Spring, 2007
Prof. Margo Persin
Rutgers University
Department of Spanish and Portuguese
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Office: Carpender Hall, Rm. 107
105 George Street
Hours: Tues and Thurs: 1:00-2:00 pm
Tues:
3:45-4:30
E-mail: mpersin@spanport.rutgers.edu
Tel.: [732] 932 9412 X 19
FAX: [732] 932 9837
Latin American Women
590:150:01 [RULAS]
988:150:10 [WGS]
Ruth Adams Building 001 / Douglass Campus
Tues and Thurs 2:15-3:35 pm
Texts:
1. Bouvard, Marguerite Guzman. Revolutionizing the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo. NY:
SR Books, 1994.
2. González, Norma. I am my Language: Discourses of Women and Children in the
Borderlands. Tucson: The U of Arizona P, 2005.
3. Guillermoprieto, Alma. Samba. NY: Vintage Books, 1990.
4. Readings on reserve via on-line services of the Rutgers U Library. They are marked by
[R*] in the syllabus.
Course Objectives:
In this course we will consider the topic of Latin American women and female identities
from a variety of perspectives: geography, social concerns, politics, visual and other art forms,
specific personalities. Our class work and readings will touch upon the geographical areas of
Central America, the Andes region, the Southern Cone, Brazil, the Caribbean, and the
Borderlands with the United States. We will also consider themes traditionally related to women
and female agency such as family, motherhood, female sexuality, and female art forms such as
weaving and the construction of arpilleras. Other social and political areas of reading will be
with nationhood, poverty and work, as well as politics, activism and leadership, especially in the
Southern Cone region. The final weeks of the semester will be dedicated to the Borderlands
region as well as Hispanic immigrants, and will focus on language as well as identity issues for
Hispanic women living in and with two identities and two cultures.
Course requirements
1. You are expected to have read the day’s assignments, as indicated in the course calendar,
BEFORE coming to class.
2. Three partial exams.
3. A five-page research paper due on 12 April.
4. Four short quizzes
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Course Calendar:
January
1. 16 T
Course introduction and overview; Colonial roots
2. 18 Th
Colonial roots, cont’d; Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
[R*] Steve J. Stern, The Secret History of Gender
Ch. 6 The Crossfires of Gender and Family, Color and Class: Solidarity,
Conflict and Ambivalence (pp. 124-150).
Conclusion: Power and Patriarchy in Subaltern Life, Late Colonial Times,
(pp. 297-319).
3. 23 T
Quetzalcóatl; the Virgen of Guadalupe
[R*] Jacques Lafaye, Quetzalcóatl and Guadalupe: The Formation of
Mexican National Consciousness
Ch. 12 Holy Mary and Tonantzin, (pp. 211-230).
Ch. 15. Guadalupe, a Mexican National Emblem, (pp. 274-298).
Epilogue: Guadalupe Today,( pp. 299-300).
4. 25 Th
Religion and sexuality; female sexual identities
[R*] Bonnie Shepard, Running the Obstacle Course to Sexual and
Reproductive Health: Lessons from Latin America: Ch. 1 The
‘Double Discourse’ on Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Latin America:
The Chasm between Public Policy and Private Actions” (pp. 13-38); Ch. 5
Crosscutting Issues (pp. 183-196)
5. 30 T
Film: “Frida Kahlo”
February
6. 1 Th
Women and poverty; short QUIZ
[R*] Permanent on-line Reserve: Lorena Godoy and Sonia Montaño,
“Understanding poverty from a gender perspective” HQ 1460.5. U63 2004
[R*}Mary J. Weismantel, Food, Gender and Poverty in the Ecaudorian
Andes: Intro (pp. 3-6), Ch. 1 Food and Theory (pp. 7-37), Ch.5 Food in
Discourse: Everyday Symbols in Ideological Conflict (pp. 143-167).
7. 6
T
Indigenous populations and the environment;
visit of Prof. Jorge Marcone
[R*]
8. 8
Th
Film: “Rigoberta Menchú”
9. 13 T
A. Guilleromoprieta, Samba, Prologue, Ch. 1-5
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10. 15 Th
A. Guilleromoprieta, Samba, Ch. 6 - 12
11. 20 T
A. Guilleromoprieta, Samba, Ch. 13 – 16; Epilogue
12. 22 Th
First partial EXAM
13. 27 T
Politics, activism, leadership; resistance
Visit of Prof. Marcy Schwartz
[R*]
March
14. 1 Th
15. 6 T
M. Guzman Bouvard, Revolutionizing Motherhood, Ch. 1-3
M. Guzman Bouvard, Revolutionizing Motherhood, Ch. 4-6
16. 8 Th
M. Guzman Bouvard, Revolutionizing Motherhood, Chs. 7-9
10-18 Fri-Sun
Spring Break
17. 20 T
M. Guzman Bouvard, Revolutionizing Motherhood, Ch. 10
Short QUIZ
18. 22 Th
The Arpillera Tradition in Chile
[R*] Marjorie Agosín. Tapestries of Hope, Threads of Love: The
Arpillera Movement in Chole 1974-1994. Ch. 1 Returning to the
Shadows (pp. 1-40)
19. 27 T
Women and violence; resistance
[R*] Marjori Agosín, Surviving Beyond Fear: Women, Childen and
Human Rights in Latin America: J.G. Schirmer, “Women and Human
Rights Protest in Latin America” (pp. 31-37); M. Binton Lykes,
“’Children in the Storm’: Psychosocial Trauma in Latin America” (152161).
[R*] Amnesty International, Human Rights Violations Against Indigenous
Peoples Ch. 2 No one is safe: the targets of abuses (pp. 34-64)
20. 29 Th
The role of the intellectual; women and exile
Gabriela Mistral, Rosario Castellanos, Michelle Bachelet,
Elena Poniatowska; Isabel Allende, Marjorie Agosín
*Individual Internet searches
April
21. 3 T
22. 5 Th
Second partial EXAM
Family, nation, and motherhood
Film: “To Be a Mother in Latin America”
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23. 10 T
N. González, I am My Language , Chs. 1-4
24. 12 Th
N. González, I am My Language , Chs. 5-7
***Five-page research paper due
25. 17 T
N. González, I am My Language , Chs. 8-9; short QUIZ
26. 19 Th
Film: “Lucía” Post-Revolution
27. 24 T
[R*] Julia Alvarez, How the García Girls Lost Their Accent, Ch. 1
[R*] Esmeralda Santiago and Joie Davidow, eds.Las mamis: Favorite
Latino Authors Remember Their Mothers
Junot Díaz, “How (In a Time of Trouble) I Discovered My Mom and
Learned to Live” (pp. 155-166).
28. 26 Th
Women and Myth
[R*] Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With theWolves
Ch. 10 Clear Water: Nourishing the Creative Life” / La Llorona, pp. 298318.
Final examination: the third partial exam during the official university exam period, Thurs. 3
May – Wed. 9 May.
Final grade:
Three partial exams.
A five-page research paper
Four short quizzes
40%
20%
40%
Grade Distribution: A (100-92), B+ (91-88), B (87-82), C+ (81-78), C (77-70), D (69-60), F (59–>)
Rutgers University Policy on Academic Integrity for Undergraduate and Graduate
Students
Plagiarism is the representation of the words or ideas of another as one’s own in any
academic exercise. To avoid plagiarism, every direct quotation must be identified by quotation
marks or by appropriate indentation and must be promptly cited in the text, in a footnote or and
endnote. Acknowledgment is also required when material from another source is stored in print,
electronic, or other medium and is paraphrased or summarized in whole or in part in one’s
own words. To acknowledge a paraphrase properly, one might state: to paraphrase Plato’s
comment...” and conclude with in-text documentation, a footnote or an endnote identifying the
exact reference. A note of either type acknowledging only a directly quoted statement does not
suffice to notify the reader of any preceding or succeeding paraphrased material. Information
which is common knowledge, such as names of leaders of prominent nations, basic scientific
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laws, etc., need not be footnoted; however, all facts or information obtained in reading or
research that are not common knowledge among students in the course must be acknowledged.
In addition to materials specifically cited in the text, materials that contribute to one’s general
understanding of the subject may be acknowledged in the bibliography. Plagiarism can, in some
cases, be a subtle issue. Any questions about what constitutes plagiarism should be discussed
with the faculty member (page 3D).
For more specific information in regard to academic documentation, it is highly
recommended that students consult a style manual, such as the MLA Handbook for Writers or
the Chicago Manual of Style. It is understood that each student in the course will be responsible
for adhering to the above stated regulations on academic integrity. If you have any questions,
please do not hesitate to contact me directly. Any infractions of this policy will effect a response
within the parameters established by f Rutgers University. If further information is needed,
please consult the undergraduate catalogue under the heading of “Policy on Academic Integrity
Summary”.
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