History of Colonial Latin America

already taken:
brazil, nicaragua, Argentina

We’re only having 2 on-line lectures this week instead of our usual 4. They’re each about a minute longer than normal. There will be 2 quizzes — but they won’t be up until Tuesday morning. Good luck on your tests!

Questions on Restall, Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest
Directions: As you consider these potential test questions, remember that in answering all of them you should also be answering the question: “How does Restall’s book change the way we think about colonial Latin American history?”

1. In his discussion of myths, Restall often ends up writing not about what happened but about the texts [letters, reports, books] that were written about these events. Why and how were these so important in establishing myths? Give specifics.

2. Why did certain myths stick? Consider the Myth of the Round Earth, Myth of the White Conquistadors, Myth of the King’s Soldiers, and the Myth of Completion and give specifics about why these were so tenacious.

3. According to Restall, what were the real reasons the Spanish were able to conquer Latin America? Compare and contrast these to the mythical reasons, specifically the Myth of the White Conquistadors, Myth of the King’s Soldiers, and the Myth of Exceptional Men. Why were these real reasons not enough to eclipse these myths?

4. Compare and contrast Restall’s myth-busting with Mann’s myth-busting. How do the two books contradict each other? How do they reinforce each other? Give specifics.

You can see your grade and, more importantly, download your paper and read my comments on WebCT.
Be sure to save the file!! I’ll use this first test to grade you for improvement this semester.

It’s late Sunday night and I wanted to let you know that 3 lectures and 3 quizzes are up on WebCT. The fourth will be up on Monday morning!

This blog is “information headquarters” for the class, along with our password-protected WebCT page. Here, on the blog, you’ll find my regular announcements and comments about the class. I recommend that you use Google Reader to subscribe to this page, so you’ll get automatic alerts when there is a posting.

WebCT is where I will post your grades and where you will find the on-line lectures and quizzes that will substitute for class most Mondays this semester. [see the class schedule in the syllabus, and above].
These blog announcements will also appear on the WebCT home page.

Dr. Arlen Chase of the University of Central Florida will speak on

“25 Years of Researchat Caracol, Belize: Changing Paradigms in Maya Archeology”

The lecture will be at 7 pm in the auditorium of the UTA School of Architecture

for further informationcall 817-272-2661

Here’s the You Tube version of the video snippet we saw in class.