Part 1 (chapters 1-2): choose one of the following 3 questions and write a detailed response to it in Canvas. Your answer is worth a possible 17 points.Provide a description of the history of the United States’ understanding of Latin America in the past century. What were some of the assumptions by American historians and social scientists about Latin America? How have those assumptions changed, or have they largely stayed the same?
Briefly compare the differences between the nonsedentary, semisedentary, and fully sedentary groups that inhabited the Americas before the Encounter? How would you describe their relationship to the land? How did it vary from group to group?
Who was Bartolomé de las Casas? Why was he important to the indigenous people? How did the Spanish Crown react to his ideas?
Part 2 (chapters 3-4): choose one of the following 3 questions and write a detailed response to it in Canvas. Your answer is worth a possible 17 points.Compare the differences between the cities and the urban areas in Latin America during the colonial period.
Who was Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz? What did her life represent? How did Spanish colonial officials react to her ideas?
Discuss the role that women played during the wars of independence. Provide a few examples to illustrate your point.
Part 3 (chapters 5-6): choose one of the following 3 questions and write a detailed response to it in Canvas. Your answer is worth a possible 17 pointsWho was the caudillo, and what ideas did he represent? Provide an example of a well-known caudillo in Latin America and describe some of his tactics and policies.
Briefly narrate Brazil’s post-independence experience after 1822 through the 1840s.
What did “Progress” mean for most Latin American women? Were there any exceptions? Provide at least one example of the life an exceptional woman and list some of her achievements.
Part 4 (chapters 7-8): choose one of the following 3 questions and write a detailed response to it in Canvas. Your answer is worth a possible 17 pointsWhat was the “export boom” and what did it mean for the people of Latin America?
Who was Porfirio Díaz? Describe his ruling style. Who were some of his allies?
Who were his opponents?
How did the United States support his regime? Be sure to include the following terms in your discussion: rurales, hacendados, pan o el palo, científicos.
Who were Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo? How did they represent the peasants and indigenous people who fought in the Mexican Revolution? Be sure to include in your discussion a commentary on revolutionary ideals in Rivera’s Detroit
Industry mural
Part 5 (chapters 9-11): choose one of the following 3 questions and write a detailed response to it in Canvas. Your answer is worth a possible 17 pointsWhat is populism? Provide at least two examples that demonstrate how populism functioned in Latin America.
What was the Liberation Theology movement? Which of their beliefs were similar to those of the Marxists and which were different?
Describe the relationship that the United States maintained with Latin American armed forces during the Cold War. Which nations did the United States appear to have the closest relationships? Who were some of the leaders of these military regimes? What were some of the tactics used by the militaries against their opponents?
Part 6 (Timerman book): compose a reflection essay in Canvas and consider any of the following questions in your response: How is it possible that a nation with democratic institutions like Argentina could plunge into a totalitarian predicament described by Timerman in Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number?
Do you agree with the Argentine military’s assessment that they are justified in governing the nation instead of civilian politicians?
How would you react if comparable measures were employed in the United States against its citizens? What lessons can other nations, including the United States, learn from this episode in Latin American history and politics? Your answer is worth a possible 15 points
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