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This course examines Latin American women's history from the prehispanic
period to the present day. We will examine women's experiences in a variety
of Latin American countries and at different time periods. This course
has two overarching goals. The first is historiographical and methodological
(and has two
parts): we will consider how historians have approached the study of women
and gender. Students also should come away with a comprehensive knowledge
of the historical literature on Latin American women. We will discuss how
useful models and explanations developed for women in the U.S. or Europe
are for understanding women's historical experiences in Latin America.
The second goal is for students to comprehend the varying experiences of
women of different classes, races, and ethnicities, from rural and urban
areas, during ordinary times and during periods of extreme social upheaval
and change. An overarching theme we will address is whether gender identity
shapes how people experience the world in a fundamental way and how historians
and others describe those experiences.
Those who would like a general introduction to Latin American history might consult E. Bradford Burns, Latin America: A Concise Interpretive History (6th ed., 1994). Required Work
Choice A:
Choice B
Each student will be responsible for giving the class a 15-20 minute oral presentation reporting on his/her project late in the semester. The paper will count for approximately 2/3 of the grade. Class participation, presentation, and discussant activities will count for approximately 1/3. Your paper will be due on Monday, May 5. Required Books: Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Spring Break Week 6
The final two weeks of class are reserved for your presentations. Please note that I will be available to meet with you at any of those meetings or after the last day of class to discuss suggestions for the final versions of your papers. List of Articles and Chapters Arrom, Silvia, 1985. Employment. Marital Relations (chs 4,5).The Women of Mexico City, 1790-1857. Stanford: Stanford University Press. Behar, Ruth,1993. Introduction and Part Four: Reflejos/Reflections.Translated Woman: Crossing the Border with Esperanza's Story. Boston: Beacon Press. Besse, Susan, 1989. Crimes of Passion: The Campaign Against Wife Killing in Brazil, 1910-1940. Journal of Social History, 22:4. Fernández-Kelly, María Patricia,1983. Maquiladoras: The View from Inside (ch.6). For We Are Sold: I and My People: Women and Industry inMexico's Frontier.Albany: State University of New York Press. Guy, Donna,1991. Dangerous Women: Legalized Prostitution (ch.2). Conclusion. Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires: Prostitution, Family, and Nation in Argentina. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Kelly, Joan,1984. Did Women Have a Renaissance? Women, History
and Theory. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. (1977)
Lavrin, Asunción,1978. In Search of the Colonial Woman in Mexico: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. Latin American Women: Historical Perspectives, ed. byA. Lavrin. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. Lerner, Gerda,1986 The Creation of Patriarchy (ch.11). The Creation of Patriarchy. NY: Oxford University Press. ______1993 The Search for Women's History (ch.11). The Creation of Feminist Consciousness. NY: Oxford University Press. Levine, Robert,1994. The Cautionary Tale of Carolina Maria de Jesus. Latin American Research Review 29(1). Moraga, Cherie, 1986. From a Long Line of Vendidas: Chicanas and Feminism. In Feminist Studies, Critical Studies, Teresa de Lauretis, ed., pp.173-90. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Simpson, Amelia, 1993. Xuxavision: Programmed Euphoria (ch.2).Xuxa: The Mega-Marketing of Gender, Race and Modernity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Stone, Lawrence 1994 The Use and Abuse of Herstory. The New Republic, 210:18 (issue #4, 137). Stoner, K. Lynn 1987 Directions in Latin American Women's History.
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The class is organized
around discussion of assigned readings. Each class member will be responsible
for leading a discussion of a particular week's readings. The other assignment
is a paper but here you have a choice as to the type of assignment you
would like to do. It is important that you do the reading! If I feel that
class members are not discussing the reading in sufficient detail, I reserve
the right to assign short papers on each book.
course.