Latin American History

History 127

Summer 1998, Illinois State University

What's New

• Remember: If you need to access this web page this weekend, go to http://www.cas.ilstu.edu/mbecker/index.html.
• Lecture outline for Thursday, July 23: Independence of Latin America
• Since I forgot to upload this yesterday, don't forget about the lecture outline for Wednesday, July 22: Colonial Society and Class Structure.
• Grades for Quiz 6 are now available on the Grade Page.
• In order to accomodate a discussion of the final paper on Monday, July 27, I have slightly rearranged the syllabus for the rest of the semester. Please check the Class Schedule for the revised reading list on which the quizzes will be based.

What's Due

• Monday, July 27: Second exam
• Monday, July 27: Second week extra credit newspaper articles due

• Course Meets: Schroeder 216, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday 1:25-4:15
• Office: Schroeder 332-I; Phone: 438-8306
• Office Hours: after class, or by appointment
• World-Wide Web: http://www.ilstu.edu/class/hist127

Why is Latin America poor? Is it because the region lacks natural resources, the people are lazy or somehow inferior, or due to overpopulation? Using a dependency theory approach, we will examine how these stereotypes are wrong and how poverty is a human creation that did not have to happen. We will examine the process of colonization, neo-colonialism, and other economic political forces which impoverished the region and continue to keep it so. We will examine attempts to alter these fundamentally unequal social and economic relations. In doing so, we will examine a variety of themes including the role of Indigenous peoples, the land tenure system, religion, education, imperialism, and revolutions.

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