IDENTITY POLITICS AND CITIZENSHIP IN THE
HISPANIC WORLD
Fall 2001 Teresita Martínez Vergne
HIST 50-01 Office hours: M 2:30-4 pm
Old Main 001 Th 10-11:30 am
TTh 8:30-10 am Old Main 304, ext. 6488
writing assistant: Shaina Aber
GENERAL REMARKS
The characteristics that countries have recognized as forming part of the attributes of the national character have not always been the same across space and time. This course will explore the insistent efforts of several Latin American republics to define what kinds of people would form part of their nation -- which is to say, to decide who would or not be entitled to citizenship. Identity politics, the strategic working out and projecting of an image to promote a particular axis of alignment, was one way for the state to reinforce its preferred notions of national synthesis. The reasons for embracing certain groups of people and excluding others, and the ways in which the process of selection is carried out, are questions of enduring relevance, that have also acquired immense significance in certain periods and specific places. What is our object of study in an academic setting has formed part of the lived experience of millions of people in the past and to this day.
The growing historiography on the growth of nationalism and definitions of citizenship in Latin America has focused -- I would venture to say, in chronological order -- on class, race, and gender. We will be reading the latest scholarship on several countries, which analyzes how these axes of power bear on each other. The readings are organized roughly in chronological order, but we will also be paying attention to the authors’ thrust in examining the forces at play in defining nationhood. At the end of the course, we will have looked, probably ad nauseam, at the factors influencing the national image: legislation, religious considerations, national pride, ethnicity, imperialism, labor activism, misogyny, racism, political expediency, and more. Although I will be lecturing some of the time, you will be called on regularly to contribute ideas based on your readings and expected to participate in a more formal manner at other (specified) moments.
REQUIREMENTS
You will be required to take two partial exams and to write three papers: two short ones based on assigned readings and a longer paper, which will require scholarly research. The partial exams are necessary and temporary evils. The papers, on the other hand, deserve your ongoing attention and all the enthusiasm and good cheer you can muster, because the research and writing skills you will develop and the information you yourself collect will most certainly stay with you for a long time. For that reason, the writing assistant and I will dedicate a great deal of time and devote much effort to giving instructions in class, monitoring your progress, writing extensive comments on your drafts, and so on. I expect you to respond accordingly.
You are also required to participate in class -- totally. This means you must do the reading on time, contribute to discussion, initiate conversations, comment on material, and generally work with your classmates. In addition, I am going to ask you to take charge of class for about 10 minutes one day and engage your classmates on some aspect of the reading assigned, preferably if it has to do with the research for your paper. I imagine you can do this easily by showing a short clip of a video or provoking discussion around a relevant question or distributing some other textual or visual material -- it will be your call. You will receive ample instructions regarding assignments well before they are due. The payoffs of this partnership in learning, I hope, will be many.
One final requirement is attendance to the History department's speakers' series. This is something we are asking of all introductory course students, as a way to expose them to how other historians practice our craft. Only 3-4 evenings of the semester will be taken up by this activity, which culminates in the senior conference, where you can see what students like you can produce after four years of hard work and dedication (or not . . .). Although the speakers last year were very engaging (and they will be again this year), it was the senior conference that was a blast. I'm sure you will think so too.
A few caveats -- It is your responsibility to obtain full daily coverage on everything that goes on in class if you are absent. Excused absences from in-class discussion can be made up through written work agreed on by both instructor and student. If you miss the midterm due to illness, you can make it up on Wednesday, November 28 at 3 pm in my office. Grades will be reduced considerably on any assignments turned in late. Plagiarism will invalidate any written work presented. All work listed in the section "Calculation of Final Grade" must be done in order to receive a passing grade, and everything you may be missing is due the last day of class. Incompletes will be granted only under the most adverse circumstances. Keep track of deadlines, pace yourself, make allowances for "malfunctions" (equipment, others', your own) during the semester, read ahead when you can, draft papers and consult necessary sources and resources in advance, stay alert, and always check with me if in doubt.
NOTICE TO MAJORS AND POTENTIAL MAJORS
Each student who is or may become a history major should place one piece of written work of his or her choosing from this course in a file which will be maintained for them in the history office. See the department coordinator for assistance. This will be your own personal file that will eventually help to assess your own academic growth when, as a senior, you complete your major in history and take part in an evaluation of the department. The history department’s explicit goals for its majors are enumerated in the college catalog, and we look forward to your assistance in providing feedback in how well we are meeting these goals.
AVAILABILITY
I keep office hours on Monday afternoons, from 2:30 to 4, and on Thursday mornings, from 10 to 11:30. If you know you are going to come see me, let me know ahead of time, so I can allocate time accordingly. You can also just show up, but run the risk of waiting a while. In either case, always let your presence be known as soon as you arrive to my office, so I expedite matters with whoever is with me at the time. If it’s absolutely impossible for you to see me on the days designated, we can arrange to meet at another time. My office is located in Old Main 304.
CALCULATION OF FINAL GRADE
Requirement Percentage of final grade
1. First partial exam
based on class and required reading up to that point 15%
2. Papers based on readings (4 pages max each)
on Kinsbruner and Hanchard 30%
3. Research paper (10 pages max)
taking off from a book of your choice 20%
4. Second partial exam
based on class and required reading and films
since the midterm 20%
5. Class participation
based on class attendance and participation,
including speakers' series and "taking charge" 15%
READING ASSIGNMENTS
Julia Alvarez. In the Name of Salomé
Sarah Chambers. From Subjects to Citizens. Honor, Gender, and Politics in Arequipa, Peru, 1780-1854
Jay Kinsbruner. Not of Pure Blood. The Free People of Color and Racial Prejudice in Nineteenth Century Puerto Rico
Paul Vanderwood. The Power of God Against the Guns of Government. Religious Upheaval in Mexico at the
Turn of the Nineteenth Century
Sueann Caulfied. In Defense of Honor. Sexual Morality, Modernity, and Nation in Early Twentieth Century Brazil
Aviva Chomsky and Aldo Lauria-Santiago, eds. Identity and Struggle at the Margins of the Nation-State. The Laboring Peoples of Central America and the Hispanic Caribbean
Michael Hanchard. Racial Politics in Contemporary Brazil
The books listed above, all of which you must read, are available for purchase at Ruminator. Although I have tried to spread the work evenly and rationally throughout the semester, you may find yourself overburdened by the reading sometimes (and quite relaxed at others). All the books are monographs, and I have not been able to assign them in sections except by taking into account the number of pages, so we will have to treat them as a unit when you are done with them. You will also be responsible for other (short) reading assignments in the course of the semester. All reading assignments will be on reserve in the library. Please read in anticipation of high demands when an assignment is available only on reserve.
COURSE OUTLINE
Sept 2 Discussion: Alvarez
Sept 6 Introduction to the course
Choose or be assigned a book for research paper
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Colonial
Sept 10 evening: talk by Roger Geunveur Smith (and showing of Spike Lee film about his play on the life of Huey Newton)
Sept 11 Native slaves and subjects
Read: Simpson, pp. 1-15 (on reserve)
Be reading: Chambers, book for research paper
Sept 13 Early legislation
Read: Keen, pp. 78-82 (on reserve)
Be reading: Chambers, book for research paper
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Sept 18 Africans, Natives, and castes
Read: Burkholder & Johnson, pp. 194-207 (on reserve)
Be reading: Chambers
Have read: book for research paper
Sept 20 Honor
in the late 18th century
Discussion: Chambers
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Sept 25 Bibliographic instruction
Due:
paragraph on argument of book
Sept 27 Purity of blood at the turn of the century
Read: Lavrin, ed., Sex and Marriage, pp. 18, 210-213 (on reserve)
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Oct 2 First partial exam
Long 19th century
Oct 4 Creation of creole "race" (including women) at independence
Read: Franco, pp. 79-102 (on reserve)
Be reading: Kinsbruner
Due: prospectus and bibliography
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Oct 9 Equality under Liberalism
Be reading: Kinsbruner
evening Film: Camila
Oct 11 Discussion: Camila
Due: narrative outline and annotated bibliography
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Oct 16 African-Americans in a colonial setting
Discussion: Kinsbruner
Show: First draft of Kinsbruner
Oct 18 (White) Immigration
Read: Keen, pp. 222-223 (on reserve)
Due: Kinsbruner paper
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Oct 23 The racial politics of independence
Be reading: Vanderwood
Oct 25 NO CLASS -- Fall break
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Oct 30 The racial politics of citizenship
Discussion: Vanderwood
Nov 1 Racism as foreign policy
Due: first draft of research paper
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Nov 6 Nationalizing blackness
Read:
Chomsky & Lauria Santiago, eds., pp. 1-25, 335-365, 229-292
Nov 8 meetings with instructor and writing assistant
Bring: your papers, with a "to-do" list
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Nov 13 Indigenous mestizos
Read: Chomsky & Lauria Santiago, eds., pp. 25-94, 151-169
Nov 15 Indigenismo
Due: research paper
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Nov 20 The sexual politics of nationalism
Read: Caulfield, pp. 1-105
Nov 22 NO CLASS -- Thanksgiving break
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Nov 27 Family and nation
Read: Caulfield, pp. 105-195
Nov 29 The class politics of citizenship
Read: Chomsky & Lauria Santiago, eds., pp. 94-151, 169-226, 292-235
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Dec 3 evening: senior conference!
Dec 4 Film: Mirrors of the heart, Americas Series
Present
Dec 6 Race and class in Brazil
Read: Hanchard
Show: first draft of Hanchard paper
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Dec 11 Wrap-up
Due: paper on Hanchard
Read again: Chomsky & Lauria Santiago, eds., pp. 1-25, 335-365
Dec 13 Second partial exam