Steve Volk Office Hours:
Office: Mudd 052A (x58522) Tuesdays: 11:00 - Noon
[email protected] Wednesdays: 2:00-3:00 PM
Class: King 337 Thursdays: 2:00-3:00 PM
Tu, Th 9:30-10:50 And by appointment
NOTE: The best way to reach me is by email prior to 10PM
"The antonym of forgetting is not remembering, it is justice," Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi
Between 1964 and 1976, nearly all of Latin America fell under military rule, including the four countries that make up South America’s “Southern Cone”: Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile. This course will focus primarily on two of these, Chile (which took pride in its democratic past), and Argentina (where military officers leapfrogged with civilian leaders from the 1930s). The course is organized around a set of central questions: Why did these states that (at least) aspired to democracy succumb to repressive dictatorships? What were the goals of those who instituted the dictatorships, how did they organize their regimes and for what purposes, and how were these “dirty war” dictatorships different from other periods of military rule in Latin America? And, what challenges, particularly to history and memory, have these dictatorships left in their wake?
We will be examining these questions from three different perspectives: the more abstract level of the collective (the state or social order); the concrete level of the individual affected by these events (the personal or family order); and the perspective of an outsider (you) who tries to imagine what these events both felt like and meant.
Studying the “dirty wars” of the Southern Cone is neither straightforward nor easy. It requires a commitment on your part to explore difficult and unsettling questions, to absorb both selfless and highly disturbing historical narratives, and to be prepared to engage not just intellectually, but emotionally with course materials and class discussions.
Course Goals and Objectives:
We will be examining these questions from three different perspectives: the more abstract level of the collective (the state or social order); the concrete level of the individual affected by these events (the personal or family order); and the perspective of an outsider (you) who tries to imagine what these events both felt like and meant.
Studying the “dirty wars” of the Southern Cone is neither straightforward nor easy. It requires a commitment on your part to explore difficult and unsettling questions, to absorb both selfless and highly disturbing historical narratives, and to be prepared to engage not just intellectually, but emotionally with course materials and class discussions.
Course Goals and Objectives:
Content Goals:
From a social or collective perspective
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Skill Development:
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Organization of Class: Readings and Videos
Although this is a fairly large class, it is designed to be discussion centered, but these will only be productive if you come prepared to discuss. That means that you must keep up with the reading assignments, and that you have watched the available videocasts before the class. I know that not everyone will watch every single video lecture in a timely fashion, but my expectation is that in any given week, most of you will – which will allow us to discuss the main questions raised that week.
Assignments, Grading, Your Responsibilities
Your primary responsibility in this class, then, is to play an active role in it. That means that you will have done the reading, watched the videocasts, and, most importantly, thought about what it all means before class.
In terms of other projects (written and multimedia), you will have three papers/projects and an on-going (Avatar) project that will last the entire semester. I will provide more information on all of these assignments later.
Avatar Project. Posts to the Avatar Blog will be due from September 22 to the end of the semester. At the beginning of the semester, you will all draw a slip of paper from a box. On it you will find a few details about a person (your avatar) you will create. These will include your birth gender, birthplace, year of birth, current location, your parents’ occupations and birthplace (if different from their current location), and their religion (if not Catholic). Over the course of the semester, through weekly diary/journal entries, you will report on the lived experience of that person during the period that we are covering in class (essentially the past 40 years). Half of you will be Argentine, the other half Chilean. You will be formed into groups of 6 (3 from each country) for the purpose of reading and commenting on each other’s posts. In the syllabus, under each week that you are writing an Avatar entry, you will see the date or date-range that you will be writing from. You will get further information on the project before you start.
Other Assignments and Percent of Your Final Grade:
Reflection Paper: September 8: Learning Goals (1-2 pages) - not graded
First Paper: September 29: Arguing from Evidence (3-5 pages) - 15%
Second Paper/Project: November 10: Understanding Repressive Regimes (4-6 pages) - 25%
Third Paper/Project: December 18, 11:00 AM: The Post-Dictatorship (6-8 pages) - 30%
Avatar Project - 30%
The point ranges I use for grading are as follows:
A+ (99-100) B+ (87-89) C+ (77-79) D+ (67-69)
A (95-98) B (83-86) C (73-76) D (63-66)
A- (90-94) B- (80-82) C- (70-72) F (below 63)
Late papers turned in without prior permission — you must request an extension before the due date of the paper — will be reduced by one grade-step for each day that an assignment is late. For example, a paper due on Tuesday, Nov. 10 turned in on Nov. 11 will get a “B-” instead of the “B” that it merited; if it is turned in on Nov. 12, it will get a “C+”, etc.
Although this is a fairly large class, it is designed to be discussion centered, but these will only be productive if you come prepared to discuss. That means that you must keep up with the reading assignments, and that you have watched the available videocasts before the class. I know that not everyone will watch every single video lecture in a timely fashion, but my expectation is that in any given week, most of you will – which will allow us to discuss the main questions raised that week.
Assignments, Grading, Your Responsibilities
Your primary responsibility in this class, then, is to play an active role in it. That means that you will have done the reading, watched the videocasts, and, most importantly, thought about what it all means before class.
In terms of other projects (written and multimedia), you will have three papers/projects and an on-going (Avatar) project that will last the entire semester. I will provide more information on all of these assignments later.
Avatar Project. Posts to the Avatar Blog will be due from September 22 to the end of the semester. At the beginning of the semester, you will all draw a slip of paper from a box. On it you will find a few details about a person (your avatar) you will create. These will include your birth gender, birthplace, year of birth, current location, your parents’ occupations and birthplace (if different from their current location), and their religion (if not Catholic). Over the course of the semester, through weekly diary/journal entries, you will report on the lived experience of that person during the period that we are covering in class (essentially the past 40 years). Half of you will be Argentine, the other half Chilean. You will be formed into groups of 6 (3 from each country) for the purpose of reading and commenting on each other’s posts. In the syllabus, under each week that you are writing an Avatar entry, you will see the date or date-range that you will be writing from. You will get further information on the project before you start.
Other Assignments and Percent of Your Final Grade:
Reflection Paper: September 8: Learning Goals (1-2 pages) - not graded
First Paper: September 29: Arguing from Evidence (3-5 pages) - 15%
Second Paper/Project: November 10: Understanding Repressive Regimes (4-6 pages) - 25%
Third Paper/Project: December 18, 11:00 AM: The Post-Dictatorship (6-8 pages) - 30%
Avatar Project - 30%
The point ranges I use for grading are as follows:
A+ (99-100) B+ (87-89) C+ (77-79) D+ (67-69)
A (95-98) B (83-86) C (73-76) D (63-66)
A- (90-94) B- (80-82) C- (70-72) F (below 63)
Late papers turned in without prior permission — you must request an extension before the due date of the paper — will be reduced by one grade-step for each day that an assignment is late. For example, a paper due on Tuesday, Nov. 10 turned in on Nov. 11 will get a “B-” instead of the “B” that it merited; if it is turned in on Nov. 12, it will get a “C+”, etc.
You may request an Incomplete in the class ONLY to complete the final paper/project. To be counted, all other work which had yet to be turned in must submitted by 4:30 PM on the last day of the Reading Period, December 15. That includes your Avatar posts.
Plagiarism and the Honor Code:
All students must sign an “Honor Code” for all assignments. This pledge states: “I affirm that I have adhered to the Honor Code in this assignment.” For further information, see the student Honor Code. If you have questions about what constitutes plagiarism, particularly in the context of joint or collective work, please see me or raise it in class.
Plagiarism and the Honor Code:
All students must sign an “Honor Code” for all assignments. This pledge states: “I affirm that I have adhered to the Honor Code in this assignment.” For further information, see the student Honor Code. If you have questions about what constitutes plagiarism, particularly in the context of joint or collective work, please see me or raise it in class.
Attendance, Tardiness, Class Behavior, Laptop Use, Accommodation
I expect that you will attend the class regularly because you want to, because you understand that you can’t fully participate in your own learning if you’re not there, and because you understand that in a class of this nature you have a responsibility to your classmates to contribute. I also understand that you may have to miss an occasional class. I take attendance every day as a way to learn your names and to keep track of absences. While I don’t have a specific policy on absences (i.e., only “x” number of absences are allowed), I do reserve the right to factor excessive absence from class into your final grade and will let you know if you’re in the danger zone.
As for coming in late, texting in class, surfing the internet, loudly slurping your morning coffee, etc., I have one central rule: be considerate to those around you and to me.
Considerable research has shown that taking notes on your laptop is not as good for your learning as taking them by hand. Considerable practice has shown that when you use your laptop to see what’s new on your Instagram account or buy shoes from Zappos, you both distract and annoy those around you. So plan your laptop use accordingly.
Finally, if you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible.
I expect that you will attend the class regularly because you want to, because you understand that you can’t fully participate in your own learning if you’re not there, and because you understand that in a class of this nature you have a responsibility to your classmates to contribute. I also understand that you may have to miss an occasional class. I take attendance every day as a way to learn your names and to keep track of absences. While I don’t have a specific policy on absences (i.e., only “x” number of absences are allowed), I do reserve the right to factor excessive absence from class into your final grade and will let you know if you’re in the danger zone.
As for coming in late, texting in class, surfing the internet, loudly slurping your morning coffee, etc., I have one central rule: be considerate to those around you and to me.
Considerable research has shown that taking notes on your laptop is not as good for your learning as taking them by hand. Considerable practice has shown that when you use your laptop to see what’s new on your Instagram account or buy shoes from Zappos, you both distract and annoy those around you. So plan your laptop use accordingly.
Finally, if you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible.
Books Recommended for Purchase [NOTE: You can buy these at the bookstore or through any on-line bookseller; one copy of each book is on reserve at the library; you can also request via OhioLink. I've linked to eBook editions of books.]
Elizabeth Quay Hutchison, Thomas Miller Klubock, Nara B. Milanich, and Peter Winn, eds, The Chile Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013). [Available in digital edition via OBIS]
C.G.M. Robben, Political Violence and Trauma in Argentina (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005). [Available in digital edition via OBIS]
Marguerite Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, rev. ed. (NY: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Alicia Partnoy, Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival in Argentina, 2nd ed. (Cleis Press), 1998.
Ariel Dorfman, Death and the Maiden (NY: Penguin), 1994.
Alejandro Zambra, Ways of Going Home (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 2013.
Finding the Readings: Books recommended for purchase will be on reserve in Mudd or can be accessed as an eReader via OBIS; other materials will either be linked directly (just click on the link) or can be found in BLACKBOARD under "readings," which will be organized by weeks. If you can't find the reading, or if something is wrong with the pdf that I've put on Blackboard, please let me know so I can fix it.
Elizabeth Quay Hutchison, Thomas Miller Klubock, Nara B. Milanich, and Peter Winn, eds, The Chile Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013). [Available in digital edition via OBIS]
C.G.M. Robben, Political Violence and Trauma in Argentina (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005). [Available in digital edition via OBIS]
Marguerite Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, rev. ed. (NY: Oxford University Press, 2011).
Alicia Partnoy, Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival in Argentina, 2nd ed. (Cleis Press), 1998.
Ariel Dorfman, Death and the Maiden (NY: Penguin), 1994.
Alejandro Zambra, Ways of Going Home (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 2013.
Finding the Readings: Books recommended for purchase will be on reserve in Mudd or can be accessed as an eReader via OBIS; other materials will either be linked directly (just click on the link) or can be found in BLACKBOARD under "readings," which will be organized by weeks. If you can't find the reading, or if something is wrong with the pdf that I've put on Blackboard, please let me know so I can fix it.
Syllabus
Sept. 1, 3: Introduction: Studying the past
Main points of discussion: Why bother studying history? What perspective does it give us? What is the relationship between history as a subject of analysis and history as lived by real people? What is your personal responsibility to history? How should we approach it in this class?
Sept. 1: Introduction: Goals and Methods: Communities of Practice
Sept. 3: Why Study the Past?
Readings:
PRI’s ‘The World’ “A Grandmother in Argentina Finds Her Grandson After Nearly 40 Years” (August 6, 2014) [listen to audio clip]; Joseph Hinchliffe, “Chile Opens Criminal Investigation into Bombing of Presidential Palace,” Santiago Times (April 29, 2014); Pascale Bonnefoy, “Chilean Court Rules U.S. Had Role in Murders,” New York Times (June 30, 2014); Anthony Boadle, “World Cup police cooperation nabs Argentine 'dirty war' torturer,” Reuters (July 3, 2014); Jonathan Franklin and Jonathan Watts, “Former Chilean military officers charged in 1973 murder of singer Víctor Jara,” The Guardian (July 23, 2015); Peter Kornbluh, “Los Quemados: Chile’s Pinochet Covered up Human Rights Atrocity,” National Security Archive, July 31, 2015.
James Baldwin, "White Man's Guilt," Ebony (August 1965).
Think about what history is in the slide show below - click play to start.
Main points of discussion: Why bother studying history? What perspective does it give us? What is the relationship between history as a subject of analysis and history as lived by real people? What is your personal responsibility to history? How should we approach it in this class?
Sept. 1: Introduction: Goals and Methods: Communities of Practice
Sept. 3: Why Study the Past?
Readings:
PRI’s ‘The World’ “A Grandmother in Argentina Finds Her Grandson After Nearly 40 Years” (August 6, 2014) [listen to audio clip]; Joseph Hinchliffe, “Chile Opens Criminal Investigation into Bombing of Presidential Palace,” Santiago Times (April 29, 2014); Pascale Bonnefoy, “Chilean Court Rules U.S. Had Role in Murders,” New York Times (June 30, 2014); Anthony Boadle, “World Cup police cooperation nabs Argentine 'dirty war' torturer,” Reuters (July 3, 2014); Jonathan Franklin and Jonathan Watts, “Former Chilean military officers charged in 1973 murder of singer Víctor Jara,” The Guardian (July 23, 2015); Peter Kornbluh, “Los Quemados: Chile’s Pinochet Covered up Human Rights Atrocity,” National Security Archive, July 31, 2015.
James Baldwin, "White Man's Guilt," Ebony (August 1965).
Think about what history is in the slide show below - click play to start.
REFLECTION DUE, SEPT. 8: LEARNING GOALS. Please hand in, at the beginning of class on Sept. 8, a short reflection on your personal learning goals for this course: What goals do you have for this course? What do you want to learn? Think not just about content but more broadly: skills, approaches, types of interactions. Try to be specific and detailed (not just “Chilean history”, for example). Include anything you plan to do to meet your goals (e.g. weekly objectives; time schedules, periodic meetings with the teacher, etc.). 1-2 pages (no grade).
Sept. 8, 10: Aspects of Chilean History to the 1973 Coup
Four different narratives about the state, the relationship of citizens to the state, and the nature of the economy contended for dominance in the early 1970s: Revolutionary Left, Parliamentary Left, Parliamentary Right; and Authoritarian Right. Besides understanding what each represented, the central question we want to answer is what shaped the eventual outcome, a military coup.
Video Assignments:
Everyone should watch the following video:
Chile: The Election of Salvador Allende (11:00)
Students who have not taken HIST 110 should watch the following three videocasts:
Chile in the Nineteenth Century (29:44);
Chile: Nitrate Mining and the Labor Movement (26:30);
Chile: The Roots of Labor and Left Militancy (22:35)
Week of Sept. 8: Avatars
Pick slips on Sept. 10; return pseudonyms by Sept. 15.
Sept. 8: Chile to 1970
Readings:
Elizabeth Quay Hutchison, Thomas Miller Klubock, Nara B. Milanich, and Peter Winn, eds, The Chile Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013): 289-319; 334-341; 343-375.
Steven S. Volk, “Salvador Allende,” in The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. Ed. William Beezley. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming: Pgs. 1-16.
Salvador Allende, “Chile Begins Its March Toward Socialism,” in Dale Johnson, ed., The Chilean Road to Socialism (Garden City, NJ: Anchor Books, 1973), pp. 150-166.
Gwynn Thomas, “The Legacies of Patrimonial Patriarchalism,” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 636:1 (July 2011): 69-87.
Sept. 10: The Elections of 1970 & The Popular Unity in Office
Readings:
Régis Debray, The Chilean Revolution: Conversations with Allende (NY: Vintage Books, 1971): 81-128.
Steven S. Volk, “Salvador Allende,” in The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. Ed. William Beezley. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming: Pgs. 16-30.
The Chile Reader: 353-379; 386-405.
Four different narratives about the state, the relationship of citizens to the state, and the nature of the economy contended for dominance in the early 1970s: Revolutionary Left, Parliamentary Left, Parliamentary Right; and Authoritarian Right. Besides understanding what each represented, the central question we want to answer is what shaped the eventual outcome, a military coup.
Video Assignments:
Everyone should watch the following video:
Chile: The Election of Salvador Allende (11:00)
Students who have not taken HIST 110 should watch the following three videocasts:
Chile in the Nineteenth Century (29:44);
Chile: Nitrate Mining and the Labor Movement (26:30);
Chile: The Roots of Labor and Left Militancy (22:35)
Week of Sept. 8: Avatars
Pick slips on Sept. 10; return pseudonyms by Sept. 15.
Sept. 8: Chile to 1970
Readings:
Elizabeth Quay Hutchison, Thomas Miller Klubock, Nara B. Milanich, and Peter Winn, eds, The Chile Reader: History, Culture, Politics (Durham: Duke University Press, 2013): 289-319; 334-341; 343-375.
Steven S. Volk, “Salvador Allende,” in The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. Ed. William Beezley. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming: Pgs. 1-16.
Salvador Allende, “Chile Begins Its March Toward Socialism,” in Dale Johnson, ed., The Chilean Road to Socialism (Garden City, NJ: Anchor Books, 1973), pp. 150-166.
Gwynn Thomas, “The Legacies of Patrimonial Patriarchalism,” The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science Vol. 636:1 (July 2011): 69-87.
Sept. 10: The Elections of 1970 & The Popular Unity in Office
Readings:
Régis Debray, The Chilean Revolution: Conversations with Allende (NY: Vintage Books, 1971): 81-128.
Steven S. Volk, “Salvador Allende,” in The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History. Ed. William Beezley. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming: Pgs. 16-30.
The Chile Reader: 353-379; 386-405.
The audio below is of a phone conversation captured by President Richard Nixon's secret Oval Office taping system. Nixon is speaking to his press secretary, Ron Zeigler, were made on March 23, 192. Zeigler was informing Nixon of a press conference that took place after the secret International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT) documents were leaked to Jack Anderson, a journalist. One ITT document said that Nixon had given instructions to then U.S. Ambassador Edward Korry, to do "all possible short of a Dominican Republic-type action [i.e. a full military invasion, which the U.S. carried out in that country in 1965] to keep Allende from taking power." Nixon expressed his anger at Korry, saying "he just failed, the son of a bitch…. He should have kept Allende from getting in."
For more, go to the National Security Archive
For more, go to the National Security Archive
Sept. 15, 17: Internal and External Opponents
The Popular Unity faced opposition from the Right (the National Party, the right-wing of the Christian Democratic Party and the proto-fascist Patria y Libertad (Fatherland and Liberty) movement, the Left (particularly the MIR (Movement of the Revolutionary Left) and left Socialists, as well as from the Nixon Administration.
The Popular Unity faced opposition from the Right (the National Party, the right-wing of the Christian Democratic Party and the proto-fascist Patria y Libertad (Fatherland and Liberty) movement, the Left (particularly the MIR (Movement of the Revolutionary Left) and left Socialists, as well as from the Nixon Administration.
Week of Sept. 15: Avatars
Hand in pseudonyms along with biographical data from the slip you picked by Tuesday, Sept. 15; bring computer to class Sept. 17 for set-up instructions.
Sept. 15: The Role of the United States
Readings:
Stephen Kinzer, “We’re Going to Smash Him,” in Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq (NY: Henry Holt and Co., 2006): 170-194.
The Chile Reader, pp. 380-385, 422-425.
Documents from Peter Kornbluh, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability, updated ed. (NY: New Press, 2013): Chapter 2 ("Destabilizing Democracy"): Documents 1-6 (pp. 116-137); 9 (p. 140); 16-17 (p. 152-155).
Sept. 17: The End of the Peaceful Road
Readings:
Steve J. Stern, “Chronicling a Coup Foretold? Previews of the Impossible,” in Battling for Hearts and Minds: Memory Struggles in Pinochet’s Chile, 1973-1988 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006): 11-28.
The Chile Reader: 406-421; 426-432.
Hand in pseudonyms along with biographical data from the slip you picked by Tuesday, Sept. 15; bring computer to class Sept. 17 for set-up instructions.
Sept. 15: The Role of the United States
Readings:
Stephen Kinzer, “We’re Going to Smash Him,” in Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq (NY: Henry Holt and Co., 2006): 170-194.
The Chile Reader, pp. 380-385, 422-425.
Documents from Peter Kornbluh, The Pinochet File: A Declassified Dossier on Atrocity and Accountability, updated ed. (NY: New Press, 2013): Chapter 2 ("Destabilizing Democracy"): Documents 1-6 (pp. 116-137); 9 (p. 140); 16-17 (p. 152-155).
Sept. 17: The End of the Peaceful Road
Readings:
Steve J. Stern, “Chronicling a Coup Foretold? Previews of the Impossible,” in Battling for Hearts and Minds: Memory Struggles in Pinochet’s Chile, 1973-1988 (Durham: Duke University Press, 2006): 11-28.
The Chile Reader: 406-421; 426-432.
Sept. 22, 24: Argentina: Aspects of Argentine history to the 1976 coup
Central to understanding contemporary Argentine history is the phenomenon of Peronism, particularly its relationship to and impact on the labor movement and the way that Argentine leaders after Perón’s ouster in 1955 handled its challenges. Key questions to answer are how the lack of a strong institutional framework encouraged the development of a militant right and left and what position Argentine civil society occupied when the military took over.
Video Assignment: Everyone should watch the following video:
Argentina: A State in Crisis (1955-1976) (23:49)
Students who have not taken HIST 110 should watch the following two video:
Argentina: The Oligarchic State (1880-1916) (23:19)
Argentina: The Rise & Fall of Peronism (36:02)
Week of Sept. 22: Avatars
First post: (Both Chile and Argentina): Late 1960s or early 1970s: Introduce yourselves. If you are still young (under 15), you may chose to have your parents introduce you.
Sept. 22: Perón and Peronism
Readings:
Antonius C.G.M. Robben, Political Violence and Trauma in Argentina (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), Preface and Chapters 1-3 (pp. ix-xii, 1-63).
Eduardo Elena, “Peronist Consumer Politics and the Problem of Domesticating Markets in Argentina, 1943-1955” Hispanic American Historical Review 87:1 (2007): 111-149.
Sept. 24: Descent into Chaos
Readings:
Robben, Political Violence, Chapters 4-8 (pp. 64-168).
Central to understanding contemporary Argentine history is the phenomenon of Peronism, particularly its relationship to and impact on the labor movement and the way that Argentine leaders after Perón’s ouster in 1955 handled its challenges. Key questions to answer are how the lack of a strong institutional framework encouraged the development of a militant right and left and what position Argentine civil society occupied when the military took over.
Video Assignment: Everyone should watch the following video:
Argentina: A State in Crisis (1955-1976) (23:49)
Students who have not taken HIST 110 should watch the following two video:
Argentina: The Oligarchic State (1880-1916) (23:19)
Argentina: The Rise & Fall of Peronism (36:02)
Week of Sept. 22: Avatars
First post: (Both Chile and Argentina): Late 1960s or early 1970s: Introduce yourselves. If you are still young (under 15), you may chose to have your parents introduce you.
Sept. 22: Perón and Peronism
Readings:
Antonius C.G.M. Robben, Political Violence and Trauma in Argentina (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005), Preface and Chapters 1-3 (pp. ix-xii, 1-63).
Eduardo Elena, “Peronist Consumer Politics and the Problem of Domesticating Markets in Argentina, 1943-1955” Hispanic American Historical Review 87:1 (2007): 111-149.
Sept. 24: Descent into Chaos
Readings:
Robben, Political Violence, Chapters 4-8 (pp. 64-168).
First Paper: September 29: Arguing from Evidence (3-5 pages)
Sept 29: Chile - Organizing the Dictatorship [NOTE: I will be giving a lecture in Los Angeles on Oct 1 – continue with the reading but there will be no class.]
The military intervened in 1973 responding to its own sense of state crisis. The fact of its intervention only answered one question, whether the Popular Unity experiment would be allowed to continue until its mandated constitutional end in 1976. With military intervention, we now need to account for how it was that Pinochet was able to centralize power in his own circle and why he ultimately chose the governing model he did. The main questions are what were the emerging goals of Pinochet’s government and how did he organize his rule to get them.
Video Assignment:
From Repression to Reconstruction: The Political Economy of the Chilean Dictatorship (27:40)
Optional video: Brazil: The Transition to Authoritarianism (27:00)
Week of Sept. 29: Avatars
Chile: Anytime from Sept. 12, 1973 to early 1974
Argentina: Anytime from March 25, 1976 to the end of 1976
Sept 29: Chile - Organizing the Dictatorship [NOTE: I will be giving a lecture in Los Angeles on Oct 1 – continue with the reading but there will be no class.]
The military intervened in 1973 responding to its own sense of state crisis. The fact of its intervention only answered one question, whether the Popular Unity experiment would be allowed to continue until its mandated constitutional end in 1976. With military intervention, we now need to account for how it was that Pinochet was able to centralize power in his own circle and why he ultimately chose the governing model he did. The main questions are what were the emerging goals of Pinochet’s government and how did he organize his rule to get them.
Video Assignment:
From Repression to Reconstruction: The Political Economy of the Chilean Dictatorship (27:40)
Optional video: Brazil: The Transition to Authoritarianism (27:00)
Week of Sept. 29: Avatars
Chile: Anytime from Sept. 12, 1973 to early 1974
Argentina: Anytime from March 25, 1976 to the end of 1976
Sept 29: Organizing Repression
Readings:
Lily Bryant, "Between Violence and the Law: Reconceptualizing Democracy in the Early Years of the Pinochet Regime," unpublished Honors thesis, Oberlin College Department of History, 2014: pp. i - 52.
The Chile Reader: pp. 433-467.
Oct 1: NO CLASS – Continue Reading on “Pinochet’s Revolution”
Readings:
Carlos Huneeus, “Technocrats and Politicians in an Authoritarian Regime. The 'ODEPLAN Boys' and the 'Gremialists' in Pinochet's Chile,” Journal of Latin American Studies 32:2 (May 2000): 461-501.
The Chile Reader: pp. 468-473, 498-511.
Readings:
Lily Bryant, "Between Violence and the Law: Reconceptualizing Democracy in the Early Years of the Pinochet Regime," unpublished Honors thesis, Oberlin College Department of History, 2014: pp. i - 52.
The Chile Reader: pp. 433-467.
Oct 1: NO CLASS – Continue Reading on “Pinochet’s Revolution”
Readings:
Carlos Huneeus, “Technocrats and Politicians in an Authoritarian Regime. The 'ODEPLAN Boys' and the 'Gremialists' in Pinochet's Chile,” Journal of Latin American Studies 32:2 (May 2000): 461-501.
The Chile Reader: pp. 468-473, 498-511.
Oct. 6, 8: Argentina: The Dirty War
By most accounts, when the military ousted Isabel Perón in March 1976, they had already largely completed the task of hunting down and killing/capturing most of the militant Left. The central questions for this week, then, are how we understand the goals, procedures, and ideology of the Junta leaders in Argentina. What did they want to accomplish and to what extent were their enemies real or imaginary?
Video Assignment:
Argentina: Institutionalizing the Military State - The Economic Objectives (34:33);
Argentina: The Dirty Wars (18:51)
Week of Oct. 6: Avatars
Chile: Anytime from 1975-1982
Argentina: Around or shortly after June 25, 1978 (when Argentina wins the World Cup)
Oct. 6 The “Proceso” and the Military Perspective
Readings:
Robben, Political Violence, Chapters 9-10 (pp. 171-212).
Marguerite Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, rev. ed. (NY: Oxford University Press, 2011), Introduction and Chapter 1 (p. 3-71).
Oct. 8: The Argentine Dirty War
Readings:
Robben, Political Violence, Chapters 11-14 (pp. 213-298).
By most accounts, when the military ousted Isabel Perón in March 1976, they had already largely completed the task of hunting down and killing/capturing most of the militant Left. The central questions for this week, then, are how we understand the goals, procedures, and ideology of the Junta leaders in Argentina. What did they want to accomplish and to what extent were their enemies real or imaginary?
Video Assignment:
Argentina: Institutionalizing the Military State - The Economic Objectives (34:33);
Argentina: The Dirty Wars (18:51)
Week of Oct. 6: Avatars
Chile: Anytime from 1975-1982
Argentina: Around or shortly after June 25, 1978 (when Argentina wins the World Cup)
Oct. 6 The “Proceso” and the Military Perspective
Readings:
Robben, Political Violence, Chapters 9-10 (pp. 171-212).
Marguerite Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, rev. ed. (NY: Oxford University Press, 2011), Introduction and Chapter 1 (p. 3-71).
Oct. 8: The Argentine Dirty War
Readings:
Robben, Political Violence, Chapters 11-14 (pp. 213-298).
Oct 13, 15: Reading Trauma/Traumatic Narratives
Over the next few weeks we will be reading and discussing some of the most disturbing aspects of the military dictatorships. We will use this week to prepare.
Week of Oct. 13: Avatars
Chile: Anytime from 1982-1986
Argentina: Anytime from 1978-1980
Oct 13: Confronting Violence: Visit to the Allen Memorial Art Museum (meet in the courtyard behind the museum at 9:30 AM)
Readings:
Patrice McSherry, Predatory States. Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), Chs. 3-4 (69-138).
Marguerite Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, rev. ed. (NY: Oxford University Press, 2011), Introduction and Chapter 1 (p. 3-71).
Oct 15: Discussion
FALL BREAK
Over the next few weeks we will be reading and discussing some of the most disturbing aspects of the military dictatorships. We will use this week to prepare.
Week of Oct. 13: Avatars
Chile: Anytime from 1982-1986
Argentina: Anytime from 1978-1980
Oct 13: Confronting Violence: Visit to the Allen Memorial Art Museum (meet in the courtyard behind the museum at 9:30 AM)
Readings:
Patrice McSherry, Predatory States. Operation Condor and Covert War in Latin America (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005), Chs. 3-4 (69-138).
Marguerite Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, rev. ed. (NY: Oxford University Press, 2011), Introduction and Chapter 1 (p. 3-71).
Oct 15: Discussion
FALL BREAK
Oct. 27, 29: Understanding state terror
We come to one of the most difficult parts of the course: understanding the decision to employ a policy of state terrorism and its actual implementation. We will focus in particular not just on those who authorized or carried out these policies (we have already heard from some of them), but on the real targets of state terrorism: the individual and civil society, those who might be called either “innocent bystanders” or the “silent majority” (to borrow a U.S. phrase).
Video Assignment:
The National Security State (30:32)
Week of Oct. 27: Avatars
Chile: Anytime in 1986 to mid-1988
Argentina: Anytime from 1980 to 1982
Oct. 27: Moral Authority or Obedience to Authority? What we know (or don’t) from the Milgram and Zimbardo experiments
Reading:
Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, Ch. 2 (pp. 73-102), and 5 (173-223).
Oct. 29: Personal testimony
Readings:
Alicia Partnoy, Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival in Argentina, 2nd ed. (Cleis Press), 1998.
"Interrogating a Torturer" (People and Power, Al Jazeera, English; September 30, 2009 (video below):
We come to one of the most difficult parts of the course: understanding the decision to employ a policy of state terrorism and its actual implementation. We will focus in particular not just on those who authorized or carried out these policies (we have already heard from some of them), but on the real targets of state terrorism: the individual and civil society, those who might be called either “innocent bystanders” or the “silent majority” (to borrow a U.S. phrase).
Video Assignment:
The National Security State (30:32)
Week of Oct. 27: Avatars
Chile: Anytime in 1986 to mid-1988
Argentina: Anytime from 1980 to 1982
Oct. 27: Moral Authority or Obedience to Authority? What we know (or don’t) from the Milgram and Zimbardo experiments
Reading:
Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, Ch. 2 (pp. 73-102), and 5 (173-223).
Oct. 29: Personal testimony
Readings:
Alicia Partnoy, Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival in Argentina, 2nd ed. (Cleis Press), 1998.
"Interrogating a Torturer" (People and Power, Al Jazeera, English; September 30, 2009 (video below):
|
Optional: (Spanish)
"El fotógrafo,"by Clara Ibarra y Alexandra Hall (24:00), Radio Ambulante (audio above; click on link for transcript). Optional: (English Podcast): “What Happened at Dos Erres” (This American Life, May 25, 2012), about a 1982 military massacred in the village of Dos Erres. |
Nov. 3, 5: Contesting the Dictatorship - Chile
Opposition to the military dictatorship in Chile was continual during the regime's 17 years in power, but only in the early 1980s did it become widespread and public. The opposition was divided between those who felt that Pinochet (and the government he represented) could only be overthrown by force, and others who felt that he could be removed through mass pressure, negotiation, and taking advantages of the openings that the regime itself created. We will examine both this week.
Video Assignment:
Opposition to the Dictatorships: The Role of Women and Gender (37:19)
Week of Nov. 3: Avatars
Chile: October 6, 1988 (the day after the plebiscite)
Argentina: June 14, 1982 (Argentina surrenders to the UK in the Falklands/Malvinas War)
Nov. 3: Organizing the Opposition
Readings:
The Chile Reader, pp. 474-492, 512-519.
Cathy Lisa Schneider, “Protests in the Poblaciones,” in Shantytown Protest in Pinochet’s Chile (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995), pp. 153-189.
Nov. 5: The Plebiscite: Just Say No
Reading:
Heraldo Muñoz, “To Kill Pinochet or Defeat Him with a Pencil,” in The Dictator’s Shadow. A Political Memoir (NY: Basic Books), pp. 160-208.
Opposition to the military dictatorship in Chile was continual during the regime's 17 years in power, but only in the early 1980s did it become widespread and public. The opposition was divided between those who felt that Pinochet (and the government he represented) could only be overthrown by force, and others who felt that he could be removed through mass pressure, negotiation, and taking advantages of the openings that the regime itself created. We will examine both this week.
Video Assignment:
Opposition to the Dictatorships: The Role of Women and Gender (37:19)
Week of Nov. 3: Avatars
Chile: October 6, 1988 (the day after the plebiscite)
Argentina: June 14, 1982 (Argentina surrenders to the UK in the Falklands/Malvinas War)
Nov. 3: Organizing the Opposition
Readings:
The Chile Reader, pp. 474-492, 512-519.
Cathy Lisa Schneider, “Protests in the Poblaciones,” in Shantytown Protest in Pinochet’s Chile (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995), pp. 153-189.
Nov. 5: The Plebiscite: Just Say No
Reading:
Heraldo Muñoz, “To Kill Pinochet or Defeat Him with a Pencil,” in The Dictator’s Shadow. A Political Memoir (NY: Basic Books), pp. 160-208.
Chile, la alegría ya viene (promotion for "No" campaign)
Nov. 10, 12: Contesting the Dictatorship - Argentina
In looking at the nature of the opposition in Argentina, we will want to focus on two particular features: gender and the role of the Church.
Week of Nov. 10: Avatars
Chile: March 11, 1990 (the day that Patricio Aylwin is sworn in)
Argentina: Dec. 10, 1983 (the day Raul Alfonsín is sworn in)
Nov. 10: The Madres de la Plaza de Mayo
Readings:
Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, Ch. 3 (pp. 103-126).
Matilde Mellibovsky, Circle of Love Over Death. Testimonies of Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 1977), pp. 81-157.
Nov. 12: The Role of the Church
Readings:
Patricia Marchak, God’s Assassins: State Terrorism in Argentina in the 1970s (Montreal and Kingston: McGill University Press, 1999), Chs. 13-14 (pp. 235-265).
“Argentina’s Disappeared: Father Christian, the priest who did the devil’s work,” The Independent, Oct. 11, 2007.
Optional: Robben, Political Violence, Chapter 15 (299-317).
In looking at the nature of the opposition in Argentina, we will want to focus on two particular features: gender and the role of the Church.
Week of Nov. 10: Avatars
Chile: March 11, 1990 (the day that Patricio Aylwin is sworn in)
Argentina: Dec. 10, 1983 (the day Raul Alfonsín is sworn in)
Nov. 10: The Madres de la Plaza de Mayo
Readings:
Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, Ch. 3 (pp. 103-126).
Matilde Mellibovsky, Circle of Love Over Death. Testimonies of Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 1977), pp. 81-157.
Nov. 12: The Role of the Church
Readings:
Patricia Marchak, God’s Assassins: State Terrorism in Argentina in the 1970s (Montreal and Kingston: McGill University Press, 1999), Chs. 13-14 (pp. 235-265).
“Argentina’s Disappeared: Father Christian, the priest who did the devil’s work,” The Independent, Oct. 11, 2007.
Optional: Robben, Political Violence, Chapter 15 (299-317).
Nov. 17, 19: The Difficult Transition: Chile
The next two week will focus on how these countries leave their dictatorships and the struggle to address questions of justice, truth, and reconciliation in the post-dictatorial regimes. Our critical questions will ponder the issue of justice and ask both what it is and how or whether it can be achieved in post-conflict societies.
Week of Nov. 17: Avatars
Chile: March 3, 2000 (Pinochet returns after his arrest in London)
Argentina: Dec. 29, 1990 (Carlos Menem pardons junta members)
Nov. 17: Chile’s Road Out: Truth and Reconciliation
Readings:
Mary Helen Spooner, “Truth and Reconciliation,” in The General’s Slow Retreat. Chile After Pinochet (Los Angeles and Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011), pp. 73-94.
Greg Grandin, “The Instruction of Great Catastrophe: Truth Commissions, National History, and State Formation in Argentina, Chile, and Guatemala,” The American Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 1 (February 2005), pp. 46-67.
The Chile Reader: 521-546.
Optional Resource: 40 Años Afiche Político en Chile (40 Years of Chilean Political Posters)
The next two week will focus on how these countries leave their dictatorships and the struggle to address questions of justice, truth, and reconciliation in the post-dictatorial regimes. Our critical questions will ponder the issue of justice and ask both what it is and how or whether it can be achieved in post-conflict societies.
Week of Nov. 17: Avatars
Chile: March 3, 2000 (Pinochet returns after his arrest in London)
Argentina: Dec. 29, 1990 (Carlos Menem pardons junta members)
Nov. 17: Chile’s Road Out: Truth and Reconciliation
Readings:
Mary Helen Spooner, “Truth and Reconciliation,” in The General’s Slow Retreat. Chile After Pinochet (Los Angeles and Berkeley: University of California Press, 2011), pp. 73-94.
Greg Grandin, “The Instruction of Great Catastrophe: Truth Commissions, National History, and State Formation in Argentina, Chile, and Guatemala,” The American Historical Review, Vol. 110, No. 1 (February 2005), pp. 46-67.
The Chile Reader: 521-546.
Optional Resource: 40 Años Afiche Político en Chile (40 Years of Chilean Political Posters)
Nov. 19: What is Justice?
Is justice possible for victims of repression under traditional legal frameworks? We'll examine this question, and the issue of how justice can be served, by exploring Ariel Dorfman's impassioned play.
Reading:
Ariel Dorfman, Death and the Maiden (NY: Penguin), 1994.
Is justice possible for victims of repression under traditional legal frameworks? We'll examine this question, and the issue of how justice can be served, by exploring Ariel Dorfman's impassioned play.
Reading:
Ariel Dorfman, Death and the Maiden (NY: Penguin), 1994.
Nov. 24: Trials and Denials (No class Nov. 26)
The process whereby various high ranking military officers (and Junta members) were brought to trial in Argentina (only to be released later) was fundamentally different than in Chile.What created the circumstances for the process in Argentina - and where did it fall short?
Week of Nov. 24: Avatars
Chile: Dec. 10, 2006 (Pinochet dies)
Argentina: April 19, 2005 (Adolfo Scilingo is found guilty)
Readings:
Robben, Political Violence, Chapter 16 (pp. 318-340).
David Usborne, “Dictator jailed in final judgment on Argentinian junta’s dirty war,” The Independent, Dec. 24, 2010.
Francisco Goldman, “Children of the Dirty War: Argentina’s Stolen Orphans,” New Yorker, March 19, 2012.
Audio: PRI’s ‘The World’ “A Grandmother in Argentina Finds Her Grandson After Nearly 40 Years” (August 6, 2014).
The process whereby various high ranking military officers (and Junta members) were brought to trial in Argentina (only to be released later) was fundamentally different than in Chile.What created the circumstances for the process in Argentina - and where did it fall short?
Week of Nov. 24: Avatars
Chile: Dec. 10, 2006 (Pinochet dies)
Argentina: April 19, 2005 (Adolfo Scilingo is found guilty)
Readings:
Robben, Political Violence, Chapter 16 (pp. 318-340).
David Usborne, “Dictator jailed in final judgment on Argentinian junta’s dirty war,” The Independent, Dec. 24, 2010.
Francisco Goldman, “Children of the Dirty War: Argentina’s Stolen Orphans,” New Yorker, March 19, 2012.
Audio: PRI’s ‘The World’ “A Grandmother in Argentina Finds Her Grandson After Nearly 40 Years” (August 6, 2014).
Dec. 1, 3: Memory Work
In the next two weeks, we explore issues of the relationship between history and memory, and attempt to answer how (or if) post-conflict societies can agree on what happened in their countries. At stake is more than the ability (or inability) to fashion new national historical narratives. Rather, the questions raised concerns what happens when societies don’t agree on their pasts and how (personal and collective) memory re-figures that past.
"The past has nothing more to teach us," Carlos Menem (President of Argentina, 1989-99; responsible for pardoning all the ex-commanders of the Argentina military juntas who had been convicted and jailed after the return to civilian rule)
Week of Dec. 1: Avatars
Chile and Argentina: Final reflection in voice of avatar. Look back at your life over the past 40 years.
Dec. 1: Memory and History: Understanding Collective Memory
NOTE: We are fortunate to have Kate Doyle come to class today. Doyle is Senior Analyst of U.S. policy in Latin America at the National Security Archive. She directs several major research projects, including the Guatemala Project, which collects declassified U.S. and Guatemalan government documents on the countries' shared history from 1954, and the Evidence Project, connecting the right to truth and access to information with human rights and justice struggles in Latin America. (You will be expected to keep up with the course readings, and I have added an optional reading by Doyle.)
Readings:
The Chile Reader: 547-567.
Elizabeth Jelin, “Political Struggles for Memory,” and “History and Social Memory,” in State Repression and the Labors of Memory (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003), pp. 26-45, 46-59.
Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, Ch. 6 (pp. 225-297).
Robben, Political Violence, Conclusion (pp. 341-359).
Optional: Kate Doyle, "The Atrocity Files: Deciphering the Archives of Guatemala's dirty war," Harper's Magazine (December 2007): 52-64.
Dec. 3: The Politics of Memorialization
"The past sits so deep in your soul, you can never be free of it." Ruth Wallage-Binheim (Auschwitz survivor, interview 1998)
Readings:
Katherine Hite, “Searching and the Intergenerational Transmission of Grief in Paine, Chile,” and “The Globality of Art and Memory Making,” in Politics and the Art of Commemoration: Memorials to Struggle in Spain and Latin America (New York: Routledge, 2012), 63-89, 90-111.
Laurel Reuter, “The Disappeared,” in Los Desparecidos/The Disappeared (Italy: Charta – North Dakota Museum of Art, 2006), 25-35 (with photos and translation to Spanish in addition).
For contemporary news of personal markings of commemoration of the Holocaust, see: Proudly Bearing Elders’ Scars, Their Skin Says ‘Never Forget’ (New York Times, Sept. 30, 2012).
In the next two weeks, we explore issues of the relationship between history and memory, and attempt to answer how (or if) post-conflict societies can agree on what happened in their countries. At stake is more than the ability (or inability) to fashion new national historical narratives. Rather, the questions raised concerns what happens when societies don’t agree on their pasts and how (personal and collective) memory re-figures that past.
"The past has nothing more to teach us," Carlos Menem (President of Argentina, 1989-99; responsible for pardoning all the ex-commanders of the Argentina military juntas who had been convicted and jailed after the return to civilian rule)
Week of Dec. 1: Avatars
Chile and Argentina: Final reflection in voice of avatar. Look back at your life over the past 40 years.
Dec. 1: Memory and History: Understanding Collective Memory
NOTE: We are fortunate to have Kate Doyle come to class today. Doyle is Senior Analyst of U.S. policy in Latin America at the National Security Archive. She directs several major research projects, including the Guatemala Project, which collects declassified U.S. and Guatemalan government documents on the countries' shared history from 1954, and the Evidence Project, connecting the right to truth and access to information with human rights and justice struggles in Latin America. (You will be expected to keep up with the course readings, and I have added an optional reading by Doyle.)
Readings:
The Chile Reader: 547-567.
Elizabeth Jelin, “Political Struggles for Memory,” and “History and Social Memory,” in State Repression and the Labors of Memory (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003), pp. 26-45, 46-59.
Feitlowitz, A Lexicon of Terror, Ch. 6 (pp. 225-297).
Robben, Political Violence, Conclusion (pp. 341-359).
Optional: Kate Doyle, "The Atrocity Files: Deciphering the Archives of Guatemala's dirty war," Harper's Magazine (December 2007): 52-64.
Dec. 3: The Politics of Memorialization
"The past sits so deep in your soul, you can never be free of it." Ruth Wallage-Binheim (Auschwitz survivor, interview 1998)
Readings:
Katherine Hite, “Searching and the Intergenerational Transmission of Grief in Paine, Chile,” and “The Globality of Art and Memory Making,” in Politics and the Art of Commemoration: Memorials to Struggle in Spain and Latin America (New York: Routledge, 2012), 63-89, 90-111.
Laurel Reuter, “The Disappeared,” in Los Desparecidos/The Disappeared (Italy: Charta – North Dakota Museum of Art, 2006), 25-35 (with photos and translation to Spanish in addition).
For contemporary news of personal markings of commemoration of the Holocaust, see: Proudly Bearing Elders’ Scars, Their Skin Says ‘Never Forget’ (New York Times, Sept. 30, 2012).
Dec. 8, 10: Going Home
William Faulkner wrote in Requiem for a Nun: The past never dead; it's not even past." As a conclusion, we will explore the ways that the past lives on as the present in post-dictatorial countries, asking whether there are better ways to deal with a difficult past.
Week of Dec. 8: Avatars
Chile and Argentina: Final reflection in in your own voice and in the context of your overall learning for course.
Dec. 8: Can You Go Home?
Reading:
Alejandro Zambra, Ways of Going Home (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 2013. [NOTE: Original Spanish edition available via OhioLINK]
Dec. 10: Pinochet’s Funeral
Readings:
The Chile Reader: 555-603.
Alfredo Joignant, “Pinochet’s Funeral: Memory, History, and Immortality,” in Cath Collins, Katherine Hite, and Alfredo Joignant, eds., The Politics of Memory in Chile: From Pinochet to Bachelet (Boulder: First Forum Press, 2013): 165-195.
Cath Collins and Katherine Hite, “Memorial Fragments, Monumental Silences, and Reawakenings in Twenty-First Century Chile,” in The Politics of Memory in Chile: From Pinochet to Bachelet (Boulder: First Forum Press, 2013): 133-163.
William Faulkner wrote in Requiem for a Nun: The past never dead; it's not even past." As a conclusion, we will explore the ways that the past lives on as the present in post-dictatorial countries, asking whether there are better ways to deal with a difficult past.
Week of Dec. 8: Avatars
Chile and Argentina: Final reflection in in your own voice and in the context of your overall learning for course.
Dec. 8: Can You Go Home?
Reading:
Alejandro Zambra, Ways of Going Home (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 2013. [NOTE: Original Spanish edition available via OhioLINK]
Dec. 10: Pinochet’s Funeral
Readings:
The Chile Reader: 555-603.
Alfredo Joignant, “Pinochet’s Funeral: Memory, History, and Immortality,” in Cath Collins, Katherine Hite, and Alfredo Joignant, eds., The Politics of Memory in Chile: From Pinochet to Bachelet (Boulder: First Forum Press, 2013): 165-195.
Cath Collins and Katherine Hite, “Memorial Fragments, Monumental Silences, and Reawakenings in Twenty-First Century Chile,” in The Politics of Memory in Chile: From Pinochet to Bachelet (Boulder: First Forum Press, 2013): 133-163.
Third Paper (or Project): December 18, 11:00 AM: The Post-Dictatorship (6-8 pages)
Please note that I will not accept or read papers turned in after this time unless you have an official INCOMPLETE in the course. Please see me (and the assignment) for more information about this.
Please note that I will not accept or read papers turned in after this time unless you have an official INCOMPLETE in the course. Please see me (and the assignment) for more information about this.