HISTORY 533.06
WOMEN IN LATIN AMERICA

MW 3:30-5:18

Journalism 291

http://people.cohums.ohio-state.edu/guy60
guy.60@osu.edu
Prof. Donna J. Guy
Office : Dulles Hall 210
Tel. 292-0342
Office Hours  M 10-11; F, 10-11and by appointment

   
The focus of this course is the history of women in Latin America from the Conquest to the present. Rather than look at each individual country and specific historical event, we will examine a series of concepts, institutions, and factors that have affected Latin American women, and, equally important, how women have reacted to and helped shape these experiences. The aim of the course is to introduce new ways to examine Latin American history through the methodologies employed in women’s history. It will deal extensively with the study of race and class, along with gender, as major categories of analysis.

Classes will be held twice a week and will consist of lectures, films, and group discussions of required readings.  Each Wednesday there will be readings discussions in which students will be asked to lead and  participate in discussions. Attendance is required, and students who miss more than 4 classes will be dropped.

There will be two thought papers, a mid term and a final exam. The thought papers should be no more than 10 pages, typewritten. The first will analyze a theme found in Magical Sites:  Women Travelers in 19^th-century Latin America. It will be due on April 25.  The second paper will analyze two of three places studied by Karen Kampwirth in Feminism and the Legacy of Revolution.  It will be due on the last day of classes.  Papers can be handed in earlier, but not later.  All written work must represent the individual effort of each student, and all material quoted directly or paraphrased must be identified through the use of footnotes. Footnotes must also be used to reflect opinions that are not our own, and all sources utilized should be listed alphabetically in a bibliography. Otherwise the paper will be considered to have been plagiarized. Footnotes and bibliography must be standardized according to a handbook of style such as Kate Turabian’s A Manual for Writers. No late papers will be accepted without previous permission from the instructor.  All students must be officially enrolled in the course by the end of the second full week of the quarter.  No requests to add the course will be approved by the department chair after that time.  Enrolling officially and on time is solely the responsibility of each student.

How to write a good book essay and term paper

Disability Policy: All students with disabilities should speak with Prof. Guy immediately in order to work out potential problems with note taking, reading the assigned books, and taking the exams
 
Several books have assigned for this course and are available at the SBX and the
OSU bookstores:

Socolow, The Women of Colonial Latin America
Díaz, Arlene, Female Citizens, Patriarchs, and the Law in Venezuela, 1786-1904

Marjorie Agosín and Julie H. Levison, eds., Magical Sites:  Women Travelers in 19^th-Century Latin America
Kampwirth, Feminism and the Legacy of Revolution
 
 
ASSIGNMENTS
 
 
March 26, 28 Women and Conquest,  link to powerpoint  

Women and the Church in Latin America link to powerpoint

READINGS:
Socolow, Ch. 1-3 

http://www.ancientmexico.com/content/map/index.html has an interactive map of MesoAmerica

Optional Reading:

Irene Silverblatt, “Imperial Dilemmas:  The Politics of Kinship and Inca Reconstructions of History”

April 2,4  Marriage, Property and the State link to powerpoint

READINGS

Documents 1-3
Socolow, Ch. 4-5, 7

 
Optional Readings:
Margaret A. Villanueva
“From Calpixqui to Corregidor:  Appropriation of Women’s Cotton Textile Production in Early Colonial Mexico”
Susan Soeiro
“The Social and Economic Role of the Convent,  Women and Nuns in Colonial Bahia,  1677-1800”
Asunción Lavrin
“The Role of Nunneries in the Economy of New Spain in the Eighteenth Century”

Begin reading Magical Sites

April 9, 11 The Construction of Racial Categories link to powerpoint, Gender and Work

READINGS:

Socolow, Ch. 6, 8   Discussion of Documents 4-8 

Optional Readings:

Shumway, “The Purity of My Blood Cannot Put Food on My Table”: Changing Attitudes Towards Interracial Marriage in Nineteenth-Century Buenos Aires” The Americas 58:2 2001), pp. 201-220.

Optional Readings:
 Lyman Johnson
“Manumission in Colonial Buenos Aires, “1776-1810”
Martha Abreu
”Slave Mothers and Freed Children:  Emancipation and Female Space in the Debates on the ‘Free Womb’ Law, Rio de Janeiro, 1871”

April 16-18,  Women and Independence in Latin America link to power point;  Women in the post independence state link to powerpoint

READINGS
Socolow, Ch. 9-11, Díaz, Ch. 3, 
Discussion of documents 10-11

 
April 23, 25  Movie:  Camila Law, Production and Reproduction  link to powerpoint ;  Venezuela powerpoint
 April 25 TAKE HOME MID-TERM GIVEN OUT

First Thought Paper Due April 25

Díaz, Ch. 2, 5,  6

Web sites on Venezuelan History http://vlib.iue.it/history/americas/Venezuela/index.html

Donna Guy,  “Women, Peonage and Industrialization in Argentina,”

Optional Readings:
Díaz, Ch. 1.

 
April30 Discussion of readings May 2 Movie:  Like Water for Chocolate; TAKE HOME MID TERM  DUE

Readings Díaz, Ch. 4, 7, 8 
 Start Reading Kampwirth

 Optional Reading: Nadia Youssef
“Cultural Ideal, Feminine Behavior, and Family Control.”

May 7-9 ;  Prostitution link to powerpoint ; Sexuality and Reproduction link to PowerPoint

READINGS:

David McCreery
“This Life of Misery and Shame:  Female Prostitution in Guatemala City, 1880-1920” 

Asunción Lavrin, Women, Feminism, and Social Change in Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay, 1890-1940 Ch. 5, “The Control of Reproduction:  Gender Relations under Scrutiny”

In Their Own Right:  Addressing the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Men Worldwide:  Latin America

May 14-16  Feminism and Social Reform link to powerpoint
June Hahner

READINGS:
“Feminism,  Women’s Rights, and the Suffrage Movement in Brazil”

May 21, 23  Women in nationalist and socialist revolutions link to powerpoint; Women and Military Dictatorships link to powerpoint;

Sandra McGee Deutsch, Gender and Sociopolitical Change in Latin America

READINGS:

Discussion of Kampwirth book

May 28 no class; May 30  The Rise of Women’s Groups in the 1980s and 90s link to powerpoint;  Women, Activism and Neoliberalism  link to outline

TAKE-HOME FINAL EXAM GIVEN OUT, Kampwirth Thought Paper Due

Optional Readings:
Elizabeth Friedman
“Paradoxes of Gendered Political Opportunity in the Venezuelan Transition to Democracy”
Carol Ann Drogus
“No Land of Milk and Honey: Women CEB Activists in Post-Transition Brazil”

FINAL EXAM DUE JUNE 6 5:18 at Dulles 210.

Grades will be assessed in the following way:
Two analytical papers, 20% each, mid term 20 %, final exam 25% class participation and attendance 15%. Students must complete all assignments for a passing grade.

EXTRA CREDIT ASSIGNMENTS

Students will be allowed to apply extra credit points (up to 8 points) to mid term exam scores or paper scores. Students can apply a maximum of 4 points toward final exam scores. Extra credit can be obtained by reading optional articles or extra books and write a 1-2 page paper.  One to two extra credit points will be given for a well written analysis of an article, movie, or visiting scholar presentation and up to four points will be given for a book report.  Students may rent or attend Latin American films which offer insights into gender relations historically. Examples of such films are Xuxa, I, the Worst of All, Miss Mary, Water for Chocolate, The Official Story, Evita, Central Station, Doña Herlinda and Her Son, etc. Students attending a film must write a 1-2 page paper analyzing the nature of gender relations and its implications for Latin American women’s history. All extra credit assignments MUST be handed in by June 1

Plagiarism policy:

See this web site for information on plagiarism and writing handouts: http://cstw.osu.edu/ especially at http://cstw.osu.edu/writing_center/handouts/index.htm
 
Be forewarned that I will pursue cases of academic misconduct to the appropriate University committee.

WEB SITES FOR LATIN AMERICAN WOMEN AND GENDER STUDIES

http://www.eurosur.org/FLACSO/mujeres
in Spanish, statistics by country

http://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/hasrg/latinam/balder.html
a bibliography in English on sex and sexuality in Latin America

http://lanic.utexas.edu/la/region/women/
a master listing of web sites related to women in Latin America

http://www.yahoo.com
do the same as above-this is a great search engine

http://www.evitaperon.org/
the official society

http://www.crlp.org//
Center for Reproductive Law and Policy

http://www.un.org/popin
UN Population and Development Program-lots of statistics

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/GlobalGender/latampage.html
another site that leads you to additional web sites

http://www.thebody.com/
Search for HIV Latin America for comprehensive web site.

http://www.prb.org/
Population Reference Bureau

http://www.agi-usa.org/

Alan Gutmacher Institute—all kinds of statistics on sexual behavior

http://women3rdworld.miningco.com/
General women’s history site with links to articles about Latin American women and Latin American Gender Studies

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/GlobalGender/latampage.html
Bibliography on Women, Gender and History in the Caribbean and Latin America

http://chronicle.com/colloquy/99/menchu/background.htm
Rigoberta Menchu debate in the Chronicle of Higher Education-how accurate was Rigoberta’s oral history?

 http://www.planetsalsa.com/quepasa/frida_kahlo_self_portrait.htm  Great Frida Kahlo paintings and biography