DRUGS IN LATIN AMERICA
Prof. Ileana María Rodríguez-Silva
Latin American and Caribbean History
(Asynchronous; bi-weekly optional sections on Thursdays, time TBD)
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 as legal while others are subjected to serious state surveillance or are outright criminalized at different moments in time.
The class explores the business side of the Trade and the 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 so-called informal economy is, in fact, well entrenched within longstanding, powerful institutions such as political parties, elected officials, militaries, police, corporations (real state, hydroelectrics, mining, forestry), and banking and finance organizations, all with extended transnational links. We will be asking, who are ultimately benefiting from the apparent mayhem? Simultaneously, we will pay attention to the racialized, classed, and gender logics that infuse meaning into these processes.
The drug war indeed has unleashed terror and death. It has led to dispossession, migration, and family disintegration, shaping everyday life in fundamental ways. For others, it has afforded upward mobility, authority, and consumption power. We will have the opportunity to explore 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.
This course is asynchronous. We will hold optional discussion sections every other week, on Thursdays (time to be determined by class poll). Instructor will post pre-recorded lectures, readings, links to audio visual materials on Canvas. Assessment includes lecture-based quizzes, reading-based quizzes, discussion boards, short writing assignments, and slide shows.