LATIN AMERICAN POLITICS

COURSE HOMEPAGE STUDENT RESOURCES

Please note: At your instructor's discretion, there may be minor alterations to the reading assignments listed below. One of the major advantages to providing you with an on-line readings archive is that timely articles can be added or substituted when appropriate. Opening documents downloaded from this website will require that your computer have Acrobat Reader . You will also need the class-specific password to open individual files.

Unit 1. How did contemporary Latin American political life come to be?

Week 1
Topic 1 (January 7)—Why is getting to know about Latin American politics worth your time?

Please take some time this week to review a handful of on-line handouts that will help you to get the most out of this class:

The syllabus

A handout on how your class participation grade will be assigned,

Test grading criteria

Paper grading criteria

Citation instructions

The High Point University Honor Code.

To enable you to better participate in class, you will have a couple of map quizzes next week coming week. Please take the time over the first weekend of our class to become familiar with the location of a set of select countries in South and Central America, which I have noted the blank practice map that I have placed on-line for your convenience.

Finally, I have put a draft study guide in the PPT file. It will help you identify what you should be looking for as you read through the materials related to each topic covered in the first course unit. Because the readings change every time I teach this course and it has been a couple of years since I last offered it, I will be making revisions to this document as the term unfolds. However, the big themes covered in the final, pre-test version of the guide will be the same, and I think it will be useful for you to have a guide earlier than later.

Topic 2 (Jan. 9)—Does it make any sense to compare countries across a large, highly diverse setting like Latin America?

Get a flavor of the region and politics that you will be studying for the next few months by watching this early episode in the Brazilian television series City of Men (Cidade dos Homens, Episode 3): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gdEI3Zp8cs. If you are interested in knowing more about the series, see this link.

Vanden and Provost, Chp. 1, "An Introduction to Twenty-First Century Latin America" (18pp). Read this quickly and use the study guide to help you understand what data and facts you to should be concentrating on so you don't get get bogged down in the details. You will need your textbook by next week. Here is a link to chapter one if you need additional time to order the book.

Week 2: Colonial legacies that shape contemporary politics

Topic 3 (Jan. 14)—How in the world did a few hundred Spanish Conquistadores topple two Latin American empires, and why does what happened centuries ago have any political relevance today?

You will have your first map quiz 1 (10 minutes): You need to be able to match select countries in South and Central America up with their name. I have placed a map and a hand out containing a blank practice map in the PPT/Assignments folder. This exercise is meant to help you better participate in the class as the semester continues, and it will be one of just a few graded quizzes .

In class, we will be looking using the LatinoBarometer's online data analysis tool (https://www.latinobarometro.org/latOnline.jsp) to compare Latin Americans political attitudes and behaviors. Before you come to class on Tuesday, review the short screencast that I will post in this area soon. It explains what the LatinoBarometer and will give you a summary of the kind of work you will doing in class.

Note: We won't address the day's focus question or any of the readings listed below unit Thursday; I am assigning them now so that your workload for the week is split up into two blocks so that you don't have too much assigned for Thursday:

Vanden and Provost, Chp. 2, "Early History." Read the opening chapter pages up to the section "Early Colony."

Jared Diamond, "The Arrow of the Disease" (Discover, 29pp). Read very quickly to get the main idea and to highlight evidence you could use on a test or in a pa per; the article expands on Diamond's documentary's explanation for why the effects of disease on the outcome of the Conquest was so one-sided.
Optional if you want to know more: Watch a documentary on why the Europeans decimated the existing political structure with their arrival: Guns, Germs, and Steel, episode 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cF8x-8xnTeI (55 minutes; or around 36 minutes if you change your YouTube settings to watch at 1.5x speed)

Topic 4 (Jan. 16)—What can the colonial period tell us about why Latin American politics is the way it is now?

Vanden and Provost, Chp. 2, "Early History." Read the rest of the chapter,

John Chasteen, short excerpt from Born in Blood & Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, 2nd ed. (New York: Norton, 2007)

Looking ahead. I am planning to have your first exam on Tuesday, February 11. The paper for the first unit will be due the Monday after the test by 5pm. The topic and instructions for the paper will be placed in the online PPTs/Assignments folder at least a week before your test.