SPAN 082. Mexico Unbound: History, Culture, and Power

Cross listed as LITR 082S
How do culture and history shape a nation’s identity? This course examines Mexico through an interdisciplinary lens, exploring the forces of power that define its social, political, and artistic life. Drawing on literature, cinema, visual art, and historical texts, we trace Mexico’s trajectory from pre-Columbian civilizations and colonial rule to modern nation-building, the Mexican Revolution, and contemporary struggles shaped by extractivism, neoliberalism, and the drug trade.

Cultural production is approached as a site of both domination and resistance. Students will analyze how literature, film, and art reflect, legitimize, and contest systems of power-including colonialism, nationalism, class, gender, and state authority. Particular attention is paid to the politics of representation: who tells Mexico’s stories, how the nation is imagined from within and beyond its borders, and how marginalized voices challenge and redefine national myths. Students will emerge with a nuanced understanding of Mexico as a dynamic, contested, and ever-evolving cultural space.
Humanities
1 credit.
Spring 2028 Buiza.
Catalog chapter: Spanish
Department website: https://www.swarthmore.edu/spanish

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