Residents of Cacaomoa, Honduras help carry relief supplies from a US Army helicopter, November 1998 , from a National Security Archive Briefing Book on US Aid. Photo by the US Dept. of Defense

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Schedule
Section 1: 19th Century Section 2: 20th Century

Requirements

Resources

Professor: Jordana Dym
Email:jdym@skidmore.edu
Phone:580-5272
Office: TLC 326
Office Hours:
Tu: 3:30-4:30; W 2-4; Th 10-12 or by appt.

Class Times and Location:
 W, F 10:10-11:30, TLC 302

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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 Skidmore College
HISTORY 109
 Contemporary Latin America

Schedule

NOTE: ALL ITEMS MARKED WITH *CAN BE FOUND UNDER "READINGS"

Many useful links to information about Contemporary Latin America on the web can be found at: www.skidmore.edu/~jdym/Links-Contemporary.htm

 

Class Date Topic Reading Assignment (due on date of class)
Section 1: The 19th Century
Challenges of Independence: From Colonies to Nation-States
1 9/8 Introduction/Colonial Heritage

John Charles Chasteen, Born in Blood & Fire 1, 3, 4
*B. Anderson, Imagined Community, Introduction
*Dym
*Social Conditions in Colonial Mexico (Abad y Queipo),
Humboldt
Bolívar, Angostura Discourse,
Morelos, Sentiments of the Nation
Itúrbide, Plan of Iguala

Recommended: Chasteen, 2, Bolivar, Jamaica Letter (edited)
Modern Day Issues: Haiti Today
2 9/10 Independence I: Haiti, Venezuela
3 9/15 Independence II: Mexico,Brazil
4 9/17  Film: Camila Chasteen, 5
Mark Wassermann, Nineteenth Century Mexico: Men, Women & War, 3-158
*Caudillos
Bilbao
Monroe Doctrine,
Photographs, Mexico: From Empire to Revolution
Modern Day ramifications: Latin AmericansTire of Democracy (NY Times June 27, 2004)

Recommended: Mexican Constitution of 1824;Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; Fanny Calderon de la Barca , Letter 24 on "revolution" in 1840s Mexico; Historians discuss "caudillos" and how they are studied; Conrad's Nostromo, Ch. 1-3, Hassaurek, How to Start a Latin American Revolution; Bulwer-Clayton Treaty (1850),PBS website: US-Mexican War
5 9/22

Internal Dynamics: Liberals, Conservatives and Caudillos
6 9/24

External Challenges: US, UK & France

7 9/29

DISCUSSION: Independence & Its Challenges
ESSAY 1
Breaking With the Past: Towards The Fin de Siècle
8 10/1 Transforming Political Economy: Order & Progress

Chasteen, 6, 7
Wasserman, 161-222
Daniel James, Doña María's Story, 1-44
*Muñoz Cabrejo
Mariategui
*Asturias (77-106)
*Válcarcel
Timeline of US Interventions in Latin America (19 & 20 c)
Recommended: *Alberdi, Arnold & Frost: Rule of Díaz (1909); ROSENTHAL (1995)

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Prepare for discussion (instructions in class)
1) Monroe Doctrine; 2) Cleveland: American Interests in the Cuban Revolution; 3)US Recognition of Cuban Independence (Site 1) (Site 2) (1898);
4) Platt Amendment (Site 1)(Site 2)(1901); 5)Roosevelt Corollary (1904, 1905)
6) Kellogg Charges: Bolshevist Threat? (1927)

CUBA: Our America; Gral. Máximo Gómez to Cleveland (1897);
Gómez on US invervention;
HAITI: Charlemagne Peralte on US Occupation of Haiti (1914); Testimony on US Soldiers in Haiti (1922);
NICARAGUA: Darío, To Roosevelt; Sandino on US Marines in Nicaragua (1933); A Colombian with Sandino (1983)To Roosevelt [in spanish]
9 10/6

Transforming Societies I:
Race, Class, Citizenship
10 10/8 Transforming Societies II: Strategies for Urban Life & Immigration
11 10/13

DISCUSSION
Imperialism: The US & The Caribbean, 1890s-1930s
I: US
II: Local Response
Position Paper

Section II: The 20th Century: New Dreams for National States
New Strategies for a New Century: Transforming Politics &Society
12 10/15 Mexican Revolution I: Return to Politics

Chasteen, 213-226
Wasserman, 223-232
*Vasconcelos
*First-Hand Accounts
[IMPT: Start reading ahead in James]
Plan of S. Luis Potosí
Plan of Ayala
Mexican Constitution, 1917

Recommended: J. Reed, "What about Mexico?"

13 10/20 Mexican Revolution II: New Nation
10/22
STUDY DAY
14 10/27 Women in Latin America, 1890s-1930s Chasteen, 225-246
*Lavrin, 193-211
James, 45-156; 213-243
Perón: Justicialism;
Eva Perón, History of Peronism

Modern Day Ramifications: Lula Article (June 27); Chávez Article (August 16)
Recommended: *Lavrin 257-286, PALMER & ROJAS CHAVEZ, "Educating Señorita:Teacher Training, Social Mobility, and the Birth of Costa Rican Feminism, 1885-1925"
15 10/29 Populism
16
11/3 Discussion: Doña María's Story

Position Paper
Hemispheric Interference: Cold War & Leftist Governments
17 11/5 The Socialist Experiments: Guatemala, Chile
 Chasteen, 9
*Burns
Kennedy, Alliance for Progress (1961);Castro: 2nd Declaration of Havana (1962); Allende, Speech to UN (1972); GDR Poster Art of 1970s
Modern-day Ramifications: Jonas, 50 Years Later

Recommended: NSA Briefing Book, Chile orGuatemala, or Cuban Missile Crisis;
18 11/10 The Cuban Revolution & its Aftermath
The Military Years (Argentina & Brazil)
19 11/12 Politics & Anti-Politics Chasteen, 10
*Loveman & Davies
Ariel Dorfman, Death and the Maiden
Recommended: TARNOPOLSKY, 48-57; *Alvarez, 57-82
20 11/17 Discussion: Aftermath of Military Rule
Position Paper
Intellectuals, Popular Culture & National Development
21 11/19 Race & Nation: DR & Haiti

Badillo, Walker, Howard, Kushner
Recommended: Silvio Torres-Saillant, "The Tribulations of Blackness"
Thanksgiving Break, 11/24-11/26
22 12/1
Intellectuals & Society

*J.L.. Anderson, *Dorfman
ASSIGNED: Nobel Laureate Speeches: Look in Literature for VS Naipaul (Trinidad); Ocatavio Paz (Mexico); Gabriela Mistral (Chile); Pablo Neruda (Chile); Gabriel García Márquez (Colombia); in Peace for Rigoberta Menchú (Guatemala), Oscar Arias (Costa Rica), Adolfo Pérez (Argentina), Carlos Saavedra (Argentina)

Recommended: 1992 Interview w/ R. Menchu
New Revolutions? 1979-
23 12/3 Liberation & Theology:
Nicaragua & El Salvador		 *Burns, *Arias Plan, *Gutiérrez
24 12/8 End of the Cold War: Rise of Neo-Liberalism & Resistance: Indigenous Revolution

NACLA Beyond the Washington Consensus (11-45)
*Gutmann, "For Whom the Taco Bell Tolls"
Zapatistas: First Declaration (1994),First Declaration of Reality (1996)
Recommended: Fifth Declaration (1998)
25 12/10 Conclusion/Review
ESSAY 3
Chasteen, 11
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