Here are some general themes which you can explore in your comparative project. We?ve given some possible titles, but please don?t be constrained by these titles. You may certainly write on other titles or topics as well. If you choose a different title, please discuss it with a member of staff before the end of term.

THEMES

1. European & Native American Encounters, 1500-1800

Sample titles:

'Compare and contrast the ways in which the British and the Spanish attempted to incorporate the Indian population into Colonial society'

Discuss with reference to 2 of the 3 following regions : North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

'Analyse the changing European perceptions of native Americans'

Discuss with reference to 2 of the 3 following regions : North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

2. Slaves

Sample titles:

'How far did European perceptions of Africans dictate the development of slavery in the Americas'?

Discuss with reference to 2 of the 3 following regions : North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

'How did African slavery come to dominate plantation societies in the Americas'?

Discuss with reference to 2 of the 3 following regions : North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

3. Independence

Sample titles:

Did the American Revolution & the Spanish American wars of independence have similar origins?

Were the American & Spanish American independence movements also social revolutions?

4. Economic Development

Sample title:

Why did the U.S. economy 'develop' during the 19th century and the economies of Latin America merely 'grow'?

5. Immigration & Migrant Societies

Sample titles:

How well did the USA, Argentina and/or Brazil assimilate immigrants in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century?

Compare and contrast the motives for European migration to the Americas. Discuss EITHER the pre-1800 OR post-1800 period.

Discuss with reference to 2 of the 3 following regions : North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

6. Race

Sample titles:

Compare and contrast the treatment of non-whites in EITHER the nineteenth century OR the twentieth century.

Discuss with reference to 2 of the 3 following regions : North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Were Latin America or Caribbean societies less racist than North America following the end of slavery?

Discuss with reference to 2 of the 3 following regions : North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

7. Religion

Sample titles:

Compare the role of the Catholic and Protestant churches in building colonial societies in British and Latin America.

Was the church a source of oppression or liberation for slaves?

Discuss with reference to 2 of the 3 following regions : North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Why are some parts of Latin America 'going Protestant'?

8. People

Compare and contrast the careers or characteristics of pairs of individuals or groups, one North American, one Latin American, for example:-

Fidel Castro & Martin Luther King

Eva Peron & Eleanor Roosevelt

Simon Bolivar & George Washington

Ku Klux Klan & Central American Death Squads

[Note that such an essay must be thematic, and not just present two biographies or descriptions of their subjects.]

9. Gender

Has feminism made more progress in North America than elsewhere in the Americas? If so, why?

Discuss with reference to 2 of the 3 following regions : North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Compare and contrast the careers open to women in colonial British America and Spanish America.

How different were conceptions of masculinity in North America to those in either Latin America or the Caribbean? Discuss with reference to either the 19th century or 20th century.

10. Miscellaneous

Sample titles:

Compare the US response to 2 different revolutions in Latin America and/or the Caribbean.

Compare and contrast the ecological problems facing contemporary Brazil and the USA.

Do the Americas as a whole have a common history?

Discuss with reference to 2 of the 3 following regions : North America, Latin America, and the Caribbean.