HIST 382
Spring 2008

Latin America, 1910 to the Present


Instructor: Professor Carlos Aguirre
Office and Phone number: 369 McKenzie Hall, 346-5905
Office hours: Wed.
11-12 am; Thursday, 12-2 pm.
E-mail: caguirre@uoregon.edu
Web page:
http://uoregon.edu/~caguirre/home.html

GTFs:


Torrie Hester

Office: McKenzie 340U – Phone 346-4827

Email: thester1@uoregon.edu
Office hours: Tuesday
11:30-1:30

Matthew Kruer

Office: McKenzie 340B - Phone: 346-6239
Email: mkruer@uoregon.edu

Office Hours: Tuesday 11:30 - 12:30; Wednesday 12 - 1pm.

 

Description of the Course

 

This course is the third part of the Latin American History survey, covering the period from 1910 (the beginning of the Mexican Revolution) to the present. It pays particular attention to the political and social transformations that have affected the development of the region throughout the 20th century (revolutions, military dictatorships, social movements, democratic consolidation). Although this course gives special attention to a few countries (Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Chile, Nicaragua, and Peru), it does so while keeping a regional and comparative perspective. By the end of the term students will have a more sophisticated understanding of the historical roots behind both the challenges and promises that Latin American countries confront today.

 

Course policies

 

1. Students are expected to attend lectures consistently. A passing grade will be difficult to achieve without regular attendance. Students must also consistently read the assigned materials.
2. The course instructor and GTFs will hold regular office hours every week. Students are encouraged to visit them to discuss pertinent issues or get additional information about the course's themes, policies, and grades.
3. A common form of academic dishonesty, plagiarism, will not be tolerated. Students must become familiar with the
University of Oregon rules about this issue. More information will be offered at the appropriate time.
4. An atmosphere of mutual respect, tolerance, and fairness will be encouraged and enforced by the instructor. Students must behave in ways proper to an academic environment--i.e. no talking, eating, or newspaper reading during lecture. Laptop computers are allowed only for note-taking purposes. Students that plan to use a laptop computer must seat in the front row(s). All other electronic devices (cell phones, i-pods, etc.) must be turned off during class time.
5. An “incomplete” grade will be granted only in cases of extreme need and only to those students that have an acceptable record of class attendance and get at least a C in all their grades. Students that need an "incomplete" grade must make arrangements with the instructor on or before the last week of classes.

6. No late homework will be accepted, except in cases of health-related and other types of emergency that could be documented.

 

Evaluations

 

Course evaluations will include the following:

 

-Map quiz (10 points)

-3 multiple-choice quizzes (10 points each, 30 points total)
-3 short, in-class written exercises (10 points each, 30 points total)

-Final exam (30 points)

 

Required Readings

 

The following books are available for purchase at the U of O Bookstore and on reserve at Knight Library:

 

Thomas Benjamin, La Revolucion. Mexico's Great Revolution as Memory, Myth, and History (University of Texas Press, 2000).

Mariano-- Plotkin, Mañana Es San Peron. A Cultural History of Peron's Argentina (Scholarly Resources, 2003)

Mark Danner, The Massacre at El Mozote (Vintage Books, 1994)

 

Thomas Wright, Latin America in the Era of the Cuban Revolution (Praeger, 2001)


In addition, a number of articles will be available electronically through Blackboard (https://blackboard.uoregon.edu/).

 

 

Schedule of Lectures and Readings

 

 

Week 1

 

04/01 Introduction to the course / Overview of Latin America, 1910 to the present
04/03 MAP QUIZ /
Mexico: The Revolutionary decade (1910-1920).

 

Readings:

Benjamin, 1-97

 

Chronology of the Mexican Revolution

 

Week 2

 

04/08 Change and continuity in post-revolutionary Mexico (1920-40)
04/10
Mexico, 1940-2000: The perfect dictatorship? 

 

Readings:

Benjamin, pp. 99-165; Marc Eric Williams, “Traversing the Mexican Odyssey: Reflections on Political Change and the Study of Mexican Politics,” Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 18, 1, Winter 2002, pp. 159-188.

 

 

Week 3

 

04/15 The era of populism, 1: Getulio Vargas and Estado Novo in Brazil / WRITTEN TEST # 1 (Benjamin)
04/17 The era of populism, 2: Perón and Peronism in
Argentina

 

Readings:
Plotkin, ALL

 

Week 4

 

04/22 The Cold War and its impact in Latin America: Guatemala 1954.

04/24 Cuba: The making of a revolution

 

Readings:

Wright, 1-19; David M. Barrett, “Congress, the CIA and Guatemala, 1954. Sterilizing a ‘Red Infection’,” Studies in Intelligence, 10, 2001

 

Week 5

 

04/29 Cuba after 1960: The radicalization of a revolution WRITTEN TEST No. 2 (Plotkin)
05/01
Cuba after the fall of the Soviet Union

 

Wright, 21-38; Louis A. Perez, “Fear and Loathing of Fidel Castro: Sources of US Policy Toward Cuba,” Journal of Latin American Studies, 34, pp. 227-254; Julia Sweig, “Fidel’s Final Victory,” Foreign Affairs, Jan/Feb, 2007.

 

 

May 1: Lecture by Lincoln Cushing, “Cuban Poster Art and the Spirit of Revolution” (4:00 pm, 115 Lawrence Hall).

 

 

 

Week 6

 

05/06 The Heightening of Conflict: Che Guevara and Guerrilla Warfare / QUIZ # 1

05/08 Socialist experiments in Peru (1968-75) and Chile (1970-73)

 

Readings:

Wright, 39-147; Matt Childs, “An Historical Critique of the Emergence and Evolution of Ernesto Che Guevara’s Foco Theory,” Journal of Latin American Studies, 27, 3, 1995, pp. 593-624.

 

Week 7

 

05/13 State-Terror in the Southern Cone: Brazil (1964-1985) QUIZ # 2

05/15 Military regimes in Chile (1973-1990) and Argentina (1966-1983).

 

Readings:

Wright, 149-164; J. Patrice McSherry, “Tracking the Origins of a State Terror Network. Operation Condor,” Latin American Perspectives, 29, 1, 2002, pp. 38-60.

 

Week 8

 

05/20 Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Central America: Nicaragua
05/22 (Cont.)
Guatemala and El Salvador / QUIZ # 3

 

Readings:

Wright, 165-185; Mark Danner, El Mozote, ALL

 

Week 9

 

05/27 Women’s and Indigenous Social Movements

05/29 Zapatistas and Senderistas: Insurgency in Mexico and Peru / WRITTEN TEST # 3 (Danner)

 

Readings:

Christine E. Eber, “Seeking Our Own Food: Indigenous Women's Power and Autonomy San Pedro Chenalho, Chiapas (1980-1998),” Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 26, No. 3, May, 1999.

Niels Barmeyer, “The Guerrilla Movement as a Project. An Assessment of Community Involvement in the EZLN,” Latin American Perspectives, 30, 1, 2003, pp. 122-138.

Orin Starn, “Maoism in the Andes: The Communist Party of Peru-Shining Path and the Refusal of History,” Journal of Latin American Studies, Vol. 27, No. 2 (May, 1995), pp. 399-421.

 

Week 10

 

06/03 Latin America today: Democracy and its challenges
06/05 Discussion for final exam

 

Readings:

Jorge G. Castaneda, “Latin America's Left Turn,” Foreign Affairs , May/June 2006.Greg Grandin, “Latin America’s New Consensus,” The Nation, May 1, 2006.

 

 

 

Final exam: Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 8-10 am