Dr

 Paulo  Drinot  
Institute  of  the  Americas,  Room  308,  51  Gordon  Square  
Email:  Paulo.drinot@ucl.ac.uk  
HIST3421  
 
 
Che  Guevara:  The  Making  of  a  Revolutionary  
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Course  description:    
This course explores the life, times, and afterlife of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara. It draws
on a number of written primary sources, including Guevara's diaries, his speeches and
publications, the writings of Guevara's relatives and friends, CIA and FBI documents,
diplomatic sources, and newspaper articles, among others, as well as using film,
photography and, comics, song and poetry. The course considers the interplay of
Guevara's personal history and the history of Latin America and, more generally, the
world during and after the Cold War. It opens a window on Guevara the man and the
global icon and on the world he helped to shape. It draws on, and builds, on my
published research on Guevara (Drinot, ed. Che's Travels).
Note on dissertations: Students will be encouraged to write dissertations on all
aspects of Guevara's life, thought, revolutionary praxis, death, etc. as well as on the
memory politics attached to Guevara, the Cuban revolution, guerrilla warfare in Latin
America and beyond, anti-imperialism, and so forth. In addition, students are
welcome to write dissertations on the guerrilla movements inspired by Guevara's foco
theory, many of which remain little studied and poorly understood.

Class Topics and sources

First Term:
1. Intro: Latin America in the Age of Extremes
2. Growing up in Peronist Argentina: Source: 'Argentine Travel Diary' (20
pages)
3. FILM: Motorcycle Diaries
4. The making of Che Guevara 1: The Motorcycle Diaries (165 pages)
5. The making of Che Guevara 2: Back on the Road (135 pages)
6. FILM: Che (Part one)
7. The Cuban Revolution: 'Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War'
(selections, 100 pages)
8. Theorist of revolution: 'Guerrilla Warfare' (100 pages)
9. Towards socialism: 'On the budgetary finance system' (30 pages)
10. Dissertation workshop

Second Term:
1. The New Man: 'Socialism and Man in Cuba' (30 pages)
2. International revolution: 'Punta del Este speech' (40 pages); 'Message to the
Tricontinental (14 pages)
3. Congo: 'The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in Congo' (selections, 100
pages)
4. FILM: Che (Part two)
5. Bolivia: 'The Bolivia Diary'/National security archives (selections, 100 pages)
6. Che's afterlives: Photography (selections, 20 pages)
7. Che's afterlives: Comics (selections, 100 pages)
8. Dissertation workshop
9. Dissertation workshop
10. Conclusion

Recommended introductory reading:

Anderson, J. L. Che: A Revolutionary Life (New York: Grove, 1997).
Casey, M. Che’s Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image (Vintage, 2009).
Castañeda, J. Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara (New York: Alfred
Knopf, 1997).
Castro, D. (ed.), Revolution and Revolutionaries: Guerrilla Movements in Latin
America (Wilmington, Del.: SR Books, 1999).
Domínguez, J. I., To Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba’s Foreign Policy
(Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1989).
Dosal, P. Comandante Che: Guerrilla Soldier, Commander, and Strategist, 1956-
1967 (University Park: Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press,
2003).
Drinot, P. Che's Travels: The Making of a Revolutionary in 1950s Latin America
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2010).
Gleijeses, P. Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976.
Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.
Taibo II, P. I. Guevara, Also Known as Che (New York: St Martin’s, 1997).

Sample primary sources:

Guevara's diaries:
The Motorcycle Diaries
Back on the Road
Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War
The African Dream: The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in the Congo
The Bolivian Diary of Ernesto Che Guevara

Guevara's writings and speeches:

Guerrilla Warfare
Che Guevara Speaks
Che Guevara Reader
Our America and Theirs

Texts by relatives or friends of Guevara

Ernesto Guevara Lynch (Che's father), The Young Che: Memories of Che
Guevara
Alberto Granado (close friend and traveling companion), Traveling with Che
Guevara
Ricardo Rojo (Guevara's close friend), My Friend Che
Hilda Gadea (Guevara's first wife): Ernesto: A Memoir of Che Guevara
Carlos "Calica" Ferrer (Che's friend), Becoming Che
Aleida March (Che's second wife), Remembering Che: My Life with Che
Guevara

US agency reports on Che Guevara:

National Security Archive, The Death of Che Guevara: Declassified (online
collection)
Che Guevara and the FBI (see bibliography)

Newspaper reports
The Guardian,
NYT
 Le Monde, etc

Collections of photographs and iconography of Che Guevara

René Burri/Francois Maspero, Che Guevara
Fernando García and Oscar Sola, Che: Images of a Revolutionary
David Sandison, Che Guevara
Trisha Ziff, Che Guevara: Revolutionary and Icon
Che, fotógrafo (collection of Che's own photographs)

Full  Bibliography:  
 
Adlington, R. "'A Sort of Guerilla': Che at the Opera." Cambridge Opera Journal
19.2 (2007): 167-93.

Alvarez de Toledo, L. The Story of Che Guevara (London: Quercus, 2011).

Anderson, J. L. Che: A Revolutionary Life (New York: Grove, 1997);

Anreus, A. "Carlos Alonso's Anatomy Lesson." Third Text 24.3 (2010): 353-60.

Barcia, M. (2009). ‘Locking horns with the Northern Empire’: anti-American

imperialism at the Tricontinental Conference of 1966 in Havana. Journal of
Transatlantic Studies, 7(3), 208-217.

Benjamin, J. R. The United States and the Origins of the Cuban Revolution: An
Empire of Liberty in an Age of National Liberation. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, c1990.

Besancenot, O. and M. Lowy, Che Guevara: His Revolutionary Legacy (New York:
Monthly Review, 2009)

Beverley, J. "Rethinking the Armed Struggle in Latin America." boundary 2 36.1

(2009): 47-59.

Blasier, C. The Hovering Giant: US Responses to Revolutionary Change in Latin

America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1976.

Brennan, J. Peronism and Argentina, Wilmington, Del.: SR Books 1998.

 
Bueno, F. "Motorcycle Diaries: The Myth of Che Guevara in the Twenty-First
Century." Confluencia 23.1 (2007): 107-14.

Bustos, C. Che Wants to See You: The Untold Story of Che Guevara (London: Verso,
2013).
Cambre, C. 2009. "Revolution within the Revolution: A Caracas Collective and the
Face of Che Guevara." Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies 31
(4): 338-364.

Carte, R. "Trickster, Traveler, Cultural Hero: Ernesto "Che" Guevara." Studies in

Latin American Popular Culture 27 (2008): 167-83.

Casey, M. Che’s Afterlife: The Legacy of an Image (Vintage, 2009).

Castañeda, J. Compañero: The Life and Death of Che Guevara (New York: Alfred
Knopf, 1997).

Castañeda, J. G. Utopia Unarmed: The Latin American Left after the Cold War. 1st
ed. New York: Knopf, 1993.

Castro, D. (ed.), Revolution and Revolutionaries: Guerrilla Movements in Latin

America, Wilmington, Del.: SR Books, 1999.

Cheng, Y. "Che Guevara: Dramatizing China's Divided Intelligentsia at the Turn of

the Century." Modern Chinese Literature and Culture (2003): 1-43.

Childs, M. D., “An Historical Critique of the Emergence and Evolution of Ernesto
Che Guevara's Foco Theory”, Journal of Latin American Studies, 27:3 (1995),
593-624.

de la Fuente, A. A Nation for All: Race, Inequality, and Politics in Twentieth Century
Cuba. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

Debray, R. Che's Guerrilla War (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1975).

Debray, R. Prison Writings (London: Allen Lane, 1973).

Deutschmann, D. (ed.), Che Guevara Reader: Writings on Guerrilla Strategy, Politics

and Revolution (Melbourne: Ocean Press, 1997)

Domínguez, J. I., To Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba’s Foreign Policy
Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1989.

Domínguez, J. I., To Make a World Safe for Revolution: Cuba’s Foreign Policy
Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1989.

Dosal, P. “San Ernesto de la Higuera; The Resurrection of Che Guevara”, in Lyman

Johnson, ed., Death, Dismemberment, and Memory (Albuquerque: University of
New Mexico, 2003);

Dosal, P. Comandante Che: Guerrilla Soldier, Commander, and Strategist, 1956-

1967 (University Park: Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press,
2003).
Drinot, P. Che's Travels: The Making of a Revolutionary in 1950s Latin America
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2010).

Elena, E. Dignifying Argentina: Peronism, Citizenship, and Mass Consumption.

Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011.

Estrada, U. Tania: Undercover with Che Guevara in Bolivia (Melbourne: Ocean

Press, 2005).

Farber, S. The Origins of the Cuban Revolution Reconsidered. Chapel Hill: University
of North Carolina Press, 2006.

Ferrer, C. Becoming Che: Guevara's Second and Final Trip through Latin America
(Marea, 2006).

Field, Thomas, From Development to Dictatorship: Bolivia and the Alliance for
Progress in the Kennedy Era. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2014.

Gadea, H. Ernesto: A Memoir of Che Guevara (London: W.H. Allen, 1973).

García-Pérez, G. M. Insurrection & Revolution: Armed Struggle in Cuba, 1952-1959.

London: L. Rienner Publishers, 1998.

George, E. The Cuban Intervention in Angola, 1965-1991: From Che Guevara to

Cuito Cuanavale., 2005.

Gleijeses, P. Conflicting Missions: Havana, Washington, and Africa, 1959-1976.

Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2002.

Gleijeses, P. "Cuba's First Venture in Africa: Algeria, 1961-1965." Journal of Latin

American Studies 28.1 (1996): 159-95.

Gonzalez, M. Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution (London and Sydney:
Bookmark Books, 2004).

Gott, R. "Che Guevara and the Congo." New Left Review.220 (1996): 3-20.

Gott, R. Guerrilla Movements in Latin America. New York: Seagull Books, 2008.

Granado, A. Traveling with Che Guevara: The Making of a Revolutionary (New

York: Newmarket Press, 2004).

Gronbeck-Tedesco, J. A. "The Left in Transition: The Cuban Revolution in US Third

World Politics." Journal of Latin American Studies 40.4 (2008): 651-73.

Guerra, L. Visions of Power in Cuba: Revolution, Redemption, and Resistance, 1959-

1971. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.

Guevara E. The African Dream: The Diaries of the Revolutionary War in the Congo
(London: Harvill, 2000).
Guevara Lynch, E. The Young Che: Memories of Che Guevara (London: Vintage,
2007).

Guevara, E. Back on the Road: A Journey to Central America (London: Vintage

2002).

Guevara, E. Guerrilla Warfare: With an Introduction and Case Studies by Brian

Loveman and Thomas Davies Jr. (Manchester: Manchester University Press,
1986).

Guevara, E. Our America and Theirs: Kennedy and the Alliance for Progress- The
Debate at Punta del Este (Melbourne: Ocean Press, 2006).

Guevara, E. Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War (London: Harper, 2009).

Guevara, E. The Motorcycle Diaries (London: Harper, 2004).

Hardt, H., L. Rivera-Perez, and J. A. Calles-Santillana. "The Death and Resurrection

of Ernesto Che Guevara: US Media and the Deconstruction of a Revolutionary
Life." International Journal of Cultural Studies 1.3 (1998): 351-72.

Harmer, T. "Two, Three, Many Revolutions? Cuba and the Prospects for
Revolutionary Change in Latin America, 1967-1975." Journal of Latin
American Studies 45 (1) (2013): 61-89.

Harris, R. "Reflections on Che Guevara's Legacy." Latin American Perspectives 25.4

(1998): 19-32.

Harris, R. L. "Cuban Internationalism, Che Guevara, and the Survival of Cuba's

Socialist Regime." Latin American Perspectives 36 (3) (2009): 27-42.

Harris, R. L., Death of a Revolutionary: Che Guevara's Last Mission (New York:
Norton, 2000).

Healey, M. A. The Ruins of the New Argentina: Peronism and the Remaking of San
Juan after the 1944 Earthquake. Durham NC: Duke University Press, 2011.

Hernández-Regnant, A. “Copyrighting Che: Art and Authorship under Cuban Late

Socialism”, Public Culture 16:1 (2004), 1-29;

Holst, J. D. "The Pedagogy of Ernesto Che Guevara." International Journal of

Lifelong Education 28.2 (2009): 149-73.

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1998.

James, D. Resistance and Integration: Peronism and the Argentine Working Class,
1946-1976, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
Joseph, G. M., and D. Spenser. In from the Cold: Latin America's New Encounter
with the Cold War, Durham: Duke University Press, 2008.

Kapcia, A. "Educational Revolution and Revolutionary Morality in Cuba: The ‘New

Man’, Youth and the New ‘Battle of Ideas’." Journal of Moral Education 34.4
(2005): 399-412.

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2008.

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and Identity in Mid-Twentieth-Century Argentina. Durham: Duke University
Press, 2010.

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1952-1959. Youngstown, N.Y.: Cambria Press, 2008.

Kronenberg, C. W. "Manifestations of Humanism in Revolutionary Cuba: Che and

the Principle of Universality." Latin American Perspectives 36 (2) (2009): 66-
80.

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Perspectives 35.2 (2008): 97-115.

Kunzle, D. Che Guevara: Icon, Myth, and Message (Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler
Museum of Cultural History in collaboration with the Center for the Study of
Political Graphics, 1997).

Larson, J. A., and O. Lizardo. "Generations, Identities, and the Collective Memory of
Che Guevara." Sociological Forum 22.4 (2007): 425-51.

Lea, Y. "Travel, Consciousness Change and Biography: A Parallel Reading of Che's

Transformative Biographical Narratives and those of the American College
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March, A. Remembering Che: My Life with Che Guevara (Melbourne: Ocean Press,
2012).

Martinez-Saenz, M. "Che Guevara's New Man: Embodying a Communitarian

Attitude." Latin American Perspectives 31.6 (2004): 15-30.

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Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000).

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Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

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the Life of Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara." The International Journal of the History of
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