Purdue North Central Honors Course Proposal
Submission Date:
(Date sent to Honors Program
Subcommittee)
Course number and title:
9/17/12
Reviewed by Honors
Subcommittee: (Leave blank)
12-H-05
(Leave blank)
Hist27200
History of Latin America
Since 1824
Reviewed by Department:
(Date reviewed by
department)
Document No:
9/27/12
Submitting Dept:
(Name of
dept/pgm)
Course instructor:
(Name & Title)
10/5/12
Social Sciences
Kenneth Kincaid, Assistant
Professor of History
Approval by
Faculty Senate:
(Leave blank)
Unless marked “Leave blank” all parts of this form must be filled in before sending to the Honors Program Subcommittee.
Current catalog description of course. (For new courses, or changes to current catalog descriptions or course objectives, a
curriculum document must also be submitted)
A survey of Latin American history from independence to the present, with particular attention on political, economic, and
social problems connected with modernization.
Current course objectives.
After successfully completing this course, the student will be able to:
1. understand contemporary Latin American history, the continuing impact of colonization, and the unique cultural,
social and political development in the Americas;
2. comprehend more fully concepts of race, ethnicity and ethnic relations as they relate to Latin America and the
Caribbean;
3. recognize and conduct basic concepts of historical research and critically analyze historical texts, both primary and
secondary.
Provide a description of the honors component of the course, showing how the course will meet PNC’s
definition of an honors course.
This Honors version of History 272 will focus on increasing the amount of integrative thinking required and also on requiring
more collaboration between student and instructor.
All students in the course write three essays: the first is a close reading of a single text, the second brings in scholarly
sources, and the third brings in both scholarly sources and primary sources for historical context. These essays gradually
involve more and more integrative thinking. The Honors component of the course will build on this with an expanded and
intensified version of Essay 3 that will integrate another important element of the discipline of history: theoretical analysis.
*Honors students will meet with the instructor six times in the course of the semester. The first two meetings will take place
within the first month (four weeks) in order to help the student choose a relevant historical topic and to work through it. The
last four meetings will occur every three weeks in order to foster steady progress on the project(s).
*As part of the initial tasks, students will write a brief 2-3 page summary of a related text and a 2-3 page summary of at least
one primary source reading. These documents will help to ensure that the student understands the historical text and the
primary source and will provide material upon which to draw for the final essay.
*Upon consultation with the Honors faculty member, Honors students will then be required to read some short theoretical
essays relevant to the topic.
*Finally, Honors students will write their Essay 3 in the form of a conference paper (about 10 pages, slightly longer than the
regular assignment) that they will, ultimately, present to the class. In addition to synthesizing an analysis of a historical text
with an analysis of primary source(s), the Honor’s Student will present a historiography of the topic and apply a theoretical
framework to the paper.
*For example, a student interested in developing an essay on gender and revolution in Latin America might begin by
viewing Humberto Solis’s Lucia or reading Gioconda Belli’s The Country under My Skin: A Memoir of Love and War then
examine primary source documents that address these themes from Documenting Latin America: Gender, Race and
Nation. The Honors student would then develop a third essay that synthesizes the first two essays, places the readings in
their appropriate historiographical context and attempts to interpret the material through an appropriate analytical
framework, such as feminist theory.
Describe how the honors version of the course will meet course objectives in a more complex, challenging, or
enriching way.
In particular, Honors students will meet goals 2 and 3 in a more complex way:
*they will be engaging with another kind of historical scholarship and critical theory
*they will explicitly confront the methodological diversity in Latin American historiography when they choose and read a work
of Latin American history, and then use that text to assist in their thinking about their own methodological choices.
Describe how honors students’ work will be evaluated.
The Honors component of the class constitutes 10% of the overall grade for the class.
Evaluation of student’s work includes:
*Attendance and preparedness
*For the initial assignment—to meet with the instructor to choose and discuss a theoretical essay, and then to write a 2-3
page summary of that essay—students will receive full credit for meeting with the instructor, making a solid effort, and
coming to a solid basic understanding of the theoretical text.
*The final paper will be evaluated on the rubric used to evaluate all students’ papers, with the addition of one component
pertaining to the use of the theoretical text: for an A, students should explain the theoretical text well, show how they relate it
to their own methodology, and explain their reasoning persuasively.
Please also submit a syllabus for the non-honors version of this course.
(Boxes will expand and spill over onto next page to accommodate your typing.)