• Home
• Study
• Study Information
• Modules
• Module Information

Religion, Revolution and Counterrevolution

Module description

Revolutions and revolutionary movements are a fundamental part of twentieth-century Latin American history. This module will use the study of these revolutions as a means of analysing and understanding the modern histories of Latin American countries. Episodes of revolution, conflict and political upheaval have also often been closely bound to conflicting attitudes towards the Catholic Church and the role which religion should play within society and politics. This module takes a historical approach, giving you the opportunity to work with original sources in Spanish. It looks at examples from Mexico, Colombia and Nicaragua to examine how religion has been a force which has both blocked and embraced revolutionary change in twentieth-century Latin America.

This module is suitable for Hispanic Studies students at level 3.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to explore the theme of twentieth-century Latin American Catholicism, encouraging you to examine the connections between religion, revolution and opposition to revolutionary change (counterrevolution) in Mexico, Colombia and Nicaragua. We will focus on the both the institutional Church and Christians involved in grassroots social and political movements. Using chronological case studies, we will consider the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero War in the 1910s and 1920s. We will then examine Catholicism’s relationship to ‘La Violencia’ between Liberals and Conservatives in 1950s Colombia, and the emergence of revolutionary groups linked to Liberation Theology (a progressive movement within the Church committed to social and political change) in the 1960s. Finally, we will examine the role played by exponents of Liberation Theology in the 1979 Nicaraguan Revolution. Over the term, you will develop your research skills, learning to locate and analyse secondary and primary sources and to formulate sophisticated written and verbal arguments.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Demonstrate a detailed understanding of the historical role played by religion in revolutionary and counterrevolutionary movements in the countries studied
• 2. Evaluate the main developments and events within the countries and periods studied, developed through independent study and seminars
• 3. Demonstrate critical familiarity with a range of secondary and primary texts (in English and Spanish) relating to these events and developments

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Present a detailed argument in the appropriate register of English, mustering a range of historical and textual evidence in its support
• 5. Analyse the key developments within a series of specific historical environments
• 6. Recognise and apply, in written and oral contexts, a range of political and historical terminology in a comprehensible manner
• 7. With some guidance from the course tutor, evaluate and apply a range of historiographical approaches and interpretations to the material covered

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Undertake defined learning activities with a measure of autonomy, asking for guidance where necessary
• 9. Select, criticise and organise material in order to produce, to a deadline, a written argument
• 10. Research, plan and write an essay on a chosen aspect of the subject, to a specified length and deadline

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

• 1: Introduction to the module/ Catholicism in twentieth-century Latin America: key themes, trends and tensions
• 2: Mexico: The Revolution and the 1917 Constitution: The Church on the defensive
• 3: Mexico: The Cristero Wars: Catholic counterrevolution and anticlericalism
• 4: Mexico: Popular religiosity and anticlericalism in the 1930s
• 5: Colombia: Liberal reform, the ‘Bogotazo’ and the beginnings of ‘La Violencia’
• 6: Colombia: ‘La Violencia’ of the 1950s
• 7: Colombia: Guerrilleros and Liberation Theology
• 8: Nicaragua: Catholicism and social change during the 1970s
• 9: Nicaragua: The Revolution (I)
• 10: Nicaragua: The Revolution (II)
• 11: Conclusions

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Phillip Berryman, The Religious Roots of Rebellion: Christians in Central American Revolutions(London, 1984)
• David Bushnell, The Making of Modern Colombia: a nation in spite of itself (Berkeley ; Oxford : University of California Press, 1993) 981.1 BUS
• Matthew Butler, (ed.) Faith and impiety in revolutionary Mexico (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008)
• Will Fowler, Latin America since 1780 (London: Hodder Education, 2008) 980 FOW (also available as ebook through library website)
• Alan Knight, The Mexican Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986) 972.081 KNI
• Jean Meyer, La Cristiada (Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica/Clío,  2010) (available through ELE)
• Michael C. Meyer, The Course of Mexican History (New York; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 1991, 4th ed.) 972 MEY
• Marco Palacios, Between Legitimacy and Violence: A History of Colombia, 1875–2002 (Duke University Press, 2006)
• Gonzalo Sánchez Gómez, Bandits, Peasants and Politics: The case of ‘La Violencia’ in Colombia (Austin.Tx. : University of Texas Press, 2001) 364.9801 SAN
• Benjamin Smith, The Roots of Conservatism in Mexico: Catholicism, Society, and Politics in the Mixteca Baja, 1750-1962 (University of New Mexico Press, 2012)
• Thomas W. Walker, Nicaragua: living in the shadow of the eagle (Boulder; Oxford: Westview, 2003) 972.8505 WAL
• Philip J. Williams, ‘The Catholic Hierarchy in the Nicaraguan Revolution.’  Journal of Latin American Studies  17.2 (1985)
• Edwin Williamson, The Penguin History of Latin America (New York: Penguin, 2009) 980 WILL

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4523

Key words search

Latin American History, religion, anticlericalism, revolution, counterrevolution, Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua