Course Content:

This course is on the historical & contemporary political economy of Latin America. Though the nations of Latin America & the Caribbean are richly diverse within and among each other, they nevertheless share in common many ancient, colonial, and postcolonial legacy, and in fact, today they all face similar challenges. A major, still unifying, geopolitical region of the modern world-system since the XVI Century, it is a vibrant region of the world's so-called South (previously known as the Third World). As such, its history and contemporary realities have been molded in major ways by its relations with the world's North - increasingly, since the XIX Century, the United States. Although Latin America's elites have mostly been acquiescent - even enthusiastic partners and allies - of the North's relentless efforts to protect, sustain and expand a persistently unbalanced and inequitable global system, Latin America's popular social revolutions and  movements have made significant contributions to redress these inequities, both within each country and internationally.

Still, the neocolonial status of Latin America has been enduring. The latest cycle of elite subservience and popular rebellion was manifested in the 1980s, with the widespread adoption of the state doctrine and policies that emanated from the North referred to as "neoliberalism." As a result of the political and economic elites uniformly embracing that market fundamentalist doctrine, and implementing over the last thirty years the socially devastating policies derived from it, Latin America entered the XXI Century as the world's most unequal region, lagging ever more the North in every measure. This failure of the so-called "Washington Consensus," produced by the turn of the century a huge political backlash in most countries, vastly increased the international migration flows to the North, and intensified the spread and scale of narco-trafficking and narco-violence, among other things. Latin America's political regimes have dramatically shifted to the left to recover from 3 decades of lost ground. Today the region exhibits a tremendous intensity and variety of social movements and innovative politics, which reflect the widespread resistance to all the now discredited imported models of development and modernity, and the construction of new paths of social & economic development.

This course, therefore, explores the historical and contemporary political economy of this fascinating region of the modern world-system. We do so from two interrelated angles of vision: Firstly, using the Livingstone book, we trace the social, economic, and political historical evolution of the region - in relation to the life span of United States global hegemony, since the early 1800s; and secondly, using the Dollars & Sense/NACLA anthology of articles, we examine the contemporary social, economic, political, and cultural situation of Latin America at the social movements' level, as Latin Americans of all backgrounds resist further peripheralization of their countries, seek enduring social justice, and are working to remake their societies in their own, more equitable ways - in relation to the precipitous decline of US hegemony, the collapse of the world economy, and the resurgence of the world's South.

Group Research Project: Each student group will select and design a final research project on a topic related to the course. Each student in a group will write his/her own paper on a subtopic of the group's topic. The students must obtain pre approval from Dr. Santos for both their overall group topic and for their individual subtopics by Tuesday, May 6. Students may consult with Dr. Santos during his office hours - no emails on this, please.

The subject matter and the time frame chosen may be as broad or narrow as each group wishes, involving all Latin American nations, or a region, or just one country; it may cover a time frame of centuries, a number of decades, or merely the contemporary scene. The subject matter may be divided up among the students chronologically, thematically, or in comparative manner between countries, for example; but regardless, the overall research topic ultimately must be historically grounded and sociologically oriented.

Each student paper should be between 6 and 8 pages in length (apart from the bibliography), double-spaced, font 12, with one-inch margins. Students must submit their individual papers assembled in a bound volume. The volumes must have a title page, a table of contents listing each individual title and its student author, and the actual papers. NOTE: continuous page numbering between papers and a single, common volume bibliography are unnecessary and are actually discouraged (so as to not waste time); so each paper should start with the paper title and author at the top, be independently numbered, and have its own bibliography at the end.

Each individual paper should have a well stated, well focused research hypothesis, research topic, or question; a literature review and a variety of citations from the scholarly literature consulted; any relevant data (charts, graphs, maps, etc.) combined with strong critical analysis; leading to a conclusion. Papers will be graded for clarity of language and overall organization; quality of critical analysis; accuracy and relevance of assembled data.

For guidelines on how to write a good research term paper, citations & bibliographic styles, etc., please go to the following URL: http://www.csub.edu/~gsantos/Guide-Paper.html.

GST 126 - Researching the Electronic Library (2 units)
Introduces students to effective research techniques using Library electronic resources. Emphasis will be placed upon skills necessary for the identification, retrieval, and evaluation of information for general and specific topics. Students will acquire the competencies necessary to develop an effective search strategy and find research materials, including references to journal articles, full text articles in electronic format, government publications, books, and Internet resources.

 GST 153 - Research on the Internet (2 units)
Introduces students to the information resources available on the Internet for research purposes Students will develop general knowledge of the Internet, navigation skills, effective search strategy skills, familiarity with Internet finding tools, evaluation methodologies and other Internet research skills.

Contact: Ms. Christy Gavin
Librarian, Walter W. Stiern Library
cgavin@csub.edu
661-664-3237

Plagiarism: To prevent students from wittingly or unwittingly engaging in plagiarism, Dr. Santos strongly recommends students to carefully read and abide by the document CSUB Classifications of Plagiarism found at: http://www.csub.edu/tlc/options/resources/plagiarism/4plagiarimclassifications.htm. Students should check their papers at TurnItIn.com, to avoid making mistakes of plagiarism. Anyone found guilty of engaging in plagiarism - inadvertently of otherwise - will automatically fail the course and may be reported to the Office of Student Discipline and Judicial Affairs for further disciplinary action.

My Group #: ______

Date I will present: _____ The article I will present:                                                                                                        .

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