Prospectus

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Modernity in Latin America

Course
2016-2017

Admission requirements

Registered as a student of the [Research] Master’s in Latin America Studies.
This course is open to students who have a good command of the Spanish language, or students with a passive command of the Spanish but a good command of Portuguese.

Description

The course pays attention in the fascinations and frustrations that Latin Americans have with regard to the phenomenon of modernity and its associated discourses. Especially elites, over time, have carried out various projects of modernization with the aim of introducing innovations political, cultural and economic from Europe and the United States, often with asymmetric and disappointing results in Latin America. Also deals with the way in which the common population of Latin America is facing modernity from outside the region: while some of its elements are directly opposed, other aspects of that modernity are transformed into useful tools at the service of its own social and cultural needs.

Course objectives

  • To be able to analyse the historical processes of Latin America in the framework of modernity.

  • To be able to identify the specific fields in which modernity has operated in Latin America.

  • To be able to identify the ideological components of the discourse on national identity in Latin America in relation to modernity.

  • To be able to analyse the contradictions, paradoxes and challenges resulting from the process of modernization in Latin America.

Timetable

Timetable

Mode of instruction

Lectures (100%), presentations of the students and essay.

Course Load

10 EC = 280 hours in total.

  • Spent on attending lectures and seminars: 56 hours

  • Studying the compulsory literature: 96 hours

  • Completing assignments, whether in preparation at the college: 40 hours

  • Assignment (including reading/research): 88 hours

Assessment method

Assessment

The assessment consists of two parts:
A. An individual oral presentation of 10 minutes about an issue concerning modernity and identity. The aspects which are evaluated are:

  • clarity in the explanation

  • relevance of the chosen subject

  • use of academic language

  • summarize skills

  • quality of the employed resources.

B. A paper of at least 900 and up to 1.100 words, related to the chosen theme of the presentation. The aspects that are assessed are:

  • coherence and clarity in writing

  • quality of the argumentation

  • proper use of bibliographic resources

  • writing in academic language.

  • lay-out

  • level of the contents analysis

Weighing

A. Presentation: 30% of the final mark.
B. Paper: 70% of the final mark.

Resit

Resit exam takes place if the mark of the essay is less than 6.0. Resit consists of a new improved version of the essay within a limited time.

Blackboard

Blackboard will be used for:

  • providing study materials

  • methodological indications and instructions

  • specific information about each college

  • the format of the presentations and the paper

Reading list

ANDERSON, B. (1993). Comunidades imaginadas. Reflexiones sobre el origen y la difusión del nacionalismo. México, D.F.: Fondo de Cultura Económica. Capítulo I, ‘Introducción’ (pp. 17-25); Capítulo II, ‘Las raíces culturales’ (pp. 26-62).

BARABAS, A.M. (2000). ‘La construcción del indio como bárbaro: de la etnografía al indigenismo’, Alteridades, 10 (19), pp. 9-20.

BELLO, A. (2004). Etnicidad y ciudadanía en América Latina. La acción colectiva de los pueblos indígenas. Santiago de Chile: Naciones Unidas/CEPAL/GTZ.

COLMENARES, G. (2006). Las convenciones contra la cultura. Ensayo sobre historiografía hispanoamericana del siglo XIX. Santiago de Chile: DIBAM/Centro de Investigaciones Diego Barros Arana.

CORONIL, F. (2000). ‘Naturaleza del poscolonialismo: del eurocentrismo al globocentrismo’, in: E. Lander (comp.), La colonialidad del saber: eurocentrismo y ciencias sociales. Perspectivas latinoamericanas (pp. 87-111). Buenos Aires: CLACSO.
URL: http://www.cholonautas.edu.pe/modulos/biblioteca2.php?IdDocumento=0439

DOMINGUES, J.M. (2009). La modernidad contemporánea en América Latina. Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores/CLACSO.

FRANCO, J. (1997). ‘La globalización y la crisis de lo popular’, Nueva Sociedad, 19, 62-73,
URL: http://www.nuevasoc.org.ve/n149/ens.htm

FREI, R. & ROVIRA KALTWASSER, C. (2008). ‘El populismo como experimento político: historia y teoría política de una ambivalencia’, Revista de Sociología, 22, 117-140
URL: http://www.revistas.uchile.cl/index.php/RDS/article/view/14485

GIMÉNEZ, G. (2003). ‘La cultura como identidad y la identidad como cultura’, UNAM, Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, México,
URL: http://perio.unlp.edu.ar/teorias2/textos/articulos/gimenez.pdf

GÓMEZ GARCÍA, P. (2007). ‘El fetichismo de la identidad cultural. Por un enfoque más científico y crítico’, in: J.M. Rubio Ferreres et al. (eds.), Identidad, historia y sociedad, capítulo 2 (pp. 55-80). Granada: Editorial Universidad de Granada.

HERMET, G. (2003). ‘El populismo como concepto’, Revista de Ciencia Política, XXIII(1), 5-18,
URL: http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=32423101

HOBSBAWM, E. (2012). ‘Introducción: la invención de la tradición’, in: E. Hobsbawm & T. Ranger (eds.), La invención de la tradición (pp. 7-21). Barcelona: Crítica.

LACLAU, E. (2005). La razón populista. Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

LARRAÍN, J. (2000). Identity and Modernity in Latin America. Cambridge: Polity Press.

LÓPEZ DE AYALA, M.C. (2004). ‘El análisis sociológico del consumo: una revisión histórica de sus desarrollos teóricos’, Sociológica, 5, 161-188.

MARTÍN BARBERO, J. (2001). De los medios a las mediaciones. Comunicación, cultura y hegemonía. III parte, capítulo I ‘Los procesos: de los nacionalismos a las transnacionales’ (pp. 164-202). México, D.F.: Ediciones G. Gili, 6ª edición.

RUBIO FERRERES, J.M. (2007). ‘Las identidades en la era de la globalización mediática’, in: J.M. Rubio Ferreres et al. (eds.), Identidad, historia y sociedad, capítulo 4 (pp. 107-134). Granada: Editorial Universidad de Granada.

SUBERCASEAUX, B. (2004). ‘Primera parte: apropiación cultural’, in: B. Subercaseaux, Historia de las ideas y de la cultura en Chile, tomo III (pp. 15-31). Santiago de Chile: Editorial Universitaria.

VICTORIANO SERRANO, F. (2010). ‘Estado, golpes de Estado y militarización en América Latina: una reflexión histórico-política’, Argumentos, 23(64), 175-193,
URL: http://www.redalyc.org/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=59518491008

Registration

Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.

General information about uSis is available in English and Dutch

Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs

Not applicable

Contact

For questions about the content of the course, you can contact the teacher:
Mr. Dr. P.A. Isla Monsalve

Coordinator of Studies: M.A.G. van Leeuwen MA

Administrations Office: van Wijkplaats

Remarks

Presence during lectures is compulsory. The student is allowed to miss a maximum of two sessions. In the case of more absences, the lecturer may decide to impose supplementary assignments on the student.