HIST 230 Cultural History of Mexico from the Aztecs to the Zetas (NW)
For American students, Mexico might be the best known and paradoxically the least understood foreign country. You will learn the major events, people, and cultural trends that have shaped the Mexican people of today. Our course will start with the major indigenous cultures (Aztecs of the title) and end with the current drug war (the Zetas cartel). We will emphasize four main themes: the cultural weight of Catholicism, the complicated role of indigenous peoples in the nation-state, the epic struggle to govern a vast country, and the love/hate relationship of Mexicans with the United States.