POLITICS 362
LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS
Spring 2008
Professor Robert C. Dash
Office Smullin 317
Office Hours TTh 11:30-12:30
Telephone number 503 370-6262
Email rdash@willamette.edu
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COURSE SYLLABUS
Course objectives
This course provides an overview of the historical patterns and
contemporary realities of Latin American politics. The course
examines important political themes that have characterized the region
and looks at selected countries. The course also emphasizes the
important role that the international system has played in the politics
of Latin America. Finally, the course considers the contemporary
significance of democracy in the region.
Course materials
The following books (all paper backs) are available for purchase in the
Willamette University bookstore. Other reading materials may be
assigned throughout the semester.
• Philip Brenner et al., editors, A Contemporary Cuba Reader: Reinventing the Revolution (Rowman and Littlefield, 2008)
• Gabriela Nouzeilles and Graciela Montaldo, editors, The Argentina Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Duke University Press, 2002)
• Harry E. Vanden and Gary Prevost, Politics in Latin America: The Power Game, 2nd edition (Oxford University Press, 2006)
• Peter Winn, editor, Victims of the Chilean Miracle: Workers and Neoliberalism in the Pinochet Era, 1973-2002 (Duke University Press, 2004)
Course evaluative criteria
The class format emphasizes student discussion of the assigned reading
materials. The instructor views himself primarily as a
facilitator in the learning process: the responsibility to learn rest
with students and, to that end, the reading materials must be
thoroughly and thoughtfully studied before each class session so that
intelligent classroom discussion may ensue. Course grades will be
assigned on the following bases.
• Attentive, informed, and thoughtful classroom
participation that demonstrates a close reading of the assigned reading
material constitutes twenty-five percent of the final course
grade. Also, more than three absences from the class, for any
reason, detracts from classroom participation and will result in the
lowering of this portion of the final course grade. Finally,
laptop computers are permitted in class for note-taking purposes only.
• A critical review of a recently published
scholarly journal article on Latin American politics constitutes
twenty-five percent of the course grade.
• A critical review of a scholarly book on Latin
American politics constitutes twenty-five percent of the course grade.
• A critical review of a film on Latin America constitutes twenty-five percent of the course grade.
The three writing assignments are addressed on pages 3-4 of the
syllabus. The instructor’s prior approval is required for
the selection of articles, books, and films to review. One
approach to identifying articles, books, and films to consider for
review is to start with the Latin American Studies web page at the
Hatfield Library:
http://library.willamette.edu/webstation/subject/latin/. Papers
are graded on both their style and substance. Grades are reduced
for papers that contain inappropriate word choices, misspellings, weak
syntax and other stylistic errors. I expect to receive
stylistically clean and polished papers. Assignments that are
turned in late will automatically receive a deduction of two-thirds of
a letter grade (for example, from a “A” to a
“B+”) for every 24-hour period past the due date.
Written work is not accepted via email; it is your responsibility to
provide me with hard copies of all assignments. Finally, it is
your responsibility to understand and conform to the university’s
policy on plagiarism, which the CLA Catalog defines as:
Cheating is any form of
intellectual dishonesty or misrepresentation of one’s knowledge.
Plagiarism, a form of cheating, consists of representing someone
else’s work as one’s own. All members of the Willamette
University community are expected to be aware of the serious breach of
principles involved in plagiarism. Ignorance of what constitutes
plagiarism shall not be considered a valid defense. If students are
uncertain as to what constitutes plagiarism for a particular
assignment, they should consult the instructor for clarification.
(See pages 319-321)
COURSE SCHEDULE (Revisions in reading materials and assignment dates may occur.)
INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS
Tuesday January 15 Introduction to course
Thursday January 17 The Political History of Latin America Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapters 1-3
Tuesday January 22 Society and Culture Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapters 4-5
Thursday January 24 continued Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 6
Tuesday January 29 Power and Economics Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapters 7-8
Thursday January 31 continued Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapters 9-10
COUNTRY STUDIES
Tuesday February 5 Guatemala Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 11
Thursday February 7 Mexico Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 12
Tuesday February 12 Cuba Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 13
The First Writing Assignment is due at the beginning
of class
Thursday February 14 continued
Cuban Revolution and Politics Read Brenner et al., Parts I
and II
Tuesday February 19 continued Economics Read Brenner et al., Part III
.
Thursday February 21 continued Foreign Policy Read Brenner et al., Part IV
Tuesday February 26 continued Society Read Brenner et al., Part V
Thursday February 28 continued Culture Read Brenner et al., Part VI
Tuesday March 4 Brazil Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 14
Thursday March 6 Argentina Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 15
Tuesday March 11 continued Empire
& Nation Read Nouzeilles and Montaldo, Parts I-III
The Second Writing Assignment is due at the
beginning of class.
Thursday March 13 continued Fin de
Siecle & Modernity Read Nouzeilles and Montaldo, Parts IV-V
Tuesday March 18 continued
Populism & Revolution Read Nouzeilles and
Montaldo, Parts VI-VII
Thursday March 20 continued
Violence, Democracy & Neoliberalism Read Nouzeilles and
Montaldo,
Part VIII- IX
Tuesday April 1 Chile Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 16
Thursday April 3 continued Social Concertation Read Winn, pp. 1-124
Tuesday April 8
continued Textile & Metal Workers
Read Winn, pp. 125-208
Thursday April 10 continued Copper & Agricultural Workers Read Winn, pp. 209-297
Tuesday April 15 continued Fisheries & Forestry Workers Read Winn, pp. 298-387
Thursday April 17 Venezuela Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 17
Tuesday April 22 Colombia Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 18
Thursday April 24 Nicaragua Read Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 19
Tuesday April 29 The Third Writing Assignment is due at the beginning of class.
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS
1) The first writing assignment is due no later than the
beginning of class on Tuesday February 12. Write an analytical
review of a recently published (within the past five years) scholarly
journal article dealing with some aspect of Latin American politics or
political history. Instructor approval of your selection is
required by Thursday January 31. Select neither a book essay or
review nor a research report or notes to review. Use the course
readings and class discussions for background in framing your
review. The review should be approximately 1500 words in length;
note the word count on your paper. Papers will be assessed on
both their content and style. Please pay close attention to how
you express your ideas. Use the University of Chicago style
manual, with footnotes (if necessary). Attach a copy of the
article to the paper. Do not place your name on the paper; use
your student identification number only.
In your review:
• summarize the main themes and theses of the
article—no more than 25 percent of the review should be devoted
to this task
• discuss the article's premises, line of
argumentation, and use of data and "facts" and other supporting material
• identify the theoretical orientation of the article
• identify its policy implications (if any) and their consequences if they had been/are implemented
• conclude your review with an overall evaluation of the article
2) The second writing assignment is due no later than the
beginning of class on Tuesday March 11. Write an analytical
review of a recently published (within the past five years) scholarly
book dealing with some aspect of Latin American politics or political
history. Instructor approval of your book selection is required
by Thursday February 21. Use the course readings and class
discussions for background in framing your review. The review
should be approximately 1750 words in length; note the word count on
your paper. Papers will be assessed on both their content and
style. Please pay close attention to how you express your ideas.
Use the University of Chicago style manual, with footnotes (if
necessary). Do not place your name on the paper; use your student
identification number only.
In your review:
• summarize the main themes and theses of the
book—no more than 25 percent of the review should be devoted to
this task
• discuss the book's premises, line of
argumentation, and use of data and "facts" and other supporting material
• identify the theoretical orientation of the book
• identify the book’s policy implications
(if any) and their consequences if they had been/are implemented
• conclude your review by placing its findings within the course material that we have addressed
3) The third writing assignment is due no later than the
beginning of class on Tuesday April 29. View and analyze a video
on Latin American politics. Instructor approval of your video is
required by Thursday April 10. The review needs to directly
address the theme of the video and, very importantly, bring to bear the
relevant course materials. Papers should be approximately 2000
words in length; note the word count on your paper. Papers will
be assessed on both their content and style. Please pay close
attention to how you express your ideas. Use the University of Chicago
style manual, with footnotes. Do not place your name on the
paper; use your student identification number only.
Analyze the video as a text on Latin America. The following ideas may be useful in approaching your task.
• What information, facts, images, polemics, or
persuasion does the video convey? And how does the video convey
those? Does the video have any sub-texts? What are the videos
“silences”?
• Discuss the video’s "production values":
does the video flow, does it work so well that you forget that the
director is attempting to influence how you react to it? Why and
how does the director take, or not take, this approach?
• What kind of background music or ambient noise
was used, and what were the filmmakers trying to do with that?
• Address the framing of the
“action”: is the action shot in close-ups (telling the
story from the perspective of a few individuals), or in medium and wide
shots (privileging the body social)?
• Address what choice of techniques the director
uses that either draw a viewer in or distance him/her from the images,
e.g., jump cut editing or "seamless" editing, the use of color filters,
and so on.
• What was the sociopolitical context in which
the video was produced and how is that reflected in the video?
• How does the film inform you about Latin American politics, and how do you react to that message?
Willamette’s Hatfield Library Latin American resources
(Excerpted from Willamette’s Hatfield Library, at: http://library.willamette.edu/webstation/subject/latin/)
Library-supported Databases
HAPI Online (Hispanic American Periodicals Index) (1970- ) Provides
citations to articles, book reviews, documents, and original literary
works related to the geographic regions of Central and South America,
Mexico, the Caribbean basin, and the United States-Mexico border
region. Also covers the topic of Hispanics in the United States, as
well as Latin American Politics, Economics, Social Issues, and Arts and
Letters.
HLAS Online (Handbook of Latin American Studies) (1935- ) Provides
citations to books, journal articles, book chapters, and conference
proceedings on all aspects of Latin American studies, including
Anthropology, Art, Economics, Government and Politics, International
Relations, Literature, Music, Philosophy, and Sociology.
Historical Abstracts (1967- ) Provides citations to journal articles,
books, and dissertations on the history of the world, excluding the
United States and Canada, from 1450 to the present.
PAIS International (1972- ) Provides citations to magazine and journal
articles, books, book reviews, conference proceedings, government
documents, and statistical directories. Good coverage of international
issues, particularly those related to government and public policy.
MLA Bibliography (1963-1988) and (1989- ) Provides citations to journal
articles, book chapters, proceedings, and working papers related to
critical material on the modern languages, literature, linguistics, and
folklore.
Academic Universe - News Provides full text news articles. For Latin
American topics, choose World, and then North/South American News
Sources, or choose Foreign Language, and then Spanish Language News.
Check the Sources link for a list of titles available.
Alternative Press Index (1991- ) Provides citations to alternative,
radical, and left publications that report on and analyze cultural,
economic, political and social change.
General Directories
Latin American Network Information Center A gateway to Latin American
resources on the Internet. Maintained by the Institute of Latin
American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
Internet Resources for Latin America Another good starting point for
Latin American resources. Maintained by Molly Molloy, New Mexico State
University Library.
Guides to Collections and Sets of the Latin American Microform Project
(Center for Research Libraries) Description of the special collections
available to Willamette students and faculty via the Library's
membership in the Center for Research Libraries.
Current News
Latin America Online News Sources Onlines newspapers and other news
sources, arranged by country. Maintained by Rita Wilson, University of
Texas at San Antonio Library.
Newspapers in Latin America Lists of online newspapers and news sources
by country, and those with regional coverage. Maintained by the
Latin American Network Information Center
Political Database of the Americas Provides access to political data
and constitutional and electoral information, through reference
materials and primary documents. Search by country or by subject.
Maintained by the Georgetown University Center for Latin American
Studies.
Government and Political Science in Latin America Links to resources
for individual countries, including the web sites of Latin American
governments. Maintained by the Latin American Network Information
Center.
Periodicals
Americas (Spanish ed.)
{*=appropriate source for article selection}
Ancient Mesoamerica
Aztlan: A Journal of Chicano Studies
*Bulletin of Latin American Research
Chasqui
Cuadernos Americanos
Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos
Envio
Excelsior (newspaper, some full text available)
*Foro Internacional
Granma International (newspaper)
Grassroots Development
*Hispanic American Historical Review (some full text available)
Hopscotch: a Cultural Review (full text only)
Inti
*Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs
*Journal of Latin American Anthropology
*Journal of Latin American Studies (some full text available)
*Latin American Perspectives
Latin American Regional Reports: Andean Group Report
Latin American Regional Reports. Brazil Report
Latin American Regional Reports. Mexico & NAFTA Report
Latin American Regional Reports: Southern Cone Report
*Latin American Research Review
Latin American Weekly Report
Latinamerica Press
Latino(a) Research Review
*Mexican Studies
NACLA Report on the Americas
Nepantla (full text only)
*Revista Mexicana de Sociologia
Vision: La Revista Latinoamericana
Washington Report on the Hemisphere
Also peruse political science journals such as:
*Comparative Politics
*Comparative Political Studies
*Foreign Affairs
*Foreign Policy
*World Policy Journal
*World Politics