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Academic Year 2003/2004

Visions of the State: Rituals, Maps, and Photographs in Greater Latin America
CHUM 317 SP
Crosslistings:
LAST 317
ARHA 292
HIST 225

This course explores the craft of historical research through an examination of the connection between state formation and visual culture in GreaterLatin America (i.e., Latin America and the Hispanic U.S.). In particular we will examine the mimetic projects of public ritual, cartography, and photography as they have developed in the region. Participation in public rituals and the production and usage of maps and photographs in Latin America by elites and commoners gave shape to the nation-state through the colonial and independence periods.

The course is organized both thematically and chronologically focusing on how these mimetic projects developed from the colonial period to the present within their unique local contexts. Imbued with more than mere symbolic value, these representational phenomena were strategically constructed cultural media with profound political meanings. With this in mind, we will examine their production and reception in themes such as the history of race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, urbanization, land tenure, criminology, mass media, and modernity in GreaterLatin America

The course is structured in such a way that it invites students to do history, rather than merely read it. As such, throughout the course students will analyze and discuss sets of primary documents (electronic and printed reproductions of maps and photographs). Students will also have the option of creating and staging their own public ritual or cartographic or photographic essay that examines the themes of the course. While the course aims to treat Latin America as a whole, we will, for example, spend more time on case studies from Mexico and Brazil and less on those from Guatemala and the Chile. In the final weeks of the course, we will turn our attention to how the historical legacy of these mimetic projects has shaped life in contemporary Latin American and U.S. Latino/a societies.

MAJOR READINGS

William H. Beezley, Cheryl English Martin, and William E. French, eds. RITUALS OF RULE, RITUALS OF RESISTANCE: PUBLIC CELEBRATIONS AND POPULAR CULTURE IN MEXICO. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources, 1994.
Magali M. Carrera, IMAGINING IDENTITY IN NEW SPAIN: RACE, LINEAGE, AND THE COLONIAL BODY IN PORTRAITURE AND CASTA PAINTINGS. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003.
Guillermo Gómez-Peña et al., CODEX ESPANGLIENSIS: FROM COLUMBUS TO THE BORDER PATROL. San Francisco: City Lights Book, 2000.
Bar bara Mundy, THE MAPPING OF NEW SPAIN: INDIGENOUS CARTOGRAPHY AND THE MAPS OF THE RELACIONES GEOGRÁFICAS. University of Chicago Press, 1996.
Deborah Poole, VISION, RACE, AND MODERNITY: A VISUAL ECONOMY OF THE ANDEAN IMAGE WORLD. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997.
Adam Versényi, THEATRE IN LATIN AMERICA RELIGION, POLITICS, AND CULTURE FROM CORTÉS TO THE 1980S. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.

Course Packet [CP]

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

I. Participation
As a discussion seminar, consistent and thoughtful participation will determine a substantial part of your final grade. If discussion comes readily to you, look for ways to encourage others to participate. Absence from class precludes participation and has, therefore, an adverse effect on your grade. If you do miss a class meeting you will be responsible for finding out what was missed and for making up any assignments.
II. Weekly Presentations
To help facilitate discus sion, one or two students will present each weeks readings. Prior to each class students presenting the readings will meet with me to discuss the objectives and format of their presentation. Presentations will include a detailed response paper with an ext ended comparative bibliography related to the weeks themes. The day before class students will provide an email copy of their presentation with discussion questions to their classmates.

**Complete either IIIa or IIIb**
IIIa. Research Paper
A 10-15 page research paper (double spaced, 12 point font, with one-inch margins) utilizing primary and secondary resources examining in detail a topic of the students choosing (in consultation with the instructor) based on the themes drawn from the course . Students are required to submit a topic proposal and preliminary bibliography of the paper in week 10. This will contain: 1. a short (1-2 page) paper in which you present a proposal of your topic and the types of primary sources you anticipate using for it; 2. a preliminary bibliography of secondary materials on your topic. This should include both books and articles and indicate that you have spent time looking for materials and thinking about them. Textbooks should not appear in your bibliography. Int ernet sources should only be used for primary documents; 3. your paper should be sure to discuss: the problem/thesis you will investigate, the historical context, the organization of your paper, and the kinds of sources you expect to use and how these wil l be used in your analysis.
IIIb. Final Presentation-Performance
In lieu of a research paper, students will have the option of designing and staging their own public ritual or cartographic or photographic essay that examines the themes of the course . As with the research paper, students are required to submit a topic proposal and preliminary bibliography of the performance/presentation in week 10 (see details above).

**Proposal and bibliography due: March 24 (week 10)
**Research paper/Performance-Presentation due: April 28 (week 15, last class)

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: NONE    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Overmyer-Velazquez,Mark    
Times: ...W... 01:10PM-04:00PM;     Location: CFH106
Reserved Seats:    (Total Limit: 15)

Special Attributes:
Curricular Renewal:    Reading Non-Verbal Texts, Writing
Permission:    Permission of Instructor Required
Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2004

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