History 109 (Sec.001): Introduction to Latin American Civilizations

History 109 (Sec.001): Introduction to Latin American Civilizations

Spring 2002

Gambrell 250; MW 3:35-4:50Office Hours: MW 10-11; M 3-5 and by appointment

Dr. Lessie Jo Frazier, Professor

142 Gambrell; 777-2734

This course introduces you to Latin American history through a broadly comparative perspective bringing together key processes and transformations from the 15th Century to the present. The course juxtaposes historiography of revolutions and social transformations with literature and film to help you build a historical context for evaluating current events as they emerge in the region and as part of global processes. We bring together the political economy of state formation with cultural and social actors and processes to work toward a rich understanding of change and continuity in the region.

Objectives:

-- Introduce you to the peoples and cultures of Latin America to promote cross-cultural understanding.

-- Encourage you to appreciate the interconnections between the history of Latin America and the United States.

-- Acquaint you with historical modes of analysis combining humanistic and social scientific perspectives holistically in order to promote critical thinking skills.

Format:The course consists primarily of participatory lecture.This is a demanding course because we must begin to understand in a mere semester the history of a region with which you are most likely unfamiliar. Class sessions emphasize analysis and if you do not complete the readings you will be unable to make sense of the concepts and information presented in class. You should spend an average of 6-8 hours per week on this course (3hrs. in class and 3-5 hrs. on your own).

Basis of Final Grade: Point system, 300 points total

Quizzes =50 points

2 Tests =150 points

Final Exam =100 points

Attendance Policy: University policy states that you must miss no more than 10% of class for any reason. Attendance will be recorded and will factor into your final grade as a swing factor. Students with absolutely perfect attendance will earn 20 bonus points. Attendance is defined by coming to class on time and remaining for the entire period and paying attention (e.g. not sleeping, studying for another class, reading the paper, etc.); therefore, coming late and leaving early are not permitted. You are responsible for keeping up with the class. If you miss class, find out what happened from your classmates first and then request further clarification from the instructors.

Course Materials: (Univ Bookstore in the Russell House)

REQUIRED:

*Benjamin Keen and Keith Haynes, A History of Latin America, 6th edition, Houghton Mifflin:Boston:2000.

*Babouk Guy Endore, Monthly Review Press:1991

*Coursepack of articles, literature and primary sources (CopyPickUp on Rosewood)

SUPPLEMENTARY (for extra credit):

Jefferson Cowie Capital Moves (New Press, 2001)

Ross Gelbspan The Covert War against the Central America Movement (South End Press, 1991)

John Hammond Fighting to Learn (Rutgers)

Ed Griffin-Nolan Witness for Peace (Westminster 1991)

Schlesinger & Kinzer Bitter Fruit

Linda Gordon The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction Harvard 2001 (ISBN: 067400535X)

Vicki Ruiz Out of the Shadows Oxford 1998

Steven Striffler In the Shadows of State and Capital Duke 2001

Pamela Voekel Alone Before God: The Religious Origins of Modernity in Mexico Duke 2002

FILMS, MUSIC, and ART (be sure to take notes on these as this material is covered in exams)

Multiple copies of all books and the coursepack are on reserve at the Thomas Cooper Library Reserve Desk in Circulation. I encourage you to use the library and to share materials among yourselves.

Requirements: Bring 3 blue-books to class for the 3 tests by the TA before the first test. We randomly distribute them for the exams. Abide by the University's strict standards of academic integrity.

1) Quizzes (50 points):

(a) Map Quiz (Pass/Fail: must be repeated until passed with an 80% at which point you will earn 1 point). You must write in all labels on the map (the quiz provides a list of everything BUT the country names): offered once in class and by arrangement with the T.A. thereafter. You must pass this quiz in order to complete the course.

(b) Quizzes and other writing assignments include questions on the readings, lectures, and films. There are no make-ups, however, the lowest score will be dropped. Pop quizzes, etc. worth 1 bonus point max.

2) 2 Tests (150 points) [in-class]. These ID, short answer, and essay tests come from a set of questions distributed prior to the test. The tests encourage you to pull together the many issues and events covered in readings, films and lectures. Concepts and issues are emphasized more than mere facts. You are encouraged to prepare together in study groups. Make-ups (from a new set of questions not distributed in advance) are given once the week following the test (by arrangement with the TA) and on reading day.

3) Final Exam (100 points) [MAY 5, 5:30 pm]. Part 3 of the course and comprehensive. Same general format as tests.

4) Extra Credit (up to a total of 100 points above course point total), available for:

(a) commentaries (up to 5 points each possible) MUST use commentary worksheet format on indicated talks, films, and articles. Commentaries should situate the subject in a historical context rather than simply describe it. For talks and other events: DUE by the Monday following the event. For articles and films: DUE on the day of that Unit's test.

(b) Book reviews (up to 25 points each possible; typed) on one of the books from the supplementary readings. Review format: Complete a Commentary Worksheet on each chapter (Question#3 should relate the chapter to one specific reading or film in our course, not another chapter from the same book!) PLUS write 2 pages (minimum) where you 1.) state (in no more than one paragraph) the main, overall point of the book and primary sources used, 2.) evaluate whether or not the author adequately supports the book's thesis, and 3.) connect (1 page minimum) the book with other works and topics in our course. DUE by the last class.

******In any commentary or review: you must do more than summarize -- you must discuss*****

******* Students with SPECIAL CONCERNS such as learning disabilities, childcare issues, scheduling problems, etc. should talk with me in the first two weeks of class so that accomodations and modifications can be made where possible.*******

NAME and contact info (phone # and/ or email) of at least 2 classmates:

______

PART A: CONQUEST, COLONIALISM and INDIGENOUS STRUGGLES

UNIT ONE: Cross-Cultural Voyages

M1-13Course Procedures

What is education about?

*Paulo Freire bio & "Adult literacy projects as cultural action for freedom" (CP= coursepack)

1-15Geography and History

*Garcia Marquez "Nobel Speech" & Wolcott "The Muse of History" & Galeano "Temptation of Amer" (CP)

Cross-Cultural Encounters

*Fowler "Should just anybody be allowed to stare? (NYTimes)"

*Keen (Textbook): Ch.21 & "Guatemala" 459-469

Film: "Broken Silences: Rigoberta Menchu"

M1-20MLK DAY of Serviceno class

UNIT TWO: Civilizations and Empires

1-22Imperial Crises in Europe, Mesoamerica, and the Andes

*Keen Ch.1 and Ch.2

***MAP QUIZ***

M1-27Religion, Empire and Conquest

*"Popul Vuh" & Las Casas "The trauma of conquest" & "Aztec dirge" (CP, primary sources)

*Keen, Ch.3

UNIT THREE: European Conquest and Colonialism

1-29Religion, Economics and Conquest

*"All humankind is one: Las Casas vs. Sepulveda" (CP, primary source)

*Keen, Ch.4-5

Film clip: “The Mission”

Socio-political Organization in the Colonial Period

*"A modern voice from the 17th Cen., Sor Juana de la Cruz" (CP, primary source)

*Keen, Ch.7:134-155

M2-3Late Colonial Uprisings & Indigenous Messiahs

*Keen "Tupac Amaru" Ch.7:155-160 and "Hidalgo" Ch.8:174-179

*Areche “All must die!” (CP, primary source)

2-5Cultural Survival in Indigenous Communities

*Crosby “Ecological imperialism” (CP)

*Keen "Bolivian Revolution" p. 393-403

Film: "Mirrors of the Heart (Part 1)"

2-10FIRST TEST

Extra Credit: Van Young "Moving toward revolt... Hidalgo Rebellion" (CP); Flores Galindo "The Rebellion of Tupac Amaru” (CP); Menchu debate(CP); Kawell "The Cocaine Economy" (CP)Castellanos "Once Again, Sor Juana" (CP); Films: “I, The Worst of All” (Argentina, USC); “The Yanomami, First Contact” (USC); “The Ona People of Tierra del Fuego” (USC)

PART B: CHALLENGES to NATION BUILDING: FREEDOM and SOVEREIGNTY

UNIT FOUR: Independence, or Empire and Slavery

2-12Independence Movements in the Mainland Spanish Colonies (Mex&SouthAmerica.)[start reading Babouk]

*Keen Ch.8 & Ch.11: 245-253

*“The vision of Bolivar" primary source & "Simon Bolivar" song lyrics (CP, primary sources)

M2-17Sugar, Slavery & the Atlantic World System: Preservation of Empire in Brazil & the Caribbean

*Keen Ch.6:130-133

*Equiano “This accursed trade” & Baquaqua “Life aboard ship” (CP, primary sources)

2-19The Haitian Revolution

*Guy Endore Babouk DUE (Book: historical fiction)

*"Haiti" C.L.R. James, Encyclopedia Brittanica (CP: Recommended)

M2-24Religion, Sugar & Resistance (Cuba)

Film clips: "The Last Supper" (Gutierrez)

*Keen p. 424-426

*Bell "The enduring racial paradox" (CP)

*Dyson "The United States of amnesia" (on Amistad case) (CP)

2-26continued

M3-3Freedom: The Challenge to Slavery (Caribbean and Brazil)

Film: “A Son of Africa: A Slave Narrative”

*Graham “Intro: Idea of Race” (CP)

*Joaquim Nabuco "A humane & civilized nation: abolition" (CP, primary source)

*Keen Ch. 10: p.211-215 & (Canudos Rebellion) 236-244

UNIT FIVE:Neo-colonialism

3-5Neo-colonialism and Enclave Economies (Jamaica & Chile)

Film: "Get Up, Stand Up: the Problems of Sovereignty (Jamaica)"

*Keen: (Chile) Ch.10: pages 216-218 and pages 230-236

*"Balmaceda's program" & Neruda poems on nitrate and Mr. North (CP, primary sources)

M3-17Civil Wars andNeo-colonialism (Mexico)

*Keen, Ch.9: p. 184-198; Ch.10: 216-226

3-19Legacies of Sugar and a New Imperial Power: 1898 (Cuba)

*Platt Ammendment; & Jose Marti "Our America;" & Map: "US in CenAmer;" & "Guantanamera" song (CP)

*Keen Ch.17:426-431; Ch.20:541-555

*Nicolas Guillen "Josephine Baker in Cuba" (CP)

M3-24African American Cultural Legacies

*Cesaire"The Negritude Movement" (CP, primary source)

*"The Merenge" (CP)

Film: "Mirrors of the Heart (Part 2)"

M3-26SECOND TEST

Extra Credit: Articles: Trouillot "An unthinkable history"; Helg "Race in Argentina & Cuba"; Scott "Gradual abolition” ; Andrews “The black legions”;Farmer “On suffering and structural violence (Haiti)”; Drake “Intro: Pol Econ of Foreign Advisors”; film “Walker” (US, USC); “One Man’s Hero” (US, video shops); “Quilombo” (Brazil, USC)

PART C: REVOLUTION, CULTURE & POLITICS

UNIT SIX: The Rise of "the People" in 20th Century Politics and Society

M3-31Populism and Art: Mexican Revolutionary Corrido and Murals

*”Madero and the comet: corrido” (CP, primary source)

*Keen Ch.12: p. 273-298

*Keen p.601-602

4-2Populism, Culture and Corporativist States: Peronism and Tango

*Simon Collier "Birth of Tango" (CP)

*Eva Peron "Evita and the People" (CP, primary source)

*Keen Ch.13

Film: "The Garden of Forking Paths" (film)

UNIT SEVEN: The Cold War and the Age of Revolutions

4-7Legacies of 1898: Colonialism & Development Projects in Puerto Rico

Film: "The Operation"

Keen Ch.20: 556-563

4-9Legacies of 1898: Armed Revolution in Cuba

*Castro "History will absolve me" (Review Marti "Our America") (CP, primary sources)

*Keen Ch.17

M4-14Cultural and Politics in Chile's Democratic Road to Change

*Pablo Neruda "Memoirs" excerpt (CP, primary source)

*Victor Jara "Amanda" song (CP, primary source)

*Keen Ch.14

Film: "In Women's Hands"

4-16Revolution and Intervention in Central America, 1980s

*Keen Ch.18, Ch.564-577

*US in Central America map (CP)

Film clip: “Romero”

Philosophies of Praxis: Religion, Education, Economics

*Gustavo Gutierrez "Liberation Theology" (CP, primary source)

*Paulo Freire bio & "Adult literacy projects as cultural action for freedom" (review, CP, primary source)

*Keen, "Dependency Theory" p.x-xii, Ch.21:599-601

4-21holiday

UNIT EIGHT: Interventions (Economic, Political, and Cultural) and Social Movements

4-23Capital Across the Americas: debt & neo-liberal restructuring (Mexico)

*Keen, Ch.20:555-577; Ch.12:299-310

*"Interview with Subcommandante Marcos" (CP, primary source)

Film: "Global Assembly Line"

M4-28Work and Race/Ethnicity: Latinos in the USA

*O’Neill ”Where no unions have gone before: US South (North Carolina)” (CP)

*”Life of Yanira Merino” (CP: in Latino Labor/NACLA section)

*"Militarizing the border" (CP)

*Striffler “Processing Poultry, Producing Class: Transnational Tales from a Tyson Plant”

Film: "Chicano: Struggle in the Fields”

4-30Exhibiting Cultures: the politics of representation

*Keen Ch. 21

*Fowler “Should just anybody be allowed to stare?” NYTimes (CP: Review from Unit 1)

*Garcia Marquez "Nobel Speech" (CP: Review from Unit 1)

*Wolcott "Muse of History (CP: Review from Unit 1)

Film: Disney "The Three Caballeros" (in-class film excerpt)

note “Resources in Latin America” (CP)

***FINAL EXAM*** Monday, MAY 5, 5:30PM

Extra Credit:

Articles: Baddeley & Fraser “The politics of Latin American art” (strongly recommended); Warman "Political project of Zapatismo"; James “17th & 18th Oct., Peron”; Lopez: Sterilization: P.R. & NYC”; “US & LatAmer in ColdWar: JFK, Dulles &Mann”; *"On the Line: Latinos on Labor's Cutting Edge" NACLA p.18-28, 34-43; ”Don (Juanito) Duck and the imperial-patriarchal unconscious” Julianne Burton

Films: “Missing” (US, video shops); “Romero” (US, video shops); “Buena Vista Social Club” (Cuba, USC); “Carmen Miranda: Bananas are my Business” (U.S., USC); “Salvador” (U.S., USC)

NOTES / COMMENTARY WORKSHEET

Author / Speaker / Director:

Title:

Source:

Date of Publication / Event:

Publisher and City:

For each article, book chapter, film, talk or lecture be sure you can answer the following 4 questions (about 1 paragraph answers).

1. What is the argument and evidence/sources? Not only what it's about (the topic), but what's it driving at, who's the audience, or what's at stake?

a. Argument

b. Evidence/Sources

2. Specify a passage/part that you find interesting or problematic and discuss it.

Page # and first line of passage: ______

Title:

3. Connect to at least 1 specific other piece from our course readings or films and link them in a brief discussion.

Name of reading:______

4. Reflect on HOW this aids or confuses your understanding of the issues we have been working on in this course. What will you take away from this reading/film/speaker/event?

FILM LIBRARY REQUESTSSpring 2003

HIST 109, Sec 001

Professor: Lessie Jo Frazier

Dept. History

Phone: 7-2734

Classroom use: (campus mail)

1)

2) Broken Silences: Rigoberta Menchu 1-15

3)The Mission 604V 1-29

4

5)"The Last Supper"606V 2-19-3-3

6)Americas: Mirrors of the Heart 977V(4) Feb 5 AND March 24

7Son of Africa 3-3

8)"Americas: Get up, Stand Up 981V 3-5

9)"Americas: Gardern of forking paths" 975V 4-2

10)The Operation 2206 V 4-7

11)Americas: In Womens Hands 978 V (5) 4-14

12)Romero599V or 588 V (???) 4-16 thru 4-21

13)School of Assassins4-16

14)Global Assembly Line 4-23

15)Chicano: Struggle in the Fields, Part 2 2295 V 4-28

16)Disney’s the 3 Caballeros4-30

Place on reserve at Thomas Cooper Library:

The Yanomami: Contact 537 V1-14 thru 2-8

I, the Worst of All“

The Ona People“

One Man’s Hero2-11 thru 3-8

Quilombo “

Walker

Buena Vista Social Club3-18 thru 5-1

Missing “

Romero “

Carmen Miranda: Bananas Are My Business“

Salvador“

1