| Time | Days | Location | Instructor | GER | Credit | OPUS Class Number | Syllabus (Tentative) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1:00pm-2:15pm | TuTh | Bowden Hall 118 | Lambrecht, Rachel. | HSC. | 4 | 1029 | TBA. |
Content: Upon their arrival in Latin America, the conquerors brought with them not only guns and disease, but also concepts from their everyday life that would shape social and economic relations in the New World. Notions of class and race emerged during this moment and acquired different meanings throughout time. This course aims to trace some of these meanings and what they represented for the elite as well as for the middle and lower ranks of society in the making of what we now call Latin America.
Texts: John Charles Chasteen’s book, Born in Blood and Fire, will serve as textbook. In addition, students will need to read three monographs: R. Douglas Cope, The limits of Racial Domination: Plebeian Society in Colonial Mexico City, 1660-1720; Silvia Arrom, Containing the Poor: The Mexico City Poor House, 1774-1871; and Ariel de la Fuente, Children of Facundo: Caudillo and Gaucho Insurgency during the Argentine State-formation Process (La Rioja, 1853-1870). Other readings will be available through Woodruff Library E-Reserves or Blackboard.
Recommended Texts: Carolina Maria de Jesus, Child of the Dark; José Vasconcelos, The Cosmic Race; Mariano Azuela, The Underdogs: A Novel of the Revolution; Zephyr L. Frank, Dutra’s World; Daniel James, Doña Maria’s story; Katia Mattoso, To be a slave in Brazil.
Particulars: Because this class works essentially with primary sources, participation during the discussions is essential. In addition, students will need to write three 2-3 page papers as a reaction to in-class discussion, a midterm exam and a final paper based on a primary source at the student’s choice. A map quiz will complete the grade. This course will draw heavily on primary sources, aiming to present the concept that history is a construct rather than a series of facts and dates. In this sense, documents will be used as a source of information as well as production of history. Every week one student will be responsible for introducing a document to class using the assigned readings and outside secondary sources to provide the document background. This presentation will count towards participation. Novels, diaries, political writings, and visual resources will compose the core of these sources.
The schedule of courses on O.P.U.S. is the official listing of courses, including days and times they meet and the General Education Requirements they satisfy. Students should use course descriptions as general guidelines. Course requirements, grading details, book lists, and syllabi are subject to change.