Here’s the link to the ArtandSeek.org website I mentioned in class. Please tell me which museum you’re considering by October 14, so we don’t have any duplicates for. Of course you can also choose to do a PowerPoint or GoogleEarth presentation instead.
Your paper on Lieutenant Nun: Memoir of a Basque Tranvestite in the New World is due on Monday March 5. If you are not going to do the paper, please drop me a line. If you are going to the paper but you need another day, again, please send me an email asking for the extension, so I know that your paper is on its way. The question is “What does this primary source tell us about colonial Latin America?” As with all our papers, it should be submitted via Mavspace, with the grading grid from your last assignment copied and pasted into the top of the new essay.
The essay should be about 5pages [1,500 words] long, though if you have more to say, take more space! It should have all the elements I’ve been stressing throughout the semester — thesis in the first paragraph, good title that reflects the thesis, evidence that supports the thesis, etc. It should also answer the question “how does this change our conception of colonial Latin America.”
The main assigned question, however, is the same one we have been asking ourselves about primary documents all semester long: “What does this tell us about colonial Latin America?” You may want to write about “patriarchy,” hegemony and the role of women (see the Chasteen book if you’re not sure what I mean here) , you may want to write about violence, about the Church, about honor, or about the role of indigenous people in the story.
I know you are probably wondering when we’re going to do the presentations on Colonial Lives, that are scheduled to start tonight. Don’t worry — when I wrote the syllabus I had to plan for the possibility that we would have 30 students.
Since there are only about 12 of us, we’re going to have regular lecture/discussion class this week [4/14 and 4/16]. Then next week we’ll have the presentations [4/21 and 4/23] and then we’ll have some wrap-up lecture/discussions during the last week 4/28 and 4/30.] The final paper [on Lieutenant Nun] is due on May 5, when we would normally be having an exam.
So, what is the project presentation supposed to be? You can do one of two things
Do you HAVE to pick a new Colonial Lives document? Not necessarily — read the previous post for more information.
In their anthology Colonial Lives, Richard Boyer and Geoffrey Spurling offer a collection of primary source documents illustrating aspects of everyday colonial Latin America life that are often hidden. These documents give us insights into colonial life that earlier historians did not examine, either because these records tell us about with people who were not powerful [women, people of color, working people] or because they deal with topics that were considered taboo or uninteresting [sex, witchcraft, the environment]. (You can find a list of these topics and themes, from “African/Afro-Latin American Peoples” to “Witchcraft” and “Women” on pages xi-xiii of Colonial Lives.)
I would like you to write about one document of your choosing from the collection and turn your paper in to me by April 7. Read it [and re-read it] carefully, and write a paper [1,200 words; roughly 4 double-spaced pages] describing what that document tells us about colonial Latin America: how does it illuminate the lives of the people who lived there, their culture(s) and their relationships? Your analysis should consider who made the document and why. Is it a court case, a popular song, a government report? What kinds of information are likely to be suppressed or exaggerated due to the nature of this source? Obviously you will analyze what the document tells us but you should also consider the silences in the document. What can we learn from these silences?
As with all writing in this class, you will submit a computer file to me and I will use a grading grid to evaluate your work. The “communication” column will be identical to the one I use on our tests. In oither words, you need a thesis in the first paragraph, a title that suggests your thesis, good organization, etc.
If you wish you may do outside background reading [each document has a list of recommended titles; the full information on these books is located in the bibliography at the end of the volume] but this is not required. I think you may also find Chasteen’s Born in Blood and Fire book helpful for background.
Is there a pattern of masculine and feminine stereotypes in these documents? If so, describe it. Do these documents express ethnic/racial stereotypes? If so, describe them.
Do these ethnic and gender stereotypes overlap or reinforce each other? How?
Do all the different people appearing in the documents share these different associations? Explain.
Summary of the above: In what ways can you detect that ideas about gender were connected to ideas about race in colonial Latin American society? Be prepared to discuss specific examples.
What types of power and what types of restrictions do men, women, demonstrate in these documents? How does their individual status as members of the lower classes and/or indigenous, African, or mixed-race people affect this power or these restrictions?
In these documents, do people in the lower social classes in colonial Latin America accept or fight the ideologies of race and gender that elite groups advanced?
I hope this will make it easier for those with paperback copies of the book!
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1-28 |
Mann, chapter 4 and 5 |
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1-30 |
Mann, Chapter 6 |
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2-4 |
Mann, Chapter 7 and 8 |
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2-6 |
Mann, Chapter 9 |
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2-11 |
Mann, Chapter 10 and 11Exam questions announced in class and on the blog. |
If you missed class, I gave a quick assignment to give you some familiarity with Mavspace. Look at the top of this blog for one webcast about how to use Mavspace. You can find a similar one, recorded in class on Monday, Jan. 28, on WebCT.
1. Go to images.google.com and search for an interesting image pertaining to some aspect of this class. Save the image to your computer.
2. Go to http://mavspace.uta.edu and log in, using your UTA username and password. Upload the image file you saved in the previous step.
3. Make sure you have clicked on the access icon so that other people have access to the image. Then click on the “manage” icon to see the URL for the image. Use the mouse to highlight that address and copy it.
4. Open up your email service and start a message to garrigus@uta.edu
5. Paste the image address from mavspace [step 3] into the message. Add a ’subject’ line and be sure to include your name.
6. Mail me the message.
These instructions will make a lot more sense if you watch one [or both!] of the webcasts mentioned above.
Write me if you have problems!
Hi, This assignment is due before Wednesday, January 16, but you can do it now, if you want! Send an email to garrigus@uta.edu answering the following 11 questions that will help me get to know you. If you have a recent picture of yourself that you’d like to send electronically, that would help too, but it isn’t required.
1. What are your goals after graduation from UTA? How could this course help you reach those goals?
2. Are you at all interested in teaching history or social studies?
3. Do you work? If so, how many hours a week?
4. Do you have internet access at home? Is it dial-up, broadband, or something else?
5. Have you taken a class in “World History before 1500” [HIST 2301 at UTA]? If so, how long ago did you have it?
6. Have you taken a class in “World History after 1500” [HIST 2302 at UTA]? If so, how long ago did you take it?
7. Have you ever taken a course (or courses) in the history of Latin America, or of a Latin American country? If so, how long ago did you take it?
8. Have you ever taken a course (or courses) in the history of Europe, or of a European country? If so, how long ago did you take it?
9. Have you ever taken a course (or courses) in the history of Africa, or of an African country? If so, how long ago did you take it?
10. Do you have any connections to Latin America? Family? Travel? Business? To which country or countries? Is there anything specific you are interested in?
11. All the readings and assignments in this class are in English, but for future versions of the class I’m curious about how many students would want to use their Spanish skills for extra credit. Can you read Spanish? Would you ever want to earn one credit in Spanish, plus three in history, for taking this course?
