ABSTRACT

The colonial heritage and its renewed aftermaths – expressed in the inter-American experiences of slavery, indigeneity, dependence, and freedom movements, to mention only a few aspects – form a common ground of experience in the Western Hemisphere. The flow of peoples, goods, knowledge and finances have promoted interdependence and integration that cut across borders and link the countries of North and South America together. The nature of this transversally related and multiply interconnected region can only be captured through a transnational, multidisciplinary, and comprehensive approach.

The Routledge Handbook to the History and Society of the Americas explores the history and society of the Americas, placing particular emphasis on collective and intertwined experiences. Forty-four chapters cover a range of concepts and dynamics in the Americas from the colonial period until the present century:

  • The shared histories and dynamics of Inter-American relationships are considered through pre-Hispanic empires, colonization, European hegemony, migration, multiculturalism, and political and economic interdependences.
  • Key concepts are selected and explored from different geopolitical, disciplinary, and epistemological perspectives.
  • Highlighting the contested character of key concepts that are usually defined in strict disciplinary terms, the Handbook provides the basis for a better and deeper understanding of inter-American entanglements.

This multidisciplinary approach will be of interest to a broad array of academic scholars and students in history, sociology, political science cultural, postcolonial, gender, literary, and globalization studies.

part I|192 pages

History and society in the Americas from the 16th to the 19th century

chapter 1|21 pages

Introduction

History and society in the Americas from the 16th to the 19th century. The bigger picture

chapter 2|6 pages

America

chapter 3|8 pages

Atlantic

chapter 4|9 pages

Colonial economies

chapter 5|10 pages

Colonial rule

chapter 6|8 pages

Columbian exchange

chapter 7|9 pages

Conquest and colonization

chapter 8|6 pages

Enlightenment

chapter 9|11 pages

Gender

chapter 10|11 pages

Independence movements

chapter 11|13 pages

Indigenous peoples

chapter 12|10 pages

Interethnic relations

chapter 14|8 pages

Memorial culture

chapter 15|12 pages

Migration

chapter 16|10 pages

Nation and state building

chapter 17|9 pages

Religion and missionizing

chapter 18|13 pages

Slavery

chapter 19|8 pages

Unfree labor

part II|276 pages

History and society in the Americas in the 20th and 21st centuries

chapter 20|17 pages

Introduction

History and society in the Americas in the 20th and 21st centuries. Inter-American thresholds and critical key concepts

chapter 21|6 pages

Alter-globalization

chapter 22|8 pages

Biopolitics

chapter 23|10 pages

Consumerism

chapter 24|13 pages

Education

chapter 25|11 pages

Ethnicity

chapter 26|9 pages

Family

chapter 27|12 pages

Freedom

chapter 28|7 pages

Gender identities

chapter 29|9 pages

Health

chapter 30|12 pages

Hybridity, mestizaje, créolité

chapter 31|11 pages

Indigeneity

chapter 32|9 pages

Intersectionality

chapter 33|8 pages

Latinidad

chapter 35|10 pages

Modernization

chapter 36|5 pages

Multiculturalism

chapter 37|9 pages

Popular

chapter 38|14 pages

Postcolonialism and decoloniality

chapter 39|10 pages

Race

chapter 40|12 pages

Religious beliefs

chapter 41|14 pages

Social movements

chapter 42|7 pages

Socialism

chapter 44|10 pages

Transnational migration

chapter 45|12 pages

Urbanization

chapter 46|11 pages

Whiteness