Anthropology 135
Modern Mexican Culture
Myths and Dilemmas of Tradition and Change
Spring 2007, Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30 to 1:45 SH1431
Lecturer: Dr. Magdalena Villarreal
mvillarreal@anth.ucsb.edu
Office: HSSB 2028 phone: x5143
Office Hours: Tuesdays 2:00 to 5:00
And by appointment
TA: Jennifer Michelle Taylor
ventriloquisms@hotmail.com
Office Hours: 2:00 - 4:00pm HSSB 2046
The aim of the course is to explore contemporary Mexican society through an anthropological lens. Issues of national identity, ethnic patrimony, social change and modernization will be discussed, as will poverty, migration, inequality and social movements. Mexico’s rich tradition includes exciting legends, colorful rituals and deep values. Yet, how does this culture interface with modernization prospects? How is national identity perceived vis-a-vis social change?
We will take cases from different Mexican regions to study the ways in which myths, ideas and beliefs are reinforced, contested or accommodated to account for an interpretation of history, a reading of the globalized present and anticipation to the future.
While learning about the country, its people and the transformations they are undergoing, we will also address crucial problems the world is facing today. The questions asked are as important as the answers provided. Thus, throughout the course, our inquiry will give special attention to the kinds of questions Mexican and international social scientists ask themselves in coming to grips with changing social, political and cultural scenarios. We will analyze how practices are framed within particular theoretical categories and the dilemmas different policy makers and citizens face in responding to what they perceive as critical concerns. The points of view of national and international institutions, politicians and local rural and urban dwellers will be taken up whenever possible to feed into a more informed perspective on the complexity of the new power domains Mexicans are facing today.
Classes will include a few films, the discussion of critical events in the news as well as the analysis of academic texts.
Assignments comprise important research learning exercises and will feed into class discussions. The student is expected to participate actively in class after a reflexive research and reading of the bibliographic material.
There will also be a panel and a session that includes student presentations.
Students wishing to gain bonus points are encouraged to sign up.
No incompletes will be given.
Evaluation
Evaluation will consist of:
Pop quizzes:
45% of the final grade
4 Assignments:
55% of the final grade
- The quizzes will basically address the texts and lectures to make sure the student has read and reflected on the material provided. The number of quizzes and the date and time they are to be applied will not be announced. They might be applied at the beginning of class or at the end. The student is expected to attend class regularly, arrive on time and stay until the end, always carrying a scantron and a pencil.
- The assignments consist of practical research activities and discussion topics concerning issues discussed in class. They must be handed in on the assigned date.
Course outline
The course is divided in two sections:
I.- Narratives of identity: Dilemmas of modernity and tradition: |
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April 3:
April 5:
- Pablo Vila (2000) Crossing borders, reinforcing borders: social categories, metaphors and narrative identities on the US- Mexico frontier. (in reader)
- Anderson, Benedict (2001) ‘Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism’ in Steven Seidman and Jeffrey C. Alexander: The New Social Theory Reader. London and New York. Routledge pp. 224 – 230
April 10:
April 12:
- Brief Overview of Mexican Geography and History
****Hand in Assignment 1: Mexican Geography and History
April 17:
- Guillermo Bonfil Batalla (1996) México Profundo, Reclaiming a Civilization.
- Judith Friedlander (1994) ‘Dona Zeferina Barreto: Biographical Sketch of an Indian Woman from the State of Morelos’
April 19:
- Aída Hernández Castillo (2001) Histories and Stories from Chiapas: Border Identities in Southern Mexico. University of Texas Press. Austin (introduction and chapters 1 and 2)
April 24:
April 26
- Larissa Adler Lomnitz (1977) Life in a Mexican Shantytown. (chapters 2 and 10)
- Larissa Adler Lomnitz and Marisol Pérez Lizaur (1987) A Mexican Elite Family, 1820 – 1980: Kinship, Class and Culture. (Chapters 3 and 5)
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| II. Mexico in the Global World |
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May 1
Film: Life and Debt
May 3
- Mexican History and the US
***Hand in assignment 2: Mexico and the United States
May 8
- Juan Vicente Palerm: Global Cherán (to be posted on the web page)
- Juan Vicente Palerm: Lost Pride (to be posted on the web page)
- Magdalena Villarreal (2000) ‘Cashing identities in the non-material world of money’.
May 10
- Subcomandante Marcos (2001) ‘A Storm and a Prophecy – Chiapas: The Southeast in two Winds’
- Stephen, Lynn (1991) Zapotec Women. Austin. University of Texas Press. (chapters 5 and 6)
May 15
May 17:
- Oxfam International (2002) Rigged Rules and Double Standards: Trade, globalization and the fight against Poverty.
***Hand in assignment 3 NAFTA, Maize, Finances and Tortilla Politics
May 22
May 24
- Massey, Durand and Malone (2002) ‘System Assembly: A History of Mexico- US Migration’ in Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican immigration in an era of economic integration. New York. Russell Sage Foundation.
May 29
- Portes, Alejandro (2000) ‘Globalization from Below: the Rise of Transnational Communities’
- Roger Rouse: Mexican Migration and the Social Space of Postmodernism. From Diaspora 1 (1) Spring 1991: 8- 23
May 31
- Sassen, Saskia (1999) ‘Transnational Economies and national Migration Policies’ in: Castro, M. Free Markets, open Societies, Closed Borders? Trends in International Migration and Immigration Policy in the Americas. North- South Center Press. University of Miami.
- Sassen, Saskia (2000) ‘The State and the new Geography of Power’ in Don Kalb, et. al. The Ends of Globalization. Bringing Society Back In. New York and Oxford. Rowman and Littlefield.
- Pop Quiz #7
***Hand in assignment 4: Mexico in a global world
June 5
- Brubaker, R. (2001) ‘Nationalism reframed: nationhood and the national question in the New Europe’ in Steven Seidman and Jeffrey C. Alexander: The New Social Theory Reader. London and New York. Routledge pp. 231- 243
- Calhoun, Craig (1997) Nationalism Buckingham. Open University Press. (introduction, chapter 1 and conclusions)
June 7
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