This is the syllabus of the fall 2007 version of J. B. Owens' sophomore-level course Latin America (History 251). The sole purpose of this page is to provide an orientation for those students enrolled in the course. You may return to the course main page.

Latin America

This is the syllabus of the fall 2007 version of J. B. Owens' sophomore-level course Latin America (History 251), which can be taken to satisfy Goal 10A of the General Education Requirements of Idaho State University and is primarily designed to support the Latino Studies minor and the World Regions history requirement of history majors and minors. Paying particular attention to the HISTORICAL THINKING OBJECTIVES, History majors should read the web page on the Undergraduate History Curriculum at the URL http://www.isu.edu/~owenjack/undergrad.html. History 251 emphasizes objectives 1, 3 & 7.

Questions and comments about this course should be sent to OWENJACK _ at _ ISU.EDU, or you may send a message now. Please include your name and e-mail address in the body of your message.

BOOKS

The following book is to be purchased: E. Bradford Burns and Julie A. Charlip, Latin America: An Interpretive History, 8th edition (2007). You must bring this book to class, as well as any other material you are assigned to read. Other readings will be made available, usually on the course's WebCT site, as the semester progresses.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS AND GRADES

There will be THREE EXAMS in this course: 16 February (regular class time), 9 November (regular class time), and 17 December, 10:00 a.m. to Noon. Each exam will take the entire class period and must be taken in a university exam book (blue book). Each will carry equal value, although for those students on the borderline between two grades, the third exam will be weighted more heavily than either of the other two.

All three exams will be essay format. For each of these exams, you will need to bring to class the type of examination book known as a "blue book." Most students will need only one blue book per exam, but some students use more than one. Therefore, you should come prepared.

To understand how your examinations will be graded, READ in the WebCT document entitled "Introduction to Doing Well," the section "Grading Exams." In this document, you will also find considerable information about preparing for and taking the examinations.

Students will be excused from exams only for illness or death, usually their own, or for any other reason for which the President of the University will excuse a student. No excuse will be given, however, unless the instructor is notified of the request PRIOR to the time of the regular exam. A make-up exam will be necessary. Because the exams will be graded on points and failure to take one will give the student a zero, no one should take an un-excused absence from an exam or fail to make one up.

The rule of PRIOR NOTIFICATION also applies to other written assignments.

Other Written Assignments

From time to time, you will also be given other written assignments. These performances will help you prepare for the examinations, and they constitute a substantial part of the "class participation," which, along with the examinations, will contribute to your final grade in the course. The written exercises will be graded as follows: 0 (not attempted or submitted); 1 (submitted the completed assignment); 2 (met expectations); 3 (exceeded expectations, which is a grade that is seldom given).

Grades will be based on the exams on class participation. Early in the course, I will establish a seating chart in order to learn your names and assess your participation.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

(Readings are to be completed by the date indicated.)
27 August: INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
Burns, List of Maps (p. xiii), Preface, and the glossaries and other supporting material (pp. 310-352).

NOTE: There is a substantial emphasis on Geography in this course. Therefore, as you do your reading, pay attention to where things are located. During class on Wednesday, 5 September, you will have to use the knowledge you have gained looking through the maps in the book.

29-31 August: THE THREE SOCIAL AND CULTURAL ENVIRONMENTS: American, European, and African
Burns, ch. 1
3 September: NO CLASS. U.S. Labor Day
5 September: MENTAL MAPPING: What do students know about world geography?
Your assignment is to pay close attention to the maps in your textbooks because you will be asked to reproduce, from memory, some of this information. In class, you will draw, using only materials I will provide, a "mental map" of the world, indicating particularly the domains of Iberian monarchs during the first global age, roughly 1400-1800. In addition to drawing materials, I will provide you with a list of historical, political, economic, and physical details relevant to the course.
Review Burns, ch. 1 (pp. 1-11)
Note: As additions to the chart on page 11, you should add that Portugal had 92,097 square kilometers, a population of 9.3 million, and a population density of 98 per square kilometer; Spain had 504,782 square kilometers, a population of 39 million, and a population density of 74 per square kilometer.
7 September: What does Malacca have to do with Latin America?
Discussion of the mental mapping projects, with an emphasis on why certain features were included in the assignment.
10-12 September: IBERIAN EXPANSION: Castile and Portugal seek world empires
Burns, ch. 2 (pp. 31-36)
14 September: NO CLASS. Investiture of President Vailas at 10:00 a.m.
17, 19 and 21 September: THE INSTITUTIONS OF IMPERIALISM: The consolidation of empire
Burns, ch. 2 (36-62)
24, 26 and 28 September: LATIN AMERICA IN THE AGE OF THE ENLIGHTENMENT: From Crown domains to colonies
Burns, ch. 3 (63-77)
1, 3 and 5 October: THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN: Revolution and the end of empire
Burns, ch. 3 (77-86)

8 October: FIRST EXAM
On all readings and discussions to date.

10-12 October: ADVENTURES IN NATIONHOOD (I): Imperial Brazil
Burns, ch. 4 (87-96)
15-17 October: ADVENTURES IN NATIONHOOD (II): Mexico and La Reforma
Burns, ch. 4 (pp. 96-120)
19 October: THE POSITIVIST AGE
Burns, ch. 5 (pp. 121-143)
22-24 October: REPUBLICAN BRAZIL
Burns, ch. 5 (pp. 143-155) and ch. 6 (pp. 166-178)
26-29 October: REVOLUTIONARY MEXICO
Burns, ch. 6 (pp. 156-166) and ch. 7 (pp. 179-198)
31 October: NEW NATIONALISM (I): Storm over the Andes
Distributed reading assignment
2, 5 and 7 November: NEW NATIONALISM (II): Cultural Workers against Positivism
Burns, ch. 7 (pp. 199-206)

9 November: EXAM
On all readings and discussions since the last exam.

12-14 November: NEW NATIONALISM (III): Vargas and Per¢n
Burns, ch. 8 (pp. 207-222)
16 November: MARXISM AND THE INTELLECTUALS
Burns, ch. 9 (pp. 230-232)
19, 21 and 23 November: NO CLASS. Thanksgiving Week
26 and 28 November: THE ROAD TO SOCIALISM: Cuba
Burns, ch. 8 (pp. 223-229) and ch. 9 (233-249)
3 December: MILITARY DICTATORSHIP IN DEFENSE OF THE OLD ORDER (I): Chile
Burns, ch. 9 (pp. 244 and 250-252) and ch. 10 (268-270)
5 December: MILITARY DICTATORSHIP IN DEFENSE OF THE OLD ORDER (II): Brazil and Central America
Burns, ch. 9 (pp. 252-259) and ch. 10; be prepared to discuss the question on page 283 of Burns.
7 December: THE GREAT FEAR
Burns, ch. 11
10-12 December: GROWTH OR DEVELOPMENT -- APPROPRIATE INVESTMENT
Exploration of E. Bradford Burns's distinction between economic growth and development
14 December: LATIN AMERICA -- GLOBALIZATION'S IMPACT ON A WORLD REGION
Exploration of "globalization" and its impact on the peoples of contemporary Latin America.

Monday, 17 December: THIRD EXAM (in the regular classroom from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 Noon)
On all readings and discussions with an emphasis on those since the last exam.

OLD EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

For study purposes, you may refer to the examination questions used in earlier versions of this course at the URL http://www.isu.edu/~owenjack/latam/oldques.html

You may return to the course main page. 

All contents copyright © 1995-2007.
J. B. Owens
All rights reserved.


Revised: 23 August 2007


URL:  http://www.isu.edu/~owenjack/latam/syllabus.html