ANTH 221: Peoples and Cultures of Mexico

ANTH 221: Peoples and Cultures of Mexico

Course Description and Syllabus

Dr. Kimberly P. Martin, E-mail: k,

Web Site:

Office: HB 105, Office Hours: Modays and Wednesdays 10am-12pm or by appointment.

Course Description

This course is an exploration the peoples and cultures that have shaped Mexico from the first inhabitants of North America to the citizens of today’s globalizing nation. We will be learning about the domestication of corn and other important staple vegetable foods, the highly developed Mexican civilizations that existed many hundreds of years before European Conquest in the 1500s, the consequences of Spanish colonial rule, the struggle for independence, the status of indigenous groups in today’s Mexico, and how Mexico fits into the process of economic and cultural globalization.

Required Books

Four books are required reading for this course:

1. Vogt, Evan

2003 The Zinacantecos of Mexico: A Modern Mayan Way of Life, 2nd Ed. Wadsworth

Thomson.

2. Bonfil Batalla, Guillermo

1996 Mexico Profundo: Reclaiming a Civilization. University of Texas Press. (In English

translation or in original Spanish).

3. Stephen, Lynn

2013 We Are the Face of Oaxaca: Testimony and Social Movements (Kindle). Duke University

Press.

Collier, George and Quarantiello, Elizabeth

2005 Basta!: Land and the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas, 3rd Ed. First Food Books.

4. An additional book selected from the bibliography handed out in class.

Course Expectations. If you want to do well in this course, you need to attend class. Your participation in the form of discussion, questions, comments and presentations is one of the most important parts of the course. Youare responsible for ALL information and materials dispensed during class time. Please turn off your cell phone and take care of personal needs before or after class. If you use your cell phone in class, you will be asked to leave. You may return to the next class meeting.

Grades. Attending class, working hard and doing your best are, of course, crucial to your success in this class; however the final measure of your success is what you have learned, and what you can show you have learned in written and oral assignments. Grades in this course will not be assigned according to whether you try or whether you are present in class, but on your mastery of the material and your ability to demonstrate your new knowledge.

The final grade for the course will include the following components weighted as follows:

4 Exams @ 17% 68%

Written Synopsis16%

Oral Presentation 16%

100%

Exam grades and the final grade for the course will be calculated using the following grading scale:

87% and above = A75-77% = B-58-59% =D+

85-86% = A-73-74% = C+ 52-57% = D

83-84% = B+62-72% = C50-51% = D-

77-82% = B 60-61% = C-less than 50% = F

Student Presentations. Twenty-four percent of the grade for this course will come from the book you select from the bibliography distributed in class. You are responsible for reading and presenting this book during the course in two ways: 1) giving a 15 minute oral presentation summarizing the book for the class, and 2) writing a 4-5 five page summary of the book, including how it relates to or expands on what we have done in class and what you have read in the other assigned readings. Your book may be checked out from the library (in which case you will need to take lots of notes to have access to all the information you need throughout the term) or purchased online from amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com. The library has joined LINK+, which gives all of access to the complete libraries of 50+ universities in California, including ULCA and UC Riverside. You should be able to get hold of virtually any book that is in print through LINK+.

The written report should be typed in 10 or 12 point Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with one inch margins all around, and the pages should be STAPLED together.

Exams

Each exam will contain a mixture of question types that may include true-false, multiple choice, and terms to define and/or identify. Exams will cover all assigned readings, exercises, lecture, presentations, videos and class activities assigned for that part of the course. Grades will be assigned according to the percentage of correct answers. Grades will not be curved. Exam dates are firm and not negotiable. Make up exams will only be allowed in extreme circumstances, and are at the discretion of the instructor.

Tentative Schedule (may be changed at instructor’s discretion)

PART 1: ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES

NORTH AMERICA: GEOGRAPHY AND EARLY PEOPLE

Reading: Bonfil Batalla, Mexico Profundo

30Jan – 8 Feb Lecture, Video, Discussions

13 Feb Reading Due: Bring Mexico Profundo Book to Class
15 Feb EXAM 1

PRESIDENT’S DAY – NO CLASS

20 Feb

PART 2: MEXICAN CIVILIZATIONS

Reading: Vogt, Zinacantecos

22 Feb-1 Mar Lecture, Video, Discussions

6 Mar Reading Due; Bring Zinacantecos Book to Class
8 Mar EXAM 2

SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS

13 Mar – 19 Mar

PART 3:CONQUEST, COLONIAL MEXICO

INDEPENDENCE, POLITICS AND REVOLUTION

Reading: Reading Selected from Bibliography

20 Mar – 9 Apr Lecture, Video, Discussions

5 Apr EXAM 3

PART 4: STUDENT PRESENTATIONS

10 Apr – 26 Apr

PART 5: MODERN MEXICO: INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

CULTURE CLASHES, GLOBAL ISSUES

Reading: Stephens, We Are the Face of Oaxaca

Collier and Quarantiello, Basta

1 May – 15 May Lecture, Video, Discussions

17 May Reading Due; Bring We are the Face of Oaxaca OR Basta Book to Class

24 May EXAM 4 Wednesday, 9:50am-12:35pm (Final Exam Day and Time)

24 May Written Book Synopsis Due, 9:50am