Course Description
A comparative study of contemporary Argentina and Chile, this course surveys the process of state formation and the issues of labor, gender, human rights, and popular culture in those two countries. Special emphasis will be put on the 1970s and 80s dictatorships and the development of Human Rights movements.
Athena Title
HIST ARGENTIN/CHILE
Semester Course Offered
Offered spring
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
Upon completion, students will be expected to: recognize basic geographic, economic, social, and ethnic characteristics of Argentina and Chile; identify main events, individuals and social actors in different chronological periods; analyze the interaction of domestic and international conditions in framing political events; apply different methodologies and concepts used in the humanities and social sciences to interpret ethnic, labor, and gender relations in those countries; access the social and environmental costs of economic development; value the primacy of human rights in conflict societies. The principal objective of the course is to teach students to think critically for themselves about the relationships between the past and the present, to learn to ask questions of the past that enable them to understand the present and mold the future, and to become attuned to both the limitations and possibilities of change. The course seeks to acquaint students with the ways in which past societies and peoples have defined the relationships between community and individual needs and goals, and between ethical norms and decision-making. In general students will be expected to: 1. read a wide range of primary and secondary sources critically. 2. polish skills in critical thinking, including the ability to recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, and the ability to evaluate--and support or refute--arguments effectively. 3. write stylistically appropriate and mature papers and essays using processes that include discovering ideas and evidence, organizing that material, and revising, editing, and polishing the finished papers.
Topical Outline
1. Defining the Southern Cone 2. Indigenous Groups and the Spanish Conquest 3. Colonial Economy 4. Independence and its Consequences 1810-1850 5. Paths of State Formation 6. Geographic Expansion 1850-1880 7. Immigration, Export Oriented Development 8. Oligarchic Regimes 1880-1910 9. First Democratic Transition 1910-1930 9. Great Depression and the Crisis of Southern Cone Democracy 1930-1945 10. Popular Nationalism, Peronist Government in Argentina 1945-1955 11. Chile’s second democratic period 1950-1970 12. Salvador Allende’s Socialist Revolution 1970-73 13. Augusto Pinochert Dictatorship 14. Argentina in the 1960s 15. Return of Peronism and Military Dictatorship 1973-1983 16. Democratic Transition in Argentina 1983-90 17. Democratic Transition in Chile 1989-92 18. The Fight for Human Rights Justice 18. Neo-liberal Democracy 1990-2001
Syllabus