Peoples of Mexico and Central America

LINKS:
 


 


Anthropology 4323 (graduate section: 5323)
Spring, 2002
Tuesday 3-4, Thursday 3,  Room Turlington 2350

Dr. Allan Burns
1112 Turlington Hall
Office Hours: Tues 7-8, and by appointment through Patricia King in the Anthropology office
Email:  AFBURNS @ ANTHRO.UFL.EDU
Office telephone: 392-2253 X 202
 
 

This course explores the history and culture of present day peoples in Mexico and Central America from an anthropological perspective.  The course examines issues of ethnicity and identity, the relationship of local to national identity, and the role of indigenous people in contemporary events in the area.  Many courses in history, political sciences, and language programs focus on the Spanish speaking world of Middle America, whereas this course is oriented toward the indigenous, often non-Spanish speaking culture of the region. The purpose of the course is to learn about all of the peoples of Mexico and Central America, those who are indigenous, those who are not, those who live in their local communities, and those who have migrated to new communities, often into the United States.
Students with Disabilities:  Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students Office will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation.
Texts:

Ronald Wright, Time Among the Maya  Grove Press, 2000
W. George Lovell, A Beauty that Hurts: Life and Death in Guatemala  University of Texas Press, 2000
June Nash, Mayan Visions: The Quest for Autonomy in an Age of Globalization  Routledge, 2001
Liliana Goldin, Identities on the Move: Transnational Processes in North America and the Caribbean Basin University of Albany 1999.
 

In addition, students are required to purchase a course pack available through Custom Copies and Texts:

1. Maps of Middle America
2. Burns, Allan, “The Newest Indians of the South: The Maya of Florida”
3. Potts, Lydia, “Origins of the Spanish Colonialization in America: 1492-1700”
4. Burns, Allan, “Pan Maya Ideology and Bilingual Education in Yucatan”
5. Laughlin, Robert, “All for All”
6. Michael Stone “Becoming a Belizean: Maya Identity and the Politics of Nation” J. Loucky and M. Moors, The Maya Diaspora, Philadelphia: Temple, 2000
7. Donna DeCesare (1998) "The Children of War: Street Gangs in El Salvador." NACLA 32:1.
8. Levenson, Deborah, “The Maras of Guatemala City: Notes on an Anguished World of Teenagers,” International Labor and Working-Class History, No. 39, Spring 1991, pp. 35-48
9. Pader, Ellen, “Spatiality and Social Change”
10. Sherzer, Joel, “Ceremonial Dialogue Greeting among the Kuna Indians”
11. Stepputat, F., “Repatriation and Everyday Forms of State Formation”
12. Villarreal, Magdalena, “Battles over images”
13. Wolf, E., “Closed Corporate Peasant Communities”
14. Burns, Allan, “Chapter Three: Life Crisis and ritual”
15. Hamil, Peter, “When the air was clear”
 
 

Course Requirements:

First Exam (February 14)    =  60
Second Exam (April 22)    =  60

Four projects @ 40 points each   = 160
January 29
February 26
March 26
April 16
 

Total Points:      = 280

There is no final examination in this course

Grades will be assigned as follows:  90-100%=A; 88-89%=B+; 80-87%=B; 78-79%=C+; 70=77%=C; 68-69%=D+; 60-67%=D

The Four Projects:

The requirements for the course include four short (that is, about six pages) projects completed in teams of three students each. You may choose someone you wish to work with after the first week of class; students will be assigned teams if they are not already acquainted with someone in the class.  Each team will choose a group of people, a geographic location, or issue in Mesoamerica that interests you and create four projects about them.  Each project is about a different aspect of their society and culture.  You may choose a particular ethnic group (i.e. the Kuna of Panama, the Seri of Mexico), a community that has been the subject of much research (i.e. the Kanjobal Maya of Guatemala and Florida), or a social sector (i.e. rural women, Mexico City young people), or a group of people based on any other aspect which makes sense in terms of the topics of the projects (school children, midwives, religious specialists, etc.).  All projects should include a bibliography.  You can use selections from the course readings in your bibliography or any other sources you find.  You are encouraged to use new media in your projects: web pages, video, power point presentations, and so forth.

Project one:  Introduction.  Geography, demography, and history.  This project includes a map showing where the people are located (including any diaspora communities), information about population, changes in fertility and or mortality,  major ways of making a living, and some issues about their history.  This project sets the stage for the other projects.  It should include a bibliography of at least six items (books, articles, news reports, www sites) and be written in an engaging style.

Project two: Language,  expression , music and art.  This project explores the aesthetic side of the community or group of people you are studying.  The project can be on any area of expressive culture or style, including things such as music, poetry, art, artistry, and so forth.  The project should be aesthetic in its presentation as well: include as many visual or audio examples as possible.  If you have skills in video or multi-media, this would be a good project for their use.

Project three: Social issues and culture change.  This project looks at issues such as natural or human events that bring about social and cultural change in the community.  The project should explore more than one issue as communities often experience many forces for change, both internal and external.  The project should especially be attuned to the changes as they affect different parts of the society: people of different ages, occupations, genders, locations, and so forth.

Project four: A topic of your personal team interest.  The final project allows you to explore a topic you learned about in the earlier research or a topic that you have particular interest in understanding based on your own interests: forensics in Guatemala, art and artisans in Panama, land change use in México, urban gangs in Belice, Diaspora communities of Salvadoranians, etc.

Grades will be assigned for the total points as follows:  90-100% = A  88-89%=B+  80-87%=B  78-89%=C+  70-77=C  68-69=D+  60-67%=D  Below 60=F   Late projects will receive 3 points less for each day they are late, including weekends.

Graduate Students:  Graduate students in the course will meet several times in seminar at a time convenient to all of us.   Graduate students may be assigned to work with undergraduate groups or may form a group of their own, depending on the number of graduate students in the class.

Course reading and topic schedule:
 

The social and cultural context of contemporary México and Central America

1. January 8-10.  Introduction to course.  Projects and exams for the course.  Major issues in Mesoamerican studies.  People, places, and social/cultural forms.  History and anthropology in Mexico and Central America.  Readings  Nash, 1, 2.; Burns, “The Newest Indians of the South.”  Study maps of Mexico and Central America.  Video: Maya Fiesta
2. January 15-17.  People, languages, and communication in Mesoamerica.  Readings:  Sherzer Article; Goldin, 11; Burns, Pan Mayan Ideology;  Wright, Part I: Belize. Part II. Peten.  Michael Stone: Becoming a Belizan.   Video: Popol Vuh

January 17, Library resources in the Latin American Collection (meet in the Latin American Collections area of Library East)

3. January 22. The archaeology of Mesoamerica.  Overview of major cultural expressions through time.  Issues of archaeological politics: conservation, tourism, research. Readings: Wright Part III. Highland Guatemala.  Video: Lost Civilizations, The Maya: The Blood of Kings
4. January 24.  Archaeology and Ethnography.    Wright: Part IV. Chiapas.  Part V. Yucatan
5. January 29-31.  Class presentation of first project  and discussion.  Readings:  Lovell Book, Part I and II.

Indigenous communities

6. Feb 5-7.  The contact period.  The imposition of social institutions, resistance, strategic acculturation, and differential assimilation.  Readings: Lovell, Part III.  Potts “Origins of the Spanish Colonization..” Hamil, “When the air was clear.”   Video: The Chinampas
7. February 12.  Community and culture in Mesoamerica.  Readings:   Wolf, “Closed Corporate Community”  Villareal, “Battles over images..”    Video: Todos Santos: The Survivors

First Exam:  February 14.

Globalization and Mesoamerica

8. February 19-21  Culture and Community in Mesoamerica: Mayan communities in Yucatan and Chiapas.  Readings: Nash, Chapter 2, 3.   Video:  The Living Maya
9. February 26-28.  Discussion/presentation of second student projects.

March 2-10.  Spring break

10. March 12-14.  Urbanization and Globalism in Mesoamerica.  Readings:  Nash, Chapter 4,5,6.   Readings:  Laughlin, “All for all..”
11. March 19-21. Transnational communities.  Readings:  Goldin, 1, 2, 3, 4.  Pader, Ellen-J.  "Spatiality and social change; Video: A Continent on the Move
12. March 26-28 Student presentations of third projects

Diaspora communities and gangs

13. April  2-4  The Maya Diaspora: Indiantown Florida and other international Maya communities.  Readings:  Burns: The Maya of Florida, Burns, Chapter 3;  Video: Mayan Voices American Lives Readings:  Goldin, 7, 8, 9,  10.  Stepputat "Repatriation…"
14. April 9-11  Revolutions and Gangs in Central America. Readings: Levanson, “The Maras”  and DeCesare “The Children of War.” Video:  Fire in the Mind :  'Revolutions and Revolutionaries’
15. April 16-18. Presentation of final projects.  Readings:
16. April 23  Second Exam.

There is no final exam for this class.