Assignments

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Drawing on class lectures, historical readings, scholarly research on economic development, and works of fiction (including Big Mama's Funeral, and House of the Spirits), discuss the legacies of Iberian colonialism in Latin America. What do you think have been the main cultural, social, economic, or political legacies of Spanish and Portuguese rule? What features of modern Latin America cannot be explained by colonialism? Are there any aspects of Latin American society or politics that you feel are wrongly attributed to colonialism?

During the 1970s, countries like Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay experienced a period of harsh military rule. During the 1980s, virtually all of these countries made the transition to something resembling a democratic political system. Drawing on the readings, films, and lectures from Class #8 through Class #15, discuss the legacies of military rule and the process of democratization in Chile and elsewhere. What were the main obstacles and challenges to democratization? How complete was the process of political transition? What "authoritarian enclaves" remained or remain?

A range of political scientists, economists, and civic activists have argued that the rule of law in Latin America is weak. Drawing on the cases of Chile, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico, discuss whether or not you agree with the and in what sense. Then discuss what can be done to improve the rule of law in those same countries.

In the week on economic development in Latin America, you will be asked to explain and critique different theories of economic development in Latin America using evidence from the readings. You should come to class prepared to give examples and counter-examples for each main school of thought regarding economic development in the region.

Resolved: Chile's current democratic leaders should prosecute General Augusto Pinochet for his role in human rights abuses perpetrated under the military regime (1973-1990).

Teams

• Team 1A (affirmative)
• Team 1B (negative)
• Team 2A (affirmative)
• Team 2B (negative)
• Judges

There will be two debates: one between Team 1A and Team 1B; the next between teams 1B and 2B. Speakers on the affirmative teams will defend prosecution; speakers on the negative teams will oppose it. Judges will then each render a 2-minute verdict.

The first speaker from each team will make a two-minute opening statement laying out her team's overall position. The second speaker from each team will then have two minutes to rebut the arguments made by the other teams. The third speaker from each team will then be allowed three minutes to cross-examine her counterpart on the opposing team, who must defend her team's position with brief and direct replies. The fourth speaker on each team will then have two minutes to summarize her team's arguments, addressing any weaknesses that have been exposed and pointing out weaknesses in the other team's positions. After we have held the first debate, we will move on to the second debate. Time permitting, we will then open up the class to general discussion.

Please note that we will time each presentation strictly, so that you should prepare and practice your comments in advance. You will also want to talk among your team members to iron out your overall strategy. In most cases, this will require anticipating the strengths and weaknesses of each side of the debate, drawing on your knowledge of the Chilean case from readings, films, and lectures.

Because of time constraints, we will begin promptly. Lateness will be penalized in a draconian fashion.

On Class #20, we will divide the class into breakout groups in order to analyze and make recommendations about the current situation in Colombia. Specifically, each group will be asked to answer three questions:

• What are the main problems confronting Colombia?
• What should the Colombian government do to solve these problems?
• What are the prospects that these problems will be resolved?
  

In preparation for this session, you should do approximately 2 hours of outside reading on their own, focusing on recent news reports.

For the group presentation, everyone in the class will be divided into teams. Each team will be asked to present on the following issues:

1. What is the history of the Brazilian land dispute?
2. Who are the potential owners of the land in Jardim das Camelias, and what are their ownership claims?
3. Who should own the land in Jardim das Camelias?
4. How should the Brazilian government decide land claims in general?

Each person in each group should plan to speak for approximately 3 minutes. Each team will receive a grade, as will each individual speaker; your final grade for the session will be the average of the two grades.

For next week, we have scheduled "extemporaneous class presentations." These will be held in recitation, possibly spilling over into class the next morning. For these presentations, you will be called upon at random to answer one of the five questions on the attached list, meaning that you should be prepared to answer all of them). Your presentations should be no more than 2 minutes, and we will be strict with the time to make sure that everyone gets a chance to go. This is enough time to develop two or three good points; be ready!

The following questions are fair game:

• What are the main tenets of dependency theory?
• Why did Mexico develop slowly in the 19th and early 20th century, according to Haber?
• Explain the failure of the chinchilla industry in House of the Spirits from a cultural perspective.
• Explain the failure of the chinchilla industry in House of the Spirits from a dependency perspective.
• Explain the failure of the chinchilla industry in House of the Spirits from a neoliberal perspective.

At the beginning of the semester, you should pick a week in which you will make a presentation summarizing the week’s readings and teeing up issues for class discussion. Your goal should be to highlight the main points of the readings and thus refresh everyone’s memory, then try to identify questions for class discussion. These can be theoretical questions (for instance, under what circumstances do racial identities become politicized). But they can also be factual questions that build on the readings (for instance: "It was interesting to learn about race in Brazil; that makes me wonder how racial attitudes are conceived in Cuba, which had some of the same race policies as Brazil during the 19th century). Whichever direction you go with your questions, plan on speaking for 3 minutes. Practice is crucial here, to make sure your presentation is on point and focused, so don't forget to rehearse!