History 404-01 : US-Latin American Relations in the 20th Century
Through Literature
and Film
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Greetings. Relations between Latin America and the United States in the twentieth century can be interpreted through multiple prisms, depending on whom you read or with whom you speak. Some writers have emphasized US imperialism, Import-Substitution Industrialization, dependency theory, and neo-liberalism as tools for understanding particular historical processes (Burns and Charlip, Latin America : A Concise Interpretative History). Others have pointed to supposed anti-capitalist cultural values among Latinos as responsible for failures of "economic development" in Latin America (Lawrence Harrison, Underdevelopment is a State of Mind). More recently, scholars have focused on the "dialectics" of cultural exchanges to demonstrate how values and attitudes have moved from the United States outward to colonies and back again to metropolis (Mary Renda, Taking Haiti : Military Occupation and the Culture of U.S. Imperialism, 1915-1940 ; Amy Kaplan, The Anarchy of Empire in the Making of U.S. Culture).
Through discussion, we will grapple with the
complexities of Latin American-US relations and ties during the twentieth
century. I have chosen works of literature listed below. Three
are novels and one is an autobiography (Veloso). All are based on a close
reading of historical documents and the use of oral history.
All of the books are available at the UI Bookstore and are on reserve (one-day)
at the UI library. They can also be purchased online at reduced
prices through Amazon and other websites.
The grade for the course will be based on your participation in the class (20 percent) and two critiques (worth 80 percent) of the assigned readings (or any other book related to the themes noted below).
Week One
Marnie Mueller, Green Fires: A Novel
of the Ecuadorian Rainforest Curbstone Press ISBN 1880684594
Ecuador and the Amazon Basin; indigenous
peoples; agribusiness and oil companies; what is economic development?
View film "Trinkets and Beads"
Week Two
Mario Vargas Llosa, The Feast of the Goat:
A Novel Picador 0312420277
Dominican Republic; the caudillo tradition;
US intervention in DR, 1916-24; the rise and fall of Trujillo.
View film "Death and the Maiden"
Week Three
Sandra Cisneros, Caramelo Knopf 0679435549
Mexamerica; the Mexican Revolution
(1910-20); border culture; Chicago - Mexico; San Antonio, Mexico.
View film "Lone Star"
Week Four
Caetano Veloso, Tropical Truth: A
Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil Knopf 037540788X
Brazil; the military coup of 1964; national-security state; the tropicalia movement; music and poetry as
culture; Gilberto Gil as Minister of Culture in the recently-elected PT
government of Brazil
View film "Central Station"
Recommended Films
Amazon
The Burning Season
At Play in the Fields of the Lord
The Emerald Forest
The Burning Season: The Chico Mendes Story
Brasil
Pixote
Behind the Sun (on reserve)
Central Station (on reserve)
Bananas Is My Business (on reserve)
Four Days in September (on reserve)
Death and the Maiden (on reserve)
Caribbean
Burn
Sugar Cane Alley
Strawberry and Chocolate
Memories of Underdevelopment
Mexico
Traffic (on reserve)
Milagro Beanfield War
Lone Star
Frida
Kahlo
Like Water for Chocolate