Course Objectives
This course invites students to assess and evaluate the norms, values,
and practices of a cultural area that is (seemingly) very different
from our own. The course examines and places in a time/space
framework the major components of Precolumbian Mesoamerica: the Olmec,
Zapotec, Mixtec, Maya, Teotihuacano, Mexica, and others. Many of their
important artistic, architectural, intellectual, spiritual,
environmental, sociopolitical, economic, and familial features are
examined and compared. These important dimensions are then traced
through the colonial, national, and contemporary periods.
Reflecting its "Thinking Historically" Mode of Inquiry designation, the
course emphasizes causal sequencing, examines the periodization of the
region's history, and probes the enduring significance of the
Mesoamerica indigenous "contact" with European expansion, capitalist
modernization, and globalization. The course draws lessons
regarding temporal change and development in human behavior,
institutions, and culture in complex state societies.
The course also surveys some of the diverse approaches, methods, and
techniques that are used by academic disciplines to understand
Mesoamerica. These disciplines include history, ethnohistory, art
history, archaeology, cultural anthropology, epigraphy, and
politics. Reflecting its "Interpreting Texts" MOI designation, a
major component of the course introduces students to strategies with
which to "read" Mesoamerica, that is, it investigates approaches that
are used to uncover and comprehend the multiplicity of cultural
representations in the region. The course will specifically
examine material manifestations of the pre-Contact Mesoamerican
"artistic" sensibility, colonial codices, and contemporary academic
ethnography.
Course Materials
The books listed below are available for purchase in the W.U. bookstore.
• Robert M. Carmack, Janine Gasco and Gary H. Gossen, The Legacy of Mesoamerica: History and Culture of a Native American Civilization 2nd edition (Prentice Hall, 2007, paper)
• Mary Ellen Miller, The Art of Mesoamerica: From Olmec to Aztec, 4th edition (Thames and Hudson,
1996, paper)
• Lynn Stephen, Transborder Lives: Indigenous Oaxacans in Mexico, California, and Oregon (Duke University Press, 2007, paper)
Course evaluation criteria
The course format encompasses readings, class and small group
discussions, lectures, slides, and videos. The course material
that is presented during class sessions is generally not otherwise
available to students. Student attendance will be tracked and
final course grades will be reduced for more than three class absences
regardless of reason. Grades will be assigned to the
following work, all of which will be discussed in detail at
appropriate points in the course.
1) Attentive, informed, and thoughtful class participation
accounts for twenty-five percent of the final course grade. Laptop
computers are permitted in class for note taking purposes only.
2) Two mid-term examinations covering course material; each counts twenty-five percent of the final grade. The first
examination is February 21 and the second examination is April 3.
3) A term paper counts twenty-five percent of the final grade.
Select a topic that lends itself to a consideration of the nature of
change and development in human behavior, institutions, and culture in
Mesoamerica (or Mesoamericans in the
United States). Among the many suitable (very broad) areas for investigation are the following (these are for illustrative
purposes only).
• The Changing Role of Gender in Mesoamerica
• Spiritualism and Institutionalized Religion in Mesoamerica
• Land and labor in Mesoamerica
• Language, literacy, and education
• Pan-ethnic identity
• Artistic sensibility and syncretism
• Community autonomy and national identity in Mexico or Guatemala
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. Papers 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. Papers
not accepted via email; it is your responsibility to provide me with a
hard copy of the paper. 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
Introduction to Mesoamerica and Mesoamerican Studies
Tuesday 1/15 Introduction to the course and the syllabus; the origins of the "first Americans.”
Thursday 1/17 Read: Carmack et al., Preface, Introduction, and pp. 38-47; Miller, Preface & Chapter 1; and (on reserve)
Winifred Creamer, Mesoamerica as a Concept: An Archaeological View from Central America," Latin American Research Review 22:1, 1987, pp. 35-62.
'Reading' Precolumbian Mesoamerica
For two millennia before the arrival of the Spaniard in 1519,
Mesoamerica supported flourishing civilizations in which the built
environment was one of its most important defining
characteristics. This section of the course examines a variety of
Precolumbian "public and ceremonial" sculpture, architecture, and city
planning; it approaches them as "texts" which represent specific formal
elements, convey cultural values, and require strategies of
interpretation. We focus primarily on Mesoamerica's "high
civilizations": the Olmec's massive sculpture; the Maya's stelae, ball
courts, market places, and temple and palace complexes; Teotihuacan's
planned urban layout, its characteristic architectural style, and its
brilliant murals; Monte Alban's urbanized zone, its astronomical
orientation, and its danzante sculptures; and Tenochtitlan's physical
emphasis on its main urban ceremonial centers. Cultural,
spiritual, and environmental imperatives will be read into the
location, elevation, orientation, "decoration," and use of axes in the
planning and siting of Mesoamerican urban centers. The movement
to the use of more advanced materials, techniques, and forms will be
related to evolving sociopolitical and religious forces. Early
post-conquest changes in the use of public space, architecture, and
design and how these reflected the new colonial authority will be
presented in the next section.
Tuesday 1/22 The Olmecs. Read: Carmack et al., pp. 46-52; and Miller, Chapter 2
Thursday 1/24 The Later Formative. Read: Carmack, pp. 52-56; and Miller, Chapter 3
Tuesday 1/29 Teotihuacan. Read: Carmack, pp. 56-60; and Miller, Chapter 4
Thursday 1/31 Monte Albán and other sites. Read: Carmack, p. 71; and Miller, Chapter 5
Tuesday 2/5 Early Classic Maya. Read: Carmack, pp. 60-71; and Miller, Chapter 6
Thursday 2/7 Late Classic Maya. Read: Carmack, pp. 71-77; Miller, Chapter 7; and David Roberts, "The Decipherment
of Ancient Maya," The Atlantic Monthly September 1991
Thursday 2/14 Late Post-Classic. Read: Carmack, Chapter 2; and Miller, Chapter 9
Tuesday 2/19 Mesoamerica at Spanish Contact. Read Carmack, Chapter 3
Thursday 2/21 1st midterm examination
Colonial Mesoamerica
Tuesday 2/26 Conquest Read: Carmack, Chapter
4; and (on reserve) I. Bernard Cohen, "What Columbus Saw in
1492," Scientific America December 1992, pp. 100-107
Thursday 2/28 The Colonial Period Read:
Carmack, Chapter 5; and (on reserve) David Ewing Duncan, "Spain, The
Black Legend," The Atlantic Monthly August 1991, pp. 30-32
Thursday 3/6 The Neocolonial Era. Read Carmack, Chapter 7
Modern Mesoamerica
Tuesday 3/11 Native Mesoamericans in the Modern Era. Read Carmack, Chapter 8
Thursday 3/13 The Mayan Zapatista Movement. Read: Carmack, Chapter 10
Tuesday 3/18 Women and Gender. Read: Carmack, Chapter 12
Thursday 3/20 The Indigenous Voice in Recent Literature. Read Carmack, Chapter 13
Tuesday 4/1 The Religious Traditions of Mesoamerica. Read Carmack, Chapter 14
Thursday 4/3 2nd Midterm examination
Transnationalism and Mesoamerica
Tuesday 4/8 Read: Carmack, Chapter 9; and Stephen, pp. ix-34
Thursday 4/10 Read Stephen, pp. 35-94
Tuesday 4/15 Read Stephen, pp. 95-177
Thursday 4/17 Read Stephen, pp. 178-230
Tuesday 4/22 Read Stephen, pp. 231-273; Robert C. Dash, "Mexican Labor and Oregon Agriculture: The Changing
Terrain of Conflict," Agriculture and Human Values 13:4 (Fall 1996); and Robert C. Dash and Robert
Hawkinson, “Mexicans and 'Business as Usual': Small Town Politics in Oregon,” Aztlán: A Journal
Of Chicano Studies 26:2 (Fall 2001)
Thursday 4/24 Read Stephen, pp. 274-325
Tuesday 4/29 Paper is due at the beginning of the class period