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Office: 319 South Swan
Extension: 2753
E-mail: lsousa@oxy.edu
Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 3:30-5:00, or by appointment
This course examines historical and cultural constructions of
race, class, and gender in colonial and modern Latin America through an
analysis of various topics, including indigenous gender systems, miscegenation
and multiethnicity, marriage and sexuality, racial ideology and policies,
immigration, and social movements. Lectures will provide the necessary
background, theory, and analysis to contextualize and critically evaluate
the readings and expand on issues which they address. The course identifies
broad patterns, changes, and continuities in the history of race, class,
and gender in Latin America.
The course readings address a broad variety of themes in colonial
and modern Latin American history. The Idea of Race in Latin America, Orpheus
and Power, and Café con leche examine the political dimensions
of race and gender, and Xuxa considers the marketing of whiteness,
femininity, and consumerism in Brazil's popular media. A diverse collection
of articles contained in the History 354 Reader complement and expand on
the material in the books assigned for the course. In addition, the class
will read two historical novels, Mulatto and Birds Without a
Nest, which examine the racial and economic hierarchy in nineteenth-century
Latin America from the perspective of members of marginalized groups. The
books are available at the student store, and the Reader can be purchased
from the professor.
Please feel welcome to see me during my office hours or by appointment
to discuss course material, issues raised in readings and lecture, and
questions you might have regarding the assignments.
REQUIRED TEXTS AND READERS:
Aluísio Azevedo. Mulatto.
Richard Graham, editor. The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870-1940.*
Michael George Hanchard. Orpheus and Power: The Movimento Negro
of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil, 1945-1988.
Clorinda Matto de Turner. Birds Without a Nest: A Story of Indian
Life and Priestly Oppression in Peru.
Amelia Simpson. Xuxa: The Mega-Marketing of Gender, Race, and Modernity.
Winthrop R. Wright. Café con leche: Race, Class, and National
Image in Venezuela.*
History 354 Reader*
*Also available on reserve at the library.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:
1) Attendance and class participation. Students are required
to attend all classes and to participate in discussions. Students are asked
to check the course web page each week in order to prepare for discussion.
Participation will be worth 5% of the grade.
2) Reading. Assigned readings are to be completed before class.
Each student will be required to co-lead discussion of the readings of
two class meetings.
3) Written assignments. Students will write one 10-page research
paper, worth 35% of the final grade. Students will be required to submit
a research proposal, bibliography, and a research update over the course
of the semester.
4) Exams. The course will have a midterm, worth 25% of the grade,
and a final exam, worth 35% of the grade.
COURSE WEB PAGE
History 354 has a web page which contains the course syllabus, reading
assignments, and related materials, including links to relevant web sites.
Study questions based on the reading will also be posted on the web. Students
are asked to check the web site weekly.
| Week: | Date: | Lecture Number and Topic; Reading Assignments: |
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8/27 | 1) Introduction to Course Themes
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8/30 | 2) The Spanish and African Backgrounds |
| Reading: Reader, Scott "Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis" | ||
| 9/01 | 3) The Indigenous Background | |
| Reading: Reader, Winant, "Concept of Race" | ||
| 9/03 | 4) Early Colonial Society | |
| Reading: Reader, Burkett, "In Dubious Sisterhood" | ||
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9/06 | 5) HOLIDAY |
| 9/08 | 6) Discussion on Race, Class, and Gender Issues | |
| 9/10 | 7) Gender, Class, and Conquest in the Andes | |
| Reading: Reader, Silverblatt, "Ayullu"
Reader, Silverblatt, "Andean Women Under Spanish Rule" |
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9/13 | 8) Colonial Andean Society |
| Reading: Reader, Solomon, "Indian Women of Early Colonial Quito"
Reader, Zulawski, "Social Differentiation, Gender, and Ethnicity" |
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| 9/15 | 9) Introduction to Indigenous Mexico | |
| Reading: Reader, Burkhart, "Mexica Women on the Homefront" | ||
| 9/17 | 10) READING DAY--CLASS WILL NOT MEET | |
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9/20 | 11) Gender in Mesoamerica |
| Reading: Reader, Kellogg, "From Parallel and Equivalent" | ||
| 9/22 | 12) Marriage and Sexuality in Indigenous cultures | |
| RESEARCH PAPER PROPOSALS DUE, WEDNESDAY, 9/22 | ||
| 9/24 | 13) "Third Sex": Alternative Gender Status in Native Cultures | |
| Reading: Reader, Chiñas, "Isthmus Zapotec Attitudes"
Reader, Blackwood, "Sexuality and Gender" |
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9/27 | 14) Race and Class in Late Colonial Society |
| Reading: Reader, Seed, "Social Dimensions of Race" | ||
| 9/29 | 15) Marriage in Spanish America | |
| Reading: Reader, Socolow, "Acceptable Partners" | ||
| 10/01 | 16) Women's Status in Colonial Latin America | |
| Reading: Reader, Nizza da Silva, "Divorce in Colonial Brazil" | ||
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10/04 | 17) Sexuality and Society |
| Reading: Reader, Twinam, "Honor, Sexuality and Illegitimacy"
Reader, Behar, "Sexual Witchcraft, Colonialism and Women's Powers" |
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| 10/06 | 18) MID-TERM | |
| 10/08 | 19) Nineteenth-century Changes and Continuities | |
| Reading: Reader, French, "Prostitutes and Guardian Angels"
Reader, Hahner, "Feminism, Women's Rights" |
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10/11 | 20) HOLIDAY |
| 10/13 | 21) Scientific Thinking and Racial Ideologies | |
| Reading: Reader, Zimmermann, Racial Ideas and Social Reform | ||
| 10/15 | 22) Eugenics Ideologies, Programs, and Policies | |
| Reading: Matto de Turner, Birds Without a Nest, pp. 1-77 | ||
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10/18 | 23) Nineteenth-century Indigenismo |
| Reading: Matto de Turner, Birds Without a Nest, pp. 79-181 | ||
| 10/20 | 24) Revolutionary Mexico | |
| 10/22 | 25) "La Raza Cosmica" and the celebration of racial miscegenation in revolutionary Mexico | |
| Reading: Knight, "Racism, Revolution, and Indigenismo" in The Idea of Race | ||
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10/25 | 26) Contemporary Indigenous Social Movements |
| Reading: Reader, Rubin, "Ambiguity and Contradiction" | ||
| 10/27 | 27) **Class will attend the CONIC Strategy Meeting | |
| 10/29 | 28) Contemporary Indigenous Struggles | |
| Reading: Reader, Warren, "Indigenous Movements" | ||
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11/01 | 29) Research paper discussion groups |
| 11/03 | 30) Immigration to Latin America | |
| Reading: Reader, Meade and Pirio, "In Search of the Afro-American
"Eldorado""
Reader, Hellwig, "A New Frontier" |
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| 11/05 | 31) Race and Nationalism in Venezuela | |
| Reading: Café con leche, entire book | ||
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11/08 | 32) The Question of Race in Cuba and Argentina |
| Reading: Helg, "Race in Argentina and Cuba" in The Idea of Race | ||
| 11/10 | 33) Whitening Ideology in Brazil | |
| Reading: Skidmore, "Racial Ideas and Social Policy" in The Idea of Race | ||
| 11/12 | 34) Race in Brazilian Literature | |
| Reading: Azevedo, O Mulatto, entire book | ||
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11/15 | 35) Contemporary Afro-Brazilian Movements |
| Reading: Hanchard, Orpheus and Power, pp. 3-74 | ||
| 11/17 | 36) Contemporary Afro-Brazilian Movements | |
| Reading: Hanchard, Orpheus and Power, pp. 77-167 | ||
| 11/19 | 37) Film: Quilombo | |
| RESEARCH PAPERS DUE IN CLASS, FRIDAY, 11/19 | ||
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11/22 | 38) Race, Class, and Gender in Brazilian Popular Culture |
| Reading: Simpson, Xuxa, pp. 1-95 | ||
| 11/24 | 39) HOLIDAY | |
| 11/26 | 40) HOLIDAY | |
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11/29 | 41) Media Representations of Race, Class, and Gender |
| Reading: Simpson, Xuxa, pp. 96-193 | ||
| 12/01 | 42) Contemporary Women's Movements | |
| 12/03 | 43) Contemporary Women's Movements | |
| Reading: Reader, Alvarez, "Latin American Feminisms" | ||
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12/06 | 44) Concluding Remarks |
| 12/08 | READING DAY | |
| DATE AND TIME OF FINAL EXAM TO BE ANNOUNCED | ||