Anthropology 205/Comparative Literature 225

Peoples and Cultures of Mexico and Guatemala

Fall Term 2003

Syllabus of 9/3/03

Meets: T 12-1:50, Th 12-12:50 in Powdermaker 113 John Collins

Office hours: Tuesdays 10:00-11:00

Office Phone: 997-5524 email: john_collins@qc.edu

Introduction: This class is designed to help you develop an ethnographic, literary and historical understanding of the peoples and cultures of Mexico and Guatemala. We will focus on the geography, multiple ethnic and racial groups, social classes, historical development, and cultural forms found in the political entities now known as “Mexico” and “Guatemala.” This in turn involves considering issues of ethnogenesis (or the social construction of groups and boundaries); of different ways of writing and telling histories; of battles over land and political autonomy; of definitions of community, family and personhood; of the construction of nation-states and the legacy of colonialism; and of the phenomenon that many commentators today refer to as “globalization;” and the politics of indigenous resurgence as a contemporary phenomenon in many areas of the world.

This class is based upon the premise that it is difficult to understand, or even approach, ethnic or cultural groups without first understanding their historical construction and contemporary shape. Since most everyone lives in a nation-state today, an important part of our consideration of peoples and cultures involves understanding the historical links between different groups and the formation of the Guatemalan and Mexican nation-states. For this reason I have divided the course into two parts. In Part I we will gain a historical and theoretical background that will permit a deeper analysis of the case studies, developed around specific communities, presented in Part II of the course.

ENJOY!

Requirements: Regular class attendance and reading of all assigned materials, a midterm (10/14), a final exam, and a short research paper or critical book report (8-12 pps.) due at the end of the semester. Class participation means coming to class prepared to discuss each week’s subject matter with your peers and professor. There will be occasional quizzes and short writing assignments that will be an integral part of your participation grade. These cannot be made up if you miss class.

Class Meetings: We will meet for almost two hours on Tuesdays and 50 minutes on Thursdays. I expect to lecture for approximately one hour on Tuesdays, with class discussion in the second hour. Thursdays will alternate between lecture and discussion, to be decided over the course of the semester.

Grading: Your grade in this course will be computed as follows:

Midterm 20%

Final 30%

Paper 20%

Participation 30%

Required Texts (Books Available at Queens College Bookstore):

- Coursepack (required)

- Castellanos, Rosario. 1998. The Book of Lamentations. Trans. Esther Allen. New York: Penguin (ISBN: 0-14-118003-X)

- Fink, Leon. 2003. The Maya of Morgantown: Work and Community in the Nuevo New South. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 2003 (ISBN: 0-8078-5447-6)

- Menchú, Rigoberta. I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. New York: Verso (ISBN: 0-86091-788-6)

Given the wealth of interesting material available on different peoples and cultures in Central America, we will rely primarily this semester on a hefty course pack. It is important that you purchase and read these materials closely.

Academic Rules: Please acquaint yourself with all College rules regarding academic ethics. All students should cite clearly the sources of their ideas and data following guidelines discussed over the course of the semester. You must make clear the sources of materials taken from the internet, from published materials, or from unpublished papers written by another person or by you in another class. Failure to do so constitutes plagiarism. Note that the penalties for plagiarism include a failing grade in this class or even expulsion from Queens College.

An Important Note: I reserve the right to alter this syllabus (readings and requirements) as necessary over the course of the semester.

SCHEDULE OF READINGS

PART I: A HISTORICAL TRAJECTORY

Sept. 2 Introductions

Sept. 4 Aztec Ascendancy in Mexico’s Central Valley

Michael Smith. 2003 “The Rise of Aztec Civilization” and “The Commercial Economy.” In The Aztecs. Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 28-55 and 106-124

Sept. 9 Cities and Empires

Michael Smith. 2003 “Family and Social Class,” “City-State and Empire” and “Cities and Urban Planning.” In The Aztecs. Malden, MA: Blackwell, pp. 125-191

Sept. 11 Conquests

Cortés, Hernán. Selection from “Introduction” and “Third Letter.” In Five Letters of Cortes to the Emperor.J. Bayard Morris, ed. and trans.New York: Norton, pp. xli-xlvii and 135-241.

Sept. 16 Rule

Gibson, Charles. 1964. “Production and Exchange” and “The City” in The Aztecs Under Spanish Rule. Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp. 335-402.

Film: Cabeza de Vaca + Quiz

Sept. 18 Revolutions and Nation-Building

Peter Smith and Thomas Skidmore, “Mexico: The Taming of a Revolution” in Modern Latin America, 5^th Edition. New York: Oxford, pp. 217-258.

Sept. 23 Land, People, Power, and Community

Wolf, Eric. 1959. “Retreat from Utopia” and “The Power Seekers” in Sons of the Shaking Earth, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 202-256.

Wolf, Eric. 1966. “Peasants and its Problems.” In Peasants. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, pp. 1-18.

Sept. 25 Race and Mexican Modernity

Nancy Stepan. 1991. “National Identities and Racial Transformations.” In The Hour of Eugenics. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, pp. 135-153.

Stern, Alexandra. 2003. “From Mestizophilia to Biotypology: Racialization and Science in Mexico, 1920-1960.” In Race and Nation in Modern Latin America. N. Appelbaum et al, eds. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, pp. 187-210.

Sept. 30 Indigenous Peoples and National Culture

Stephen, Lynn. 1991. “Contested Histories: Women, Men, and the Relations of Production in Teotitlán, 1920-1950s.” In Zapotec Women. Austin: University of Texas Press, pp. 87-117.

Oct. 2 Gender and the Life of the Mexican Nation

Paz, Octavio. 1985 “The Sons of La Malinche” and “The Conquest and Colonialism.” In The Labyrinth of Solitude. New York: Grove Press, pp. 65-116.

Paredes, Américo. 2003. “The United States, Mexico, and Machismo” In Perspectives on Las Américas. M. Gutmann et al, eds. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 329-341.

Oct. 7 NO CLASS –MONDAY SCHEDULE AT QUEENS COLEGE TODAY!

Oct. 9 Indigenous Communities, State Reform, and Neo-Liberalism

LaFrance, David. 2002. “Labor, the State, and Professional Baseball in Mexico in the 1980s.” In Sport in Latin America and the Caribbean. J. Arbena and D. LaFrance, eds. Wilmington: SR Press, pp. 89-116.

Nathan, Debbie. 1999. “Work, Sex, and Danger in Ciudad Juárez.” NACLA Report on the Americas 33(3): 24-30.

Oct. 14 ********Midterm Exam********

PART II: CASE STUDIES

Oct. 16 Indigenous Struggles in Chiapas, Mexico

Castellanos, Rosario. 1998. The Book of Lamentations. Trans. Esther Allen. New York: Penguin, Intro + 1-70.

October 21 Race and Gender in Chiapas

Book of Lamentations, pp. 71-134.

October 23 Mayan Histories from a ladina Perspective

Book of Lamentations, pp. 135-181.

October 28 Mayan Saints and Roman Catholic Spirits

Book of Lamentations, 182-280.

Oct. 30 Anthropological Approaches to Mayan Histories

Finish Book of Lamentations

Eiss, Paul. 2002. “Hunting for the Virgin: Meat, Money and Memory in Tetiz, Yucatán.” Cultural Anthropology 17(3): 291-330.

Nov. 4 Guatemalan Insurgency and Indigenous Communities

Menchú, Rigoberta. I, Rigoberta Menchú: An Indian Woman in Guatemala. New York: Verso, pp. “Introduction” + pp. 2-42, 102-116

Nov. 6 Personal Histories in Guatemala: Assessing and Presenting Evidence

Menchú, 56-58, 79-101, 117-130

Nov. 11 The Politics of Revolution and Truth, the Rigoberta Menchú Controversy

Required: Menchú, 141-152, 172-187

Larry Rohter, “Tarnished Laureate” pp. 58-65; Interview by Dina Fernández García “Stoll: ‘I Don’t Seek to Destroy Menchú,’” pp. 66-69; Danilo Rodriguez, “About Rigoberta’s Lies,” pp. 70-72; Jorge Palmieri, “Lies by the Nobel Prize Winner,” pp. 73-75; Rosa Montero, “Her,” pp. 76-77; Interview by Luís Aceituno, “Arturo Taracena breaks His Silence,” pp. 82-94; Eduardo Galeano, “Let’s Shoot Rigoberta,” pp. 99-102; David Stoll, “David Stoll Breaks the Silence,” 118-120; and Interview by Juan Jesus Aznarez, “Rigoberta Menchú: Those Who Attack Me Humiliate the Victims”, pp. 109-117.

Suggested: Mary Luise Pratt, “I, Rigoberta Menchú and the Culture Wars,” 29-47.

Assignment Due in Class: Select one of the articles surrounding the Menchú controversy read for today. In a 2-3 page double-spaced paper (respect page limits!) discuss the perspective from which it is written. Without doing too much outside research, can you infer something about the goals, background and ideological persuasion of the writer? Finally, what is the author’s main point about the importance of the charges leveled against Menchú?

Nov. 13 Late 20^th C. Indigenous Organizing in Mexico and Guatemala

June Nash. 1995. “The Reassertion of Indigenous Identity: Mayan Responses to State Intervention in Chiapas.” Latin American Research Review 30(3):7-41.

Warren, Kay. 1992. “Transforming Memories and Histories: The Meanings of Ethnic Resurgence for Mayan Indians.” In Americas: New Interpretive Essays. A. Stepan ed., New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 189-219.

Nov. 18 Discussion of Research Projects + Film

Film: El Norte

Begin Maya of Morgantown

Bring 2 page discussion of research topic + working bibliography to class

Kobrak, Paul. 1997. Village Troubles: The Civil Patrols in Aguacatán, Guatemala. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Michigan. (selections t.b.a)

Nov. 25 Politics, Labor, and Capital – Guatemala at the end of the 20^th C.

Maya of Morgantown, pp. tba

Nov. 27 NO CLASS – THANKSGIVING BREAK

Dec. 2 The U.S. and Central America in Geohistorical Perpective

Maya of Morgantown, pp. tba

Dec. 4 Cultural Politics and Borders

Fusco, Coco. 1995. “The Other History of Intercultural Performance” In English is Broken Here: Notes on Cultural Fusion in the Americas. New York: New Press, pp. 37-63.

Dec. 9 Conquest and 21^st C. Communities: Land, the Maya, and Cyberspace

Nelson, Diane. 1999. “Maya-Hackers and the Cyberspatialized Nation-State.” In A Finger in the Wound: Body Politics in Quincentennial Guatemala. Berkeley: University of California Press, pp. 245-282.

Dec. 11 Conclusions: Zapatismo and the New Politics of Indigenousness

Selections from Womack, John. 1999. Rebellion in Chiapas: An Historical Reader and Subcomandante Marcos’ internet communiqués (coursepack).