95708 - HISTORY OF RELATIONS BETWEEN EUROPE AND LATIN AMERICA IN CONTEMPORARY AGE

Learning outcomes

Course unit's purpose is to reconstruct the remains in the contemporary history of cultural encounters and clashes following the "Atlantic" conquests and Iberian advance in the (north-central and southern) Americas. A process that somehow produced a complex relationship between Euro-Mediterranean cultures and the multicultural Amerindian and Hispano-American world. After completing the course the student is able to deal with some complex issues, such as the construction of the nation-state relationship after independence and the end of the Spanish monarchy, the reconsideration of the past and the idea of mestizaje, the relations between the Latino-American and Anglo-Saxon worlds, the relations between political, religious, social and cultural institutions, up to the construction of networks of solidarity and of new Euro-American bonds during the Cold War, the great dictatorships, the theory of dependency and international campaigns for the protection of human rights.

Course contents

The course follows a multidisciplinary approach and it is intended to introduce the student to the main debates concerning the social, political and cultural relations between Europe and Latin America during the contemporary age and in an historical perpective.

Particular attention will be given to the academic production of Latin American scholars, especially to those authors that assume a relation of tension and, at the same time, of interdependency, between the Latin American and the European interpretations of Modernity.

It is articulated in four parts –historiography, sociology, political philosophy and cultural studies – each one of them composed of two lectures, preceded by an introductory one and followed by a final class dedicated to the presentation of essays' abstracts on behalf of the registered students.

For a full description of the course contents see the list of themes and readings in the sections below.

Readings/Bibliography

Introductory lecture

Modernity in an historical perspective and the interdisciplinary approach within Latin American Studies. The relation of "unity and distinction" between theory, history and politics.

Readings

Gramsci, A. Quaderni del Carcere (selezione di note), traducede by Hoare, Q. and Nowell Smith, G. (ed.), Selections from the prison notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, International Publishers, 2008, pp. 134-162.

Benjamin, W. (1940) On the concept of history (thesis on the philosophy of history) in Benjamin, W. Illuminations. With an introduction of Hannah Arendt. Harcourt, 1968.

Echeverría, B. Vuelta de siglo, Ediciones Era, 2006, pp. 117-165.

Echeverría, B. La mirada del ángel, Ediciones Era, 2005, pp. 9-35.

Florescano, E. "De la memoria del poder a la historia como explicación" in Villoro, L. , Pereyra, C. Historia para que?, Siglo XXI Editores, 2005, pp. 91-129.

O' Gorman, E. The Invention of America, Indiana University Press, [1958], pp. 127-145.

 

1. History and historiography.

1.1 Lecture

The transformation of Europe and the origins of the Latin American modern state. The debate on the character of Latin American colonialism: theoretical and political implications.

A readings:

Romero, J. L. Latin America: its cities and ideas. Translated by Inés Azar. Interamer Collection, Cultural Series, 59, 1999.

Bagu, S. Economia de la sociedad colonial: ensayo de historia comparada, Siglo XXI Editores, 1949.

B readings:

Braudel, F. Civilization and capitalism, 15th-18th century, vol. III. The perspective of the world. University of California Press, 1992, pp. 17-89, 386-429.

Halperin Donghi, T. The Contemporary History of Latin America, Duke University Press, 1993, pp. 1-207.

C readings:

Anderson, P. Lineages of the absolutist State, Verso Books, 2013 [1974].

Bagú, S. Tiempo realidad social y conocimiento: propuesta de interpretación, Siglo XXI Editores, 1970.

Bloch, M. Apologia para la historia o el oficio de historiador, Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2001 or

Bloch, M. The historian's craft, Manchester University Press, 1954

Carmagnani, M. The Other West. Latin America from invasion to globalization, University of California Press, 2011.

Dobb, M. (Et al) The transition from feudalism to capitalism, Verso Book,1978.

Hillman, S. Understanding contemporary Latin America, Lynne Rienner, 2005.

 

1.2 Lecture

The transition from the oligarquical to the liberal state: internal and external balance of forces. The historical roots of the "popular” as the key category in latin american political theory and political culture.

A readings

Zavaleta, Mercado, R. La autodeterminacion de las masas. Antologia de textos, CLACSO, 2009.

Zavaleta Mercado, R. Towards a history of the national popular in Bolivia. 1879–1980, Seagull books, 2016.

B readings

Tapia, L. The Production of Local Knowledge: history and politics in the work of René Zavaleta Mercado, Seagull Books, 2018.

C readings

Hale, C. "Political and Social Ideas in Latin America, 1870–1930”, in The Cambridge History of Latin America, Vol. IV, c. 1870 to 1930, edited by Bethell, L., Cambridge University Press, 1984.

Hale, C. The transformation of liberalism in late nineteenth-century Mexico, Princeton University Press, 1989.

Zavaleta, R. El poder dual en America Latina. Mexico: Siglo XXI Editores, 1974.

 

2. Society and political sociology

2.1 IN-Contact seminar

Latin America's dependency and its theorizations: the Marxist perspective and its critique to capitalist development.

Dr. Fernando Correa Prado (UNILA)

A readings

Correa Prado, F. "The ideology of development, the Marxist Theory of Dependency and the Critique of the Popular Democratic Strategy" in Latin American Perspectives, Issue 242, Vol. 49, N. 1, 2022.

B readings

Sotelo Valencia, A. Sub-imperialism revisited: dependency theory in the thought of Ruy Mauro Marini, Brill, 2017.

C readings

Amin, A. Accumulation on a world scale: a critique of the theory of underdevelopment, Monthly review press, 1974.

Cardoso, J.L. Economic development and global crisis: the Latin American economy in historical perspective, Routledge, 2014.

Marini, R.M. The Dialectics of Dependency, edited by Osorio, J., Monthly Review Press, 2022.

 

2.2 Lecture

The “transition to democracy” and the contributions of the exiled generation to critical social theory: from insurrection and counterinsurgency to the struggles for popular democracy.

A READING

Aricó, J. La cola del Diablo. El itinerario de Gramsci en América Latina. Puntosur, 1988, cap. 4.

Coutinho, Carlos Nelson, “A democracia como valor universal”, in Revista Crítica Marxista, nº 1, Joruês São Paulo1979.

Coutinho, Carlos Nelson, “Gramsci en Brasil”, in Cuadernos Políticos, n. 46, Ediciones Era, Mexico, abril-junio de 1986.

Coutinho, Carlos Nelson Gramsci’s political thought, Brill, 2012

Laclau, E. “Politics and Ideology” in Id. Marxist Theory. Capitalism – Fascism – Populism, Verso, London 1977

Portantiero, : “Los Usos de Gramsci” In Cuadernos de Pasado y Presente, No. 54. México, D.F., 1977.

Or

Portantiero “Gli usi di Gramsci” in Kanoussi, Schirru, Vacca (a cura di) Studi Gramsciani nel mondo. Gramsci in America Latina. Il Mulino, 2011.

Portantiero, J.C, Ipola, E. “Lo nacional-popular y los populismos realmente existentes”, in Nueva Sociedad, nm 54, May-June 1981.

B READING

Labastida, J. (ed). Hegemonía y alternativas políticas en América Latina, Siglo XXI Editores, 1985

C READINGS

Aricò, J. Marx and Latin America, Brill, 2014. Chapter 6, 7, 8

Burgos, R. “The Gramscian Intervention in the Theoretical and Political Production of the Latin American Left” in Latin American Perspectives, vol. 29, n. 1, 2002

or

Burgos, R. “Los avatares de una herencia incómoda: El complicado diálogo entre Gramsci y la izquierda en América Latina” in ALAS Controversias y Concurrencias Latinoamericanas, n. 5, 2012.

Freeland, A. “The Gramscian turn in Latin America” in Contra Corriente, Journal on Social History and Literature in Latin America, vol. 11, n. 2, 2014.

Kanoussi, G. Schirru, G. Vacca (a cura di), Studi gramsciani nel mondo. Gramsci in America Latina, Bologna, il Mulino, 2011.

Mouffe, C. “Hegemonía, política e ideología” in Labastida, J. (ed). Los nuevos procesos sociales y la teoria política contemporánea, Siglo XXI Editores, 1985

Frosini, F. “Note su Portantiero” - Seminario Egemonia dopo Gramsci: una riconsiderazione, 2015

Portantiero, J.C. La produccion de un orden: ensayos sobre la democracia entre el estado y la sociedad, Nueva vision, 1988.

Portantiero, J.C. Estudios sobre los origenes del peronismo, Siglo XXI, 2004.

Thomas, P. The Gramscian Moment, Philosophy, Hegemony and Marxism, Brill, 2009.

Thomas, P. “After Post Hegemony” in Contemporary Political Theory, 2020.

 

3. Politics and political democracy

3.1 Lecture

The neo-liberal adjustments and the protagonism of the so called “new social movements” in historical perspective.

A readings

Mariategui, J.M. Sietes ensayos de interpretación de la realidad peruana [1928], Ediciones Era, 2007. English translation available at https://www.marxists.org/archive/mariateg/works/7-interpretive-essays/index.htm

or

Vanden, H and Becker, M. (eds) José Carlos Mariátegui: An Anthology. New York: Montlhy Review Press, 2011.

Casanova, J.P “The State and Politics in Latin America” in Casanova (ed.) Latin America Today, United Nation University Press, 1993, pp. 54-127.

B readings

Dagnino, E., Alvarez, S., Escobar, A. Cultures of politics, politics of cultures : re-visioning Latin American social movements, Boulder, Westview Press, 1998.

Hirsch, J. Globalización Capital y Estado, UAM-Xochimilco, 1996.

or

Aronowitz, S. Bratsis, P. Paradigm Lost: State theory reconsidered, University of Minnesota Press, 2002.

Petras, What's left in Latin America?: regime change in new times, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2009.

C readings

Arico, J. Mariategui y los origenes del marxismo latinoamericano, Pasado y Presente, 1980.

De la Torre, C. and Arnson, C. Latin American populism in the 21. Century, Woodrow Wilson press ; Johns Hopkins University press, 2013.

Esparza, Huttenbach and Feierstein (eds) State violence and genocide in Latin America: the cold war years, Routledge, 2010

Flores Galindo, A. La agonía de Mariategui, DESCO, 1980

Franco, J. The decline and fall of the lettered city: Latin America in the Cold War, Harvard University Press, 2002.

González Casanova, P. De la sociologia del poder a la sociologia de la explotación, CLACSO, 2015.

Linera, G. And Tapia, L. (eds) El Estado Campo de lucha, CLACSO, 2010.

Siekmeier, J. Latin American nationalism: identity in a globalizing world, Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.

 

3.2 Lecture

IN-Contact seminars

Populism and the national popular: about some misunderstandings between Latin America and Europe.

Dr. Martín Cortés (UBA and Universidad Nacional de General Sarmiento)

C readings

De la Torre, C. and Arnson, C. Latin American populism in the 21. Century, Woodrow Wilson press ; Johns Hopkins University press, 2013.

Frosini, F. "Pueblo y guerra de posición como clave del populismo. Una lectura de los Cuadernos de la cárcel de Antonio Gramsci”, in Cuadernos de ética y filosofia política, año 3, n. 3, Visual Press, 2014.

Liguori, G. (2019). Gramsci e il populismo, Edizioni Unicopli, 2019.

Linera, G. And Tapia, L. (eds) El Estado Campo de lucha, CLACSO, 2010.

Siekmeier, J. Latin American nationalism: identity in a globalizing world, Bloomsbury Academic, 2017.

 

4. Philosophy as culture

4.1 Lecture

Questioning modernity: the critique of eurocentrism and the pont of view of the "subalterns".

A readings

Dussel, Morala, Moraña (eds). Coloniality at large: Latin America and the postcolonial debate, Duke University Press, 2008.

Zemmelman, H. Culture and Power in Latin American today, edited by Pablo Gonzalez Casanova, United Nations University Press, 1993

B readings

Dussel, E., Lander, E., Mignolo, W. La colonialidad del saber: eurocentrismo y cencias sociales. Perspectivas latinoamericanas, CLACSO, 2002.

 

4.2 Lecture

"Subalternity" from a critical point of view: latin american and european contributions.

A readings

Frosini, F. "Subalterns, religion and the philosophy of praxis in Gramsci’s Prison Notebooks", in Rethinking Marxism, XXVIII, n. 3-4, Routledge, 2016.

Tapia, L. La invención del nucleo común, La Muela del Diablo editores, 2006.

B readings

Petras, J. What’s Left in Latin America? Regime change in New Times, Routledge, 2009.

Thomas, P. "Refiguring the subaltern" in Political Theory, vol. 46, n. 6, Sage, 2018.

C readings

Rodriguez, I. The Latin American subaltern studies reader, Duke university press, 2001.

Gandler S. Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez and Bolivar Echeverria, Koninklijke Brill, 2015.

Final lecture

Students’ presentations and class discussions of final essay's abstract.

Teaching methods

Lectures will include readings of texts, class discussion, students' presentations and seminars by external experts.

The bibliography for attending students is composed of the books, chapters and essays listed under letter A B and C.

The materials listed under letter A, B will be the object of class discussions.The material listed under letter C is for those students who are willing to deepen the topic dealt within class.

The materials listed under letter A, B and C could be slightly amended or supplemented with additional references, provided by the instructor, depending on the number of students and theyr familiarity with Spanish and Portuguese (please take note that the knowledge of Spanish and/or Portuguese IS NOT compulsory in order to attend the course).

The methodology adopted for the class (instructor's introduction, individual or group presentation and whole class discussion) will be defined at the beginning of the class taking into consideration its size.

The aim of the teaching methodology adopted by the course is to activate the critical analysis and informed discussion of theoretical problems and to facilitate the interaction between the instructor and the students, as well as among the students themselves.

The course will include the participation of one or more experts from a University and/or research centre of a Latin American country.

The bibliography for non-attending students could be partially different from that to be prepared by the attending ones. For this reason non-attending students are kindly requested to contact the instructor in due time before the exam.

 

Assessment methods

Students who have attended classes

The assessment of the acquisition of expected knowledge and abilities by the attending students is based on the following components:

1. Presentation of an accademic essay at the end of the course (80% of the final grade).

2. Participation in class discussion (20% of the grade);

(3. Optional oral exam).

Essay

The accademic essay is expected to cover one of the topics addressed by the course. The abstract will be presented by each student during the last lecture so as to clarify any concerns regarding its contents, as well as to promote class debate and the interchanging of ideas. The complete work will have to be handed in between the 1st and the 10th of February 2023

Essay's minimum lenght: 10 A4 pages (40mil characters, including spaces).

Essay's editorial rules: Times New Roman or Arial; 12 font size (10 for footnotes); right-left and top-bottom margins of 2.5 cm; spacing of 1.5 cm.

Essay's structure: title, abstract, keywords, introduction, main contents, conclusions.

The aim of this assessment method is to monitor the acquisition of the expected knowledge, and to foster the methodological and critical skills involved in accademic research.

Participation in class discussion:

Participation in class discussion will be assessed taking into consideration the student's ability to actively participate in class activities, including:

. her/his participation to class presentations (individual and/or in group, depending on the class size)

. his/her intervention in class discussions (level of attention and relevance of spontaneous intervention)

The (optional) oral exam

The students who would like to upgrade her/his final evaluation will have the option to sustain an oral exam. The oral exam will consist of four/five questions aimed at assessing the student’s level of knowledge of some of the most important topics addressed by the course, as well as her/his ability to critically analyse and verbally articulate them.

Evaluation

The final evaluation will be the weighted average of the score of the written essay and of the participation in class (and of the possible oral exam).

Attending students who miss or fail to present the final essay in due time will undergo an oral exam on the entire syllabus.

The ability of the student to achieve a coherent and comprehensive understanding of the topics addressed by the course, to critically assess them and to use an appropriate language will be evaluated with the highest grades (A = 27-30 con lode).

A predominantly mnemonic acquisition of the course's contents together with gaps and deficiencies in terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will result in grades ranging from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21-23).

A low level of knowledge of the course’s contents together with gaps and deficienciesin terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will be considered as ‘barely passing' (D = 18-20) or result in a fail grading (E).

Students who have not attended classes

Non-attending students will have to deliver an essay of 15 A4 pages (for the guidline see above). Non-attending students are kindly requested to contact the instructor in due time to discuss the topic with the teacher. 

The complete work will have to be handed between the 1st and the 10th of February 2023 

The (optional) oral exam

The students who would like to upgrade her/his final evaluation will have the option to sustain an oral exam. The oral exam will consist of four/five questions aimed at assessing the student’s level of knowledge of some of the most important topics addressed by the course, as well as her/his ability to critically analyse and verbally articulate them.

Students who miss or fail to present the final essay in due time will undergo an oral exam on the entire syllabus.

The ability of the student to achieve a coherent and comprehensive understanding of the topics addressed by the course, to critically assess them and to use an appropriate language will be evaluated with the highest grades (A = 27-30 con lode).

A predominantly mnemonic acquisition of the course's contents together with gaps and deficiencies in terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will result in grades ranging from good (B = 24-26) to satisfactory (C = 21-23).

A low level of knowledge of the course’s contents together with gaps and deficiencies in terms of language, critical and/or logical skills will be considered as ‘barely passing' (D = 18-20) or result in a fail grading (E).

 

 

Teaching tools

Lectures and class discussions/debates will be held with the support of audio-visual tools.

Students with a form of disability or specific learning disabilities (DSA) who are requesting academic adjustments or compensatory tools are invited to communicate their needs to the teaching staff in order to properly address them and agree on the appropriate measures with the competent bodies.

Office hours

See the website of Francesca Savoia