R.
Harpelle
Office: RB 3019
343-8691
This course examines modern Latin American history, society and culture from an interdisciplinary perspective. Students are offered a multi-faceted understanding of the human condition in Latin America. The course will address four themes in particular: the wounds and legacies of history; the elusive quest for economic "development"; politics, revolution and counter-revolution; and the dynamics of culture and cultural change. In a reading seminar format and using a comparative approach, we will focus primarily of the peoples of the Latin America and the Caribbean, their disparate experiences and their historical connections.
Required Texts:
Term Work and Evaluation:
Four papers are required. The first three are review essays based on the books discussed in the seminar. Each review essay is worth 15% of the final mark for a total of 45%. The third assignment is a research paper on a topic chosen by the student in consultation with the instructor. The research paper is worth 35% of the final mark. The remaining 20% of the final mark is based on class participation. Honours students are presumed to be motivated students who aspire to responsible positions in society. They are, therefore, expected to show a commensurate degree of responsibility and value is placed on the timely and proper completion of assigned tasks. Students are advised that late assignments will be assessed a penalty of two percent of the final mark per day for each day that elapses between the due date and the actual date of submission.
Review essays are due on the monday of the week of the seminar. Review essays handed in on time will be marked and returned to the author at the seminar of the week the paper is due. Essays handed in on time may also be rewritten and resubmitted for re-evaluation anytime before end of the year. In all cases students must submit the earlier versions of their papers so that the instructor will know exactly what has been done to improve them.
The research paper will be due on the monday of the week chosen by the student to present it in class. On the day of the seminar the paper will be returned to the student with the instructor's comments and the student will have until the end of term, (April 6, 2001) to revise and resubmit the project for re-evaluation. The instructor assumes that papers presented later in the term will require less time to revise because the student will have benefited from the discussion of earlier submissions. In all cases, students must submit the comments and suggestions made about the first paper. (See a sample research paper)
Participation means that students must prepare for and participate in class discussions. A seminar requires that students do original research and exchange their results with their colleagues. Therefore, responsibility is placed upon the student to prepare materials for presentation in class.
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