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Last update: PhDr. Radek Buben, Ph.D. (23.01.2020)
Course examination consists of 1) a short presentation of approximately 20 – 25 minutes chosen by the student on any of the topics to discuss during the semester; and 2) writing a final essay of approximately 10 pages + 80% attendance at lectures/seminars. Course description This course is intended to serve as an introduction to the problems and new discourses that are present in contemporary Latin America in the period since the return to democracy until nowadays. Latin America is a rich and diverse territory, with a wide range of peoples, cultures, political and economic systems. This course surveys this region, focusing on the most pressing issues in the spheres of culture, politics, social inequality, and the emerging discourses such as the new feminist wave and the new approaches to the indigenous question. Besides the introduction to the contemporary problems, the course attempts to provide an elementary analytical framework from a variety of different fields, in order to facilitate understanding of these issues in broader Latin American perspective, transcending isolated national discourses. |
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Last update: PhDr. Radek Buben, Ph.D. (23.01.2020)
Course goals - To introduce students into contemporary issues of the region. - To help students challenge their preconceived notions about Latin American people and culture, showing the diversity of issues that appear in the region in the recent years, and the ways in which Latin American societies deals with them. |
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Last update: PhDr. Radek Buben, Ph.D. (10.02.2020)
Course outline Week 1 Presentation of the outline, choosing and arranging time and date of student’s presentations and discussing final evaluation
Week 2 Lecture and discussion: Ideas of Latin America. Why to refer to the region as a whole?
Literature: - “Interpretations of Latin America” in: Skidmore, Thomas E., and Peter H. Smith. Modern Latin America. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. (pp. 5-10) - “Introduction: Hybrid cultures in globalized times and Entrance” in: García Canclini, Néstor. Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2005. (pp. xxiii-xliv) - “The Postcolonization of the (Latin) American Experience” in: Prakash, Gyan, ed. After Colonialism: Imperial Histories and Postcolonial Displacements. Princeton Studies in Culture/Power/History. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 1995. (pp. 241-270)
Week 3 Lecture and discussion: Transitions to Democracy I (Theory and Latin America after 1990)
Literature: - “Actors and Contexts” in: Linz, Juan J., and Alfred C. Stepan. Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. (pp. 66-83)
Week 4 Lecture and discussion: Transitions to Democracy II (case studies) 1st presentation (?)
Literature: - “Crises of Efficacy, Legitimacy, and Democratic State “Presence”: Brazil” and “Incomplete Transition/Near Consolidation? Chile” in: Linz, Juan J., and Alfred C. Stepan. Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation: Southern Europe, South America, and Post-Communist Europe. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. (pp. 166-189 and 205-218)
Week 5 Lecture and discussion: Social movements in contemporary Latin America I
Literature: - “Introduction: New Directions in Latin American Social Movements”in: Stahler-Sholk, Richard, Harry E. Vanden, and Marc Becker, eds. Rethinking Latin American Social Movements: Radical Action from Below. Latin American Perspectives in the Classroom. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2014. (pp. 1-18)
Week 6 Lecture and discussion: Social movements in contemporary Latin America II 2nd Presentation (?)
Literature: - “Social Movements Across Latin America”in: Almeida, Paul, and Allen Cordero Ulate, eds. Handbook of Social Movements Across Latin America. Springer. Dordrecht, Netherlands, 2015. (pp. 3-9)
Week 7 Lecture and discussion: The indigenous question after 1992 I
Literature: - “From Araucanian Warriors to Mapuche Terrorists: Contesting Discourses of Gender, Race, and Nation in Modern Chile (1810–2010)”, Crow, Joanna. Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies 20, no. 1 (2 January 2014). (pp. 75–101) - “Incas Sí, Indios No: Apuntes Para El Estudio Del Nacionalismo Criollo en el Perú”, Méndez, Cecilia. www.cholonautas.edu.pe / Biblioteca Virtual de Ciencias Sociales. (pp. 1-27)
Week 8 Lecture and discussion: The indigenous question after 1992 II 3rd Presentation (?)
Literature: - “The Meaning of ‘Race’ and ‘Ethnicity’ and Studying Race and Ethnicity in a Postcolonial and Reflexive World”in: Wade, Peter. Race and Ethnicity in Latin America. 2nd ed. Anthropology, Culture and Society. London ; New York : New York: Pluto Press ; Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. (pp. 4-23) - “Dirty Indians, Radical Indígenas, and the Political Economy of Social Difference in Modern Ecuador”, Colloredo-Mansfeld, Rudi. Bulletin of Latin American Research 17, no. 2 (May 1998). (pp.185–205)
Week 9 Lecture and discussion: Gender and women in contemporary Latin America
Literature: - “A Manifesto in Four Themes”, Segato, Rita Laura. Critical Times 1, no. 1 (1 April 2018) (Translation to English by Ramsey McGlazer to the Introduction of the book “La Guerra contra las Mujeres” by Segato Rita, 2016). (pp. 198–211)
Week 10 Lecture and discussion: New feminism in contemporary Latin America 4th Presentation (?)
Literature: - Rita Segato: “The feminist movement is helping men liberate themselves” (https://palabrapublica.uchile.cl/2019/07/31/rita-segato-the-feminist-movement-is-helping-men-liberate-themselves/) - Chilean anti-rape anthem becomes international feminist phenomenon (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/06/chilean-anti-rape-anthem-becomes-international-feminist-phenomenon?CMP=share_btn_tw) - #2018: Victories and defeats of the Latin American feminist movement (https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/democraciaabierta/2018-victories-and-defeats-of-latin-american-feminist-movement/)
Week 11 Lecture and discussion: Biodiversity, urbanism and risks I
Literature: - “Introduction and A Land in Flames: The Environment”in: Green, Duncan, and Sue Branford. Faces of Latin America. 4th edition. New York: Monthly Review Press, 2013. (pp. 9-10 and 139- 155)
Week 12 Lecture and discussion: Biodiversity, urbanism and risks II 5th presentation (?)
Literature: - “When a Favela Dares to Become a Gated Condominium. The Politics of Race and Urban Space in Rio de Janeiro”, Costas Vargas, João. Latin American Perspectives 33, no. 4 (July 2006). (pp. 49–81) - “The Cultural Dimensions of Urban Fragmentation. Segregation, Sociability, and Inequality in Mexico City”Bayón, María Cristina, Gonzalo A. Saraví, and Mariana Ortega Breña. Latin American Perspectives 40, no. 2 (March 2013). (pp. 35–52)
Week 13 Lecture and discussion: Final remarks, a panoramic view of Latin American contemporary issues. Global South? - Reviewing and consultation for the paper due to the exam period |