Effective: Spring 2001
 

Course Number: * 740-347

Course Title: Revolutionary Movements in Latin America

15 Character Abbreviation: REVOL IN LAT AM
25 Character Abbreviation: REVOLUTION MOVE  LAT AM

Sponsor:        Seth Meisel                      E-mail Address: meisels@mail.uww.edu
Department:   History                            College: Letters and Science
 

Other Programs Affected: None

Check if course is to meet any of the following requirements:

None  ___Writing ___Computer ____Diversity  __X__ General Ed and Area:   Humanities

Credit/Contact Hours: (per semester)

Total lab hours:     0     Total lecture hours: 48
Number of credits 3     Total contact hours: 48

Check if course is repeatable:   X No   Yes (if yes, answer the following questions)

• No of times in major No of credits in major
• No of times in degree No of credits in degree

Major Title(s)
Minor Title(s)
Emphasis Title(s)

Course justification: This course surveys an important theme in Latin American history, introducing students to a well-developed historiography that is otherwise not taught on the Whitewater campus. Since 740-348, History of Central America, was administratively deleted from the course catalog by the Registrar as it had not been taught in a number of years, this course adds to the History Department’s offerings a needed upper-level course in Twentieth Century non-Western politics and society.

Relationship to program assessment objectives: This course expands departmental offerings in "Non-Western" cultures. For history majors and minors (BA, BS, BSE) this course serves to partially fulfill the non-Western history requirement. Further, the course, in format and spirit, reinforces the comparative approaches to American history introduced in 100 level courses in the department and provides an important opportunity to engage in short, focused research projects in order to hone majors’ and minors’ writing and analytical skills in an upper-level course. Given campus-wide interest in Latin America, I anticipate that this course will draw on demand from majors in Spanish, International Studies and Political Science.

Budgetary impact: No special impact on staffing, classroom space, service and supplies, or campus instructional resource units is anticipated. Since 740-348, History of Central America, was administratively deleted from the course catalog by the Registrar as it had not been taught in a number of years, this course will easily be accommodated as part of the instructor’s regular course rotation. Necessary library purchases will be made from the regular departmental allocation.

Course description: Examines the revolutionary tradition in Latin America focusing on nations where revolutionary movements came to power: Cuba, Chile and Nicaragua. Why do some revolutionary groups triumph while most have failed? What challenges do revolutionary regimes face once in power? How successful have they been in realizing their goals.

Course requisites: Sophomore status or the consent of the instructor
 
 

General Studies Breadth Elective: Humanities

Relation to core courses in General Studies: History 347 follows in structure and spirit to reinforce the comparative perspective to contemporary World History introduced in the U.S. Experience in World Perspective (900-120), Global Perspectives (900-140) as well as Individual and Society (900-130). The course introduces students to the political and social dilemmas of economic underdevelopment, focusing both on International Relations as well as the intellectual history of revolutionary thought and practice in the region. It pays particular attention to how Latin Americans viewed their history and solutions to the region’s problems by asking students to analyze memoirs, novels, artistic production, etc. from the period.

Goals of General Education met by this course: This course meets several important goals of General Education in a direct, substantive way. More particularly, it provides students with a firm background an important aspect of Latin American culture and the ties between that region and the United States in the last half century. Given the intimate tie between immigration flows and political instability and economic underdevelopment, this is a matter of concern for U.S. students (#3). By examining competing historians’ interpretations of the causes of revolution and what revolutionary movements have contributed to the region’s development, the course forces students to consider how historians’ use evidence and how conflicting perspectives can be evaluated. (#4). Critical thinking and effective communication skills (#5) are cultivated through class discussion and student presentations as well as research papers in which students are asked to apply the theories and case studies examined in class to their own research projects. Because of the controversial and emotional nature of the issues under consideration, students will be encouraged in discussion and in their written work to develop their capacity to make ethical and value judgments regarding the particular political structures and values that have shaped the Latin American revolutionary tradition (#2)

Learning Objectives: The principal expectation of this course is that students become familiar with the political history of Latin American from the 1950s to the 1990s. Students will be able to account for the rise of guerrilla movements, the radicalization of Latin American Intellectuals, the response of the United States to Marxist regimes in the hemisphere, socialist attempts to shape society and military repression of popular movements. They will also be able to interpret competing scholarly interpretations of these problems in order to evaluate the analytical perspectives and sources upon which such arguments are based.
 

Course objectives and tentative course syllabus:

Description:

Revolution has often been seen as the answer to Latin America's chronic poverty and economic injustice. Yet, despite the fact that revolutionary movements have emerged in almost all Latin American countries, very few of these movements have come to power. Why do some revolutionary groups triumph, while others fail? Once in power, what challenges do radical regimes face? How successful have revolutionary governments been in achieving their goals? This course will address these questions by examining a half century of revolutions in Latin America focusing in particular on three nations where revolutionary movements came to power, Cuba, Chile and Nicaragua.

Requirements:

This courses is designed as a modified research seminar. Students will be responsible for writing two short research papers on topics of their choosing (approx. 10 pages each) as well as four two-page critical reaction papers on selected readings. Additionally, each student will be responsible twice during the semester for leading class discussion (usually in the week corresponding with the topic on which they are writing one of their research papers).

Class attendance is mandatory. Unexcused absences or chronic tardiness will result in a lower final grade. All work must be completed in order to receive a passing grade. Every effort will be made to accommodate all reasonable requests for modifications of these requirements and the class format when students find it necessary. Please consult with the instructor as soon as possible in order to make the appropriate arrangements.

Course grades will be calculated by the following: Research papers (50%), class presentations (10%); critical reaction papers (20%), participation (20%).

Texts:

Omar Cabezas, Fire From the Mountain (New York: Crown Publishers, 1985)

Rius, Cuba for Beginners (New York: Pathfinder, 1970)

Peter Winn, Weavers of the Revolution (New York: Oxford University Press, 1989)

Rigoberta Menchu, I Rigoberta Menchu (New York: Verso, 1984) [Textbook Rental]

George Collier, Basta! Land and the Zapatista Rebellion (Oakland: Food First Books, 1994)

Reserve articles available on electronic and paper reserves at the Library (readings marked by [R] in syllabus)

Course Schedule

Week 1 Course Introduction

Revolutions and Revolutionaries

Video Interlude: Fire in the Mind

Week 2 Why Cuba?

Week 4 Vanguardismo/Fidelismo

Week 5 Revolution and the Cold War

Week 6 Revolution and Reaction in South America

Peter Winn, Weavers of Revolution, pp. 1-136

Week 7 Allende’s Chile
Winn, pp. 139-256

Video Interlude: Missing

Week 8 Polarized Politics: The Second Wave

Week 9 Sandinistas

Week 10 FSLN in Power

Week 12 Guatemala’s War on the Maya

Week 13 Maya Rebellion in Chiapas

George Collier, Basta!, p. 1-87.

Video Interlude: The Fifth Sun

Week 14 Failed Experiments?

Bibliography:
Selected Bibliography of Curriculum and Research Materials

Available at Anderson Library

Abrams, Elliott. The Cuban Revolution and its Impact on Human Rights : October 6, 1983. Washington, D.C., 1983

Arnove, Robert. Education and Revolution in Nicaragua. NY, 1986.

Arnson, Cynthia. El Salvador, a Revolution Confronts the United States. Washington, D.C., 1982.

Barndt, Deborah. To Change This House: Popular Education Under the Sandinistas. Toronto, 1991.

Bengelsdorf, Carolle. The Problem of Democracy in Cuba. Oxford, 1994.

Beverley, John and Mark Zimmerman. Literature and Politics in the Central American Revolutions. Austin, 1990.

Blasier, Cole. The Hovering Giant : U.S. Responses to Revolutionary Change in Latin America. Pittsburgh, 1976.

Booth, John. The End and the Beginning. The Nicaraguan Revolution. Boulder, 1982.

Borge, Tomas. Sandinistas Speak. New York, 1982.

----------. The Patient Impatience. Willimantic, 1992.

Brockett, Charles. Land, Power and Poverty. Boston, 1998.

Bunck, Julie Marie. Fidel Castro and the Quest for a Revolutionary Culture in Cuba. University Park, 1994

Cabezas, Omar. Fire From the Mountain. NY, 1985.

Cardenal, Ernesto. Flights of Victory.

Castañeda, Jorge. Utopia Unarmed. NY: 1993.

Castro, Fidel. Nothing Can Stop the Course of History. New York, 1986.

----------. History Will Absolve Me. NY, 1961.

Collier, George. Basta! Land and the Zapatista Rebellion. Oakland, 1994.

Danner, Mark. The Massacre at Mozote. NY, 1993

Dawes, Greg. Aesthetics and Revolution. Minneapolis, 1993.

Dodson, Michael and Laura O’Shaughnessy. Nicaragua’s Other Revolution

Dunkerley, James. Power in the Isthmus. A Political History of Modern Central America. London, 1990.

Eckstein, Susan. Back From the Future. Cuba Under Castro. Princeton, 1994.

Enriquez, Laura. Harvesting Change. Labor and Agrarian Reform in Nicaragua, 1979-1990. Chapel Hill, 1991.

Fagen, Richard. The Transformation of Political Culture in Cuba. Stanford, 1969.

Fernando Cardenal and Valerie Miller. "Nicaragua 1980: The Battle of the ABCs." Harvard Educational Review, 51 (Feb. 1981): 1-26.

WGBH, Fire in the mind (videorecording), Boston, 1993.

Palmer, David Scott. The Shining Path of Peru. New York, 1992.

Folgarait, Leonard. Mural Painting and Social Revolution in Mexico, 1920-1940. Cambridge, 1998.

Franqui, Carlos. Family Portrait With Fidel. London, 1990.

Fried, Jonathan L. Guatemala in Rebellion : Unfinished History. New York, 1983.

García, Cristina. Dreaming in Cuban. NY, 1993.

Gilbert, Dennis. Sandinistas : The Party and the Revolution. New York, 1988.

Gleijeses, Piero. Shattered Hope: The Guatamalan Revolution and the United States, 1944-1954. Princeton, 1991.

González, Edward. Cuba Under Castro: The Limits of Charisma. Boston, 1974.

Gorriti, Gustavo. The Shining Path. Chapel Hill, 1999.

Gould, Jeffrey L. To Lead as Equals: Rural Protest and Political Consciousness in Chinandega, Nicaragua, 1912-1979. Chapel Hill, 1990.

Guevara, "Che" Ernesto. Guerrilla Warfare. Wilmington, 1997

----------. The Motorcycle Diaries : A Journey around South America. London, 1995.

---------. Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution : Writings and Speeches of Ernesto Che Guevara. Sydney, 1987.

----------. Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War. New York, 1968.

Hale, Charles R. Resistance and Contradiction : Miskitu Indians and the Nicaraguan State, 1894-1987. Stanford, 1994.

Halebsky, Sandor and John Kirk, eds. Transformation and Struggle: Cuba Faces the 90s

Harbury, Jennifer. Searching for Everardo : A Story of Love, War, and the CIA in Guatemala.

New York, 1997.

----------. Bridge of Courage: Life Stories of the Guatemalan Companeros and Companeras. Monroe, 1994.

Harvest of Violence : The Maya Indians and the Guatemalan Crisis. Norman, 1988.

Hodges, Donald. Intellectual Foundations of the Nicaraguan Revolution.

Karol, K. S. Guerrillas in Power; the Course of the Cuban Revolution. New York, 1970.

Kirk, John M. Between God and the Party. Tampa, 1989.

Kohl, James and John Litt. Urban Guerrilla Warfare in Latin America. Boston, 1974.

Kornbluh, Peter. Bay of Pigs Declassified.

Lancaster, Roger. Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua. Berkeley, 1992.

Liss, Sheldon B. Fidel! : Castro's Political and Social Thought. Boulder, 1994.

Lockwood, Lee. Castro’s Cuba, Cuba’s Fidel. NY, 1969.

McManus, Jane. From the Palm Tree : Voices of the Cuban Revolution. Secaucus, 1983.

Menchu, Rigoberta. I Rigoberta Menchu. NY, 1984.

Moyano, Maria Jose. Argentina's Lost Patrol : Armed Struggle, 1969-1979. New Haven, 1995.

Nicaragua's Interior Ministry : instrument of political consolidation. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of State, 1987.

Oppenheimer,Andrés. Castro's Final Hour.

Pérez, Louis. Cuba: Between Reform and Revolution. NY, 1995.

Perez-Stable, Marifeli. The Cuban Revolution. Oxford, 1993.

Quartim, Joao. Dictatorship and Armed Struggle in Brazil. New York, 1971

Quirk, Robert E. Fidel Castro. New York, 1993.

Randall, Margaret. Risking A Somersault in the Air. Conversations with Nicaraguan Writers. San Francisco, 1984.

----------. Women in Cuba Twenty Years Later. NY, 1981.

----------. Sandino's Daughters : Testimonies of Nicaraguan Women in Struggle. Vancouver, 1981.

Reyes, Reynaldo, and J.K. Wilson. Ed. Tod Sloan. Rafaga. The Life Story of a Nicaraguan Miskito Comandante.

Rius. Cuba for Beginners. NY, 1970.

Rosset, Peter, et. al. The Nicaragua Reader. NY, 1983.

Ruíz, Ramon Eduardo. Cuba: The Making of a Revolution. NY, 1968.

Rushdie, Salman. The Jaguar Smile. NY, 1987.

Schoultz, Lars. Beneath the United States. Cambridge, 1998.

Selbin, Eric. Modern Latin American Revolutions. Boulder, 1999.

Smith, Wayne S. The Closest of Enemies : A Personal and Diplomatic Account of U.S.-Cuban Relations since 1957. New York, 1987.

Smith, Lois M. and Alfred Padula, Sex and Revolution: Women in Socialist Cuba. NY, 1996.

Stern, Steve. Shining and Other Paths. Durham, 1998.

Szulc, Tad. Fidel : A Critical Portrait. New York, 1986.

United States Congress - Committee on Foreign Affairs. Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs. The Threat of the Shining Path to Democracy in Peru: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress, second session, March 11 and 12, 1992. Washington, 1992.

----------. U.S. support for the Contras : hearing before the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, Ninety-ninth Congress, first session, April 16, 17, and 18, 1985. Washington, 1985.

Vilas, Carlos. The Sandinista Revolution. National Liberation and Social Transformation in Central America. NY, 1986.

Walker, Thomas, Nicaragua: Land of Sandino. Boulder, 1991.

Welch, Richard E. Response to Revolution : The United States and the Cuban Revolution, 1959-1961. Chapel Hill, 1985.

Wickham-Crowley, Timothy P. Guerrillas and Revolution in Latin America : A Comparative Study of Insurgents and Regimes since 1956. Princeton, 1992.

Winn, Peter. Weavers of the Revolution. NY, 1989.

Womack, John. Rebellion in Chiapas. NY, 1999.