Latin American History: Colonial Period

Augusta State University                                                                                      

HIST 3511/5511, 3 Credit Hours

Department of History, Anthro. & Phil.                                                                                                Fall 2010

 

Professor:            Dr. H. J. Abdelnur

Class Info.: MWF 12-12:50pm in Allgood Hall E257

Office Hours:      TBA; other times by appointment

Contact Info.:     During office hours I am in E211 Allgood Hall

                             E-Mail:  Abdelnur@aug.edu; Office phone: 706-667-4566, or, on-campus ext. 4566

 

I.                   Textbook:

1.      Burkholder, Mark and Lyman Johnson.  Colonial Latin America, 7th edition.  New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.  ISBN 978-019538605 ***Be certain you have the 7th edition as it is a NEW text.  Check the cover to make sure you have the correct one at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Colonial-Latin-America-Seventh-Burkholder/dp/0195386051/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270911351&sr=1-1

II.                 Supplemental Required Texts:

2.       Leon-Portillo, Miguel.  The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico.  Boston: Beacon Press, 2007.  ISBN 978-080705500 Amazon has it used from $9.50 at

 http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Spears-Account-Conquest-Mexico/dp/080705500X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270911201&sr=1-1

3.      Cortés, Hernán.  Five Letters of Cortes to the Emperor.  W. W. Norton, Co., 1991.  ISBN 978-039309877 Amazon has it used from $3.95 at

http://www.amazon.com/Five-Letters-Cortes-Emperor-1526/dp/039309877X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1270910900&sr=1-1

4.     de las Casas, Bartolomé.  The Devastation of the Indies.  Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992.  ISBN 978-080184430 Amazon has it used from $2.46 at

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801844304/ref=s9_sims_se_p14_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=auto-no-results-center-1&pf_rd_r=0QWGTER9TPAT4TYDG0QK&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=480051591&pf_rd_i=1000

 

(**Students MUST purchase be prepared to complete reading assignments and written assessments according to the syllabus.  If a student cannot purchase the text in a timely fashion he/she must inform me immediately!)

III.              Strongly Suggested:

5.     Frakes, Robert.  Writing for College History.  Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2004. ISBN 978-061830603

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

A survey of the pre-Columbian era “Empire peoples” of the Aztec, Inka, Maya and of the Iberian backgrounds, explorations, conquests, and subsequent political, social, and economic institutions installed in Latin America through the wars of independence.  This class will emphasize a comparison of Native American and European sources of historical documentation.

COURSE GOALS:

Utilizing a variety of primary and secondary source texts with a combination of lecture and discussion, the student should be able to demonstrate solid comprehension of the major themes, dates, and personalities important to formation of early Latin America to Independence.

EXAMINATIONS and GRADING:

This class will have four quizzes during the semester that will require the writing of well-organized interpretive essays as well as the response to multiple choice and identification questions.  In addition, there will be essay assignments based on the reading of two primary source texts.  There will be occasional homework assignments to address certain issues in your textbook readings as well as some in-class graded assignments based on primary source documents and a debate.  Your final exam is a take home essay due during finals week.

 

Homework Assignments

TBA

25 points each as they occur

Broken Spears Essay

September TBA

150 points

Cortes’ Letters Essay

September TBA

150 points

EXAMS

TBA

100 points each

In-class Assignments

Throughout the Semester

25 points each as they occur

Paper Title and Abstract

October TBA

25 points

Paper Outline

October TBA

100 points

Paper Rough Draft

November TBA`

100 points

Final Research Paper

December TBA

200 points

ATTENDANCE

You are expected to attend each and every class with 2 “freebies”.  After that, if there is no official excuse (physician note, court/jury duty, ASU sports of other activity, etc.), 1 point will be reduced from your final grade point average for each class missed beyond the 2nd free.  Students who attend each and every class this semester will automatically receive 2 points added to their final grade point average!  Students who miss more than one month of class will be dropped automatically from the course with a failing grade. 

PARTICIPATION

Even though this class is primarily a lecture course, discussion elements will occur frequently in the course of the semester.  Often in the study of colonial Latin America, it is impossible not to discuss certain themes—there is ample room for differing views of the same event.  Please be certain to come to each class period having read all assigned materials and come prepared to present your opinions and ask questions!

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT

Please, remember that we are all members of the academic community of this college and, as such, we must all treat each other with respect and courtesy.  Academic honesty is imperative to maintain your good standing at Augusta State University; cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, falsification, and complicity will not be tolerated and, if found, will result in a zero for the assignment or for a final course grade, at my discretion. 

OTHER INFORMATION

Please routinely check your ASU email (once every 24 hours is best) in case I send you updated materials, class cancellation announcements, or other course-related information.  Also, as a note of courtesy to your fellow students and your professor, please turn OFF all cell phones during the class period and any computer usage should not be an excuse to surf the net and distract your fellow students from their note-taking and attention.


Daily Class Schedule

WEEK I

1.     8/16 Introductions

a.     Read Burkholder & Johnson Chapter 1, Broken Spears Introduction

2.     8/18 Lecture: The Americas Before the Conquest

a.     Read B&J Ch. 1, Broken Spears Ch. 1-3

3.     8/20 IN-CLASS ACTIVITY 1—Primary Source documents: Aztec Origins and Maya Creationism

a.     Read B&J Ch. 1, Broken Spears Ch. 4-7

WEEK II

1.     8/23 Lecture: Iberian Peninsula—Roman Legacies and North African Traditions

a.     Read B&J Ch. 1, Broken Spears Ch. 8-10

2.     8/25 Lecture: Iberia prior to the Conquest and the personality of the Conquistador

a.     Read Burkholder & Johnson Chapter 2, Broken Spears Ch. 11-13

3.     8/27 Lecture: Caribbean Encounters

a.     Read B&J Ch. 2, Broken Spears Ch. 14-15, Postscript

WEEK III

1.     8/30 Discussion of Broken Spears, Lecture: Mexican Explorations and the arrival of Cortés

a.     Prepare Essay #1

b.     Read B&J Ch. 2, Letters from Mexico 1

2.     9/1 Lecture: The Kingdom of Guatemala

a.     Read B&J Ch. 2, Letters from Mexico 2

3.     9/3 Lecture: The Brazilian Accident—ESSAY #1 Due!!!

a.     Read B&J Ch. 2, Letters from Mexico 3

WEEK IV

1.     9/6 Labor DayàNo Class Meeting

2.     9/8 MOVIEàAguirre, “The Wrath of God” (Media Services Call #51)

a.     Read B&J Ch. 2, Letters from Mexico 4

3.     9/10 MOVIE continued

a.      Read B&J Ch. 2, Letters from Mexico 5

WEEK V

1.     9/13 In-Class Activity 2—Conquest, Encounter, or Invasion?  Debate & Cortés’ letters

a.     Prepare for Essay #2

2.     9/15 Lecture: The Conquest of the Southern Cone and Andean Regions

a.     Read B&J Ch. 2, Read Devastation of the Indies

3.     9/17 Lecture: Population Decline and Recovery and the Columbian Exchangeà Essay #2 Due!

a.     Read B&J Ch. 3, Read Devastation of the Indies

WEEK VI

1.     9/20 Lecture: Southeastern and Southwestern United States and Cibola

a.     Read B&J Ch. 3, Read Devastation of the Indies

2.     9/22 Lecture: Viceroyalty of New Spain and the Problems of Empire

a.     Read B&J Ch. 3, Read Devastation of the Indies

3.     9/24 Lecture: Roman Catholic Church in the Americas and Discussion of the Indies

a.     Read B&J Ch. 3, Prepare Essay #2

WEEK VII

1.     9/27 In-Class Activity 2—Roman Catholic Church in the AmericasàEssay #2 Due!!!

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz and Santa Rosa of Lima

2.     9/29 Brazilian Captaincies

a.     Study for EXAM #1 (All B&J chapters, in-class activity materials, class notes)

3.     10/1 EXAM #1(Burkholder & Johnson Chs. 1, 2, 3)àBring your own blue books!

a.     Read B&J Chapter 4

WEEK VIII

1.     10/4 Population and Labor—Native American

a. Read B&J Ch. 4

2.     10/6 Population and Labor—African

a.     Read B&J Ch. 5

b.     Prepare Title and Abstract for research paper

3.     10/8 Production and Exchange: Colonial Economies of Mining and Agriculture, Title and Abstract Due! 

a.     Read B&J Ch. 5

WEEK IX

1.     10/11 TBA

a.     Read B&J Ch. 5

2.     10/13 Defense of the Colonies

a.     Read B&J Ch. 6

3.     10/15 Colonial Society—Color and Class: Elite, Middle Groups, and Everyone Else

a.     Read B&J Ch. 6

WEEK X

1.     10/18 Urban versus Rural Peoples

§  Study for EXAM #2

2.     10/20 EXAM #2(Chs. 4, 5, 6, lecture notes, and in-class activities)àBring Your Own BLUE BOOKS!

§  Read B&J Ch. 7

3.     10/22 Colonial Society—Gender and Social Deviance

§  Read B&J Ch. 7

WEEK XI

1.     10/25 Colonial Women, work, family obligations and legal limitations

§  Read B&J Ch. 7

2.     10/27 In-Class Activity 3—Families and Honor, Letters to Families and LoversàOutline Due! 

a.     Read B&J Ch. 8

3.     10/29 Daily Life in Colonial Latin America

a.     Read B&J Ch. 8

WEEK XII

1.     11/1 In-Class Activity 4—Life and Death in the Americas: Wills, Dowries, and Testaments

a.     Read B&J Ch. 8

2.     11/3 Entertainment, Intellectuals, and Crime

a.     Read B&J Ch. 9

3.     11/5 Late Colonial Spanish America—1680s-1760s

a.       Read B&J Ch. 9

WEEK XIII

1.     11/8 The Bourbon Reforms—1760s-1820s

a.     Read B&J Ch. 9

2.     11/10 Late Colonial Brazil

a.     Read B&J Ch. 10

3.     11/12 Beginnings of Unrest—Initiating Revolution in Mexico

a.     Read B&J Ch. 10

WEEK XIV

1.     11/15 Independence Underway in the Rest of Latin America

a.     Read B&J Ch. 10

2.     11/17 Individual Meetings with Rough Drafts in Hand!

a.     Catch up on your readings and work on your papers!

3.     11/19 Individual Meetings with Rough Drafts in Hand!

WEEK XV

1.     11/22 Independence Denied in Brazil, Sort of…

a.     Study for Exam #3 and Prepare your Rough Drafts!

2.     11/24 NO CLASSàThanksgiving

3.     11/26 NO CLASSàThanksgiving

WEEK XVI

1.     11/29 Conclusions

a.     Study for Exam #3 and Prepare your Final Papers!

2.     12/1 EXAM #3 (B&J Chs. 7, 8, 9, 10, lecture notes and in-class activities)à Bring your own Blue Books!

FINAL PAPER DUE TO ME IN MY OFFICE WEDNESDAY DECEMBER TBA