SOCIAL CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT IN LATIN AMERICA

COURSE SCHEDULE - ANTH/SOC 2301

Week 1, Aug. 25-29 Theories of Social Change and Development

The Annexation of Mexico: Introduction and Part 1 (Pp. 1-101)

Lecture will take up the emergence of modern development theory, neo-classical theory, and the modernization paradigm. We will then examine the background to dependency theory, the world systems perspective, and the influences of Marxism, the ECLA, and the Latin American critique of modernization theory. Students will compare and evaluate these paradigms of development and their application to Latin America. We will begin this week and continue throughout the course to explore the tensions between traditional theories and newer theoretical reformulations which challenge conventional ways of thinking about the construction of culture and power not only by states, capital, and elites, but also by peasants, women, and indigenous peoples. The Annexation of Mexico offers insights into a variety of change and development issues we will explore. The text provides a brief historical overview of Mexico, examines the Mexican revolution, and critically analyzes U.S.-Mexican relations.

Week 2, Sept. 1-5 Dilemmas of National Development

The Annexation of Mexico: Ch. 8-14 (Pp. 104-216); Monday is Martin Luther King holiday

As a result of their colonial legacy, Latin American nations became dependent on export commodities, which shaped the nature of Latin American states. We will look at the issue of dependent development and import substitution industrialization as a strategic response to assert national autonomy. This history created a distinctive role for the state in much of Latin America. In response to the contradictions of development, most Latin American nations implemented agrarian reform policies, fundamentally restructuring relations between traditional elites and the rural poor. Yet, the failure of agrarian reform, development policy, the penetration of agribusiness, and the adverse effects of development on the rural poor and the environment have been brought into relief in recent decades. The Annexation of Mexico traces U.S.-Mexican political relations through World War II, the cold war, and the war on drugs. In preparation for next week’s topic, the text explains Mexico’s debt crisis and the impact of economic restructuring.

No class Monday, Labor Day

Week 3, Sept. 8-12 Debt, Economic Restructuring, Neoliberalism, and Peasants

The Annexation of Mexico: Part 4 (Pp. 218-314)

The 1980s, referred to as the "Lost Decade" in Latin America, prompted a shift from state-led economies to neoliberalism throughout the region. We will explore the impact of the debt crisis, economic restructuring, and neoliberal policies, with a particular focus on agrarian systems. Of crucial concern is an ideological shift from populism and state paternalism to an emphasis on free-market enterprise, privatizations, and individualism. NAFTA became a centerpiece of Mexico's neoliberal economic agenda, yet it carries significant social and political implications for Latin American development. We will look at research that requires a reconceptualization of the Latin American peasantry and its insertion into the world capitalist economy in the context of economic restructuring and state shrinking. We shall be concerned with the ways campesinos have been affected by and responded to these changes. What are the various forms of accommodation and resistance to declining standards of living under the new neoliberal regime? The case of Mexican sugar cane growers and the effects of NAFTA on their livelihoods will be presented in lecture. The text highlights migration as a strategy to deal with the declining ability of agrarian agencies to meet the needs of campesinos.

Week 4, Sept. 15-19 The Zapatista Rebellion of Chiapas

Basta! Land & the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas:: Introduction, Ch. 1-2 (pp. 1-52)

The agrarian crisis in Mexico will be related to the EZLN (Zapatista) uprising. Some interesting questions are raised by this rebellion. Who is Subcomandante Marcos? Was the rebellion prompted by NAFTA? Why don't we hear about this uprising through the media? Basta! Land & the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas provides insight into the historical conditions that have marginalized peasants in Chiapas. This legacy of injustice continues to exclude the poorest sectors of Chiapas from access to government services, political power, and opportunity. How is it that such a radical grassroots peasant organization could emerge from such hopeless conditions? The EZLN rebellion is a symptom of distorted development and raises questions about the social and economic costs of economic restructuring and modernizing development. We will examine the misperceptions about this rebellion and the contradictions of development and food production in Mexico; these contradictions are confounded by Mexico's "end of agrarian reform" and how this relates to collective social movements.

ESSAY ON THE ANNEXATION OF MEXICO DUE ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15

Week 5, Sept. 22-26 The Zapatista Rebellion of Chiapas, continued

Basta! Land & the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas: Ch. 3-5 (pp. 53-124)

This week we will focus more intently on the development of indigenous peasant movements. Collier’s Basta! cautions us not to essentialize campesinos and their political mobilizations. Were there divisions within these movements? How essential was it that they create national networks? Chiapas is often portrayed as the most impoverished region of Mexico. Do other factors contradict this notion? We will want to explore the relationship between economic development, the state, political instability, and the government's concerns with repressing the rebellion at a time when its political hegemony and its place in the international economic order are at stake. This question also leads us to the issue of human rights, epitomized by the 1997 Acteal massacre and military buildup in the state of Chiapas.

Week 6, Sept. 29-Oct. 3 The Zapatista Rebellion of Chiapas, continued

Basta! Land & the Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas: Ch. 6-7, Epilogue (pp. 125-176)

In the concluding section of Basta! we take up the relation of ethnicity to indigenous struggle. Indigenous peoples of the Americas are today redefining their identities and creating new strategies to assert their rights and their place in the world order. New interpretive research raises theoretical questions regarding essentialism, constructionism, and ethnic identities in Latin America, and the relationship between ethnicity and politics. We will analyze these issues as they relate to indigenous peoples, their organization and mobilization, and the divergent conceptualizations of state policy towards indigenous peoples and of indigenous groups toward the forces of modernization.

Week 7, Oct. 6-10 Debt, Economic Restructuring, and the Environment

Indigenous Struggle at the Heart of Brazil: Ch. Inroduction, Ch. 1-2 (pp. 1-65)

The current crisis in Latin America and its impact on the poor requires an in-depth understanding of national debt, economic restructuring, and changes in the development policies of Latin American states. Latin America's debt crisis set into motion a series of transformative changes in policy and practice, shaped by IMF, World Bank, and the Brazilian government. Debt restructuring mandated a series of policy changes that relate to issues of development, such as mining, road building, and colonization projects. We will link these macroeconomic transformations to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and examine how they deprive indigenous peoples of their land and livelihoods. We will be concerned with the cultural, social and economic impact of deforestation on indigenous peoples in the area. Indigenous Struggles at the Heart of Brazil provides an understanding of state formation and frontier expansion from colonial times to the present, with an emphasis on the dynamic interplay between the Estado Novo’s conceptualization of the “Indian other” and the latter’s forms of accommodation and resistance to Brazilian expansionism.

ESSAY ON BASTA! LAND & THE ZAPATISTA REBELLION IN CHIAPAS DUE ON MONDAY, OCT. 6

Week 8, Oct. 15-17 Ethnicity and Indigenous Struggles for Cultural Survival

Indigenous Struggle at the Heart of Brazil: Ch. 3-5 (pp. 66-136)

We will examine the contradictions between government policy and the rights of indigenous peoples and between global policy and local realities. Indigenous peoples of the Americas are today redefining their identities and creating new strategies to assert their rights and their place in the world order. We will analyze these issues as they relate to indigenous peoples, and the struggles of indigenous groups as they mobilize against the forces of modernization. Indigenous Struggles at the Heart of Brazil offers an ethnographic analysis of the Xavante’s kin-ordered mode of production and the threat to this way of life posed by policies of pacification and assimilation. These processes are also represented in the continuing struggle of the Kayapo against mining and dam construction that threaten their traditional lands and way of life.

FALL BREAK MONDAY, OCT. 13

Week 9, Oct. 20-24 The Question of Land, Indian Reservations, and Seringueiros

Indigenous Struggle at the Heart of Brazil: Ch. 6-8, Conclusion (pp. 137-219)

The textbook addresses the role of FUNAI, the Brazilian Indian Agency and settlement of the Xavante on reservations within a context of military government sponsorship of megaproject initiatives. The seringueiros (rubber tappers) provide yet another unique case study over struggles for land and extractive reserves in Brazil. We will address the rubber tappers’ organizational strategies, the role of Chico Mendes, and their relative success against the cattle ranchers as they contested their rights to the rainforest. As the textbook argues, whether indigenous tribal peoples or rubber tappers, relationships between subaltern groups and the state are constantly negotiated, renegotiated, and subaltern groups also appropriate power to shape the course of history.

Week 10, Oct. 27-31 Civil War in Central America

The El Mozote Massacre: Ch. 1-4 (pp. 1-67)

Background will be given for the development of military dictatorships in Central America, the U.S. role in supporting these regimes, and the fate of people who suffered under them. Lecture will focus on the cold war context of U.S. intervention in Central America. The El Mozote Massacre addresses the repression of peasants under the military dictatorship in El Salvador and the U.S. coverup of the massacres. In considering this process, it is necessary to understand the role of the oligarchy and the political and economic history that led up to the civil war. We will also examine the military repression in Guatemala during the 1980s, and the contra war against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua.

ESSAY ON INDIGENOUS STRUGGLE AT THE HEART OF BRAZIL DUE MONDAY, MARCH 27.

Week 11, Nov. 3-7 Political Repression and Human Rights

The El Mozote Massacre: Ch. 5-7 (pp. 68-139)

We continue discussion of political repression by looking at its victims, misrepresentations of their social reality, and efforts to cover up the repression. Binford warns against essentializing the residents of El Mozote and offers a more personalized view of people's aspirations, efforts, and sense of community before the massacre. In doing so, the contradictions to the government's perception of rural Salvadorans become clear. Religion is also an important aspect of life in Latin America. What role did traditional Catholicism, versus liberation theology play in the political persuasions of its inhabitants? Does this accord with government actions? We should also raise the question whether justice was served by the investigation of the massacre.

Week 12, Nov. 10-14 Political Repression and Cultural Survival

The El Mozote Massacre: Ch. 8-10, Epilogue (pp. 140-210)

In the last unit of The El Mozote Massacre, Binford reveals the relationship between human rights performance and low-intensity conflict. Military strategies in Latin America often respond to the need to create an international image, yet we will see the contradictions in this notion. We conclude this text by coming to an anthropological understanding of the experiences of Mayan peasants with death squads and the ways in which survivors coped with the years of repression and reconstituted their understandings of community. In doing so, an alternative anthropology--the approach advocated in this text--will be a subject for discussion.

Week 13, Nov. 17-21 Understanding Cuba

Cuba: Neither Heaven Nor Hell: Prologue, Introduction, Ch. 1-2 (Pp. vii-61)

In her book, María López Vigil claims, “Cuba is portrayed as a two-dimensional photograph of Fidel Castro in power for 40 years, a one-party State, and a socialist economy on the brink of collapse.” Today, we are given little accurate news on Cuba and the image that most comes to Americans’ minds is that of Elian González. How can we explain this distorted view of a Latin American country so close to the United States? This week we will explore the underlying nature of U.S.-Cuban relations in historical perspective and what this has meant to the Cuban people. We will analyze Cuba’s “Special Period” and the emigration crisis. Does the U.S. blockade of Cuba make sense in today’s world? At issue are the ideological differences between socialism and capitalism. The textbook offers a unique perspective that serves as a corrective to many of the distorted notions that characterize U.S. perceptions of Cuba.

ESSAY ON THE EL MOZOTE MASSACRE DUE MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17.

Week 14, Nov. 24-26 Socialism vs. Neoliberalism in the Cuban Context

Cuba: Neither Heaven Nor Hell: Ch. 3-4 (Pp. 65-143)

A very challenging question for those of us raised in a capitalist system is to understand the contingent relationships between social equality, economic hegemony, and political systems of socialism and capitalism. Can egalitarian socialism survive in a globalized world that promotes “free” markets and internationalization of economies? We will look at Cuba’s efforts to retain its sovereignty and how well this effort has succeeded. As Cuba: Neither Heaven Nor Hell demonstrates, the real challenge is to understand Cuba through multiple lenses, critically evaluating both the positive and negative aspects of its development. With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, what structural changes has Cuba undertaken, and have these been beneficial or not? We must also ask how Cuba’s “Green Agenda” compares with environmental issues confronted by the United States—are there lessons to be learned here?

Nov. 27-28 is Thanksgiving break

Week 15, Dec. 1-5 Gender, Religion, and Politics

Cuba: Neither Heaven Nor Hell: Ch. 5-6 (Pp. 147-249)

Cuba has been a pioneer in asserting women’s equality, from women’s participation in the Cuban revolution to sponsoring some of the first international feminist congresses. What is the current reality in regard to gender equality in Cuba? Does gender equality mirror the equality inherent in the socialist political system? Castro defined the promotion of women in Cuban society as a “Revolution within the revolution”—how does this speak to gender equality in the United States, compared to Cuba? We will also explore the relationship of religious practice to this socialist system—are religion and political structures compatible in Cuba, or do they create intrinsic tensions in Cuban society? We will examine the role of the Catholic church’s hierarchy as well as the development of alternative religious practices, such as liberation theology and Santería.

Week 16, Dec. 8-10 No Classes this week

ESSAY ON CUBA: NEITHER HEAVEN NOR HELL DUE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, BY NOON.

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The anthropology web site is located at http://www.morris.umn.edu/academic/anthropology, or click on academic programs on the university main page, then scroll to and click anthropology. The site contains information on the major in Anthropology, anthropology course listings, faculty information, and hotlinks to anthropology resources on the web (accessed via the left frame window). Many sites of interest to anthropology students are available. For this course, click Donna Chollett's pages to find relevant web sites, video guides, historical background information and other topics related to the course.

For students interested in a major in Latin American Area Studies, please see me. Further information on the LAAS major, degree requirements, faculty and courses, study abroad, student study abroad testimonials, and other Latin American-related information is available on the web site http://www.morris.umn.edu/academic/laas/index.shtml, or click academic programs on the university main page, then scroll to and click Latin American Area Studies.