” in diverse contexts. Readings raise issues related to identities such as race, ethnicity and gender, migrations, geographies, settler-colonialism and citizenship. Students develop an original historical research paper using the theoretical and methodological approaches introduced in class.

Offered: Occasionally

Credit: 1

Course Number: HIST173 CM