Wednesday, January 28, 2009
The faculty group I belong to (click here to know more about us) is organizing on-campus student conference on Latin American & Latino/a Studies. The conference will be held on Thursday April 2 in the Student Union. You can get more information by clicking on this link.
You’re welcome to present your original academic or artistic work. Had an original take on a literary author? Or a good paper based on secondary or primary sources? Feel free to send in a proposal as detailed in the attached call for papers.
If you’re interested and want to openly discuss ideas with me, please let me know or stop by my office (Wed. 12-3p), send me an email or post your comments here.
Undergrads, graduate students, staff and faculty will participate with their original work. I think this is a good opportunity to exchange ideas, celebrate our good work. For students, both graduate and undergraduate, it is also a good opportunity to build the critical skill of presenting. Experience in a conference looks good in your CV too. Feedback and sessions will be friendly — this is no examination, the exchanging of ideas at its best!
Details on deadlines, dates, contact person, etc. in the Call for Papers (I’m repeating the link here!).
Feel free to circulate to anybody you know who might be interested.
Monday, November 24, 2008
This is the preliminary schedule of classes for the Modern Mexico (Hist 411) class.
It’s not written in stone, don’t hesitate to write or comment.
411-syllabus-s09
Saturday, November 15, 2008
These are the updated plans on the Modern Mexico class (Hist 411/511). The purpose of this course is to explore the historical roots of the juncture in which Mexico is today. Despite a competitive and open political system, many (if not most) still find that their voice and their vote do not count. Despite the fact that Mexico is the home of some of the wealthiest people in the world, most Mexicans lack basic opportunities for education and employment. Finally, in spite of the deeply rooted personal, business and government links with the United States, the Northern neighbor is still perceived by Mexicans as much a threat as an advantage. The class will explore how this interplay of democracy, development and (in/ter)dependence with the US has shaped the course of Mexican history and still constraints decision making in the present day.
Modern Mexico is both an upper-level survey and a discussion class. As such, the challenge is to balance content and themes we want to focus on. In the end I decided to not require a textbook, and assign books and novels covering a series of topics concerning political culture, the Mexican revolution, middle class counterculture movements in the 1960s, and the failure of the recent democratic and economic reforms to deliver welfare and inclusiveness to all. The narrative of the historical development of Mexico will be covered in lectures; students will be prepared for lectures by looking for terms they have to identify.
The course will be based on the following reading list:
The class will require two papers (11-12 pages each) based entirely on the assigned readings, which appeal to a wide variety of interests on Mexican and Latin American history.
While the class is primarily offered at an advanced undergraduate level, graduate students are welcome to take it as Hist 511 and receive graduate credit. Graduate students will have an additional meeting every two weeks and will choose additional readings based on their interests. Other requirements will be decided at the beginning of the class in agreement with students’ interests.
Don’t hesitate to leave your comments or contact me with any questions.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
If you read Spanish I’m sure you’ll enjoy this standard contract for Argentine teachers in 1923 (click here). The signer is referred as “señorita” (miss) and agrees to not get married, avoid the company of men, return home at 8pm, avoid ice cream parlors, wear at least two underskirts, etc etc etc.
Gracias Edgardo!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
I first read Krugman back when I worked in geography in Argentina and got interested in economic history. I think his published lectures (like his general public books) are a master work in accessible and meaningful economic analysis. Here’s my suggested reading list…
Geography and Trade. Gave new meaning to locational geography to me.
The Self-Organizing Economy. I found this book mind blowing at the time. Then I read Romer and it all made sense.
In a different category, Peddling Prosperity is a wonderful analysis of marketting bad decision making. If you like his column and blog, this is a must read. I’m ashamed to confess I never read Depression Economics. It’ll be in my list as soon as the frenzy about his nobel washes away.
This coming Spring (2009) I’ll be teaching “Famines and the Modern World” (Hist 480) and “Modern Mexico” (Hist 411/511). I’m thrilled to teach two classes that are so closely connected with my research interests on living standards, food supply, and state building in Mexico at the time of independence.
Famines and the Modern World is a seminar oriented toward the publication of a research-based paper. The idea is built on (i.e. glorified rip off) Mike Davis’ Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Origins of the Third World. We start out with Davis to set the framework, and then we move on to journal articles and book chapters that expand and defy Davis’ thesis that famine was functional to the establishment of colonial hegemony in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and set the basis for the current gap between poor and rich countries. We then complicate this picture by analyzing other cases of famine in the 20th century Africa, Asia and Europe. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to get training from library personnel to explore the multiple resources available in BGSU to do the research for this paper.
I am writing a new syllabus for my Modern Mexico class. The purpose of this course is to explore the historical roots of the juncture in which Mexico is today. Despite a competitive and open political system, many (if not most) still find that their voice and their vote do not count. Despite immense opportunities to do business and amass wealth, most Mexicans lack opportunities of education and employment. Despite the deeply rooted personal, economic and government links with the United States, the big Northern neighbor is still perceived a threat as much as an opportunity. The interplay of these three factors (namely struggles for popular participation, economic development and US influence) has shaped the course of Mexican history and still constraints the decision making in the present day. For this reason, I’m tempted to do this class in reverse chronological order, starting out with Mexico today and then move backwards. While the syllabus is still in preparation, I’m leaning toward using Tutino’s From Insurrection to Revolution, Azuela’s The Underdogs, Gonzáles’s The Mexican Revolution, Moretty’s Our Man in Mexico, and Haber’s Mexico Since 1980, as well as fragments from literary works. (Outdated: see more recent posts.)
