course requirements

  • Quizzes: 30% (ten quizzes, three points each)
  • Exam I Essay: 20%
  • Historiography Paper: 25%
  • Final Malintzin Paper: 25%

All assignments will be graded on a letter-grade scale (A=4.0; A-=3.7; B+=3.3; B=3.0; B-=2.7; and so on). This grading system corresponds with the UT undergraduate catalog. Please consult it for clarification (http://catalog.utk.edu/). The one exception to this scale are the quizzes, which will be check-plus, check, minus (3,2,1 points).

Reading. Each meeting’s assignments must be completed before we meet. Quizzes will be based on the assigned reading.

The bulk of the class grade comes from the three papers. Exam I is a take-home essay based on a writing prompt. As with other papers, it must be well argued and cite sources from assigned readings in the class. Students will write a historiography paper (a review of the development of historical literature) on a topic of their choosing related to the gender and sexuality in colonial Latin America. Students must chose two books and five articles to use for writing this paper. I will give specific guidance on where and how to select these works. The final paper will be due during the exam period. Students will write a critical analysis of the figure of La Malinche/Malintzin based on what they’ve learned about the operation of gender and sexuality over the course of the semester.

Participation. Learning is an interactive process and I strongly encourage students to participate during both lectures and discussion by providing comments and questions based on the readings for the week. We will regularly devote class time to discussion of assigned readings (particularly primary source readings), lectures, and film