Prof. Marcelo J. Borges office: Denny 111 (717) 245-1186 office hours: Wed 10-12, 1:00-3:00, and by appointment

T Th  10:30-11:45 Denny 112

OBJECTIVES

    This course provides an introduction to Latin American history after independence, from the consolidation of the national states to the 1980s. By focusing on the cases of Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, and Mexico, within the broader regional context, it examines significant social, political, and economic developments of modern Latin America.

COURSE CHARACTERISTICS AND REQUIREMENTS

    Classes combine lectures, discussions of assigned readings, films and videos, and writing assignments. There will be two noncumulative exams (March 23 and May 13), two essays based on selected readings for class discussion, and several e-mail comments based on questions about the readings (due the day before the discussion). Class attendance and participation complete your requirements.

    Your final grade will be calculated as follows:

        Essays (20% each = 40%)
        Exams (20% each = 40%)
        E-mail comments (10%)
        Class participation (10%)
 

Essays.

I- For the first essay, you will select one of the following topics and write a 5- to 6-page paper based on the assigned readings--both required and suggested. If no readings are suggested in the syllabus, you are encouraged to use other sources b(books and articles only; encyclopedia entries or internet sources are not allowed):

        1- Bolívar's views of post-independent Latin America (due 2/17)
        2- Caudillismo in nineteenth century Latin America (due 2/26)
        3- Challenges to the Mexican state: Tlatelolco and Chiapas (due 3/11)
        4- Gender and society in Argentina: comparison between the women in Miss Mary and the case of Eva Perón (due 4/6)
        5- Race, immigration, and society in Brazil (due 4/15)
        6- U.S. reaction to political change in Cuba, Chile, and Central America (due 5/11)

II- For the second essay, you will select among the books to be discussed in class (Azuela, Carlson, or Benjamin) and write a 5- to 6-page analysis. Some guidelines will be distributed in class. Reviews will be due a week after the book is discussed in class.

E-mail Comments.

    Short reactions (1 ½ -2 pages) based on questions about readings for class discussion. Due previous day by 5 p.m. (mail to borges@dickinson.edu). See details in course outline and schedule.
 

Attendance and Late Work.

    Attendance will be monitored. After three unexcused absences your final grade will decrease a quarter of a letter grade for each additional absence. Absences will be excused only in cases of illness or verifiable family emergencies. Since late submissions of written assignments are unfair for the majority of the students, who do their work on time, late assignments will be penalized. However, it is always in your interest to submit the assignment, no matter how late. Incomplete work in the course will result in a failing final grade, regardless of the grade average.
 

Plagiarism.

    This course follows the College's policy on plagiarism as defined in Students Records, Rights, and Responsibilities and Proscriptions on Conduct.

FOREIGN LANGUAGE INTEGRATION OPTION (FLIC)

    This course offers foreign language integration in Portuguese and Spanish. This option allows you to do part of your reading and/or writing assignments in these languages. Students who wish to pursue this option should let me know by the third week of the term.

READING LIST AND FILMS

    The following items are available in the College Bookstore or on electronic (ER) or regular library reserve (LR).

Books and Articles

George Reid Andrews, Blacks and Whites in São Paulo, Brazil, 1888-1988 (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1991), chaps. 2-3.  (LR)

Mariano Azuela, The Underdogs: A Novel of the Mexican Revolution (New York: Signet Classics, Penguin Group, 1996).

Simón Bolívar, Selected writings; compiled by Vicente Lecuna, edited by Harold A. Bierck, Jr., translation by
Lewis Bertrand (New York: Banco de Venezuela - Colonial Press, 1951), 2. vols. (Read: Jamaica Letter , 1815; Angostura Address, 1819; Message to the Congress of Bolivia, 1826; and A Panoramic View of Spanish America, 1829.) (ER) [These documents are also available on Blackboard.]

Jules Benjamin, The United States and the Origins of the Cuban Revolution (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990).

E. Bradford Burns, The Poverty of Progress: Latin America in the Nineteenth Century (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980 ), chap. 6 (ER)

David Bushnell and Neil Macaulay, The Emergence of Latin America in the Nineteenth Century, second edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), selection of chapters.

Eric Stener Carlson, I Remember Julia: Voices of the Disappeared (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996).

Alberto Ciria, "History, Gender, Class and Power in María Luisa Bemberg's Films," Revista Interamericana de Bibliografía/Inter-American Review of Bibliography, 46, No. 1-2 (1995): 147- 160.  (Suggested) (LR)

Emilia Viotti da Costa, "The Myth of Racial Democracy: A Legacy of the Empire," in The Brazilian Empire: Myths and Histories (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985), pp. 234- 246, 276-278. (LR)

Thomas Holloway, Immigrants on the Land: Coffee and Society in São Paulo, 1886-1934 (Chapel Hill.: University of North Carolina Press, 1980), chaps. 4 and 6.  (Suggested) (LR)

John Lynch, Caudillos in Spanish America, 1800-1850 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), chap. 10, "The Caudillo Tradition in Spanish America."  (Suggested) (ER)

Thomas Skidmore and Peter Smith, Modern Latin America, 5th edition (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

Mark Szuchman, "Depicting the Past in Argentine Films: Family Drama and Historical Debate in Miss Mary and The Official Story, " in Donald Stevens, ed., Based on a True Story: Latin American History at the Movies (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1997), pp. 173-200, 236-237.  (Suggested) (LR)

Julie M. Taylor, Eva Perón: The Myths of a Woman (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979), pp. 72-111. (Suggested) (LR)
 

On-line Documents (see weekly schedule):

    Bolívar's writings.
    1917 Mexican Constitution.
    Declassified Documents on the Tlatelolco Massacre.
    EZNL (Zapatista National Liberation Army), Communiques, 1994-1998.
 

Films (Library Reserve)

    Guantanamera. Dir. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1994.
    Miss Mary. Dir. María Luisa Bemberg, 1986.
    Strawberry and Chocolate. Dir. Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1993.
 

There may be additional readings and handouts. Several videos will be presented in class.

Week 1

T 1/27 Introduction.

Th  1/29 Colonial Background.

Reading: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 1-26.

Week 2

T 2/3 Independence in Spanish America.

Th 2/5 Independence in Brazil.

Readings: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 26-36; Bushnell and Macaulay, pp. 13-20.

E-handout: Independence in Latin America: A Chronology.

Video: The Price of Freedom.
 

(Simón Bolívar)

Week 3

T 2/10 The Bolivarian Dream(s).

Readings: Bolívar's, Jamaica Letter (1815), Angostura Address (1819),  Message to the Congress of Bolivia (1826), and A Panoramic View of  Spanish America (1829). [LR and Blackboard]

For class discussion: Identify the main elements of Bolívar's view of the political future of the new independent nations of Spanish America.

Attention: E-mail reactions based on these addresses due Monday before 5 p.m. (1 ½ -2 pages).

Th 2/12 Aftermath of Independence.

Readings: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 36-41; Bushnell and Macaulay, pp. 20-26.
 

(United Provinces of South America -
1819 Constitution)

Week 4

T 2/17 Socio-economic Challenges: Phases of Economic Development.

Readings: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 36-67; Bushnell and Macaulay, pp. 26-54.

Th 2/19 Political Challenges: Liberal, Conservatives, and Caudillismo.

Readings: Bushnell and Macaulay, pp. 55-82; 108-140, 277-285; Burns, chap. 6. [Blackboard]
Suggested readings: Lynch. [Blackboard]

For class discussion: 1-Describe and compare the cases of Rosas, Santa Anna, Portales, Rodríguez de Francia, Carrera, and Belzu; 2- compare the approaches of Bushnell and Macaulay and Burns.

Attention: E-mail reactions based on these cases due Wednesday before 5 p.m. (1 ½ -2 pages).
 
 

(Revolutionary soldiers)

Week 5

T 2/24 Mexico: Reform, Intervention, and the Pax Porfiriana.

Readings: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 217-227; Bushnell and Macaulay, pp. 193-209.

Th 2/26 Mexico: The 1910 Revolution.

Readings: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 227-232.

Link: Listen to Mexican corridos about the Revolution  
          Listen to Mexican corridos about Emiliano Zapata

Sign-up for documents for next Thursday's class discussion. 

(Zapatista leader)

Week 6

T 3/2  Mexico: Revolution and Society.

Reading: Azuela, The Underdogs (entire).

For class discussion: 1- Identify and briefly describe the main characters of Azuela's The Underdogs; 2- What does the Revolution mean for each of them?

Attention: E-mail reactions based on these questions due Monday before 5 p.m. (1 ½ -2 pages).

Th 3/4  Mexico: The Revolutionary State; Consolidation and Challenges.

Readings: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 233-258;
              E-Documents: 1917 Constitution of Mexico
               Complete text
               Article 27 (land)
               Article 123 (labor)

Select documents from one of the following sources:

        -  EZNL (Zapatista National Liberation Army),  Communiques, 1994-1998.
        - Tlatelolco Massacre: Declassified U.S. Documents on Mexico and the Events of 1968.
 

Links: The Virtual Diego Rivera Museum
           Museo Mural Diego Rivera

Video: Mexico.

Watch Miss Mary --on reserve-- by Wednesday.
 

(Immigrants in the Hotel de Inmigrantes-
Buenos Aires, 1899)

Week 7

T 3/9 Argentina: National Organization and the Era of "Progress."

Reading: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 68-82.

Th 3/11 Argentina: Belle Époque in the Pampas; Apogee and Crisis.

Film: Miss Mary (Library reserve).
Suggested reading: Szuchman; Ciria.

For class discussion: Does the film function as a metaphor of historical change in 1930s Argentina? Explain.

Attention: E-mail reactions to the film due Wednesday before 5 p.m. (1 ½ -2 pages).

(Eva Perón)

Week 8

T 3/23  Mid-term Exam (Weeks 1-7).

Th 3/25  Argentina: The Perón Years.

Reading: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 82-90.
 
 
 
 

(Madres de Plaza de Mayo, 1998)

Week 9

T 3/30 Th 3/13 Argentina: Evita; The Woman and the Myth.

Suggested Reading: Taylor.

Video: Evita (A&E Biography).

Th 4/1  Argentina: Authoritarianism; the "Dirty War," and Its Legacies.

Reading: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 90-106; Carlson (entire).

For class discussion: TBA.

Attention: E-mail reactions to the film due Wednesday before 5 p.m. (1 ½ -2 pages).

Video: Malajunta.
 

T 4/6 Brazil: Empire, Republic, and Coffee.

Reading: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 137-155.
Suggested reading: Bushnell and Macaulay, pp. 146-179, 247-262.

Th 4/8 Brazil: From Slavery to Immigration; "Racial Democracy"?

Readings: Andrews; Costa.
Suggested reading: Holloway.

For class discussion: Identify the reasons for the transition from slave to immigrant labor in Brazil: 2- Discuss the "myth of racial democracy."

Attention: E-mail reactions based on these questions due Wednesday before 5 p.m. (1 ½ -2 pages).
 
 

T 4/13 Brazil: Vargas and the New State.

Reading: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 155-169.

Th 4/15 Brazil: The Military and the "Economic Miracle."

Reading: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 169-176.

Video: Capital Sins.
 

T 4/20 The United States in Latin America.

Reading: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 355-398.

Th 4/22 Cuba: From Spanish Colony to U.S. Protectorate.

Reading: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 259-269; Benjamin, Intro. and chaps. 1-4.

Video: The Spanish-American War.

Attention: Sign-up for film discussion of post-revolutionary Cuban society (Guantanamera or Strawberry and Chocolate).
 
 

(Ernesto "Che" Guevara)

Week 13

T 4/27 Cuba: Revolution and Socialism.

Readings: Skidmore and Smith, pp. 269-288; Benjamin, chaps. 5-9.

For class discussion: 1-Identify and discuss Benjamin's thesis regarding the origins of the Cuban Revolution; 2- Did the U.S. push Castro towards Communism? Explain.

Attention: E-mail reactions based on these questions due Monday before 5 p.m. (1 ½ -2 pages).

Th 4/29 Cuba: The Revolutionary State in Contemporary Film.
            Discussion of Guantanamera and Strawberry and Chocolate.

Suggested reading: TBA.
 

T 5/4 The Cuban Revolution in Latin America: Ideal or Threat?
            Political Mobilization and Youth Rebellion (1960s-1970s)
            U.S. Reaction to Political Change.

Readings: Skidmore and Smith, 120-135, 333-354 (and review pp. 89-97, 166-172, and 376-387).

Th 5/6 Final discussion.

Th 5/13  2 p.m. Final Exam  (Weeks 8-14).

LINKS AND RESOURCES
 

• Dickinson College Library
• Dickinson College Writing Center
• Latin American Studies Program
• Latin American Network Information Center (University of Texas-Austin)

NEWS