LAH 2020 Latin American Civilization

Historical Sources

Concepts for Historical Analysis◦ Actors, Structures, Processes◦ Economy, Society, Politics, Culture

Historical periods:◦ Colonial◦ Modern

PRIMARY: Original information coming from the time [timing of their creation is a key factor!] or period historians research. It is the raw material historians interpret◦ Written: Documents of various kinds: letters, diaries, memoirs, laws, government

reports, literary works (novels, poems, plays), music scores.◦ Visual: images of various kinds: paintings, photographs, videos.◦ Material: artifacts and remains of different kind: tools, machines, furniture,

clothing, buildings, bones, ruins.◦ Oral: accounts by witnesses and participants in the form of oral interviews,

recordings, music.

SECONDARY: Second-hand or indirect information not coming from sources contemporary to the events under research. Typically takes the from of academic research (books written by non-participants: historians, lawyers, sociologists, etc.).

WARNING! All sources, even primary accounts, must be read and interpreted with caution. They can be biased in one way or another. They are not necessarily objective, could be exaggerated or reflect prejudices and misleading opinions. In any case, this is no reason to put them aside.

Concepts for historical analysisSTRUCTURES: term frequently used in history, anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, and social theory to refer to enduring relationships, bonds or patterns (demographic, geographic, cultural, economic); institutions, norms, and the sum of all the different activities (political, economic, social); boundaries (geographic, social political, etc.).Typically INVISIBLE. Examples:

DEMOGRAPHY: size and shape of populations.

GEOGRAPHY-ECOLOGY: shape, nature and location of places landscape, ecosystems.

MENTALITIES: worldviews, collective frames of mind.

LEGAL SYSTEMS: rules of the social, political, economic game

ACTORS: individual and collective (both organized or institutional ones and unorganized ones) participants, active in history.

PROCESSES: interplay between actors and structures expressed as “events”, social movements, revolutions, political upheaval, etc.

Concepts for historical analysis

Actors Actors

STRUCTURES

Historical Processes

Concepts for historical analysisECONOMY: Production, consumption and distribution of goods and

services as measured by concepts such as GDP, budget, revenues, exports, imports, salaries, inflation, etc..

SOCIETY: Persons, collectively considered who live in a given region or at a particular moment.

CLASS: grouped by economic activity or incomeGENDER: grouped by masculine or feminine cultural roles (proposed social and cultural constructions of masculinities and femininities: sex + culture).ETHNICITY: grouped on the basis of genetics, language,

cultural and other manifestations, typically color and race (race + culture)SOCIAL STATUS: grouped on the basis of prestige or position relative to others

POLITICS: process by which groups of people make decisions, institutionalarrangements to govern a society.

Concepts for historical analysis

ECONOMIC STRUCTURE --- SOCIAL STRUCTURE --- POLITICAL STRUCTURE

ECONOMIC CHANGE

SOCIAL CHANGE

POLITICAL CHANGE

COLONIAL: 1490s - 1820s (in Cuba and Puerto Rico it extends until the 1890s; in several British Caribbean regions until even the mid -20th century!). Time during which Latin America and the Caribbean were possessions of various European powers (Spain, Portugal, France, England, and the Netherlands) which controlled their economies, politics, and societies.

MODERN (or ‘NATIONAL’): 1820s onwards. Time during which most Latin American nations became independent from colonial rule. Most of them became republics. One important exception was Brazil that became an empire of its own!