ANTH398

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ANTH398

Advanced Seminar: Critical Issues in Anthropology: Political Culture, Indians and the Nation-State in Mexico and Central America ANTH398 FA

Next Offered in 9899 FA

This senminar is intended mainly for anthropology majors and graduate students, but is open to all advanced students in the social sciences. The particular topic changes each year and is intended to reflect student interests. This semester we will examine the relationship between indigenous peoples, nationalism and national conflicts in Mexico and Central America. We will begin by profiling colonization and colonial rule, and then move to considering state formation and current issues of politics and race, nationalism and ethnicity. We will focus on the ways in which nationalist rhetorics, practices and symbols have constructed, encompassed and marginalized those considered "indigenous," and on the meanings indigenous peoples give to their own positions and indentities as "Indians." Areas of inquiry will include the Miskito Indians and the nation-state in Nicaragua, the position of Guatemalan Indians in national political conflicts, and the recent Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, Mexico.

MAJOR READINGS

Benedict Anderson, IMAGINED COMMUNITIES
Tzvetan Todorov, THE CONQUEST OF AMERICA
Greg Urban and John Sherzer (eds.), NATION-STATES AND
INDIANS IN LATIN AMERICA
Carol A. Smith (ed.), GUATEMALAN INDIANS AND THE STATE:
1540-1988
Judith Friedlander, BEING INDIAN IN HUEYAPAN
Eduardo Galeano, THE OPEN VEINS OF LATIN AMERICA
Kay Warren, THE SYMBOLISM OF SUBORDINATION: INDIANS IN
GUATEMALA
Also a number of articles on politics, race and ethnicity
in Latin America.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Take home mid-term exam, final research paper.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Class attendance, participation in discussions. Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UG Credit: 1.00

Prerequisites: None

Last Updated on MAR-03-1998

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