Work & Citizenship in 20th-Century Latin

This seminar focuses on the relationship between workers and the state in 20th century Latin America, a period characterized by the recognition of labor unions, the codification of labor laws, the expansion of social and economic rights, and the establishment of welfare regimes. Throughout the course, students will get acquainted with some of the key problems, concepts, and methods through which historians and, to a lesser extent, social scientists have probed such relationship and studied such processes. More concretely, we will examine the class, racial, and gender dynamics that gave shape to labor movements, labor laws, and welfare regimes; a variety of political experiments to court workers, regulate labor, and expand the scope of citizenship; and, finally, the transformations brought about by neoliberalism at the end of the century. Knowledge of Spanish or Portuguese is welcome, but not mandatory.