HISTORY 8B
Modern Latin America
Professor Patrick Iber
Fall 2013 / MWF 1-2 / 150 GSPP
This course will give a broad overview of Latin American
history from the pre-colonial era to the present day. Particular emphasis will be placed on the
socioeconomic, cultural, and political structures and processes that shaped and
continue to influence life in Latin America.
Key issues such as colonialism, nationalism, democracy, and revolution
will be examined critically in light of broad comparative themes in Latin
American and world history. Course
materials include secondary sources in history, economics, political science,
and sociology as well as primary documents, fiction, and film in order to
provide insight into the complex and diverse history of the region. Among the topics to be explored in detail
will be labor and slavery, the Mexican and Cuban revolutions, and the
transition from dictatorship to democracy.
Course texts:
Alexander Dawson, Latin
America Since Independence: A History with Primary Sources, New York:
Routledge, 2010, $49.
Alma Guillermoprieto. Looking
for History: Dispatches from Latin America.
New York: Vintage, 2002, $17.
Sandra Lauderdale Graham, Caetana says No: Women’s Stories from a Brazilian Slave Society,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, $28.
Mariano Azuela, The
Underdogs, New York: Penguin Classics, 2008, $10.
Daniel Wilkinson, Silence
on the Mountain: Stories of Terror, Betrayal, and Forgetting in Guatemala,
Durham: Duke University Press, 2004, $24.
Lawrence Weschler, A
Miracle, A Universe: Settling Accounts with Torturers, Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1998, $20.
Course requirements
Your grade will be based on the following:
25% section. Active participation in class is essential; our
learning will be richest as more of you become involved in the conversation and
debate. Therefore, all readings must be
completed before you meet in section, and you should attend every week. You can
miss one day without arranging an absence with us; additional absences should
be cleared with your GSI in advance. Each week, you should post a half-page
response to the readings on the class’s bspace page. Your post should go up by
midnight of the day before your section, so that your GSI can read the
responses before class. Your reading responses will not be graded assignments,
but they will, in combination with your participation, be used to determine
your section grade. Unless your GSI gives you specific instructions otherwise,
your response might take one of two forms. One option would be to write a brief
examination of what you think the most important arguments of that week’s texts
are, and to defend your position. A second option would be to explore the parts
of the readings that you found most puzzling: what questions they raise for
you, how you tried to resolve them, and what more you would like to know in
order to be able to complete that process.
5% map quiz. There will be a map quiz in week 3 of the
course. A list of what you should know will be available on bspace.
40% papers. Twice during the semester, a short essay prompt
will be distributed. You will have one week to respond, drawing from course
readings and lectures.
30% final exam. The final exam is scheduled for December 18th,
from 7-10 P.M. The exam will cover materials from section, lectures, and
especially the readings.
Other than the main texts, course readings will be available
through the bspace website.
To get good advice on what I will be looking for from your
reading and writing, I recommend the following resources:
- The Fascist octopus has sung its swan
song! Every prose writer should
read George Orwell’s “Politics and the English Language” at least once a
year. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm
- To get
the most out of your reading, I generally endorse the views of Timothy
Burke, as laid out in his “Staying Afloat: Some Scattered Suggestions on
Reading in College.” http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/tburke1/reading.html
- On
plagiarism and proper citations, please see this excerpt from Charles
Lipson’s Doing Honest Work in
College. You should use
citations proper to your primary discipline in the papers you submit. http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/lipson/honestcollege/citationfaq.html
Week 1: Introduction and
Colonial Inheritances
Friday, Aug. 30:
Introduction to the course
Monday, Sep. 2: No classes
Wednesday, Sep. 4: Making
the colonial order
Friday, Sep 6: Challenging
the colonial order: from rebellions to the Napoleonic Wars
Dawson, Latin American Since Independence, Introduction
and Chapters 1 and 2, pp. 1-57
Questions to consider this week:
1) What defines Latin
America? Does it even exist?
2) Why did Latin America
become independent from Spain? How did caudillos solve the problem of trying to
rule the newly independent countries?
Week 2: Race, Labor, and
Society in the Nineteenth Century
M, Sep 9: Categories of
Labor in the Nineteenth Century
W, Sep 11: Categories of
Race
F, Sep 13: Legacies of
Race: Film: Brazil in Black and White
Dawson, Latin America Since Independence,
Chapter 3, pp. 59-80
Sandra Lauderdale Graham, Caetana Says No, xix-xxii, and then
choose either of the two stories to read in depth
“Brazil’s Racial Identity
Challenge,” New York Times, 29 March
2012, http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/03/29/brazils-racial-identity-challenge
Questions to consider this week:
1) How are ideas about
race different in Mexico and Brazil?
2) How are ideas about
race different in Brazil and the United States? Can the same methods be used in
both places to address a history of discrimination on the basis of race?
Week 3: Politics and
Development in the Nineteenth Century
M, Sep 16: The Great
Divergence: Growth and its Absence
W, Sep 18: Ideologies of
Development: Liberalism, Conservatism, and Positivism
F, Sep 20: Immigration and
Nineteenth-Century Globalization
Dawson, Latin America Since Independence, Chapter
4, pp. 82-107
John Coatsworth,
“Obstacles to Economic Growth in Nineteenth-Century Mexico,” American Historical Review 83, no. 1
(February 1978): 80-100.
Kenneth L. Sokoloff and
Stanley L. Engerman, “History Lessons: Institutions, Factor Endowments, and
Paths of Development in the New World,” Journal
of Economic Perspectives 14, no. 3 (Summer 2000): 217-232.
Map quiz in class on Friday this week.
Questions to consider this week:
1) What are some of the
traditional reasons given to explain Latin American underdevelopment?
2) What kind of evidence
contradicts and supports those theories?
Week 4: Mexico and its
Revolution
M, Sep 23: Film: The Storm that Swept Mexico [selections]
W, Sep 25: The Popular
Revolution: Madero, Villa, and Zapata
F, Sep 27: The Victorious
& Institutional Revolution: Carranza, Calles & Cárdenas
Dawson, Latin America Since Independence,
Chapter 5, pp. 109-135
Azuela, The Underdogs
Prompts for the first, short essay (~3 pages, 700-800 words) will be
distributed this week.
Questions to consider this week:
1) What contending groups
and visions contributed to the Mexican Revolution? How does this diversity affect how we think
about the “legacy” on the Revolution?
2) Why did ordinary people
join the Revolution?
Week 5: Arts and Culture
in Post-Revolutionary Mexico
M, Sep 30: New
Nationalism, New Art
W, Oct 2: The Rupture
F, Oct 4: First paper due in class; we will then
take a walk to the Stern Hall Rivera mural
There is no reading this
week so that you can work on the first paper.
Week 6: Latin America and
the World to Midcentury
M, Oct 7: The Monroe
Doctrine and Beyond
W, Oct 9: The Good
Neighbor Policy
F, Oct 11: World War II
and the Cold War
Dawson, Latin America Since Independence,
Chapter 6, pp. 136-161
Wilkinson, Silence on the Mountain, 1-189
Questions to consider for this week:
1) What role has the U.S.
played in shaping the politics of Latin America in the 20th
century? If the U.S. had not played that
role, how would the region be different?
2) Is there an underlying
consistency to U.S. policy towards Latin America, or have the decisions of
individual administrations made a difference?
Week 7: Nationalism and Populism
M, Oct 14: Getúlio Vargas in Brazil
W, Oct 16: Juan Domingo Perón in Argentina
F, Oct 18: Jacobo Arbnez in Guatemala
Dawson, Latin America Since Independence, Chapter 7, pp. 162-187
Selections from The Argentina Reader
Daniel James, “Perón and the People,” 269-295
Tomás Eloy Martínez, “Saint Evita,” 296-303
Victoria Ocampo, “Victorian Fathers,” 313-318
Julio Cortázar, “House Taken Over,” 328-332
Guillermoprieto, Looking for History, “Little Eva,” 3-17
Questions to consider this week:
1) What is populism? How does it differ from other strategies for governing?
2) How was gender (including ideas of both masculinity and femininity) used as part of Perón’s populist strategy?
Week 8: Cuba and its
Revolution
M, Oct 21: Film: Fidel Castro
W, Oct 23: The
Achievements of the Revolution
F, Oct 25: The Costs of
the Revolution
Dawson, Latin America Since Independence,
Chapter 8, pp. 188-218
Selections from The Cuba Reader
How the Poor Got More, 344-353
Fish à la Grande
Jardinière, Humberto Arenal, 354-362
The Literacy Campaign, Oscar Lewis et al., 389-394
Guillermoprieto, Looking for History, “The Harsh Angel,”
73-86, “Fidel in the Evening,” 126-152
José Manuel Prieto, “The
Cuban Revolution Explained to Taxi Drivers,” http://www.thenation.com/article/travels-taxi-reflections-cuba
Questions to consider this week:
1) What were the principal
causes of the Cuban Revolution?
2) Were the sacrifices
imposed on ordinary people necessary to achieve the gains of the Revolution?
Week 9: Democracy to Dictatorship
M, Oct 28: Film: La Batalla de Chile
W, Oct 30: Democratic
Breakdowns: Brazil, Chile, and Argentina
F, Nov 1: Dictatorships in
Power: Brazil, Chile, and Argentina
Lawrence Weschler, A Miracle, A Universe: Settling Accounts
with Torturers, pp. 1-172
Questions to consider this week:
1) How did Latin American
dictatorships justify their actions? Who did they consider to be their enemies?
2) Why do ordinary people
support dictatorships?
Week 10: The Second Cold
War: Central America
M, Nov 4: Genocide in
Guatemala
W, Nov 6: Uprising in El
Salvador
F, Nov 8: Revolution in
Nicaragua
Daniel Wilkinson, Silence on the Mountain, pp. 190-359
An essay prompt will be distributed on Friday. It will be 5-6 pages, based
on lectures and readings through week 10.
Questions to consider this week:
1) What factors separated
successful revolutions from unsuccessful ones?
2) Why did people become
guerrillas? Why did they join the armies that fought them?
Week 11: Dictatorship to Democracy, Week I
M, Nov 11: NO CLASS
W, Nov 13: Film in class: No
F, Nov 15: Film in class: No
Essay due in class on Friday, November 15th.
Week 12: Dictatorship to
Democracy, Week II
M, Nov 18: Resisting
Dictatorship
W, Nov 20: Legacies of
Dictatorship, including selections from Nostalgia
for the Light
F, Nov 22: The “Perfect
Dictatorship”: Mexico
Dawson, Latin America Since Independence,
Chapters 9 & 10, pp. 221-276
Weschler, A Miracle, A Universe, pp. 173-246
Guillermoprieto, Looking for History
The Bitter Education of Vargas Llosa, 155-177
The Only Way to Win, 224-238
The Peso, 275-285
Elections 2000, 286-303
Questions to consider this week:
1) Why do people who had
supported dictatorships turn against them?
2) How did the process of
achieving democracy differ in Brazil, Peru, and Mexico?
Week 13: Thanksgiving Week
M, Nov 25: Film:
Frontline: The Hugo Chávez Show
W, Nov 27: Film: The Hugo Chávez Show
F, Nov 29: NO CLASS
If you are unable to make it to class this week, on either or both
days, you should watch the documentary on your own time at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/hugochavez/view/
Week 14: Neoliberalism and
its Discontents: Latin America Today
M, Dec 2: Social Democracy
or Democratic Socialism?
W, Dec 4: Limits and
Fissures in the “Pink” Decade
F, Dec 6: Summing Up
Dawson, Latin America Since Independence,
Chapter 11, pp. 277-311
Jorge G. Castañeda, “Latin
America’s Left Turn,” Foreign Affairs,
May/June 2006, http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/61702/jorge-g-castaneda/latin-americas-left-turn
Jon Lee Anderson,
“Slumlord,” New Yorker, 28 January
2013, pp. 40-51.
Greg Grandin, “On the
Legacy of Hugo Chávez,” The Nation, 5 March 2013, http://www.thenation.com/article/173212/legacy-hugo-chavez
Questions to consider this week:
1) How do we explain the
strength of the left in the first decade of the twenty-first century? How is this left different from that of the
twentieth century?
2) What conditions have
allowed recent governments to deliver growth with equity?
Week 15: Reading Week
Dec 9-13, No Classes
Information about review
sessions will be distributed.
Week 16: Finals week
FINAL EXAM SCHEDULED FOR
WEDNESDAY, DEC 18, 7-10PM.
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