History 510:631

Colloquium: Latin American History

20th Century

Spring, 2008

SYLLABUS

 

 

Gail D. Triner

Van Dyck Hall 002C

732-932–6696

e-mail: triner@ix.netcom.com

web site: http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~triner

Office Hours:

Monday & Thursday: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Or by appointment

 

The colloquium will provide an opportunity for extensive reading of 20th century Latin American historiography. Students will read major scholarly works on the era from the late nineteenth century to the present.  Organized around major themes, we will examine the issues that have most concerned historians. In addition to critical analyses of these issues, we will pay attention to changes in the focus of the historiography over time and differences among national perspectives. Students will also share in the responsibilities of organizing and leading discussions. The goal of the colloquium is to begin preparation for Ph.D. qualifying exams and, ultimately, for teaching survey courses.

The reading list (included with a tentative schedule of colloquium sessions) should serve as suggestions. We will need to juggle session scheduling and, perhaps our meeting time to accommodate the schedule of guests.

General reference readings to provide background include advanced survey volumes, such as: Halperín Donghi, Contemporary History of Latin America, Cambridge History of Latin America (CHLA) & Oxford Country series. These are useful to consult for general background as you do readings on countries, time periods or issues with which you are not familiar. You are responsible for determining the background reading that you need in order to fully appreciate the colloquium readings.

Most of the mechanics of the colloquium can be handled through e-mail. In order for this to work, all participants must subscribe to the colloquium’s listserv (instructions attached.)

Please note that the attached class schedule is incomplete and tentative. The structure of the course may change, depending on enrollment and our needs as we go along. I will post the remainder of the reading lists as we approach the later part of the semester.

You should check the on-line version of the syllabus frequently. I expect to make adjustments to schedule and readings as we progress through the semester. (http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~triner/20CColloq/syllabus.htm)


Colloquium requirements:

Reading

Each week we will all undertake common readings and each student will also read an additional monograph. The common readings will typically serve as an overview to the week’s topic (very often a historiographic essay from the Latin American Research Review.) The common readings and additional book that you commit to read are the minimum reading requirements. You should also include additional readings and supplementary articles, as appropriate. In each session, each student will give a short presentation of his/her reading.

  • Language requirement: During the semester, you must read three monographs in Spanish and Portuguese (at least one in each language, a second in either of them.)
  • Bibliographic search: Five books during the semester that you read (at least one of them in Spanish or Portuguese) should NOT be on the syllabus below. Do bibliographic research on the week’s theme and suggest a monograph to me, in advance.

As you find useful readings, please forward citations to me so that I can consider their future inclusion on the syllabus.

 

**              Designation to indicate common readings for the class session:

·        You can retrieve journal articles from electronic journals

·        Chapters & portions of books will be available through on-line links (electronic version of this syllabus)

·        Books are available from the library or on-line bookstores. I have not ordered books at the bookstore; you will need to plan your book needs in advance (and perhaps co-ordinate among yourselves); availability problems will not constitute an acceptable explanation for lack of preparation.

Common journal references:

AHR    American Historical Review

JLAS   Journal of Latin American Studies

LARR  Latin American Research Review

HAHR Hispanic American Historical Review

Short papers

You should have one historiographic paper each week, of 3-7 pages, in which you identify: the argument made in the materials you have read, its contribution to the historiography of the field, the author’s methodology and the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments made in the monograph. You should assess the important “historical facts” that the support (or weaken) the arguments. You may (should) consult reviews published in journals; but your paper needs to clearly indicate your assessment of the material. The paper should also identify topics that you would like to explore during class session, based on the common readings and the monograph that you have read. You should distribute your paper to colloquium participants via e-mail, no later than the night before each colloquium meeting.

Class discussions

This colloquium is small enough that if every participant is not prepared to participate fully each week, the session will suffer significantly.

We will have guest participants for at least one session. Readings will be posted for that session. You should be prepared to engage the visiting scholar(s) on questions about their research and its historic relevance.

Final semester assignment: you have an option of:

·        Specify two questions, drawing from the semester’s readings and discussions, which may be appropriate as qualifying exam questions, and will answer one of them in a 15-20 page paper.

or

·        Draft a syllabus, complete with background bibliography (organized within each topic – not one consolidated bibliography) and general thesis statements for classes (not a general topic statement – give thesis statement of conclusions you want students to walk away with), for an undergraduate course in 20th Century Latin American History.

We will discuss this, including the due dates, early in the semester.

 


Colloquium Sessions

 

24 Jan.

Introduction: Paradigms for studying 20th century Latin America

** Joseph, Rubenstein and Zolov (eds.). Fragments of a Golden Age: The Politics of Culture in Mexico Since 1940, Introduction and Conclusion (2001)

** Haber. “Anything Goes: Mexico’s ‘New’ Cultural History” HAHR (May 1999)

** Socolow. “Putting the ‘Cult’ in Culture” HAHR (May 1999)

** Knight “Subalterns, Signifiers and Statistics: Perspectives on Mexican Historiography;” LARR vol. 37, no. 2 (2002)

 

31 Jan.

Economic Reality

** Love, “The Rise and Decline of Economic Structuralism in Latin America: New Dimensions” LARR Vol. 40, No.3 (2005)

** Coatsworth “ Structures, Endowments and Institutions in the Economic History of Latin America” LARR Vol. 40, No.3 (2005)

** Triner, “Recent Latin American Economic History and its Historiography” LARR Vol. 38, No. 1 (2003)

Choose individual readings from among those listed below - or suggest an alternative to me:

Suzigan. Indústria brasileira (1986)

Triner. Banking and Economic Development: Brazil, 1889-1930 (2000)

Cárdenas, E. La industrialización mexicana durante la Gran Depresión (1987)

Haber, Industry and Underdevelopment (1989)

Palacios.  El café en Colombia, una historia económica social y politica (1979)

Cortés Conde. El progreso argentino (1979)

Dye. Cuban Sugar in the Age of Mass Production: Technology and the Economics of the Sugar Central, 1899-1929 (1998)

 

7 Feb.

Political – authoritarianism & democratization

** Collier & Collier. Shaping the Political Arena  Part I (1991)

** Kelly. “Democracy Redux: How Real is Democracy in Latin America” LARR Vol33, no1 (1998)

** Taylor, S. L. “Democratization in Latin America” LARR Vol. 37, No. 3 (2002)

 

Haggard & Kaufman The Political Economy of Democratic Transitions (1995) (Includes interesting cross-regional comparative studies with some East Asian cases.)

Halperín Donghi. Argentina: La democracia de masas (1983)

Hamilton. The Limits of State Autonomy (1978)

Meyer, L. La crisis en el sistema político mexicano, 1928-1977 (1977)

Rock, D. Politics in Argentina, 1890-1930: The Rise of Radicalism (1975)

Deutsch, Sandra McGee Las Derechas: The Extreme Right in Argentina, Brazil and Chile, 1890-1939 1999

Rouquié. The Military and the State in Latin America, Ch. 1 (1987)

Remmer. Military Rule in Latin America (1989)

Serbin, K. Secret Dialogues: Church-State Relations, Torture, and Social Justice in Authoritarian Brazil (2000)

Collier & Collier. Shaping the Political Arena (1991)

 

14 Feb.

Guest speaker

Professora Maria Antonieta Leopoldi

Department of Political Science

Universidade Federal Fluminense

Reforming Social Security in Brazil during the Lula Government

Also read

Madrid, R. “The Politics and Economics of Pension Privatization in Latin America” LARR Vol. 37, No.2

 

21 Feb.

Political Culture

** Andrews & Chapman. The Social Construction of Democracy, 1870-1990; selected chapters

** Leaman, D. “Changing Faces of Populism in Latin America: Maskes, Makeovers and Enduring Features” LARR Vol 39, No. 3 (2004)

** Recovering from State Terror: The Morning After in Latin America” LARR Vol. 38, No. 1 (2003)

Lessa, A invenção republicana (1999)

Power, M. Right Wing Women in Chile: Feminine Power and the Struggle against Allende 2002

 

28 Feb.

Revolutions and Social Movements

** Selbin, E.; “Resistance, Rebellion, and Revolution in Latin America and the Caribbean at the Millennium” LARR Vol 36, No. 1 (2001)

Eckstein, Susan, ed.  Power and Popular Protest: Latin American Social Movements.  University of California Press, 1989.

Escobar, Arturo and Alvarez, Sonia E., eds.  The Making of Social Movements in Latin America: Identity, Strategy, and Democracy.  Westview, 1992.

Kampwirth, Karen.  Women in Guerrilla Movements: Nicaragua, El Salvador, Chiapas, Cuba.  Penn State University Press, 2002.

McClintock, Cynthia.  Revolutionary Movements in Latin America: Salvador’s FMLN and Peru’s Shining Path.  United State Institute for Peace, 1998.

Selbin, Eric.  Modern Latin American Revolutions.  Westview,  1993.

Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P.  Guerrillas and Revolution in Latin America: A Comparative Study of Insurgents and Regimes since 1956.  Princeton, 1992.

7 Mar

 

Space & Place: Region; rural; urban

Readings to be provided

 

14 Mar.

Labor

** Wolfe, J. “The Social Subject versus the Political: Latin American Labor Studies at a Crossroads” Vol. 37, No. 2 (2002)

Farnsworth-Alvear, A. Dulcinea in the Factory: Myths, Morals, Men and Women in Colombia’s Industrial Experiment (2000)

Parker, D. The Idea of the Middle Class: White Collar Workers and Peruvian Society (1998)

Levenson-Estrada Trade Unionists Against Terror (1994)

Gomes, A. A invenção do trabalhismo (1988)

Chalhoub, S. Trabalho, lar e botequim: O cotidiadano no Rio de Janeiro da Belle Epoque (1986)

Munck (with Falcón & Galitelli). Argentina: From Anarchism to Peronism. Workers, Unions and Politics (1987)

Munck, G. Authoritarianism and Democratization: Soldiers and Workers in Argentina (1976-1983) (1998)

Brennan. The Labor Wars in Córdoba, 1955-1976: Ideology, Work, and Labor Politics in an Argentine Industrial City (1994)

James, D. Resistance and Integration: Peronism and the Argentine Working Class, 1946-1976 (1988)

Bergquist, C Labor in Latin America: Comparative Essays on Chile Argentina Venezuela and Colombia (1986)

Weinstein, B. For Social Peace in Brazil: Industrialists and the Remaking of the Working Class in São Paulo, 1920-1964. (1996)

 Winn, P. Weavers of Revolution  (1986) 

21 Mar.

Spring Break

28 Mar.

No class – we will re-schedule

4 April

Migrations

For this class session, you should read two monographs – one on immigration into Latin America, and one on emigration from Latin America. We will consider both experiences individually, and we will search for commonalities between them

Immigration & Emigration

** Moya, J. “A Continent of Immigrants: Postcolonial Shifts in the Western Hemisphere” HAHR 86:1 (2006)

Moya, J. Cousins and Strangers (1998)

Baily S. Immigrants in the Lands of Promise (1999)

Germani. Política y sociedad en una época de transición; de la sociedad tradicional a la sociedad de masas (1971)

Devoto. Movimientos migratorios : historiografía y problemas (1992)

Seyferth, Imigração e Cultura no Brasil (1990)

Lesser. Negotiating National Identity (1999) or Searching for Home Abroad (2003)

Whalen, C. From Puerto Rico to Philadelphia: Puerto Rican Workers and Postwar Economics 2001

Need more on emigration

 

11 Apr.

 

Women/Gender

** McGee Deutsch, S. “Gender and Sociopolitical Change” (HAHR May 1991).

** Caulfield. “The History of Gender in the Historiography of Latin America” HAHR 81:3 (2001)

** Hutchinson, E.Q. “Add Gender and Stir? Cooking up Gendered Histories in Latin America” LARR Vol. 38, No. 1 (2003)

Besse, S. Restructuring patriarchy : the modernization of gender inequality in Brazil, 1914-1940 (1996)

Súarez Findlay, E.J. Imposing decency : the politics of sexuality and race in Puerto Rico, 1870-1920 (1999)

Dore & Molyneaux (eds.) Hidden histories of gender and the state in Latin America (2000)

Stephen, L. Women and social movements in Latin America : power from below (1997)

French & James (eds.) The gendered worlds of Latin American women workers : from household and factory to the union hall and ballot box  (1997)

Klubock, T.M. Contested communities : class, gender, and politics in Chile's El Teniente copper mine, 1904-1951 (1998)

Tinsman, H. Partners in conflict : the politics of gender, sexuality, and labor in the Chilean agrarian reform, 1950-1973 (2002)

(Either Klubock OR Tinsman  - not both)

Lavrin. Women, Feminism and Social Change in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, 1890-1940 (1995)

Caulfield, S. In Defense of Honor (2000)

Guy. D. Sex and danger in Buenos Aires : prostitution, family, and nation in Argentina (1991)

Alves, Branca Moreira Ideologia e feminismo : A luta elo voto no Brasil (1980)

Susana Menéndez En búsqueda de las mujeres: percepciones sore género, trabajo y sexualidad, Buenos Aires 1900-1930 1997

 

18 Apr.

 

Race & Ethnicity

** Graham, R. (ed.) The Idea of Race in Latin America (1991)

** Triner, “Race, With or Without Color? Reconciling Brazilian Historiography” in Estudios Interdisciplinarios de América Latina (February 1999) and History Compass. http://www.History-compass.com/ (2005).

** Applebaum “Post-Revisionist Scholarship on Race” LARR  Vol. 40, No 3 (2005)

** de la Fuente, A. “Race, Ideology, and Culture in Cuba: Recent Scholarship” LARR Vol 35. No. 3 (2000)

Butler, K. Freedoms given, freedoms won : Afro-Brazilians in post-abolition São Paulo and Salvador (1998)

De la Cadena, M. Indigenous Mestizos: The Politics of Race & Culture in Cuzco Peru 1919-1990 Aline Helg. Our Rightful Share: The Afro-Cuban Struggle for Equality, 1886-1912. (1995)

Jorge Dominguez, ed. Race and Ethnicity in Latin America.(1995)

Dawson, A. Indian and Nation in Revolutionary Mexico. (2004)

Schwarcz, L.M. O Espetculo das Raças: Cientistas, Instituições e Questão Racial no Brasil, 1870-1930 (1999)

 

25 Apr.

Popular Culture: How societies have represented themselves

** Levine, D. (ed.) Constructing Culture and Power in Latin America (1993); Introduction

** Rowe & Schelling. Memory and Modernity: Popular Culture in Latin America  (1991); Introduction

** Hedeen, K. “Decolonizing Culture: Visual Arts, Development Narratives, and Performance in the Americas” LARR Vol 40, No. 3 (2005)

Morse, R. New World Soundings: Culture and Ideology in the Americas (1988)

Williams, D. Culture Wars in Brazil 2001

Rubensten, A. Bad Language, Naked Ladies and other Threats to the Nation 1998

Vaughn, M. K. Cultural Politics in Revolution: Teachers, Peasants and Schools in Mexico 1930-1940 1997

Pilcher ¡Que vivan los tamales!: Food and the Making of Mexican Identity 1998

Bosi, E. Memória e sociedade: Lembranças de velhos 1987

Sevcenko, N. Literatura como missão (1983)

 

2 May

What is Latin American about Latin American history?

** Armstrong, P. "The Brazilianists' Brazil: Interdisciplinary Portraits of
Brazilian Society and Culture" LARR vol 35, no 1 (2000)

** Skidmore, T. Studying the history of Latin America: A Case of Historic
Convergence" LARR Vol 33 no 1 (1998)

Berger Under Northern Eyes (1995)

Barbosa, Eakin & Almeida (eds.) O Brasil dos Brasilianistas (2001) Eng.: Envisioning Brazil (2005)

Conclusion

Possible additional topics

 

Dependency

** GunderFrank, A. “The Development of Underdevelopment” from Cockcroft et. al. Dependence & Underdevelopment (1972)

** Packenham, R. The Dependency Movement Chs. 1 and 5

** Stern, S. “Feudalism, Capitalism and the World-System in the Perspective of Latin America and the CaribbeanAHR #93 (Oct. 1998) – with comment from Wallerstein & Stern’s reply.

 

Latin American-US Relations

** H. Delpar; “Inter-American Relations and Encounters: Recent Directions in the Literature” LARR Vol. 35, No.3 (2000)

Smith, Peter Talons of the Eagle: Dynamics of US-Latin American Relations (2000)

Gilderhus, M. The Second Century: US Latin American Relations Since 1889 (2000)

Hall, L. Oil, Banks and Politics: The United States and Postrevolutionary Mexico (1995)

Armony, A. Argentina, the United States and the Anti-Communist Crusade in Central America (1997)

Langley, L. & Schoonover; The Banana Men: American Mercenaries and Entrepreneurs in Central America (1995)

Longley, K. In the Eagle’s Shadow (2002)

Lehman, K. Bolivia and the United States: A Limited Partnership (1999)

 

 

Environmental

Note: I will choose from among these articles, & make a copy for you. You will not have to read all of them.

** Kaimowitz, D. “Amazon Deforestation Revisited” LARR Vol. 37, No. 2 (2002)

** Young, K. “Nature's Role in Latin American Governance and History” LARR Vo. 40, No. 3 (2005)

Dean, Warren. 1992. “The Tasks of Latin American Environmental History.” In Changing Tropical Forests: Historical Perspectives on Today's Challenges in Central & South America. Eds. Harold K. Steen, and Richard P. Tucker, 5-15. Durham, North Carolina: Forest History Society.
Proceedings of a conference sponsored by the Forest History Society and the IUFRO Forest History Group. (Note by FHS)

Dean, Warren . 1985. “Forest Conservation in Southeastern Brazil, 1900 to 1955.” Environmental Review 9, no. 1: 55-69.

Coomes, Oliver T. 1995. “A Century of Rain Forest Use in Western Amazonia: Lessons for Extraction-Based Conservation of Tropical Forest Resources.” Forest & Conservation History 39: 108-20.

Crosby Jr., Alfred W. 1995. “The Past and Present of Environmental History.” American Historical Review 100: 1177-90.

Castro Herrera, Guillermo. “The Environmental Crisis and the Tasks of History in Latin AmericaEnvironment and History 3 (1997): 1-18

Dean, W. With Broadax and Firebrand: The Destruction of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest (1995)

Evans, S The Green