POL 4494 W: U.S.-LATIN AMERICAN RELATIONS
Instructor: María José Méndez Class: Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:00 am-11:30am
737 Social Sciences Office Hours: Tuesdays 11:45am-1:45pm or by
E-mail: appointment
Course Description
How does one best characterize the relations between the US and Latin America? Are these cooperative, mutually beneficial, self-restrained, hierarchical, imperial or neo-colonial? The relations between the United States and Latin America are multifaceted and complex. The Latin American region has been under the influence of US hemispheric power since the 1800s and has been deeply shaped by its foreign policies. Marked by indifference, intervention, cooperation and conflict, US policy toward Latin America has historically evolved as a result of broader economic, social and political patterns in the Western hemisphere and in the world. Currently, Latin America’s position as the US fastest-growing trading partner, as well as its largest provider of illegal drugs and immigrants subtend the changing relations between them.
Although the relations between the US and Latin America are often approached as foreign relations between governments, these also involve deep ties between civil society groups. Most notable among these interactions are those of US solidarity networks that continue to support Latin American social movements in their struggles against repressive regimes, human rights abuses, exploitative industries, etc., often in opposition to official US policies. Latin American social movements have also historically supported grassroots struggles for justice in the US, most recently in the fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
This course aims to provide students with a conceptual and empirical framework to understand US-Latin American relations at both grassroots and official levels. Students will learn about international relations approaches to the study of North-South relations that will help them better interpret the historical and contemporary dimensions of US-Latin American relations, with particular attention to the politics of narcotics and immigration control.
Prerequisites:None.
Course Outcomes
●Identify and assess different international relations approaches to North-South relations and apply these to US-Latin American relations.
●Understand the historical patterns and practices of U.S. policy toward Latin America and analyze contemporary US-Latin American relations in light of these historical antecedents.
●Recognize that relations between Latin America and the United States not only concern foreign relations between nation-states but also involve transnational grassroots solidarity.
Assessment
Note: You are required to earn a passing grade in all assignments to pass the course.
●Attendance & Participation= 10%
In addition to attending each session, you should come prepared with thoughtful questions and comments about the assigned materials. Participation will not be evaluated based on how much you speak but on the quality of the insights you share and your fruitful engagement with the views of others. Active participation in class also means being a good listener and contributing to in-class group activities. I encourage you to attend office hours to discuss class material, particularly if you find it difficult to engage in class discussions. Since this course covers sensitive aspects of US-LA relations, I do not expect you to agree with the readings or with what your instructor or other classmates think. I very much welcome lively discussion as long as we treat each other with professional respect.
●Pop Quizzes (5 x 3%) = 15%
In order to better track participation and reading comprehension, six pop quizzes will be given randomly over the course of the term. These will be given either at the beginning or end of class so you are expected to arrive on time and to stay until the end of it, unless you have asked for permission to leave early. Your grade will be based on the best five pop quizzes out of the six.
●Short Papers (5 x 7%) = 35%
2-3 pages each. These writing assignments are meant to demonstrate your understanding of key questions about the readings that the instructor will provide one week in advance.
●Research Paper = 40%
This is a writing-intensive course that puts emphasis on learning through revision. The final 10-page research paper will be the product of three sequenced assignments (a preliminary thesis statement, a one-page thesis paragraph plus preliminary outline and bibliography, and a complete draft), which all need to be completed for you to get a passing grade. During the first week of class, I will provide you with a list of research questions. You must pick one question from the list or propose one of your interest. Please discuss this question with the instructor if you decide to explore one of your choosing. You will turn in a thesis paragraph on June 21 for which I will provide written feedback. On June 28th, you will hand in a revised thesis paragraph plus a preliminary outline and bibliography. I will provide feedback about your proposed argument in writing and during office hours if necessary. You will then incorporate the instructor’s feedback and hand in a preliminary draft of the entire research paper on July 12. It is required that you include a one-page revision memo with this rough draft describing how you specifically addressed the main feedback provided for the first assignment, and what sorts of guidance you would appreciate from the instructor as you revise the first draft. The instructor will provide comments about this first draft and the final version of the paper will be due on August 9.
Important Dates
June 19 Short Paper # 1
June 21One-paragraph thesis statement
June 28One-page thesis paragraph plus preliminary outline and bibliography
July 3Short Paper # 2
July 12Preliminary draft of entire research paper
July 17Short Paper # 3
July 24Short Paper # 4
August 2Short Paper # 5
August 9 Final research paper
Requirements
●Submit papers directly to the instructor or to the Department of Political Science (1414 Social Sciences Building). In addition to submitting a hard copy, you are required to provide an electronic copy for the final research paper so that the instructor can run it through a plagiarism detector used by the University. In order to clarify what constitutes academic dishonesty, we will discuss how to avoid plagiarism in class.
●Papers will receive a late penalty of 10%/ day. Extensions, incompletes and make-up pop quizzes will not be granted, except in cases of medical or family emergency (official documentation is required).
●Since research shows that electronic devices can negatively affect learning outcomes, they will only be allowed to access readings unless you have agreed otherwise with the instructor.
Readings
The following books are required (available at the Coffman bookstore):
●Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. 2016. Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War. University of Oklahoma Press.
●Gibler, John. 2017. I Couldn't Even Imagine That They Would Kill Us: An Oral History of the Attacks Against the Students of Ayotzinapa. City Light Books.
●Grandin, Greg. 2006. Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism. Metropolitan Books.
●Luiselli, Valeria. 2017. Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions. Coffee House Press.
The rest of the readings are available online or on the course website. Please bring the appropriate readings with you to class each day.
Class Schedule
Note: Readings might change to improve student’s learning in the course.
June 12Introduction
Galeano, Eduardo. 1973. Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent. New York: Monthly Review, pp. 11-18.
or read the original Spanish: Galeano, Eduardo. 1973. Las venas abiertas de América Latina. Mexico City: Siglo XXI, pp. 15-23.
Peter Hakim. 2006. “Is Washington Losing Latin America?” Foreign Affairs. Available at
June 14Research and Writing
Discussion of what makes a good research paper (organization and style), how to conduct research, and issues of academic dishonesty.
June 19Conceptualizing North-South Relations
Dos Santos, Theotonio. 2003. “The Structure of Dependence” in Mitchell Seligson & John Passé-Smith (eds.) Development and Underdevelopment: the Political Economy of Global Inequality. Lynne Rienner Publishers, pp. 193-202.
Barkawi, Tarak and Mark Laffey. (2002). “Retrieving the Imperial: Empire and International Relations,” Millennium: Journal of International Studies, 31(1), pp. 109-127.
Doty, Roxanne. 1996. Imperial Encounters: The Politics of Representation in North-South Relations. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 1-19.
Smith, Peter H. 2013. Talons of the Eagle. New York-Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ch. 1, Pp. 1-9.
Short Paper # 1
June 21-26Imperial Encounters between the US and LA
Grandin, Greg. 2006. Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism. New York: Metropolitan Books.
One-paragraph thesis statement due June 21
June 28Banana Relations
Enloe, Cynthia. 2014. “Going Bananas! Where are Women in the International Politics of Bananas?” in Bananas, Beaches and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics. Ch. 6, pp. 211-249.
Neruda, Pablo. 1961. "La United Fruit Co," in Ben Belitt, ed. and tr., Selected
Poems of Pablo Neruda. Grove Press, pp. 148-149.
Kinzer, Stephen. 2006. “Get Rid of This Stinker,” in Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq. Henry Holt and Company. Ch. 6, pp. 129-147.
Thesis paragraph plus preliminary outline and bibliography due June 28
July 3Terror and Counterinsurgency, Past and Present
Benedetti, Mario. (2013). The Disappeared: The Triumph of Memory. NACLA Report On The Americas, 46(4), 78-80.
Cecilia Menjívar & Nestor Rodríguez. When States Kill: Latin America, the U.S., and Technologies of Terror. Ch. 1, pp. 3-27.
Danner, Mark. 1993. “The Truth of El Mozote.” The New Yorker, December 6. (
Zilberg, Elana. “Gangster in Guerrilla Face: A Transnational Mirror of
Production between the U.S. and El Salvador,” Anthropological Theory, 7(1), pp. 37-57.
Short Paper #2
July 5-10 Illicit Relations and the War on Drugs
Scott, Peter Dale and Jonathan Marshall. 1998. Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies and the CIA in Central America. University of California Press, Ch.1, pp. 8-19.
Andreas, Peter, and Angelica Duran Martinez. 2012. “The Politics of Drugs and Illicit Trade in the Americas” in Peter Kingstone and Deborah Yashar Eds. Handbook of Latin American Politics. Routledge, pp. 380-392.
Schwarz, Mattias. 2014. “A Mission Gone Wrong: Why are we still fighting the
drug war?” The New Yorker, January 6.
Gibler, John. 2017. I Couldn't Even Imagine That They Would Kill Us: An Oral History of the Attacks Against the Students of Ayotzinapa. City Light Books.
July 12Revolutions and Crisis
Chomsky, Aviva. 2015. A History of the Cuban Revolution. 2nd edition, Wiley-Blackwell. Introduction and Chapter 1, pp. 1-35.
Laffey, Mark and Jutta Weldes. “Decolonizing the Cuban Missile Crisis,” International Studies Quarterly, 52(3), pp. 555–577
LeoGrande, William M. Fall 1979. “The Revolution in Nicaragua: Another Cuba?” Foreign Affairs.
Smith, Peter H. 2013. Talons of the Eagle. New York-Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ch. 3, pp. 64-91.
Preliminary draft of entire research paper due
July 17Washington Consensus or Dissensus?
Coronil, Fernando (2011). “The Future in Question: History and Utopia in Latin America (1989–2010)”, in Craig Calhoun and Georgi Derluguian (eds.) Business as Usual: The Roots of the Global Financial Meltdown. New York: New York University Press, 231–292.
Stahler-Sholk, Richard. 2007. “Resisting Neoliberal Homogenization: The Zapatista Autonomy Movement.” Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 34, No. 2 (March): 48-63.
Zibechi, Raúl. (2012). Territories in resistance : a cartography of Latin American social movements. Oakland, CA: AK Press. Section I, Ch.1 and Ch.2. pp.13-30.
Short Paper #3
July 19-24US-LA solidarity (1)
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. 2016. Blood on the Border: A Memoir of the Contra War. University of Oklahoma Press.
Carasthatis, Anna. 2016. Intersectionality: Origins, Contestations, Horizons. University of Nebraska Press. Ch.5, pp. 163-198.
Short Paper # 4 due July 24
July 26US-LA solidarity (2)
Cohen, Steven. 2016. “When Castro Came to Harlem,” New Republic, March 21. (
Lovato, Roberto, “Mapping the New Solidarity,” NACLA Report on the Americas Vol. 48, Issue 1, pp. 28-35.
Fernandes, Sujatha, “Black Diasporic Dialogues in Post-Soviet Cuba,” NACLA Report on the Americas, 48(1), 52-54.
Guest lecture: Elise Roberts, Director of Witness for Peace Midwest.
July 31-Border Crossings
August 2
Anzaldúa, Gloria. (1987). Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza. San Francisco: Aunt Lute Books. Ch. 1, 1-13.
Doty, Roxanne. (2013). Why is people’s movement restricted? In Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfuss (eds.) Global Politics: A New Introduction. Routledge, Ch. 10, pp. 200-219.
Luiselli, Valeria. 2017. Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions. Coffee House Press.
Short Paper #5 due August 2
Final draft of research paper due August 9!
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