HST 357
Introduction to Latin American History
Instructor: K. Aaron Van Oosterhout
E-mail: vanoost9@msu.edu
Course overview: This is a history of the world region that has come to be known as Latin
America. In some ways, this is a problematic grouping. The term “Latin America” presumes a
common Iberian heritage, but the peoples and nations that compose this region are a diverse
lot, and some have histories in this part of the world that stretch long before Europeans
arrived. Latin America never formed a united entity after 1492, for that matter. Furthermore,
Latin American history is inextricable from the histories of Europe, Africa, Asia, and the United
States. It might be more useful to think of this course as “The World in Latin America, and
Latin America in the World.”
With that in mind, we will study continuity and change. Continuity, as everything that seemed
new in fact carried much of the old. Europeans and Africans alike brought their histories,
cultures, tools, and agriculture to a new place, and indigenous peoples there certainly
maintained their own histories, cultures, tools, and agriculture. But more importantly, change,
in that nothing stayed the same in this crucible. The demography of the region was
transformed as disease and migration—both voluntary and coerced—drastically altered its
racial and ethnic makeup. Autochthonous polities gave way to global empires and then to
nation-states, and religion changed as the Catholic Church expanded and contracted, all while
confronting African and indigenous religious practices. In fact, Latin America is much more a
“new world” today than that of the late fifteenth century.
Equipped with short essays, blog and TimeMapper posts, occasional writing exercises, and
interpretation of primary sources, this course is designed to help you write more clearly and
read and interpret all sources more critically. Most importantly, it will help you better
understand why Latin America looks and acts the way it does today.
Books for purchase:
Chasteen, John Charles. Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. New
York: W.W. Norton and Company, 2011. (all editions acceptable)
Sweet, James. Recreating Africa: Culture, Kinship, and Religion in the African-Portuguese
World, 1441-1770. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2003. (available as e-book
via Kindle)
Earle, Rebecca. The Return of the Native: Indians and Myth-Making in Spanish America,
1810-1930. Durham: Duke University Press, 2007. (available as e-book via Kindle)
Vianna, Hermano. The Mystery of Samba: Popular Music and National Identity in Brazil.
Edited and translated by John C. Chasteen. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1999. (available as e-book via Kindle)
Reading Schedule:
Introduction to Course
-
Chasteen, “Introduction”
Module 1: Creating a New World
-
-
Chasteen, “Encounter”
Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest (available as free e-book via MSU
Libraries)
Bartolomé de las Casas, “Argument of the Present Epitome” and Juan Ginés de
Sepúlveda, “A Treatise on the Just Causes of War against the Indians,” in Franklin
W. Knight, ed. An Account, Much Abbreviated, of the Destruction of the Indies, with
Related Texts
Ward Stavig, Ella Schmidt, eds., The Tupac Amaru and Catarista Rebellions: An
Anthology of Sources, section V
Module 2: Latin America in the Global Economy, pt. 1: Sugar, Silver, and Slavery
-
Chasteen, “Colonial Crucible”
John Tutino, “Introduction,” in Making a New World: Founding Capitalism
in the Bajío and Spanish North America
Sweet, Recreating Africa, “Introduction,” chapters 1, 3
“A Young Black Man Tells of His Enslavement in Africa and Shipment to
Brazil” and “An Italian Jesuit Advises Sugar Planters on the Treatment of
Their Slaves,” in Robert E. Conrad, ed. Children of God’s Fire: A
Documentary History of Black Slavery in Brazil
Module 3: Independence and its Malcontents
-
Chasteen, “Independence” and “Postcolonial Blues”
Will Fowler, “Introduction,” in Forceful Negotiations: The Origins of the
Pronunciamiento in Nineteenth-Century Mexico
Essay 1 due 11:59pm, 30 May
Module 4: Neocolonialism in Latin America
-
Chasteen, “Progress” and “Neocolonialism”
Greg Grandin, “How Latin America Saved the United States from Itself,” in
Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States and the Rise of the
New Imperialism
Module 5: The Mexican Revolution and Nationalism
-
John Womack, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution, “Prologue,” chapters 1-3
(available as free e-book via MSU Libraries)
"Plan de Ayala"; Articles 27 and 123 of the 1917 Constitution
Chasteen, “Nationalism”
Vianna, The Mystery of Samba
Module 6: Revolution, Counterrevolution
-
Chasteen, “Revolution”
Peter Smith, “Crushing Enemies,” in Talons of the Eagle, Latin America, the United
States, and the World
Jennifer G. Schirmer, “ ‘Those Who Die for Life Cannot Be Called Dead’: Women and
Human Rights Protest in Latin America”
Module 7: Neoliberalism
-
Chasteen, “Neoliberalism”
Kurt Weyland, “Neoliberalism and Democracy in Latin America: A mixed record”
Second essay due 11:59pm, 26 June
Grade Determination:
This is a reading-intensive course, and the video lectures cover material not necessarily found
in the texts. Your success depends on both careful reading and attention to lectures.
As mentioned above, you will be evaluated on two essays of 4-5 pages each, periodic blog and
TimeMapper posts, and writing exercises. One of the advantages of an online course is its
flexibility; you may read assigned texts and watch lectures at your convenience. That being
said, interactive participation with each other and with me is an integral part of the learning
process. This requires assignment deadlines. Please pay attention to these deadlines, and the
methods for turning in assigned material, in each of the subsections below.
The grade breakdown is as follows:
1) Essays (70% of final grade)
There will be two 4-5 page essays. The first is due at midnight the Friday of the third
week (11:59pm on 30 May), and the second at midnight the final day of class (11:59pm
on 26 June). These essays require you to synthesize materials from the class and present
cogent and carefully crafted arguments. Essays handed in after the due date will receive
a 0.5 reduction for each day they are late. If you demonstrate improvement in your
writing over the duration of the course, I will weigh the grade on your final paper more
heavily in your final evaluation, unless you deliberately do worse on your first paper.
You must turn these in using your Google Drive. (For assistance using this free service,
click here.) You must upload your essay to this folder. I will then download your file, add
comments, upload the file back to that folder, and notify you of your grade.
2) Blog and TimeMapper posts (20% of final grade)
These assignments are due at midnight on the Wednesdays of weeks 1, 2, 5, and 6
(11:59pm on 14 and 21 May, and 11 and 18 June). They will be assigned to you on a
rotating basis. I will divide the class into two halves, and one half will work on blog posts
while the other half works on a TimeMapper assignment.
Blog posts: These concise, one-paragraph responses to the readings are designed to
help you think critically and distill the author’s main point(s). Engagement in online
discussion, in addition to critiquing the texts, is encouraged. You will find the course
blog here. The posts do not need to be formal, but you must be respectful of your
classmates’ contributions. I reserve the right to delete any posts I feel are hurtful or
dangerous, and I will take appropriate disciplinary action.
TimeMapper post: These posts are designed to help you take a step back, and view
particular events in a broader regional context. TimeMapper is an online tool that
displays a timeline linked to a geographical map, to better help you visualize and place
simultaneously occurring events in multiple world regions. For an example, click here.
This is a group assignment, to be completed in collaboration between five students. Your
task is to add an event—with a title, 100-word description, and latitude and longitude
coordinates—to the template I provide here. (Geographic coordinates can be found by
right-clicking on any point in a zoomed-in Google Map and selecting “What’s here?”.
Hovering your mouse over the resulting green arrow displays latitude and longitude.)
3) Writing exercises (10% of final grade)
These brief exercises will help you write more concisely and clearly. They will vary, from
editing sample sentences to writing topic sentences for a provided paragraph to
constructing an essay outline. I will provide instructions as the assignments arise
throughout the course. Like the essays, these exercises will be turned in via Google
Drive.
The following scale will be used in grade determination:
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
92-100%
80-85
68-73
57-61
3.5
2.5
1.5
0.0
86-91
74-79
62-67
0-56