Some classes are hard, this was just bad. Beware that the essay prompt she gives you is not actually what you are graded on and there are hidden requirements that she mentions briefly in class. Overall essays were graded horribly Prof has a shockingly bad understanding of history outside of LatAm, I felt second hand embarrassment during lectures.

Tbh I don't know why there are so many negative reviews. This is the easiest class I've taken at UCSB. We had weekly Eli reviews, a very easy midterm project and exam, and a short final research paper. I also only went to 50% of the lectures and still received an A. She is a bit disorganized, but still very nice and easygoing.

I have regarded many courses as some of the worst I have taken but I think this is actually the worst. We got behind in lecture so she made the last two assignments due right before finals. She was extremely disorganized and treated the class like it was the only one we were taking. It felt rushed and like I barely learned anything.

She does not know how to teach. I was lost and her instructions confused me even more. Grad students in the history department said shes notorious for being bad at her job. If I wanna take another history class, now I know who to avoid.

She is very unclear about her assignments and her lectures are even more confusing. It seems she doesnt have a good grasp outside LATAM and women history which made the class the blind leading the blind

I absolutely adore Professor Castillo-Munoz! She really cares about her students and about history and you can feel that when she lectures. I learned so much from her class and I loved that grading was based on the readings, midterm, and final. I would 100% take another class with her!