Syllabus HIS256/LAS252
Dr. Chad Black
The University of Tennessee
Spring 2012
Class Meetings: Tuesdays, 3:35-6:05
Office: 2626 Dunford Hall
Office Hours: Monday, 1:00-3:00 or by appt.
Email: cblack6 -at- utk.edu
Table of Contents
About
This course traces the principal economic, social and political transformations in Latin America from the Wars of Independence to the present in order to understand the roots of ethnic conflict, social inequality and political instability in modern Latin America. Why is there so much poverty in Latin America? What has been the role of the United States in the region? How does the military maintain such power in politics? Why is Latin music so damn good? These and other questions will be addressed in lectures, readings, films and discussions. The class will use a comparative framework to address topics such as the consolidation of nation states and their insertion in the world economy after Independence; changes in land use and labor organization; political movements for liberalism, populism, and revolution; popular culture; industrialization and class politics; military regimes and subsequent redemocratization; U.S. policy and intervention; and the emergence of contemporary social movements in the context of neoliberal economies.
While some familiarity with Latin America will be helpful, this is an introduction to the history of the region since the end of colonial rule. If you haven't already, I encouraged you to take History 255 – the Survey of Early Latin America.
Required Readings
There are three texts required for purchase for this class:
- John Charles Chasteen, Born in Blood & Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, Third Ed. New York: Norton, 2011.
- Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Facundo: Civilization and Barbarism Trans. by Kathleen Ross. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003.
- Alicia Portnoy, The Little School: Tales of Disappearance & Survival. Cleis Press, 1998.
Requirements
Students are required to engage in this class. Learning is an interactive process, and requires active participation by all members of the class. Students need to read, write, and attend lecture in order to participate in weekly discussion sections. The history of Latin America is being written as we speak in the quotidian actions of peasants, politicians, artists, and more. Likewise, history reverberates in the events of today, as well as their meanings. As part of this course, students are required to read news from Latin America, for discussion each week. In addition to these weekly activities, there are a series of formal assignments.
These assignments are designed to contribute to the overall objectives of the semester, including both content-specific and skill-based goals.
Course Objectives
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To introduce students to the forces, events, and conflicts that defined the process of nation building in the Americas, including:
- The legacies of Spanish imperial rule on the new nation states of 19th-century Latin America.
- The historical processes of inclusion and exclusion in building new nations.
- The role of indigenous people in building and contesting modern Latin American societies.
- The role of the United States in shaping the political economy of modern Latin America.
- The expressions in Latin American popular culture of the tensions within society.
- The legacies of Spanish imperial rule on the new nation states of 19th-century Latin America.
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To understand and use a variety of sources that provide the core of historical inquiry.
- Primary written sources, and their particular challenges.
- Secondary sources, and how to read them critically.
- Visual and physical sources of evidence.
- The absence of sources— finding lost voices, and reading against the grain.
- Primary written sources, and their particular challenges.
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To be able to identify, understand, and critique historical argument.
- Historians follow a lose set of epistemological, theoretical, and evidentiary rules in their attempts to recreate the limited past that is accessible to us through our incomplete archival record. At the college level and beyond, it is your task to learn how to identify an author's central argument and to evaluate it based on its evidence, sources, logic, and narrative.
- Historians follow a lose set of epistemological, theoretical, and evidentiary rules in their attempts to recreate the limited past that is accessible to us through our incomplete archival record. At the college level and beyond, it is your task to learn how to identify an author's central argument and to evaluate it based on its evidence, sources, logic, and narrative.
Other information
Qualified students with disabilities needing appropriate academic adjustments should contact me as soon as possible to ensure your needs are met in a timely manner with appropriate documentation.
Academic Honesty and Plagiarism: Plagiarism occurs when someone knowingly or unknowingly presents the words or ides of another persona has his or her own. Any work turned in for this class must meet University standards for academic honesty. Any students unsure about how to apply these rules are urged to consult with me prior to turning in any written work.
Deadlines: Assignments that are due in class must be turned in at the start of class. Late submissions will not be accepted without documentation of family or medical emergencies. If you anticipate problems, please contact me before the assignment is due, not after!
Problems and Questions: If you have questions or problems related to grades, assignments, class policies and the like, please ask your TA/Discussion Section Leader first.
Schedule and Readings
Week 1 :: GETTING STARTED
11 January: Course Introduction
Read:
- Chasteen, Chapter 1
Week 2 :: COLONIAL ROOTS
16 January: MLK Holiday
18 January: Colonial Legacies
Read:
- Chasteen, Chapter 2-3
Week 3 :: SPANISH AMERICAN WARS FOR INDEPENDENCE
23 January: In the Name of the King
25 January: In the Name of the Law
Read:
- Chasteen, Chapter 4
- Sarah Chambers, "Manuela Saenz"
- Simón Bolívar, "The Jamaica Letter"
Week 4 :: BRAZILIAN SLAVERY AND ABOLITION
30 January: The Question of Citizens I
1 February: The Question of Citizens II
Read:
- Emilia Viotti da Costa, "Maters and Slaves"
- José Ignacio Barros Cobra, "Slave Property"
- Joachim Nabuco, "Abolitionism"
- Skidmore, Smith, and Green, Chapter 11: Brazil the Awakening Giant
Week 5 :: CAUDILLOS AND LIBERALS
6 February: The Man on the Horse
8 February: Honor, Status, and Law
Read:
- Chasteen, Chapter 5 and 6
- Anibal Quijano, "Paradoxes of Modernity in Latin America," _International Journal of Politics, Culture,and Society _3:2 (Winter 1989): Read 147-159 (full article 147-177).
- Juan Bautista Alberdi, "Foundations and Points of Departure for the Political Organization of the Republic of Argentina (1853)," in Janet Burke and Ted Humphrey, eds. And trans., Nineteenth-Century Nation Building and the Latin American Intellectual Tradition. A Reader (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co., 2007), pp. 199-219.
- Chasteen and Wood, Problems in Latin American History Chapter 4: Caudillos
Week 6 :: EXPORT ECONOMIES
13 February: Positivism and Progress
15 February: Visions of Progress
Read:
- Reinhardt, "The Consolidation of the Import-Export Economy in 19th-Cent. Colombia"
- Duesta, "Mining Markets, Peasants, and Power in 19th-Cent Peru"
- G. de Secada, "Arms, Guano, and Shipping: The W.R. Grace Interests in Peru, 1865-1885"
Week 7 :: MEXICAN REVOLUTION
20 February: Order and Progress
22 February: Mexico in Revolt
Read:
- Chasteen, Chapter 7
- Meyers, Course of Mexican History, Part1 Part 2
- James Creelman, "President Díaz, Hero of the Americas"
- Francisco Madero, "Plan of San Luis Potosí"
Week 8 :: US INTERVENTIONS
27 February: US "Protection"
29 February: From Marti to Sandino
Read:
- Ramón Ruíz, "The Roots of Cuban Nationalism"
- José Martí, "Our America"
- Rubén Darío, "Ode to Roosevelt" -- included with the Martí link above.
Week 9 :: ETHNICITY AND POLITICS IN PERU
5 March: Mariategu, APRA, Cosmic Indians
7 March: Los Muralistas
Read:
- José Carlos Mariátegui, "The Problem of the Indian"
- Ciro Alegría, "Wide and Alien is the World"
- Marisol de la Cadena, "Reconstructing Race"
Week 10 :: GOOD NEIGHBORS?
12 March: A Convenient Detente
14 March: Import Substitutions
Read:
- Chasteen, Chapter 7
- Grandin, Empire's Workshop, selections
- Antiimperialism/Nationalism Selections
Week 11 :: SPRING BREAK
19 March: No class.
21 March: No class.
Week 12 :: PERONISM
26 March: The Rise of Juan and Eva Perón
28 March: Peron's "New Argentina"
Read:
- Chasteen, Chapter 8
- Daniel James, “Peronism and the Working Class, 1943-1955”
- Juan Perón, “Declaration of Workers’ Rights”
- Eva Perón, “1947 Radio Speech”
Week 13 :: BETWEEN REVOLUTION AND REFORM
2 April: Revolutions from Guatemala to Cuba
4 April: The Reformist Alternative
Film Analysis due in Section.
Read:
- Chasteen, Chapter 9
Week 14 :: STATE TERRORS
9 April: National Security State
11 April: National Security Nightmare
Read:
- Thomas C. Wright, "Chile Under State Terrorism," in State Terrorism in Latin America. Chile, Argentina, and International Human Rights (Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007), pp. 47-94.
- Tina Rosenberg, "Dialectic," in Children of Cain. Violence and the Violent in Latin America (NY: Penguin Books, 1991), pp. 145-215.
Week 15 :: RELIGION, REVOLUTION, REPRESSION
14 April: Liberation Theology
16 April: Another Wave
The Little House analysis due in Section.
Read:
Week 16 :: ETHNIC NATIONALISM
23 April: From Indian to Peasant and Back Again
25 April: Challenges of Neoliberals and Plurinationals
Read:
- Chasteen, Chapter 11