Florida International UniversityDepartment of History

Spring 2014LAH 2020 U01 – Latin America Civilization

M W F, 11:00-11:50 AM – SIPA 220

Emma M. Sordo, PhD Office DM 397Phone 305 - 348-2328 Office Hours: W & F – 12:00 – 1:00 PME-mail: sordoe@fiu.edu and by Appointment

Description: The course will introduce students to the major themes in the social, political, and cultural history of Latin America, from the late fifteenth to the twentieth centuries. It provides students with (1) an informed notion of the region’s diverse historical and cultural heritage, and (2) essential background for further coursework in the Latin American field at the university. Lectures will complement assigned readings by discussing themes that are common to the region as a whole and issues that distinguish the various national cultures and societies from each other.

Course Objectives

Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

Understand the history of the region in the context of the social, political, economic, and cultural experiences that have contributed to the development of Latin America.

Become familiar with the multiple ethnic backgrounds of the peoples of contemporary Latin America.

Students will be expected to complete four (4) writing assignments, a geography exercise, quizzes, and participate in class discussions. Instructions for geography exercise and essay assignments are forthcoming.

Readings: This course is based on several texts, all of which are available for purchase at the FIU bookstore; they can also be consulted at the reserve section of the Green Library. Additional readings will be provided via PDF documents and library reserve materials. Readings should be completed by the day for which they are assigned.

Required Texts:

Edwin Williamson, The Penguin History of Latin America, London: Penguin Books, 2009. ISBN-13: 978-0-14103-475-1 [Williamson]

Junia Ferreira Furtado, Chica da Silva: a Brazilian Slave of the Eighteenth Century, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2009 ISBN-13: 978-0-521-71155-5 [Furtado]

Mariano Azuela, The Underdogs with Related Texts,Translated, with an Introduction, by Gustavo Pellón, Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Group, 2006ISBN-13: 978-0-87220-834-6 [Azuela]

Mariano Ben Plotkin, Mañana es San Perón: a Cultural History of Perón’s Argentina,Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources Inc., 2003ISBN-13: 978-0-8420-5029-6 [Plotkin]

Required readings

Bartolomé Arzáns de Orsúa y Vela, Tales of Potosí, R. C. Padden, ed. Providence, RI: Brown University, 1975 [PDF document, Introduction by Padden, xi-xxxvi]

Gary Prevost and Harry E. Vanden, Latin America: An Introduction, New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. PDF document, 1-18.

Geoffrey Symcox and Blair Sullivan, Christopher Columbus and the Enterprise of the Indies: A Brief History with Documents, Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005 [PDF document, Columbus’s Legacy, 30-40; documents, 60-65]

David Bushnell, “Wars of Independence: South America,” Americas, Vol. 62, No.2 (March/April 2010): 12-19. [PDF document, Bushnell]

“The Return of Populism,” The Economist, (15 April 2006): 39-40 – PDF document; Refer to www.economist.com/world/la

Requirements

The approximate reading load per week is 125 pages. Final grades will be based on four written assignments, a map (geography) exercise, quizzes, and class discussions. Assignments are intended to meet the “Gordon Rule” requirements.

These assignments must be handed in class on the day they are due (January 31, February 28, March 28, and April 23).

Length of written assignments: 750 words (3 pages maximum, typed and double-spaced). Additional information on the written assignments is forthcoming; all instructions will be available at least two weeks before the assignment is due. Students will submit assignments online to ‘TURNITIN.COM’. Print one copy to submit in class (due at the beginning of class, 11:00 AM). Instructions to register: Class ID # 7441631, Password lah2020sp14

Geography and Map exercise, due on Wednesday, January 15

Class attendance is required. Students are required to participate in class discussions. Your insights, questions and dialogue factor heavily into the overall learning process. Therefore, attendance and participation is expected. Any student with a problem regarding attendance and discussions should consult the instructor immediately.

My policy on late submissions is simple. Except in the most serious of circumstances, late work will not be accepted. Consideration of work not handed in on the due dates will be given ONLY if the student presents a written document (excuse) from a physician, counselor, or sports team coach. If assigned written exercise is not submitted, it will receive a failing grade.

All assignments must be presented in class. No assignments will be accepted by e-mail. No make-ups for missed assessments (quizzes).

Grading

Essay assignments: 80% – Quizzes and Geography exercise: 15%

Participation: 5%

Grading ScaleA above 93 C 74 – 76A- 91 – 92 C- 71 – 73

B+ 87 – 90 D+ 67 – 70

B 84 – 86 D 64 – 66

B- 81 – 83 D- 61 – 63C+ 77 – 80 F < 61

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT

To help you avoid plagiarism, we will use ‘Turnitin.com’ in this course. This website checks your essay for plagiarized passages against billions of pages on the internet. It also checks your essay (or paper) against every other work ever submitted into Turnitin.com, journal articles, newspapers, and magazines. It then generates a report for me showing every instance of copied text. Any paper showing plagiarized text will earn a ZERO, and you will not be allowed to rewrite it.

FIU Policy – “This policy views plagiarism as one form of academic misconduct, and adopts the definition of the university’s Code of Academic Integrity, according to which plagiarism is the deliberate use and appropriation of another’s work (s) without any indication of the source and the representation of such work as the student’s own. Any student, who fails to give credit for the ideas, expressions or materials taken from another source, including internet sources, is guilty of plagiarism.”

For additional information, refer to FIU site, http://honors.fiu.edu/current policy plagiarism.html to review the policy and examples of plagiarism.

Plagiarism is grounds for failure in this course and will not be tolerated.

CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE: Do turn off cellular phones when you are in class, do not write text messages during class time!! If you are using a laptop, use front section of the room.

SCHEDULE

Week 1January 6 Overview of Latin America

Syllabus

January 8 American PeoplesReadings: Williamson, Preface, vii-viii; Chapter 1, 3-16

January 10 American PeoplesReadings: Williamson, Chapter 1, 3-16; Chapter 2, 37-53

Prevost & Vanden, Introduction, 1-18 – PDF document

Week 2January 13 Encounter/Invasion/Conquest: MainlandReadings: Williamson, Chapter 1, 16-31, 35-36

Symcox & Sullivan, PDF document, 30-40; 60-65

January 15 Encounter/Invasion/ConquestDocumentary, “Conquistadors” – PBS Michael Wood

Readings: Williamson, Chapter 2, 75-76; Chapter 3, 77-91

Geography Exercise due on Wednesday, January 15

January 17 Encounter/Invasion/ConquestDocumentary continued

Week 3January 20 Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday – University closed

January 22 European Background – IberiansReadings: Williamson, Chapter 2, 55-75; Chapter 3, 77-91

January 24 Europeans and Settlement Patterns in the New WorldReadings: Williamson, Chapter 3, 91-115; Chapter 4, 116-132, 134-141

Week 4January 27 Building a Colonial SocietyReadings: Williamson, Chapter 3, 91-115; Chapter 4, 116-132, 134-147

January 29 “Republic of the Spaniards; Republic of the Indians” and the Mining EconomyReadings: Arzans, Tales of Potosi, “Introduction” by R.C. Padden, xi-xxxvi

January 31 Urbanization in PotosiReadings: Arzans, Tales of Potosi, PDF document

Assignment Essay #1 due on Friday, January 31

Week 5February 3 Colonial Collapse; Bourbon Reforms

Colonial Brazil [Portuguese America]Readings: Williamson, Chapter 5, 167-190; Chapter 6, 195-205

February 5 Colonial Brazil; Slave Society and Mining Economy in Minas GeraisReadings: Furtado, Preface, xvii-xxv, Introduction, 1-19

February 7 Colonial BrazilReadings: Furtado, Introduction, 1-19

Week 6February 10 Mining in Minas GeraisReadings: Furtado, Chapter 1, 20-39

February 12 Minas Gerais; Social Structure, Family and Society in the Eighteenth CenturyReadings: Furtado, Chapters 2-3, 40-103

February 14 Minas Gerais; Social Structure, Family and Society in the Eighteenth CenturyReadings: Furtado, Chapters 2-3, 40-103

Documentary, Brazil [Minas Gerais]

Week 7February 17 Family and Society in the Eighteenth Century; Independence – Spanish AmericaReadings: Williamson, Chapter 6, 210-228, 231-232

Furtado, Chapter 4, 104-129

Bushnell, “Wars of Independence: South America,” PDF article

February 19 Minas Gerais - Society in the Eighteenth CenturyReadings: Furtado, Chapter 5, 130-161

February 21 Minas Gerais in the Eighteenth CenturyReadings: Furtado, Chapter 5, 130-161

Week 8February 24 Society in Eighteenth Century BrazilReadings: Furtado, Chapter 6-7, 162-210

February 26 Society in Eighteenth Century BrazilReadings: Furtado, Chapters 6-7, 162-210

February 28 Family, Society in Eighteenth Century BrazilReadings: Furtado, Chapter 11, 284-304

Assignment Essay #2 due on Friday, February 28

Week 9March 3 Economic Modernization; Liberals and ConservativesReadings: Williamson, Chapter 7, 233-241, 258-271; Chapter 10, 378-390

March 5 Mexican Revolution Readings: Williamson, Chapter 10, 378-390

Azuela, Notes, vii-xv, Appendix, 89-111; Glossary, 113-116

March 7 Azuela’s “Mexican Revolution”Readings: Azuela, Part One, 1-44

Week 10 Spring Break – March 10-15

Week 11March 17 Mexican RevolutionReadings: Azuela, Part One, 1-44

March 19 Mexican RevolutionReadings: Azuela, Parts Two & Three, 45-87

March 21 Mexican RevolutionReadings: Azuela, “Related texts” [sections from Reed], 124-129, 133-135, 137-142, 149-158

Week 12March 24 Mexican RevolutionReadings: Azuela, “Related Texts” [Insurgent Mexico, Reed], 124-129, 133-135, 137-142, 149-158

March 26 Discussion of Azuela’s textReadings: Azuela, entire text [Parts I, II, and III] – last discussion

March 28 Aftermath of revolutionReadings: Williamson, Chapter 10, 390-394

Assignment Essay #3 – Azuela due on Friday, March 28

Week 13March 31 Populism and Cultural NationalismReadings: Williamson, Chapter 7, 274-284, Chapter 13, 459-473

April 2 Populism and Cultural NationalismReadings: Plotkin, Introduction, ix-xiii; Chapter 1, 3-18

PDF, “The Return of Populism,” The Economist

April 4 Crisis of Liberalism and PeronismReadings: Plotkin, Chapter 2, 19-38

Week 14April 7 Crisis of Liberalism and PeronismReadings: Plotkin, Chapter 3, 39-58

April 9 Crisis of Liberalism and PeronismReadings: Plotkin, Chapters 4, 59-82

April 11 Education and PoliticsReadings: Plotkin, Chapters 5, 83-103

Week 15April 14 Education under Peronism; “Doctrina Peronista”Readings: Plotkin, Chapters 6, 105-134

April 16 Peronism, Women and YouthReadings: Plotkin, Chapter 7, 135-164

Documentary, “Evita: the Woman behind the Myth”UVID – NUS 282

April 18 Peronism, Women and YouthReadings: Plotkin, Chapters 7, 135-164

Week 16Final Assignment – Essay #4 due on Wednesday, April 23