POS 316416 Latin American Politics 09202004

1
POS 316/416 Latin American Politics - 09/20/2004

• Course website.
• http//faculty.roosevelt.edu/erickson/courses/pos3
  16-416/
• Presentation assignment distributed.
• Paper topic description assignment distributed.
• Conquest and Post-Conquest historical overview.
• Indigenous rights.
• Videos (approx. 29 minutes).
• Broken Silence re Guatemalan Mayan Human Rights
  Activist Rigoberta Mehchú (1993).
• News story re EZLN 1996.
• Lecture/discussion.
• Written assignment.
• Examples of mobilization/Prospects for indigenous
  rights.

2
POS 316/416 Latin American Politics - 09/20/2004

• Readings for the Week.
• Vanden and Prevost, Chapter 4 The Other
  Americans.
• Foweraker, et. al, Chapter 9 Minority and
  Indigenous Rights.
• Overview of Latin American History.
• Preconquest to 21st century.
• Comparing Latin America and the United States.
• US born classically liberal.
• Latin America born feudal.
• Feudal legacy very profound in Latin America.
• Pre-conquest Civilizations Major - Incas, Maya,
  Aztec.
• Little contact with peoples from other hemisphere
  from initial migration 40,000-8,000bce - until
  1490s/1500s.
• Scattered pockets of settlement until
  centralization into large scale
  civilizations/empires.
• Incan Empire.

3
POS 316/416 Latin American Politics - 09/20/2004

• The Conquest
• Conquest and extension of the reconquest of
  Iberian Peninsula
• Moors/Islam vs. Christianized Western Europe.
• Moors driven out of Spain and Colombus.
• Consequence of protracted military struggle,
  Spanish and Portuguese institutions authoritarian
  and top down.
• Little or no separation of powers/checks and
  balances.
• Autocratic legacy carried to Latin America.
• At time of Columbuss landing 3 million
  indigenous in North America.
• 30 million indigenous in Latin America.
• North American indigenous groups smaller tribal.
• Latin America - Major Civilizations subordinated
  through military conquest and complex play of
  alliances.

4
POS 316/416 Latin American Politics - 09/20/2004

• Factors contributing to relative ease of
  conquest.
• Spaniards and Portuguese home fighting in context
  of reconquest.
• Spaniards have advantages of armaments (guns,
  cannons, horses, cavalries, attack dogs.
• Differences in war-fighting styles. Euro. swift
  sure victory Amero-Indian armies ritualistic
  warfare, warning, not as heavy an emphasis on
  seizing and holding territory for exploitation.
• Disease weakens morale and population base for
  Amero-Indian armies.
• Indians peoples cosmology and eschatology
  initially misinterpreted conquest.
• Sedentary agricultural civilizations highly tied
  to land.
• Spaniards and Portuguese inherited political
  culture used to violent conflict, conquest,
  rebellion not first reaction to conquest by
  another hierarchical force.

5
POS 316/416 Latin American Politics - 09/20/2004

• Spanish Colonial Conquests
• Hispanola.
• Cuba and Puerto Rico
• Mexico - Cortez
• Central America.
• South America - Pizarro.
• Colombia
• Ecuador
• Peru
• Chile.
• Portuguese
• Brazil 1500.

6
POS 316/416 Latin American Politics - 09/20/2004

• 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas. Carved up Spanish and
  Portuguese Spheres of Influence.
• Colonial Society.
• Established Mirrors of Original Feudal Order at
  Home.
• Reflected and Reinforced medieval system in home
  countries.
• Economy Feudal and Exploitative.
• King.
• Viceroy.
• Captain General or hacendado.

7
POS 316/416 Latin American Politics - 09/20/2004

• Developmental Trajectories of Latin and North
  America.
• Dimensions of Comparison.
• Variations in Impact of Conquest on Indigenous
  Population.
• Colonial Origins and Political Legacy.
• Land Holdings.
• Geographic Features.
• Patterns of Urbanization and Population Density.
• Class Structure and Mode of Production.
• Preconquest.
• Colonial.
• Independence.
• Industrial.
• Post-Industrial.

8
POS 316/416 Latin American Politics - 09/20/2004

• Vanden and Prevost and Foweraker, et. al re
  indigenous rights.
• Indigenous mobilization.
• Context.
• Minorities at Risk Dataset.
• LANIC Indigenous Rights Index.
• Cold War.
• Globalization.
• Videos. Videos (approx. 29 minutes).
• Broken Silence re Guatemalan Mayan Human Rights
  Activist Rigoberta Mehchú (1993).
• News story re EZLN 1996.
• Lecture/discussion.
• Written assignment in light of videos.
• Contrasting examples of mobilization/Prospects
  for indigenous rights.