After an overview of early Latin American independence struggles from the slave revolution in Haiti (1791-1803), immortalised by C.L.R. James in The Black Jacobins, we examine in this course on Modern Revolutions in Latin America at WEA Sydney the history and influence of seven iconic twentieth-century revolutions in chronological order: Mexico (1910-1920), Bolivia (1952), Cuba (1959-present), Chile (1970-73), Grenada (1979-83), Nicaragua (1979-1990), and Venezuela (1998-present) in the receding “Pink Tide” context.

In addressing themes like popular culture, women revolutionaries, internationalism, imperialism, neocolonialism and indigenous societies, the course will integrate poetry, novel, music and film, as well as primary sources and secondary texts. One chapter-length reading will be distributed in advance for each class, for discussion, drawing inter alia from Mark Becker, Twentieth-Century Latin American Revolutions.

Course outline, 1 May-26 June

• Historical background and overview of Latin American independence struggles
• The Mexican Revolution. Guest Speaker:  TBA.
• The Bolivian Revolution. Guest Speaker: Amancay Colque, who witnessed dictatorships and massacres in her native Bolivia from 1965 to 1984. In Europe she co-founded the Bolivia Solidarity Campaign, inspired by the Water War (Cochabamba, 2000) and Gas War (La Paz, 2003). See: https://www.facebook.com/CPBEU/;
• The Cuban Revolution. Guest Speakers: Danay Quintana Nedelcu, Cuban feminist scholar; professor, University of Havana (2003-11) and now UNAM-Mexico, see https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Danay_Quintana_Nedelcu and Rosa García-Chediak, Cuban sociologist educated in Cuba & Spain; professor, Political and Social Sciences, UNAM-Mexico. See https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rosa_Garcia_Chediak;
• The Chilean Revolution. Guest Speaker: Viviana Ramírez, Popular Unity government supporter and later member of Chilean Resistance. See https://bit.ly/2Ieuq0w
• The Grenadian Revolution. Guest Speaker: Bernard Coard, Deputy prime-minister, Revolutionary Government, imprisoned for 25 years with “Grenada 17”. See https://bit.ly/2n7GUui
• The Nicaraguan Revolution. Guest Speaker: Dora María Téllez – Iconic Sandinista “Comandante 2”, banned from the USA as a “terrorist”. See https://bit.ly/2nsVBY4
• The Venezuelan Revolution. Guest Speaker: Professor Manuel Sutherland – Political economist; director, Centre for Labour Research & Training, Caracas. See https://alemcifo.wordpress.com/

Please see https://www.weasydney.com.au/course/MRLA and/or contact the WEA on (02) 9264 2781 or email via https://www.weasydney.com.au/contactus