Fall Quarter      Four credits      B3109-SemII      Tuesdays 6—10 pm
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Brief country profiles from the BBC:

Research links, government documents, etc.
The Nation Digital Archive — from 1865-one year ago (might not work from off campus)
Ebscohost (aka Academic Search Elite) full-text for recent years (TESC name and ID number off-campus)

Readings for 30 November

Theories of Revolution

The invasion of Panamá

This four-credit interdisciplinary course is concerned with Central America in the latter half of the 20^th century. That was a difficult time in Central America.  Population growth and the use of land for the production of timber, cattle, and crops for export put increasing pressure on the natural environment.  The relationships between countries were sometimes strained, and within countries, struggles for social justice and more equitable land distribution led to revolutions that met with bloody repression.  The United States actively supported conservative governments and counterrevolutionary forces, and in 1989 sent thousands of troops into a full-scale invasion of the Republic of Panama.

We'll learn about tropical rainforest ecology and conservation, deforestation, and land use issues.  We'll read about social, cultural, and political dynamics within and among these countries, and we will focus especially on the relationships with the United States, including its military exploits and its support for counterrevolutionary forces. We'll also get an introduction to Central American cultures, including language, literature and music. Some of the readings, lectures and discussions will be in Spanish. For this reason, one year of Spanish language instruction is a prerequisite.

Readings include
Tropical Nature by A. Forsyth and K. Miyata 
Bitter Fruit: the Untold Story of the American Coup in Guatemala by Schlesinger&Kinzer  
Inevitable Revolutions: the United States in Central America by  W.  Lafeber

Additional readings will be selected from
Ecología y Conservación de Bosques Neotropicales por Guariguata y Katten     
People of the Tropical Rainforest  by Denslow and Padoch     
Alternatives to Deforestation by Anderson
and others.

Tentative Syllabus – América Central – Fall 2004

Wk	Date	Topics	Readings (by date listed)	Assignments	Activities
1	28 Sep	Introductions Geography & climate			Introductions language assessment
2	5 Oct	Tropical ecology	Tropical Nature		seminar
3	12 Oct	Tropical conservation, land use	Readings on conservation, land use, indigenous people (Anderson, Guariguata, Clay, Denslow)		seminar Film: Environment under Fire
4	19 Oct	The Columbian Exchange / Central American history	de las Casas Inevitable Revolutions	First paper due	seminar
5	26 Oct	El Salvador	Inevitable Revolutions One day of Life		seminar
6	2 Nov	Guatemala	Bitter Fruit / Fruta Amarga		seminar Film: When the Mountains Tremble
7	9 Nov	Nicaragua	Cortázar: Solentiname Cardenal? Ramirez?		seminar Film: La Insurrección
8	16 Nov	Costa Rica / Honduras	To be added	Second paper due	seminar
9	30 Nov	Panamá	To be added		seminar Film:  Get up, Stand up
10	7 Dec	Retrospective and prospective			seminar

 
Assignments

You will have two short papers to write.  For one of these you will give an oral presentation, in English or Spanish, to the class.  For both papers, your task is to select a political, historical, or environmental topic and do one of the following

• Examine both sides of a particular question, e.g. who was right, who was wrong and why?  Take sides in a dispute, contemporary or historical. 
• Ask the question, where are they now, or what is the situation like now? For example, did the invasion of Panamá really lead to democratcy?  Where are the former leaders of the Sandinistas, or the FMLN, and what are they doing now?  Did the destruction of tropical forests that was predicted twenty years ago actually come to pass?

For each paper, seek out information from a variety of sources, e.g. on the political spectrum, and briefly discuss how their perspective influences their analysis or conclusions.   In addition, you will have several other short assignments, such as a short translation, or some questions about the reading for you to respond to. Your paper should be about 1000 words (about 3 pp. double spaced Times Roman font, 1 inch margins all around). Cite and list your sources.

Learning objectives

•    Develop a basic understanding of tropical climates and biomes, including the factors that determining their distribution
•    Become familiar with the variety of ways that tropical organisms adapt to their environment, and be able to discuss some specific examples
•    Gain experience reading, hearing and speaking Spanish, and show development of these skills
•    Demonstrate a knowledge of some major historical processes and events in Central America in the second half of the 20^th century, and be able to discuss some specific examples
•    Develop skills in critical thinking and analytical abilities, including evaluating information from diverse sources
•    Demonstrate the ability to present  work effectively both verbally and in writ